Brief Thoughts: You Can Count On Me (Bullet Catchers novella)

I'll Be Home for Christmas - 'Linda Lael Miller', 'Catherine Mulvany', 'Roxanne St. Claire', 'Julie Leto'

You Can Count On Me -- Roxanne St. Claire

Part of the I'll Be Home For Christmas anthology

Listed as Bullet Catchers #2.5

2006 Release -- Pocket Books

I only read Roxanne St. Claire's You Can Count On Me from this anthology, so the rating only applies to that individual novella. Since I was on a short Bullet Catchers binge for the weekend, I didn't bother reading the rest of the novellas/short stories in this anthology. I may or may not come back to them at some point in time.

In Short:
Bullet Catcher Raquel Durant is finally ready to take on her first field assignment and she's been assigned as bodyguard for the eight year old daughter of Grigori Nyekovic while he's in New York for business. Of course, being a Romance novella, it doesn't take long for sparks to fly, and apparently, while a sweet, gentle father, Grigori (Gregg), comes on quite strong when he knows what he wants. And obviously, he's found that he wants more from Raquel than just guarding his daughter.

My Brief Thoughts:
This was a fun and cute little romance novella with a short side of suspense to keep the theme going. Gregg is in New York to procure a Fabergé egg which ends up being stolen in some convoluted plot that seems more complicated than it really is (or really needed to be). This couldn't be just a cute little Christmas story, we have to have something more happen for action... which I normally don't mind for a full-blown novel, so the extra suspense seemed a bit much.

Nonetheless, I really did find the story enjoyable, that is, if you ignore some of the logic failures such as why Raquel would willingly wander off with Gregg on spy missions when she's supposed to be guarding eight year old Kristina. I get that she was excited about learning investigative skills and espionage, but her first and foremost priority was supposed to be Kristina's safety, no matter what else the father asks her to do.

Besides, I was of the impression that Raquel already had pretty good investigative skills, so what gives?

Final Thoughts: Simple and cute. I had been hoping for more of a full-length novel for Raquel, being the only female Bullet Catcher aside from the head honcho Lucy. So I'm a little disappointed that she gets stuck into a short novella where not much really happens. Enjoyable nonetheless.