REVIEW: Line of Fire by Helenkay Dimon

Line of Fire by Helenkay Dimon: Molly Cain has always had feelings for her brother’s best friend, Jason, but he always pushed her away. At one point he even married her best friend at the time. Now Molly wants to move on, but Jason doesn’t want to let her. He has always had feelings for her, but at one point he felt she was too young for him. Then, later on, he felt guilty about her mother’s death. He uses these as an excuse, but now he feels he’s ready to start something with Molly.

This book fell flat for me, and a lot of it had to do with the first few chapters. Jason would say he knew why Molly was angry, but then he’d backtrack and say he didn’t really know.

She just stared at him. “Do you even know why I’m angry?”
“Yes.” His gaze searched her face and he couldn’t help but wince. She looked tired. Defeated. He’d been the one to put that look there and he wasn’t even sure how. “Okay, not really.”

He comes across as not being very intelligent, repeatedly saying he didn’t understand things when Molly clearly explained her feelings to him.

A headache started at the base of his skull and pounded through him. The same one he got whenever stress set in these days thanks to his time in the fucking war. “I don’t–”
“Know what that means.” She laid a hand on his chest and patted him. “Yeah, I know. You say that a lot.”
The words tumbled out when he didn’t know what else to say, so he couldn’t deny the claim.

His character does get better as the book goes on though, and he shows he’s not as clueless as he initially comes across.

Molly annoyed me at times. She wanted a relationship with Jason but she wanted to hide it from everyone. Her reasoning was that if no one knew about it, when things went south she wouldn’t have to explain it to anyone. Only everyone figured out they were together, yet she still insisted that they pretended they weren’t. She didn’t like that Will, the boyfriend of Jason’s brother, Marcus, wanted to keep their relationship a secret, but she was being hypocritical because she was acting the exact same way. Jason may have hurt her in the past, but she did a pretty good job of hurting him, too.

Jason redeems himself from his man-whoring ways, but it never seems like it’s good enough for Molly. She’s always waiting for him to screw up. It wasn’t fair to Jason, who really was trying to turn his life around and make himself a better man for her.

I honestly think I liked Marcus’s character the best; his relationship with will is a side story in this book. I’d like to see him have his own book, because he deserves a happy ending.

If you enjoy the brother’s best friend trope, you might enjoy Line of Fire by Helenkay Dimon.

Book Info:

Publication: October 26, 2015 | Carina Press | Greenway Range #2

With his military career over and his ego bruised, Jason McAdams is ready to start over. As a founding partner in Greenway Range, his new life is everything he’d ever dared to dream about, but it also puts him in constant contact with the one woman he can’t have: his best friend’s little sister.

Molly Cain has loved Jason for as long as she can remember, and seeing him now—damaged and self-destructive—is a constant heartache. Watching him numbly work his way through woman after woman is damn near intolerable. Until one summer night changes everything.

After a rocky start, the sex is hot and naughty and all Molly knew it would be. And when he makes another pass at her, Molly doesn’t say no. Or the many times after that, either. But Jason carries a secret—one that’s kept him away from Molly for all these years, one that could ruin everything. He’s been shot at and seen death, but letting the woman he loves find out the truth is the real worst-case scenario…