REVIEW: Under The Surface by Anne Calhoun

In Under The Surface by Anne Calhoun, Eve Webber, owner of the nightclub Eye Candy, is approached by an old childhood acquaintance to launder money for him through her business. Not wanting any part of it, Eve informs the police, who want to use Eve and the club to catch Lyle in the act. She refuses to let the cops into her club, so they send in Detective Matt Dorchester undercover as a bartender named Chad to keep an eye on Eve and make sure she was safe.

I wasn’t crazy about Eve. First off, when she first meets “Chad”, she starts coming on to him, her employee. That would be a cause for sexual harassment, especially since she kept pressing the issue. Then when he keeps telling her he wants to take things slowly, she still puts pressure on him to sleep with her. It was pushy and highly inappropriate considering their positions.

Out of the two main characters, I liked Matt the most. He wants Eve and wants to keep her safe. He doesn’t want to get attached because while he took care of the people around him, he also kept them at arm’s length.

He’d been so focused on being strong for everyone around him he’d never given people what they needed most. Emotion. Affection. Love.

Eve kept saying that the East Side police department was corrupt, yet she turned to them when it came to Lyle, which I didn’t understand. There were no examples provided to explain why she would believe this was the case. Plus if that was truly the case, why would she confide in them? Wouldn’t she be afraid that it would leak to Lyle that she snitched on them? It just didn’t add up.

I found the second half of the book, which mainly dealt with confronting Lyle, to be more interesting than the first half of the book, which was mainly Eve trying to get “Chad” to sleep with her.

This book can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous books in the series and had no problem following along with the characters and the storyline.

If you enjoy romantic suspense, you may enjoy this one but keep in mind most of the suspense doesn’t occur until the second half of the book.

Book Info:

Publication: May 31, 2016 | St. Martin’s Paperbacks | Alpha Ops #4

Welcome to Eye Candy, the East Side’s hottest nightclub where the bartenders are hot, the cocktails are fancy, and danger lurks just under the surface…

Eve Webber, the gorgeous and savvy owner of Eye Candy, knows better than anyone that growing up on the wrong side of the tracks comes with certain complications. Determined to run a clean business and fix up the East Side, Eve’s plans get temporarily stalled when a potential new hire walks into her bar. The sexual chemistry crackling between them is a potent distraction…even if she refuses to mix business with the promise of pleasure.

Detective Matt Dorchester lives by strict rules that have kept him alive in impossible situations. When his latest undercover assignment has him playing a bartender, his desire for the passionate owner has him breaking every single one. Eve is in danger and her life depends on his secrecy. But once their attraction reaches a climactic conclusion, Matt must make a desperate choice: Tell her the truth about who he really is―or risk a once-in-a-lifetime love to save her life?