Dangerous Prey Book

Vague communication, inaccurate assumptions, too much pondering, and characters being stupid/careless for the sake of the plot.

STORY BRIEF:
Kelly was a Marine helicopter pilot flying in Afghanistan. She was shot down and suffers post traumatic stress issues. She had to leave the marines due to some nerve damage in her hand. She then flew helicopters with water tanks fighting fires in Arizona. During a fire fight the winds caused her helicopter to crash. The crash caused permanent leg damage and severe depression because the two passengers with her died. Kelly has no will to live. Her mother asks Sky to spend time with Kelly, hoping he will bring her out of her depression. Sky was her best friend in childhood. Sky rehabilitates wounded raptors (owls, hawks and falcons) and then sets them free. Kelly loves seeing the raptors and starts helping Sky work with them. Being with Sky and the raptors gives her the will to live, and she regains her health. Meanwhile Sky has an enemy Billy Jo who plans to kill Sky. Billy Jo is in jail because he previously killed Sky's parents, but he will be released within the year. Sky is reluctant to have Kelly around because he fears Billy Jo will hurt Kelly or anyone else close to him.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The best part of the book was learning about the raptors. The rest of the story did not work for me. Through much of the story Sky and Kelly deny their attraction to each other. Sky won't tell Kelly about the Billy Jo threat, so she believes he doesn't like her or want her around. These conflicts are due to vague communication and inaccurate assumptions which are not a favorite for me and are overused in romance novels. There was also too much pondering and too many repetitive thoughts by Sky and Kelly about wanting to be with each other and why they couldn't. Some of the dialogue felt dated - 80's style writing. I also didn't care for the characters doing some stupid things for the sake of the plot which are described in Spoilers below.

DATA:
Story length: 366 pages. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: one, 5 pages long. Setting: current day Montana and Arizona. Copyright: 2008. Genre: romantic suspense.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
As Sky was preparing for Billy Jo's release from jail, he installed security equipment around his home. Morgan (Kelly's father) said that as soon as Billy Jo was released he would arrange for security personnel to guard Sky's home. But this never happened. When Billy Jo got out of jail Morgan never provided any security guards. This left Sky unprotected, and Billy Jo easily attacked him. I don't understand why Sky stayed there alone. This was doing something stupid for the sake of the plot.

One thing I did like was how Kelly escaped when she was kidnapped. But I did not like the carelessness of Kelly and Sky after Kelly escaped. They let their guard down. The enemy was still out there. They should have continued being on alert, but they didn't. Instead, the kidnapper walked in on them with a gun, again.

Another carelessness bothered me. Earlier in the story, Sky was in hiding so Billy Jo couldn't find him. Kelly wanted to talk to community groups about the work he was doing with raptors. Sky didn't want her to, but Kelly insisted, so Sky agreed as long as she kept his name a secret. What does she do? At her very first talk, she tells them Sky's name. Billy Jo's mother is in the audience. Of course, she tells her son where Sky is. Kelly apologizes to Sky saying it accidentally slipped out.