3.5⭐️

Working through Toni Anderson’s backlist and the Cold Justice series. I love these romantic suspense books and Anderson is one of my favorite romantic suspense authors. This was an enjoyable third part of the series, but fell a bit short in comparison to the first two books. The espionage plot had a little more action and was more of a political thriller than the first two books. I liked Scarlett’s character and felt drawn to her quest for redemption, but Matt wasn’t my favorite of the male protagonists in the series so far.

Action thrillers and romance lovers know we don’t generally read these for “realism”, after all that’s not what makes these books entertaining

Good romantic suspense story. A bit different from the usual plots since it deals with spies and terrorists, but I could keep up with the codes for everything/everyone. The plot was interesting right from the beginning. I was sucked into the story and had to find out what happened. I’m not sure if the story ended too soon or if it was just the right amount. Maybe because I liked the characters I wanted to see a bit more interaction between them. I liked both main characters and hope they show up in future stories. Happy to find another romance suspense author!

Political intrigue, corrupt FBI agents, kidnapping, a wrongful conviction and a budding romance, this book has it all. Scarlett just wants to clear her father's name before the cancer takes his life, she had no idea how her actions would unravel a web of corruption and revel decade old secrets. Matt's boss asked him to attend a Christmas party he was unable to attend and that puts him in the right (or wrong) place to help Scarlett when things get out of hand. There is lots of action in this book but Scarlett gets her Christmas miracle.

Toni Anderson is an author you should be reading if you are a fan of well plotted suspense. Toni is an author whose self-published books in the genre has provided me with some of the best reads in suspense that I have read lately and Cold Light of Day is a book that testifies to all that I have just stated above.

Scarlett Wilson Stone joins her best friend Angelina LeMay to attend the annual Christmas party that is hosted by the Russian Ambassador to the United States for one reason alone. She wants the chance to do something to clear her father of the charges of treason for which he has been spending the past 14 years of his life in prison. Scarlett & her mother are the only ones who had believed in her father’s innocence. When Scarlett’s little mission goes horribly wrong, the reaction is swift with life threatening consequences that Scarlett never foresaw.

Former SEAL and FBI Special Agent Matthias Lazlo cannot believe that he had been tricked by a pair of brown eyes that he had felt had seen right through to his soul. A moment that had lasted long enough to make him think of thoughts better left unsaid, Matt is relentless in his attempt to hunt down Scarlett and bring her in, more in a need to protect her than anything else.

Though Matt doesn’t believe Scarlett’s proclamation of her father’s innocence, as the attacks on their lives begin to mount, Matt has to believe in the possibility that someone wants the truth to be buried six feet under, never to surface ever again. What doesn’t help matters is his fierce attraction to Scarlett whose intelligence, devotion and vulnerability strikes him in his very heart making him susceptible to a whole lot more than just being taken down by the enemy.

Toni Anderson explores a mean plot in Cold Light of Day. It kept me on tenterhooks that had the nail biting edge to it with the stakes rising as the story progressed. Toni writes suspense of the variety that makes the heart pound. Add to it the espionage factor explored in this novel and you’ve got yourself the likes of books from authors like Robert Ludlum. The plus point for voracious romance readers like myself is that Toni writes as good a romance as the suspense plot in her novels.

Matt is a hero readers would absolutely adore. I could have sat with the book in my hands and read about just him alone and it would most probably have been enough. He is downright sexy, effortlessly so and there is nothing more deadly on the female senses than that if you ask me. Scarlett proved to be a great heroine. Toni creates heroines who are intelligent and capable, yet with enough sense in them to know when to advance and when to retreat. That in my opinion is an essential factor to writing heroines that grabs the heart.

Rating = 4/5

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Good series to read

Nice pacing and suspense. I would have liked if the mystery had a few more clues before the reveal.