Code Name: Deck by Heather Slade

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He’s a hard-ass rancher with big secrets.
She’s a city-slicker with big dreams.
Together, they’re INVINCIBLE.
DECK
As a covert freelance contractor for security and intelligence, I’m the best in the business. Cocky, smart, and controlled, and I get the job done. When tragedy hits, I hit harder.

MILA
I left my cowboy boots behind, trading them for city-slicking stilettos, and never looked back. But my sister’s death brought me home, and I’m hellbent on uncovering the truth. I refuse to let Decker Ashford get in my way, with his sexy southern drawl, the last thing I need is a distraction. He says he’s here to protect me, keep me safe, but I’m not about to get DECKED.

Code Name: Deck

“Hold on tight baby. This is a ride you’ll never forget.”

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🩵🖤❤️💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: ☹️☺️😍😄
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration

The Hero: Decker – he was abused as a child until he moved to the King Alexander ranch in Texas with his friend Quint at the age of 13. He is now Ranch Manager, and, on the side, he does covert independent contracts for security and intelligence. He is thinking about going into business with a bunch of friends and former MI5 and MI6 agents, which is tentatively called Invincible’s Intelligence and Security. One night on the way home from the airport after a trip to London, he finds a girl on the side of the road that dies soon after.

The heroine: Mila – she grew up in Texas but now lives in Boston and works at a college as a music instructor. Though she just found out she was fired from her job. It is the worst possible time, since she recently spent all her savings after her grandfather died in Texas. She had paid for the funeral and all his bills. Her friend Adler lives on the floor above her and his family owns the building. Something happened to Mila in the past and since then she hates to be touched even by Adler. Whatever happened to her left a lasting impression.

The Story: Mila gets a call from Texas to say that her sister was killed, and she needs to go and identify the body. Decker picks her up at the airport and she stays with him on the ranch while she is in town. She remembered Decker from her childhood, when he helped her one night, it stuck with her and even now she isn’t bothered when he touches her like she is with others. She feels safe with him. Her friend Adler has been acting strangely lately and though he flew to town with her, he left right away and then came back even though she told him not to come.

I like these types of romantic suspense books quite a bit. They usually have a good storyline alongside the romance and have plenty of mystery and action, which I really enjoy. This book had the storyline about Mila’s sisters murder, another about what Adler is up to, and what happened to Mila in her past. So overall it was set up very well. The world building was pretty good as well as character development. Decker is one of the best at what he does and is the perfect person to help Mila. It doesn’t hurt that they are attracted to each other from the start. The book was good, though there were some lines that were pretty corny, like the quote I put at the top of this review.

This audiobook was in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Phillip Battley and Stephanie Nemeth-Parker. Stephanie has a nice, soft voice with a perfect accent for a Texas gal. Phillip has a deep voice which is perfect for Decker, and though he doesn’t have a Texas accent, he is a great narrator, and I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I bought the box set of the first three books in this series and the same two narrators do all three books and that works for me.

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