WANNA PLAY - Gail Faulkner
Ghost Unit, Book 3
Ellora’s Cave www.ellorascave.com
ISBN: 978-1-4199-1170-5
July 2007
Erotic Contemporary Romance
Rated E-rotic

North Carolina and Florida - Present Day

A former Marine turned action actress, Jasmina Carson has no problem doing her own stunts.  In fact, the careful choreography of a fight scene takes all the fun out of a fight as far as Jas is concerned.  In the past few weeks however, her stunts have taken a dangerous turn – and they aren’t completely coordinated with the stunt master any more.  Someone in this rural area apparently has trouble with an African-American heroine beating up on white men, which happens to be Jas’ specialty. 

As a favor to his friend, Samuel “Blaster” Callaway has just become Jas’ new bodyguard.  Only minutes after taking over that job, someone starts shooting at them, and it doesn’t take long for Blaster to figure out that this isn’t a case of racial prejudice from the locals.  Whoever is after Jas is professional, and she not only is aware of who the threat is from, but also how to handle it.  Not being a stupid man, it doesn’t take long for Blaster to understand a few other things: no woman has ever affected him the way Jas does, and she doesn’t trust him any farther than she can throw him.

Hoping to both protect Jas and draw out her attacker, Jas and Blaster play the devoted couple on the set, though for Blaster, not much acting is involved.  He’ll do whatever it takes to keep his woman safe and earn her trust.  When the threat quickly escalates, the two become caught up in a very deadly game which will put Blaster’s vow to the test.

Action-packed and intense, WANNA PLAY grabs the reader’s attention from the opening scene and doesn’t let go until the very end.  For those unfamiliar with the series, Ghost Unit was an almost mythical, elite Special Forces military team, consisting of six men who worked as brothers and while they are now retired they still work together.  Like Gray (FULL RIDE) and Rem (SLIP KNOT), Blaster is an alpha, take charge kind of man, lethal and yet tender with the woman who is the other half of his soul.  Jas is his perfect counter-part: just as lethal, highly trained, and always carrying several different weapons on her body.  Both are survivors of horrific childhoods who went into the military, and are now making their way in life by other means.  Their interactions from the beginning are both amusing and erotic, and because of the way the plot plays out, it’s also believable that they would become as close as they do so quickly.

It’s not just the main characters that are engaging.  Along with Jas and Blaster, Jackson St. James plays a large part in the story, as do the other members of Ghost Unit, and Jas’ friend Liana.  I have high hopes that Ms. Faulkner has plans to write stories for the rest of these characters – Jackson especially <g>.  In addition to the almost non-stop action and tantalizing sex scenes, there are also many humorous moments to lighten the seriousness of the mission.  WANNA PLAY is a fantastic story, that I highly recommend.

Jennifer Bishop