I absolutely love Entangled's Brazen line. It's romance with a little more heat than your standard contemporary romances. I'm also enjoying new author Tessa Bailey. Even though I've had issues with her heroines in her previous book and this one, I enjoy her books a lot. And her heroes are yummy, dirty talking alpha males. Bailey is an author to watch.Troy has just transferred from Chicago PD to New York PD. After losing his partner in a raid gone wrong, Troy needed a change of scenery. While hanging out with his co-workers at the local watering hole, in walks Ruby. She immediately captures Troy's attention. Troy sees trouble written all over her but he can not resist.Ruby can take care of herself and doesn't trust cops. Growing up hustling alongside her father, Ruby lives an unconventional life and makes money in a unconventional and sometimes dangerous, way. But she's trying to change all that. But she needs money to pay the bills so she resorts to her one skill -- pool hustling. When Troy rescues Ruby from an angry hustled the sparks are immediate. But Troy isn't sure he wants to get involved with a woman who lives life on the edge. And Ruby isn't sure she can give Troy everything that he wants.I'm going to start off by saying I really liked His Risk to Take. I loved Troy. He is very forward about what he wants from Ruby but he's also very protective. She's not just a conquest for him. When Troy finds out that his case indirectly puts Ruby in the cross-hairs, he is willing to do everything to keep her safe even though Ruby doesn't appreciate it or follows his orders. And this is where I had a problem. Ruby is a very likable character. Even though she has a tough exterior, she is a compassionate person. Her toughness isn't harsh or a turn-off. You learn from the jump that there's more to Ruby than meets the eye. But I had a problem with her willfully ignoring Troy's request and putting not only herself in danger but Troy, his fellow officers and the entire case. And then Ruby gets angry when Troy blows up at her. So that ticked me off. Luckily this happens towards the end of the book during the big story arc so I already liked Ruby.One minor thing bothered me as well -- Ruby's age. The heroine in Taking What's His is early 20s (1st book in the series) and so is Ruby. Can the next heroine be knocking on 30 at least?? Thankfully Ruby has a lot of real life experience to make up for her age so she does come off as more mature than your typical 24year old. But I'm over early 20 somethings in my adult contemporary romance. Yes I know they're adults but the I'm used to the heroines in CR being late 20s/early 30s. Of course all the heroes are close to 30 and over. Let's flip the script and have the woman be older and the man be younger. We don't have enough of those tropes in romance.I highly recommend His Risk to Take and the Line of Duty series as a whole. The heroes are hunky and sexy. The plot flowed smoothly and kept me engaged. The sex scenes are sexy and well-written. Despite the few issues with the heroine, it was an overall good book.
