Format: E-book
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Dangerous Tides, #1
Publisher: Berkley
Hero: Ben Hudson
Heroine: Reese Monroe
Sensuality: 4.9
Date of Publication: June 4, 2013
Started On: July 20, 2013
Finished On: July 22, 2013

34 year old Ben Hudson is the new sheriff of the idyllic holiday beach town of Moss Beach, Florida. Having given up his position as a homicide detective in Miami due to circumstances that had unfolded during his last investigation, Ben moves to town to take things at a more sedately pace. Ben has a reputation for working hard and playing that much harder and is never afraid of going after what he wants. The only thing that scares the bejeesus out of his is emotional entanglements of any sort.

Newly divorced 28 year old Reese Monroe moves to Moss Beach aiming to kickstart her life in a whole new direction. Her marriage to a cheating scoundrel has pretty much dented her ego and eroded her sense of self esteem and the need to escape from the mess her life had become motivates the move more than anything else.

Ben has hungered for Reese ever since the night he laid his eyes on Reese three years back. He has bided his time, always knowing deep inside that if and whenever Reese becomes free from the clutches of her good for nothing husband, he would definitely make his move and leave them both with the scorching imprint of how good things could be with them between the sheets.

Told from both Ben and Reese’s points of view in third person, Take Me Under takes place in its entirety in Moss Beach, Florida.

The connection between Ben and Reese sizzles right from the onset, a very much wary Reese who has no idea of how much of a starring role she has played in the sexy sheriff’s fantasies a little bit taken aback by the zeal with which Ben pursues her. And when it comes to light that Reese has a stalker who might have made his way to her new hometown on her heels, there is no stopping the protective instinct that surges forth in Ben and he becomes more of a force to be reckoned with which means for Reese there really is no turning back.

Rhyannon Byrd is very talented in the style with which she effortlessly blends the erotic and downright dirty sex into whatever genre of romance she works on. It has been while since she has published a contemporary romance and Take Me Under was a novel that I had been very much in anticipation for ever since she announced its release. Though it didn’t live up to all my expectations, Take Me Under proved to be a hot and panty-melting read with a dirty talking hero tossed into the mix.

Ben seemed to be a bit overwhelming to me; and I believe this just might be the first time I’m saying that about a hero, especially someone who looks like Christian Bale of all people. Forceful in his nature, Ben is a man from whom a woman can’t hide, either during the moments of passion or otherwise. And Ben is greedy enough to want everything Reese can give, although he might not be ready for the overwhelming riot of emotions that blindsides him as much as the passion between them does. The only thing that Ben is more afraid of than anything else is opening up the raw wounds that has festered for far too long inside of him.

Reese knows exactly what she is getting into when she says yes to getting down and dirty with Ben, and she goes onto show it in more ways than one, which actually seems to do a pretty good job of annoying Ben out of his stance on no messy emotional entanglements. It was quite amusing to see Ben in a role that he has never found himself in before as he reluctantly comes to the conclusion that without Reese by his side, he might just as well not exist.

I’m pretty much looking forward to Alex’s story, which seems to be in the works if the ending was anything to judge the next book in the series by. Alex certainly looks to be a hero who would be worth all the heartache he would put a reader through before embracing his own happily ever after.

Recommended for fans of Rhyannon Byrd and erotic contemporary romantic suspense.

Final Verdict: Raw & explicit, Take Me Under is a good debut for the Dangerous Tides series.

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