Let Me In [Paperback]

Donna Kauffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2009

Tate Winslow is done with all the guns, the adventures, the brushes with death. All she wants is to be left alone. So when her enigmatic ex-boss shows up on her doorstep barely alive, she really tries not to care. He's all alpha male, the baddest of the bad - and a threat to her hard-won peace in more ways than one. Tate is the only lead Derek Cole has on a case that could blow the intelligence world apart - if it doesn't kill him before he can figure it out. She was his best agent, but she's in hiding and he's gone rogue, and he's starting to think of her in a very nonprofessional way. In fact, he wants Tate like he wants his next breath, but he's already risking his life and his career...does he need to put his heart in danger too?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this clunky romantic thriller from RITA-finalist Kauffman (The Great Scot), Tate Winslow, a former operative for a covert U.S. government agency, goes into a witness protection program and becomes, somewhat improbably, Tara Wingate, a successful novelist living in Virginia's Hebron Valley. Then one night her former boss, rogue agent Derek Cole, knocks on her door and announces that Tate's former agency partner, CJ, whom Tate saw shot before her eyes three years earlier, is alive and needs their help in being extracted from an undercover operation gone bad. Before Tate and Derek can rescue CJ, they have to wonder—could CJ be a double agent? And given their growing mutual attraction, can they keep their hands off each other long enough to effectively deal with the villains? Romance pro Kauffman has much to learn about creating suspense, as shown by the slow, dialogue-driven plot, which begs for more action and more believable agency backstory. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

After her last assignment left her literally tortured and broken, Tate vowed to live a simple, isolated life—a vow she has kept until her former commander, Derek, shows up beaten and drugged on her doorstep. He assures her that it’s not the drugs talking when he says her ex-partner CJ wasn’t killed but is alive behind enemy lines. Now Tate must leave the secure world she’s built and delve back into espionage to discover if CJ is friend or foe and find out what’s happening with the agency she left behind. She also must decide if life includes a new kind of relationship with Derek. Rather than action and suspense from start to finish, much of Kauffman’s latest focuses on conversations between Tate and Derek as they try to unveil the truth and their developing feelings for each other, and their deep-rooted, complex emotions do make for fascinating reading. --Nina C. Davis

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Brava; 1st edition (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758231296
• ISBN-13: 978-0758231291
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

USA Today bestselling and award winning author Donna Kauffman has published over fifty titles, most currently still in worldwide release, with many translated into more than a dozen languages. She has seen her books reviewed in venues ranging from Kirkus to Library Journal to Entertainment Weekly and excerpted in magazines, including Cosmopolitan. A previous RITA finalist and DC native, she currently resides just outside the nation's capital in northern Virginia. You can contact her directly through her website at www.donnakauffman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, June 18, 2009

By 

TLC (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Me In (Paperback)

Okay, So I'm not yet finished with the book, but I can't wrap my head around how completely Tate finally reconciles having sex with Derek when she's spent 3/4's of the book pushing him away and now they are in love?

Give me a break.

The only reason I have not put the book down is because I'd like to find out what's the story with CJ.
The relationship between Tate and Derek is unbelievable, far fetched and based on a need for sex, which doesn't happen until well into the book.
At first I thought Derek would be a great alpha male character, but he turns out to be as whimpy as the guy on the cover looks . It's hard to imagine either character in any espionage role. Neither has much backbone. Some interesting banter at times, but that's all.
Save your money cause the $14 I spent was a lot to spend on a sub average book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can happen to the agent who gets out of the game!, March 1, 2009

By 

Rhonda's Library - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Me In (Paperback)

I finished Let Me In last night and couldn't put it down `till I was done. I really enjoyed the book. Both characters, Tate and Derek, were interesting, well developed, empathetic and I adored both of them. CJ's character was brilliant, as a contrast to who Tate might have become, making Tate's story even more compelling. One rarely reads about the agent who got out of the game. There was steadily building suspense through the book, even though there was not a lot of actual action, which is fine by me. The focus was clearly more on what the characters were feeling and thinking, their problem solving for both their internal and external challenges, rather than a lot of frantic action, yet it still held the suspense. It was not rife with dead bodies either... I loved the Epilogue...it satisfied me. The whole hotel scene with Derek's fake mustache and wig and stuff was in character and fun. It brought you back emotionally after the seriousness of the denouement. The author nicely crafted the technical solution to the dilemma, the media and attorney general, along with the video tape of Mank, all said in a few short sentences. Very tight and well crafted storyline. And the banter was just plain fun, especially the closing of the epilogue. I really, really enjoyed this book. Well done! Another special book for my Donna Kauffman shelf!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great beginning but boring after that, March 31, 2009

By 

Avid Reader (Bedford, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Let Me In (Paperback)

The first pages of this book were great...held my attention but quickly went to tedious details. I began skipping pages and could follow the story. Not a good read.