Customer Reviews

Strong Medicine (Silhouette Bombshell)

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Working on a military mission cost Global Crisis Alliance Dr. Calista St. James her medical license as she endangered her side and disobey a direct order from team leader Damien DeLuna to provide help to the innocent in a terrorist filled region. Still this does not stop the caring physician from practicing her chosen profession. She changes her name and provides medical care to the neediest in backwater dangerous regions of the world like Los Angeles.

However, her former boss at GCA Sir Howard Ashton calls telling her they need her help on a rescue mission. This means Calista must work for Damien, who was the reason she lost her license in the first place. Though she wants nothing to do with the man she is in love with, duty calls. Damien knows he did the right thing on the mission and in his after action report, but feels guilty anyway and hopes to make it up to Calista while keeping her safe is his prime personal agenda.

Olivia Gates provides a strong romantic thriller that grips the audience once Damien and Calista begin the quest together. The tension between them is extremely high and not just because of the previous escapade. Fans will want a full dose of the action-packed STRONG MEDICINE that never slows down as the lead couple fights, fusses, and loves.

Harriet Klausner

This is the 2nd Bombshell book I've read written in the 1st person, and I LOVED it! Trust me, it really helps when it comes to the suspense.

This book is action-packed (the kind that keeps you up all night cause you can't put it down) witty, engaging, suspenseful, and enough to make me impatient for her sequel! A definite keeper.

Medical Cure is a great romance, an adventure full of suspense, with accurate medical cases and gunshot wounds. You have it all. A story so different from anything I read before. And what a sensual tension. Simply beautiful. With the right word to characterize the action, Olivia Gates's writing style is unique. At times it flows like a poem, at others it's down to earth and funny. I got attached to her characters, the dynamic Calista, and Damien the alpha hero I fell in love with. I sympathized with their problems and conflicts, and was delighted when they exchanged their "I love you" at the happy ending of this book.

"Let me explain my work ethic to you. I don't do things I feel are morally wrong. But sometimes my moral code strays from the norm. Sometimes my moral code is inconsistent with the law. Much of what I do is in that gray area just beyond entirely legal." Ranger, High Five by Janet Evanovich.

For me, that sentence from another favourite book sums up Calista St James - kick ass heroine of Olivia Gates' debut Bombshell, Strong Medicine - perfectly. It was the "hook" that dragged me into the story - knowing that Cali (I love the way Ayesha shortens Calista's name!) has been shaped in some way by something that has happened in her past.

The prologue shows what I thought was "the" incident that shaped Calista but it turns out I was wrong. The real reason this tough as nails heroine is like is she is revealed later in the book. Much later. I don't want to spoil it. You'll have to read it to find out and understand. It's tough stuff.

In fact this book is full of tough stuff and I really felt for Olivia Gates. How did she feel when she was writing it? How did she feel when she finished it? It's also intense, but then all of Olivia's books are and that's what I like about them.

I know what she did like - De Luna, another kick ass character in the book! The Ranger quote also sums up De Luna. I can't call him by his first name - Damian - because I like the forceful way his name sounds when Calista says it. De Luna. It sounds so yummy! And believe me, De Luna is yummy! He's also a bit of an ass but then he has to be to survive and I'll forgive him for it.

I started Strong Medicine only intending to read the first three chapters because I was short on time. Eight chapters later...I don't want to spoil it for anyone so only the author herself will get to see the next paragraph of the bits that hit my buttons!

I'll skip to the end now. No, I'm not giving the ending away! I simply want to say that I am already dying to read the next Calista St James adventure. It surely was an adventure. I was there through the ups and downs. I want more!

Olivia Gates has made a perfect transition from M&B Medicals to Silhouette Bombshell with yet another "keeper" book.

Calista St James is faced with reliving a painful episode in her past and trying to figure out which man from her past she can and should trust. All this takes place in a pressure cooker environment of trying to get hostages out of a militant-controlled territory deep in Russia. Will she make the right decisions at the most critical moment?

Powerful. Suspenseful. Exciting. Edge-of-the-seat-frightening at times. Intense. This is an amazing read that is so not the "Harlequin promise." But that is not a bad thing--this is an excellent story of intrigue, passion, good versus evil in a single title vein. There is romance, but it is not central to the plot and for a publisher that sells ROMANCE this line was not destined to survive. I can understand why fans of this line are disappointed it didn't survive--these are readers that are looking for a different reading experience. Fortunately there are other publishers publishing plot driven stories. If Gates wants to continue writing this type of story, I'm sure her complex, plot driven thrillers would find a home with one of them; however I would hate to see her leave romance behind. Gates it is multi-talented woman and a multi-talented writer.

I'm so excited that Olivia Gates' STRONG MEDICINE is available in e-book format. This Bombshell is fantastic and has more twists and turns than Lombard Street. Hang on; it's a hot and wild ride!

Danger, passion, and intrigue prevail in this fast-paced, meaty book but they never overshadow the undeniable attraction between Dr. Calista St. James and Agent Damian DeLuna. They go head to head, toe to toe, and even fight together back to back, each falling more and more in love with the other while trying hard not to.

In STRONG MEDICINE, the heroine is indeed very strong! She's a kick-ass doctor who not only knows how to save lives, but how to end them! Let's just say she blows a mean poisonous dart.

Those darts come in very handy while we visit Calista's mind as she braves Russian refugee camps in order to rescue her former lover. But things aren't what they seem, and she finds herself torn between the past love of her youth and the man who is her match physically, verbally, and sexually.

While every Gates book is infused with insightful, intelligent, truthful humor, the witty and insightful inner musing of our heroine caught me off guard several times. I actually had to put it down to laugh out loud! And believe me, when you're reading a Gates novel, putting it down is a difficult thing to do!

True to Olivia Gates' style, her point of view is so deep and richly insightful that the character's perspective will make you feel as if you are right in the thick of all the action.
Get this book and take cover while the fireworks ignite!