Never Say Never (Callahan Brothers, #2) in Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn

Oct 11, 2008 Christa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booksfree-com

I liked this second Callahan Brothers book as much as the first. All three of the brothers are great hero material, and I enjoyed reading Matt's story in this book. Matt was an appealing hero, and I found his only drawback to be his inability in the beginning to look past his distate for the heroine's career and see all of the good aspects of her character. The heroine, Torie Bradshaw, was a generally decent person who was loving and sweet - even though her chosen career brought her disdain and I liked this second Callahan Brothers book as much as the first. All three of the brothers are great hero material, and I enjoyed reading Matt's story in this book. Matt was an appealing hero, and I found his only drawback to be his inability in the beginning to look past his distate for the heroine's career and see all of the good aspects of her character. The heroine, Torie Bradshaw, was a generally decent person who was loving and sweet - even though her chosen career brought her disdain and a lack of respect. The heroine did have a couple of TSTL moments toward the beginning of the book, one of which greatly increased Matt's contempt towards her. I enjoyed seeing Matt come to not only desire, but to truly like the heroine. I enjoyed both the storyline and the characters in this book, and I eagerly look forward to reading Mark Callahan's story.

When Torie Bradshaw takes the opportunity to film her future brother in law in the arms of another woman, the last thing she expects is to find herself filming his death. Alone, and on the run from the murderers in a tropical island rain forest, Torie is rescued by an intelligent, gorgeous, James Bond type. Even in their dire situation, Torie and Matt Callahan are immediately and strongly attracted to one another. Their plans for a future date are derailed when Matt finds that he has not rescued Helen Bradshaw, but her "Evil Twin." Matt hates everything he has heard about Torie Bradshaw, and an incident occurs upon departing the island that extremely intensifies his negative opinion of her.

Torie Bradshaw was hurt when Matt turned against her as soon as he learned her real identity. She very much regrets that her actions during a moment of folly resulted in consequences with a detrimental effect on Matthew. Torie regarded Matt as a daring hero whom she truly liked, so when she realizes her life is in danger a year and a half later, she goes straight to him for protection. Matt's contempt for Torie causes him to immediately refuse her reqeuest for help. After sending her away, guilt sets in, and a few phone calls confirm her story of a stalker. Matt wants nothing to do with Torie, but he decides to find a bodyguard and an investigator for her while not getting involved himself. With all set for Torie to leave town on the day following her arrival, Matt finds himself unable to deny his overwhelming but unwelcome attraction to Torie, and spends a passionate night with her. The next day finds him anxious for her departure, but everything changes when Torie's stalker brings harm to Matt's family. Matt calls his brothers to his home and shelters Torie there. Torie reveals her feelings for Matt, and they continue their intimate relationship. While Matt and his brothers work to find Torie's stalker, Matt must come to terms with his deepening feelings for Torie and decide if he can get past his revulsion over her career. As events escalate and the stalker appears, Torie and Matt also have to contend with what Torie sees as a terrible betrayal by Matt.

Never Say Never was a very good romantic suspense book. It had appealing characters and a good story. I enjoyed reading about the Callahan family again, and I look forward to Mark's story. I hope to see some acceptance and peace brought to the extremely troubled relationship between the brothers, especially Mark, and their father. So far, this has been a very enjoyable series.
...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2009 Shawna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hero-abused-scarred-tortured-angst, contemporary-romance, stalker-alert, reunions-are-sweeter-second-chances, brothers-sisters-cousins-family, humorous-at-times-or-fluffy-fun, animals-matter, cop-bodyguard-govop-merc-military, favorites, 5-stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 5 stars – Romantic Suspense

This is another fun, sexy, exciting read in the Callahan Brothers romantic suspense series about three former hell-raiser bad-boy brothers (referred to as the “Holy Terrors of Texas”) who are now hard-edged military/security men/government agents.

Matt “Demon” Callahan, the oldest of the bad-boy siblings, meets Victoria “Torie” Bradshaw on a rescue mission in South America. He thinks it’s her brainy scientist twin sister Helen that he’s saving, and so he’s not too ecsta 5 stars – Romantic Suspense

This is another fun, sexy, exciting read in the Callahan Brothers romantic suspense series about three former hell-raiser bad-boy brothers (referred to as the “Holy Terrors of Texas”) who are now hard-edged military/security men/government agents.

Matt “Demon” Callahan, the oldest of the bad-boy siblings, meets Victoria “Torie” Bradshaw on a rescue mission in South America. He thinks it’s her brainy scientist twin sister Helen that he’s saving, and so he’s not too ecstatic when he realizes that he’s actually rescued meddling paparazzi photographer Torie. Matt’s anger and frustration with Torie reaches fever pitch because of her deceit and the fact that he hates paparazzi, and yet he feels an unrelenting, combustible sexual attraction to her...even after she accidentally shoots him in the leg and ends his career as a CIA field agent! Hence, when a stalker threatens Torie and she shows up at Matt’s Texas ranch vineyard in her Mini Cooper, with her purse pet Gigi in tow, and firing her pink Glock gun at his SUV tires; he’s got no choice but to help her in order to get rid of her. But can he resist their high-octane, off-the-charts sexual chemistry?

There’s lots of humor in this book and several laugh-out-loud moments that had me rolling! I loved all the clever, witty James Bond references and nicknames (Torie’s got a major James Bond obsession).

Here are some of the funny nicknames for Matt’s character:
1. Demon
2. Agent Yummy Buns
3. Double-Oh-Jerkface
4. Double-Oh-Yeah

Here are some of the funny nicknames for Torie’s character:
1. Shutterbug
2. That Damned Woman
3. Evil Twin

I love this quote from the book (found on page 44):
“People liked to say that life wasn’t fair, but that simply didn’t go far enough. Sometimes, life was a Chuck Norris kick in the balls.”

I really enjoyed Never Say Never (very fitting title), with its great characters and the perfect mix of tension, suspense, steamy romance, and wacky hilarity. I give it 5 stars! ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2014 Ginny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved this book!

Matt Callahan has been sent to Soledad Island to confront Dr. Helen Bradshaw about her fiancé and finds her running for her life from gun toting terrorists. Rescuing her and getting her to safety he finds that it’s not Helen with him, but her “evil” twin Torie. Helen was off the island when Torie arrived to surprise her and thought she’d relax on the beach and take some pictures. Except the pictures she took were of Tori’s fiancé, on a boat with another woman, and then of him b ...more

Like · see review