Review of Center Mass (Code 11-KPD Swat #1) by Lani Lynn Vale

Luke Roberts came to the small lazy town of Kilgore, Texas with one thing on his mind: Forgetting. He wanted to forget why he left. Forget those emerald green eyes that haunted his dreams. And forget how it felt to have his heart ripped out of his chest by a woman who didn’t like the fact that he had a child. It was something he’d been doing a damn fine job of doing, too. Until Reese smashed through every one of his defenses, and made him feel again.

Reese Doherty was just trying to do the best for her little girl. So she moved to the little boomtown nearly an hour from where she grew up to be the school nurse for Kilgore’s littlest people. That’s where she met him. The SWAT officer and the man that would change her life forever. The sexy man who liked to drive fast, and live life like it should be lived. He drove her crazy, and became something she could barely live without.
But Luke was a hero. A man used to risking his life to make the world a safer place. Something Reese had to decide whether she could handle or not. Preferably before her and her daughter became too attached.

Just when she’s ready to give him her whole heart, her world takes a huge hit, and everything she thought she knew wasn’t as it seemed.

Luke wasn’t a quitter, though. Damn far from it, and he’d prove to her that he’d be there when the dust settled. Whether she wanted him to be or not. 

Overall Rating:  4.5 Rockin’ ★★★★☆

What is hotter than a badass alpha male that is also a SWAT Team Leader that likes to drive muscle cars?  A man that puts family and the safety of those under his care before anything else, that’s what!  In Lani Lynn Vale’s Center Mass, book one in her Code 11-KPD Swat Series we meet the first male that meets this description, Luke Robert.  Ms. Vale creates a world within a world with her newest series. This is a world of dedicated law enforcement officers that put their lives on the line every day, not for the pay or the glory but to protect and serve their fellow man.  This is Reese Doherty and Luke Roberts’ story.

Single mom, Reese Doherty has just moved to Kilgore and accepted a job as a school nurse.  It is a perfect situation for Reese since she will be at the same school her little girl goes to.  Leaving behind her family was not an easy decision, but the right one for her daughter.  Her first solo patient was stung by a bee at P.E. and is having an allergic reaction to it.  When the child’s father arrives she comes face to face with a man she will not be able to forget easily, Luke Roberts. He is big, bad and makes her heart beat faster.  

Luke had more on his plate than he can handle at times.  Not only is he a law enforcement officer, but also the acting assistant police chief and the team leader for the town’s SWAT unit. When you add in his being a single father it does not leave much time to find and date someone.  So when he responds to a call from his daughter’s school about an emergency concerning her, he is not expecting to meet Reece, the school nurse.   Even when everything is taken care of and his daughter is O.K., Luke cannot forget the gorgeous sexy nurse.  He is positive that they will get to know each other up close and personal.  Fate seems to be throwing them together in the most unexpected ways.  

The characters in this book are real and their problems could be yours or your neighbor next door.  The setting could be anywhere USA and the situations encountered are filled with drama, mystery and sizzling heat.  This is a fantastic read for anyone that enjoys good triumphing over evil and true love finding its HEA!  Great addition to my growing collection of Ms. Vale’s work. 

Buy Links:  Amazon US/Barnes and Noble