After a gunman shot up a wedding sending his father into the hospital, Duff goes undercover to a well known gun smuggling ring to find the assassin behind it. Melanie knows there is something off about her family, but not sure what it is. She back and wants to find out what really happened to her father because everyone seems to be hushed about it. Both Duff and Melanie work together to find out what really happened and who is the assassin and will try to take down the ring together.

Overall I thought that this book was pretty good. I thought that there would be more action to it though. I did enjoy seeing Melanie and Duff work together and find the ties to their own reasons for this story. I enjoyed seeing the connection between the two. I loved that Melanie was the type of stand up and go with her gut when thing are suspicious even if it did end up landing her in trouble. Overall this was a pretty good book, it kept me hooked to the very end.

Necessary Action is an action-packed romantic suspense set in the Ozark mountains. Melanie Fiske has known little else other than life on her family's sprawling farm community, but even she can tell that something hinky is going on when people start turning up missing and nobody is allowed to leave without permission from her uncle. Who can you possibly trust when everyone you know might be in on whatever scheme is going on? Only a complete stranger.

Tom "Duff" Watson has personal reasons for going undercover as a security guard on the Fiske Family Farm - the smuggled weapons that were used to cause havoc at his sister's wedding and almost killed his grandfather came from there. He didn't count on falling for a curvy paramedic, the farm owner's niece no less.

This is an absorbing read with a very believable premise and two likable protagonists. Although it's the third in a series about the Watson family, there was enough set-up that I had no issue following along with the plot; it wasn't necessary to have read the previous books in the series. I enjoyed the book but found myself disappointed in a couple of areas; firstly, we never did get the backstory about Duff's previous undercover entanglement. It was mentioned a couple of times as the reason for his being gun-shy about relationships and then just ignored thereafter. I'd have liked to learn more.

Secondly, and this was a big one for me, the climactic confrontation between Duff and Silas was completely skipped over. One moment the villain of the piece is telling Melanie everything (because of course she is about to be disposed of) and literally the next paragraph we're in the hospital and everything is done and dusted.

It all happened so fast I got a case of reader whiplash... did I just skip a page, or three? I had to turn back to check, and then I felt pretty let down because the entire book had been leading up to that point. I feel like a whole scene was missing at a crucial moment.

While I enjoyed the read, and I'd enjoy reading more in the series, that missing climactic scene meant I finished the book feeling a bit flat. I'll give it four stars.

Secrets and deception are front and center as we head back into the world of the Watson family drama! Always great to see some familiar faces, and to delve into the next mystery awaiting them!

Kansas City detective Tom "Duff" Watson will stop at nothing to find the person responsible for playing games with his family. He's going undercover to try to uncover a gun smuggling ring in the mountains. He never expects to run across a gorgeous ally so easily!

Paramedic Melanie Fiske might be living on the Fiske Family Farm like her uncle expects, but she's not sure what's going on around her anymore. Secrets and lies are popping up more than ever before and she's started to suspect things are not as she's been told. When Tom almost immediately seems like a kindred spirit when he starts working there, she's nervous about trusting him at face value ... but he might be her only chance at finding out the truth around here!

As the prologue of the story goes from a sweet and sentimental moment to a full blown deadly action the hero Tom Duff Watson's different sides of personality and nature is shown to the reader in clear colors. He is a protective warrior, willing to go face to face with danger if someone is threatening his loved ones. Yet there's the charming, kind, considerate, a tender feeling sweet man inside there that had me sighing and swooning while watching him in action.
And Melanie Fiske was the perfect mate to Tom. Her life had been restricted at the compound and she had never experienced a romance or attraction yet there was the burning need inside her to get to know Tom better, to be close to him, to touch him. The passion between them was fierce and gentle at the same time, the chemistry was delightfully sizzling. They were friends who shared their secrets, sorrows, and aspirations, they were partners who had each other's back, they were lovers with a deep yearning and eagerness to please their mate. I absolutely adored them together, still smiling just thinking about them!

The Fiske community is based on a dictatorial fear that keeps the followers on line. Out of that fear, they will do what they are told to do, the seemingly picturesque life in their community is based on control and scare tactics. The knowledge that something sinister is behind the closed doors is building up the edgy dangerous feelings the suspense on the story is based on. The constant feeling that someone is watching your every movement, just waiting for you to fail a direct order or step out of line. That creepy kind of fear that gives you chills on your spine and goosebumps in your arms, that chill you can feel through the story as it unfolds and more deceit is revealed.

I enjoyed the author's voice and the effortless flow of the well-written tale. I could feel the enthusiasm and passion for telling the story, for the characters and their survival as well as for the HEA. That kind of energy and emotion transfers to the reader and adds to the indulgence of the tale.

A perfect mix of suspense and romance where the escalating danger and adoration are seamlessly twined together, where you are sighing and swooning one moment then holding your breath in fear in a flash of the threat.
~ Five Spoons!