The idea of this book was a good one as described in the blurb. The issues that each story is only ten chapters; it's just not enough breathing room to fit a full thriller and romance with any depth or involvement with the plot or the characters. Repeat this with three couples, three separate storylines and it's doesn't really come together as a cohesive experience.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5* Has a very, very dated feel to it, and not all the tales segue perfectly. Blurb promises more than the tales deliver.

I think I made the mistake of seeing two fave authors' names here and deciding to ask for the ARC on that basis, not having read the blurb, which turned out to be quite a bit more than the book and individual tales delivered.

The Kat Martin one is first, with the Meri character. The tale is one that's been done before - a woman and her child trying to escape an ex go on the road and just happen to find a live-in job with a guy who's tough, ferrets out their secret and is willing to protect them. This was a really dated tale, like KM's books that I read some 20yrs ago. It's not a bad tale but we get told things, like Meri having a baby with a one-night stand who turned out to be the bad guy, her being taken in by another who dumped her immediately he seduced her, but we weren't in the tale at the times those events happened. The vocab dated the book; this was like reading an early 80s Silhouette Desire. The story took place over a matter of a couple of weeks, I think, and ended in a HEA that I couldn't see or believe in. 2.5*

The Rebecca Zanetti one is next, featuring Meri's friend Michelle. She's not really what I would have called lead material, as she was made out to be down on her luck, not a very strong character and drifting, rather than living. Yes, she, like Meri, had been in care but I'd have thought that that would have made her all the more determined to be more, do more. The romance was a non-starter for me, but, the leads had history and had been each other's first, so it ended with them together. 2*

The Alexandra Ivy was the best of the bunch, but again felt dated and not what I'm used to from her. Again the leads had history to make them work but we're given a backstory of the male lead getting engaged and his fiancee running off with his brother three weeks later, and now those guys are married and having a child, and yes, there's history with the female lead, but I couldn't see/didn't read where they were an item after the elopement, though logically they had to be. There was some danger that actually felt like danger, some believable bad guys but there were also TSTL moments (like taking someone to a safe place but not even thinking about turning off the phone to avoid their location being tracked by GPS), but the sex was straight out of... an 80s Silhouette Desire. 3*

Editing wasn't the greatest, as these tales were meant to be happening either entirely concurrently, or taking place with a couple of days' lapse, but there were inconsistencies.

Tbh, each of these tales would have been better fleshed out more and as standalones.

ARC courtesy of Kensington/Zebra and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.