Deception Island

November 30, 2015
Kelly’s debut novel unites an unwilling kidnapper and his unlikely victim in an unusual romance. Holly Ryan is enjoying being paid to impersonate Laura Hyland, a wealthy U.S. senator’s daughter, while sailing near the coast of Indonesia. Then she is abducted by someone who believes she is Laura. French Foreign Legion officer Rafael Angelito was forced to kidnap Laura in order to obtain the ransom money he needs to rescue his stolen son. As Rafe and Holly end up on a secluded tropical island meant for honeymooners, Holly can’t help her attraction to her handsome captor despite her mistrust of him. When Rafe learns Holly’s identity and reveals some hidden truths about himself, Holly starts to realize that under the battle-hardened exterior lies a man whom she has come to care about. Nonstop action and romantic tension sizzle, and readers will eagerly follow Rafe and Holly’s quest to discover whether they can elude their pursuers and build a future together.

Starred review from June 15, 2016

French Legionnaire Rafe Angelito would do anything to get his young son back from the villains who took him--even kidnap Laura Hyland, the spoiled daughter of a powerful American senator. But when he learns to his horror that he's kidnapped instead Laura's double, Holly Ryan--and the real Laura has been "rescued"--the situation devolves into an even deadlier game of deception and betrayal as Rafe and Holly must learn to trust each other if their plans have any hope of succeeding. On a remote tropical island, a desperate father and a streetwise heroine who's living a lie struggle to save themselves and a young boy--and stay alive in the process. VERDICT A taut romantic thriller readers won't want to put down. Debut author Kelly lives on New Zealand's North Island.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2016
Rafe Angelito is blackmailed into abducting the daughter of an American senator while his son is held hostage. Now an honorable French legionnaire, Rafe was trained since age nine as an assassin and he still struggles with the violent past he thought he'd overcome. Con artist Holly has managed to secure a decoy gig, cavorting on a yacht while posing as Laura, the senator's daughter. Being a body double in such luxurious circumstances is luscious fun until she is kidnapped by sexy, intense Jack. Soon Rafe and Holly are forced to reveal their true identities and work together to fight off pirates and Gabriel, the man holding Rafe's son. Vivid and unrelenting action and dangerKelly comes up with a crazy number of predicaments and escapes, keep the pages turning, while the growing feelings between Holly and Rafe, two masters of deception, heighten the suspense. At once wildly improbable and thoroughly enjoyable, this tale of peril and loveNew Zealand journalist and writer Kelly's debut romance novel and a Golden Heart finalistwill delight fans of M. L. Buchman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)