Rocco Easton is an ex-SEAL and had gone through a lot of rigorous training in order to be one of the elite team members. A lot of his orders that he went through were very difficult and dangerous, but none of them were as dangerous as what he was going through right now. He went undercover as a model in a sex class to get close to the woman that he thought stole a luxury car from his dad’s car dealership. However, his investigation shows that the woman he was investigating wasn’t the woman that he was looking for. This is good news for him but bad news for Jessica Winslow because the thief looks and acts just like Jessica. As a SEAL he was trained to protect the innocent and that’s what he’s going to do. Protect Jessica and find out why someone else is trying to take over her life to the point that they try to pass themselves off to other people as her.

When Rocco walked into the room as her live model Jessica didn’t know if she would be able to do the massage therapy that she was supposed to show her class members or not. This man was so delicious to look at that for a moment all of her training flew right out of her head. Because of a date rape that happened when she was only seventeen she had not been able to form a close connection to a man, but with Rocco the connection was there. She is furious with him when she finds that he thought she stole the car but when the real culprit is revealed she knows that she needs him to protect her. Will they be able to protect Jessica from this woman or will Rocco’s entire training do him any good for a woman that he has come to care for so very much?

Joanne Rock once again weaves a masterful suspense story and this one may hit close to home with identity theft being such a horrible crime in today’s news. As I read the story I kept thinking that could have happened to me, and it made the story come to life in a totally vivid sense. The characters in the book and the way that they came together to make the story line absolutely blew me away. There are persons from the past and from the present but if one person was absent then the story would not stay together like it did. Ms. Rock made that happen in this book. Even with the suspense story it was also a very sexy book as only a true romance author can make one. If you’re looking for an exciting romance read that is full of suspense then I suggest you pick up a copy of Up Close and Personal and you will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by: Missy