Santana, a contract killer, and Brooklyn, a Tech company CEO, meet in Tokyo and their chemistry is undeniable. Later in New York, the killing of Brooklyn's best friend brings both women together again.

This book started great but after a few chapters kind of got a bit slow and boring form me. I expected a bit more intrigue and action, yet it was a bit more on the romance side. Not that I usually mind, but since I didn't feel engage t either character I grew bored. However, this might be the exact book someone else is looking for and will love.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a romantic suspense by Ms. Wallace. What readers will find is a story about a contract killer who wants to leave the profession and retire into a low-keyed existence. The killer is Santana Masters. At a young age she is forced into a life of crime. The killings of individuals are directed by a man who threatens to kill Santana’s mother if his orders are not obeyed. Santana is led to believe that if she conducts one more killing her debt will be dissolved.

The other main character is Brooklyn DiVincenzo, the CEO of a successful technology firm. She is the witness to the killing of her best friend Charlie, a top software developer in Brooklyn’s company. Brooklyn is in shock and turns to her new friend, Santana, for emotional support. They start to date and begin building a relationship that could lead to a life together.

I have read all of Ms. Wallace’s books. When I read the abstract of this book, I was excited to get a copy. Unfortunately, I found the plot slow in its development. At times I was trying to will the plot to move faster. When reading a good suspense novel, I feel as though I can’t wait to turn the page to find out what will happen next. I did not experience this enough in Heart of a Killer.

I liked Santana’s character and felt sorry for her predicament. One would think a killer would be more heartless. Brooklyn’s character was believable. She was devastated by Charlie’s death and wanted to help the police find the killer. The romance between Santana and Brooklyn was well written with a nice buildup of their relationship.

This story was really two stories – the relationship between Santana and Brooklyn and the suspense of the killing. I thought the weaving of the two elements – suspense and romance – would have been more balanced. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

I rate this book a 3.25 out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is a page turner, but I expected more. All in all, this is a good read, and I'm glad to have read it, but also somehow didn't quite live up to what I really hoped it would be

More romance than suspense this book is unique...it's unique in the way the characters have met, in their professions, in their interactions...I did find a bit of the story lacking and just plain boring...there is very little suspense or mystery - while it's presented isn't developed. the characters fall a little flat as they don't have much depth to them, we know who and what they are but giving us a little more would have rounded out the story better. Not a bad read, just not an over the top great one either.

This is an okay read but I had hoped for more. An assassin, Santana, comes to the rescue of Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve and they find they have an immediate connection. Knowing they’ll probably never meet again they don’t even introduce themselves beyond some cute monikers. Brooklyn’s best friend dies and she finds she turns to the woman she barely knows for solace.

Lee Winter’s Requiem for Immortals spoilt me for this trope. While this a nice enough story I found I wasn’t invested in either character and didn’t really like Santana for most of the book. Their dialogue seemed stilted and didn’t have the spark of dynamic repartee. Santana has a dark profession as a contract killer and even if one is forced into it, there has to be some impact on one’s character to continuously take another’s life for money. Santana didn’t come across as being a well-rounded, complex character in this regard. Brooklyn’s behaviour didn’t mesh with who she was purported to be either.

Although they often implied how drawn and attracted to each other they were there wasn’t much chemistry. There was potential for an explosive story but instead it felt laboured. It’s not terrible and there are probably loads of people who will enjoy the concept without the gore. I needed it to be darker to be believable. Two and a half stars rounded up.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This is a romantic suspense that relies more on the romance than on the suspense portion of the book. When assassin Santana meets tech CEO Brooklyn in Tokyo, the sparks immediately fly. When Brooklyn's best friend is murdered in their office by a mysterious sniper, Santana feels the need to protect Brooklyn in the off chance her boss might also want Brooklyn dead. Santana gets ever closer to Brooklyn, but as their relationship progresses, Santana can't keep her true identity a secret for long. The biggest secret, however, is that Brooklyn's friend was Santana's target, and she refused the hit. Now Santana must protect Brooklyn and find away to earn her freedom from her ruthless boss.

I really wish that the book focused more on the suspense angle. All the elements are there. Santana's boss, her high profile mark, the mysterious shooter who was hired as backup without Santana's knowledge, and more. But instead, it actually turned out to be more of a generic romance with the backdrop being the big question of "Why was Brooklyn's friend murdered?" When the big reveal happened, even though I didn't see it coming, I couldn't find it in me to care. Which was sad because there's a lot in here to like - specifically Santana's and Brooklyn's connection, and Santana's actual job.

This was a romantic suspense novel that struggled with juggling all of its story elements at times, even with its core strength being the relationship between the two leading ladies. I was invested in seeing their relationship succeed even if the suspense portions of the book were not as well built. I'd say give it a go if you're a fan of the author and steamy sex scenes, but don't expect too much from the thriller/ suspense portions of the story.

This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Yolanda Wallace is a good writer and this book was well written as I've come to expect from her. The storyline was engaging, the mystery was intriguing and I liked the fact that the author was brave enough to start things off with a gruesome murder involving some of the central characters. However, some aspects didn't feel believable (like Santana being able to poison a well-guarded warlord so easily, Brooke and her family forgiving her so quickly, Santana getting away with betraying her former boss). The two leads were likable enough but I struggled to feel the chemistry and thought Brooke got over the death of her close friend a little too quickly.

This was a promising action thriller, but it turned out to be actually more romance than action. Which, of course, is fine, but I personally was expecting more action in it, considering Santana's profession and the plot. I was very fond of Brooklyn character, and their chemistry was pretty ok.
It was a very nice read... Not as tense as I expected to be, but a nice one nevertheless. 3.5 stars.

Brooklyn DiVincenzo is the CEO of her own tech company which is on the upward trajectory. On a business trip in Tokyo, she is saved from unwelcome attention by an attractive mystery woman. They spend the evening together without exchanging their real names, but Brooklyn gives the woman her number (though not her name). Brooklyn’s mystery woman is Santana Masters, a contract killer. Santana’s next job is in Brooklyn’s hometown, New York. Santana isn’t able to pull the trigger, but someone else does and only then does Santana realise that the mark was Brooklyn’s friend and business partner, Charlie. Santana is determined to find out who pulled the trigger, who floated the contract and above all, she’s determined to keep Brooklyn safe.

We loved the fact that the MCs didn’t spend time fighting their attraction. It was refreshing to read a flowing romance between them. The angst came more from their circumstances than from the women holding themselves back. We could’ve so done without Santana breaking someone’s heart in Iceland. It was completely unnecessary. Also, while we loved the romance, we feel that the intrigue could’ve been way tighter. Santana’s back story and the almost indentured nature of her association with her ‘handler’ wasn’t too convincing. When the crime was solved, the reason for the contract on Charlie actually has us question why Charlie when the more obvious choice would’ve been Brooklyn?

However, we are saps for romance and this is more romance than anything else – so unsurprisingly, we enjoyed it. We loved Brooklyn and were pretty okay with Santana.

I really enjoyed this book. Unique plot. Good action, good romance.

Santana is an assassin looking to pay off her debt to a tech mogul/crime boss, but the finish line keeps moving and she comes to realize there may be no way out. Brooklyn is CEO of a tech company (hooray for women in STEM!) who has her company on the brink of breaking big. That is, until, her best friend and right-had woman is assassinated in their office. Suddenly a chance meeting between these two women turns into something more as Santana seeks to find out the truth behind the hit and Brooklyn looks for solace in a woman who is more than she appears.

The concept of this book was great, and I loved everything that I read, however it was too short. This book could have been extended. More detail on being out of country more about their budding romance, just more.

My review of Heart of a Killer by Yolanda Wallace is going to be a mixed bag. There were some elements of the story that I really enjoyed. There were others that made me go ‘hmm’. There were a few elements that just did not work for me at all.

The story is a mystery and intrigue/romance tale about Santana Masters and Brooklyn DiVincenzo. Santana is a contract killer and has been for a good many years. She lives a solitary life, moving from one assignment to another, and staying far away from emotional entanglements. That works for Santana until the night she meets Brooklyn one New Year’s Eve.

Brooklyn is the owner and CEO of a thriving tech company. She is devastated when she witnesses the murder of her best friend Charlie. Instead of turning to her family and friends in her grief, though, she looks to Santana, the woman she met at a New Year’s party. The attraction she felt that night was electric, but Santana is secretive and mysterious. Brooklyn’s decision to trust Santana could end up costing her a lot more than just her heart.

I enjoyed reading the romance part of this story. It is well done with the two main characters who had obvious chemistry. The flow of the romance is good with just the right amount of angst where it is needed.
I had problems with the mystery and intrigue part of the tale. First, the character of Santana did not feel like an assassin to me. She supposedly has been killing people at least half of her life even if she does so reluctantly, and was trained from an early age to do this. A person from that background should be much harder, more cynical and jaded than Santana seems in the story. I had trouble seeing her in the role she is assigned in the story. The intrigue part of the book just did not feel real to me. It just didn’t work.

I’m glad I read this novel for the romance in the story, and if this had been just a romance, my rating would have been higher. Ms. Wallace is an accomplished writer, and I will be looking for more of her works to read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections:
https://rainbowreflections.home.blog/

This is an intriguing story about an assassin, Santana, who, seemingly by chance, meets with a woman, Brooklyn, at the head of a tech company in Tokyo. They both form a connection and when Santana is sent to kill Brooklyn's best friend and right-hand in her company their paths cross again. What follows is a romance between 2 strong women where one is holding back and hiding her 'work' and another that is willing to trust despite some seed of doubts until the truth comes out.

I liked the story line and the characters, even though some little things (like why does Brooklyn think her family is dysfunctional?) make no sense to me. At some points the drama/angst seems forced and not natural.
All in all I can say Yolanda Wallace is a good writer with nicely flowing dialogue, good characters and she delivers a book you can curl up with and enjoy.

Intrigue. Suspense. Sexy killer for hire. Romance. Appealing combination. The potential was there for a whodunit sexy thriller. On point to some extent. I determined whodunit too soon and that left me focusing on the relationship/romance which was the main attraction in my opinion. Santana Masters, living on the edge while protecting her family. Brooklyn DiVincenzo, successful business women looking to make her company even stronger. Santana and Brooklyn are likable characters and very hot together. Although Santana is a killer for hire, she has her reason and that does not make the killing okay but it helps the reader understand why she is doing what she is doing. Brooklyn has her work friends and family that she shares with as needed. Santana has...? While reading, I thought what would or could you forgive in another person? I also thought about the value of comments friends make when you are pursuing a relationship with someone.

This is part of a multi-book review.

Heart of a Killer is a light romantic intrigue that has all the right elements – super hot assassin with an angsty backstory, smart and successful tech CEO (also pretty hot), murder, betrayal, double dealings, suspense. Unfortunately, it just didn’t seem to go deep enough to deliver the heart-stopping, action-packed read I was hoping for.

Two women meet randomly at a rooftop bar in Tokyo on New Years Eve, innocently flirting over drinks and only using the names TDH and Olaf (omigod, that made me laugh when the geeky CEO has to come up with a name for herself and picks a Disney character). They part with Olaf giving TDH a kiss on the cheek and an inviting her to call if she’s ever in New York. Not long after, TDH, aka Santana Masters, is perched on a rooftop in New York with her latest target in her rifle scope. She hesitates and someone else takes the shot, killing the young woman in the office across the street. When Santana looks through the scope again she sees Olaf entering the room and finding the body. And so begins the intrigue – who took the shot, why was Brooklyn’s (aka Olaf) best friend and employee the target and is someone targeting Santana and Brooklyn. Santana inserts herself into Brooklyn’s life, under the alias of Vilma Bautista the venture capitalist with money to burn, to find out the answers and ensure that Brooklyn isn’t next.

The romance works better than the intrigue – with a nice burn between the two that quickly heats up. You can see the conflict coming though with Santana being an assassin (who was just a hairsbreadth away from killing Brooke’s bff) and then the whole alias thing. The intrigue and action didn’t quite hit the mark for me – things weren’t really delved into and it just felt pretty superficial and I figured out who contracted the killing and why pretty much from the start. Secretly, I was hoping for a complete revenge bloodbath, especially as Santana is a kick ass assassin who has been pushed too far, but maybe I watch too many movies.

If you’re looking for a fairly light read with more focus on romance than intrigue this may be a good one to try.

Netgally Review:

I enjoyed the moral complications of an assassin and someone, let's say, "affected" by an assassination. I thought the characters were fine but they did not have the mystery or intrigue that I wanted from this exotic plot. I would read more from this author in the future.

Weirdly, this is the second assassin/contract killer lesfic novel I've read in the past couple of months. So, I was a little wary that it would be the same story. It wasn't, it was definitely different and intriguing.

Santana is a contract killer, but, it's not by choice, not by a long shot. And, when she gets a job that she can't quite go through with, well, that throws her entire life into quite a bit of chaos.

Brooklyn is a tech company CEO, and her best friend Charlie is the target of said hit that Santana can't complete, but, unfortunately, gets completed anyway.

Santana should just go on with her life (she previously met with Brooklyn in Tokyo and they have a cool little scene). Instead, she goes against what her brain is telling her to do, and starts getting closer to Brooklyn. But, I mean... she's a killer, and nearly killed Brooklyn's best friend... where can this relationship go really?

This was one of the most tightly written novels that I've read in years, decades maybe.

Everything that happened from the first word to the last had a point in the story. No hanging chads at all in this novel, and that made me love the book even more. So few books these days in any genre from 'literature' to 'mystery' to 'lesfic' is so tightly written. It seems to be how books are written now, looser, but, this one... wow.

And, it made for a great read too (not just technically). I wasn't really sure what was going to happen as the end drew near.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

4.5 stars. I really liked this book. It had a good balance of intrigue and mystery along with romance and angst. The ending was suprising and unexpected. The storyline was well written and the characters were rich in detail, especially the parents. This book is a guaranteed reread for me and a definite recommend.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 Stars. This was a slightly above average read that made a better romance than intrigue/mystery book. I’m a Wallace fan and have read almost all of her books. I’m not sure what it is but I have not been in love with her newer books. This book was perfectly fine and a nice read, but I wanted more than nice. I wanted that Wallace magic that I’m used to from books like Murphy's Law and The War Within.

Besides the fact that Wallace is still an automatic read for me, I picked this book up because of the assassin storyline. I can’t help but like reading about a morally gray character. I love a real badass who still has a good heart so I thought this book would be right up my alley. Maybe I watch too much ‘Killing Eve’ or maybe I compared this too much to Requiem for Immortals, but the contract killer named Santana wasn’t badass enough for me. While I actually liked her character, she wasn’t ruthless enough for someone who has been killing for twenty years. There were multiple times I said “oh this guy is really going to get it” or “Santana is going to take care of him” but that didn’t happen. I just felt the sudden change in Santana was not only unrealistic, but also just not very fun.

There is a slight mystery in this book. Someone is killed so Santana, the other main character named Brooklyn, and the police are trying to figure it out. I love some mystery in my books but the problem was this one was really predictable. And I mean really predictable because you as a reader will figure it out before you even get a quarter of the way through the book. That is just way too early and it took away the fun of the mystery for me.

The best part of the book was the romance. While I had trouble picturing Santana as a killer, I liked her personality and how it fit with the other main Brooklyn. The chemistry is not off the wall or anything, but it is there and I was hoping for a happily ever after. I hate to say this as someone who enjoys intrigue and mystery, but I think I would have enjoyed this book more as just a romance.

Lastly, I just have to point out whoever gave Wallace some bass fishing info didn’t do the best job. In the book they catch a bass that is supposed to be over 10 pounds and act like they need to catch more fish for dinner to feed only four people. People don’t eat pounds of fish in one meal. That one fish is enough to feed them multiple times. Not only the meal thing but a 5 pound bass is this giant tank of a fish anyone would be extremely proud of. Over 10 pounds is record breaking. For instance in my state of Vermont (which has good bass fishing) the biggest largemouth bass ever caught was 10 pounds 4 ounces in the year 1988. There are a bunch of states that have never even had a 10 pound bass caught in the history of fishing records. So for the characters to catch a bass over 10 pounds like it happens every day is just not real. I know I probably just put some people to sleep here and I’m sorry. But I like to fish and it drives me nuts when something so easy to check in a few minutes online, is wrong in a book.

This was a perfectly nice read but not the Wallace magic I was hoping for. If you go into this more for the romance than the intrigue, I think you might enjoy this more. I’m not giving up on Wallace and I’m keeping my fingers crossed her next is a winner.

From the blurb, this is a romantic intrigue that should be full of action, suspense and thrills. All the elements are there but it just didn't go deep enough into any of them to elevate the wow factor I was expecting.

Santana Masters, a reluctant assassin, is close to paying off a debt to her mysterious employer and finally being free. When she hesitates for a moment, her latest assignment is shot by a unseen second shooter and the innocent bystander who finds the body is the woman Santana had flirted with on New Years Eve. Who took the shot, why was Brooklyn' DiVincenzo's best friend the target for assassination and is Brooklyn in danger. Santana inserts herself into Brooklyn's life is Brooklyn and the initial attraction from New Years Eve grows despite the fact that Santana can't tel Brooklyn who and what she really is.

There's lots to work with and lots of threads to follow but the focus is on the whirlwind romance between Santana and Brooklyn which has a fair amount of smoldering passion. Other subplots and questions really don't get addressed in sufficient detail to capture the tension and suspense of an intrigue and, despite the focus on the romance, I wasn't as engaged in the building relationship as I thought I would be.

I'll put this one down as a miss for me.