Author: Tiffany Snow
Genre: Romance
Published on: October 4, 2016 by Montlake Romance
This book caught my interest because I’m a fan of the author’s Kathleen Turner series. The synopsis sounded compelling, so I bought a copy. Follow Me is the first book of the Corrupted Hearts series. The protagonist is China Mack, an extremely gifted programmer in her early twenties. She works for Cysnet, a tech company that apparently–according to China–runs circles around Apple. They hired China straight out of school because of how smart and talented she is. By now, she’s established a comfortable routine. And yes, China lives alone–for now.
China’s life changes when Jackson Cooper, Cysnet’s CEO himself, gives her an important assignment. The job’s a government contract, highly classified…and potentially dangerous. Jackson selected China because she’s the only employee at Cysnet with a particular skill. China, being shy and modest, downplays it as if it were as common as knowing HTML. Jackson seems to take it in stride, thinking nothing of China’s awkwardness. I think he might even find her endearing. China struggles to make a good impression, even though she might not need to try too hard. The thing that Jackson values most in China is her intelligence.
As a character, China is very different from Kathleen Turner. For starters, China is really lousy at social interaction. She can lead a team at work, but in more casual settings, China is all but hopeless. And she’s also super OCD. She has a meticulously planned daily routine; ergo she is not good with change. All these traits made me suspect China is on the autism spectrum, but it’s never even implied. Anyway, China is also a serious fandom geek. She owns a large collection of movie and TV character shirts. But what impressed me most was that China owns a legit life-size Iron Man suit. I’m a big fan of superhero movies, so I really envy China that piece. Pity that the thing costs as much as a car.
Very soon, China is going to have to start getting used to change. Not only will her new project pretty much upend her life. China’s sixteen-year-old-niece, Mia, also shows up for an impromptu extended visit. China can’t keep a goldfish alive, so she wonders how she’ll manage to look after the girl. And Mia isn’t the only new person in China’s life now. She gets a new neighbor, a guy named Clark. China finds him super handsome and thinks he looks like Clark Kent, which I found funny. What are the odds? Clark quickly inserts himself into China’s social circle, which she doesn’t mind at all. Awkward as she is, China never would have thought she had a chance with men like Clark.
It’s not long after China starts the top-secret project that she runs into danger. There are people who know about the project, and who have some vested interest in it. The way the team’s running the project is also sensitive. As the overseer, though, China has access to the whole…perspective. And what she sees is concerning. But like the synopsis mentions, her team members start dying one at a time. It might be lucky that China’s relationship with Jackson grows quickly. Oh yeah, that’s one thing that I found a little unrealistic and a lot convenient. Jackson and China fall for each other a bit quickly. But after thinking it over, maybe it’s not so strange. Both are extremely smart, pretty much all Jackson has that China is lacking is money and social-interaction ability. The action scenes also get turned up several notches by the time the story ends. In the end, I found Follow Me an enjoyable and thrilling read. I’m definitely going to continue the series to find out what’s next for China Mack.
My rating: ★★★★
4 stars - Definitely enjoyed it!
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