A Lot Like Love (F.B.I. #2) Review

A Lot Like Love by Julie James is the second book in the F.B.I. series and by far has so much sarcastic humor that it's difficult not to have any LOL moments!

As the daughter of a billionaire and the owner of the city's top wine store, Jordan Rhodes is invited to the most exclusive parties in Chicago. But there's only one party the FBI wants to crash: the charity fundraiser of a famous restaurateur, who also happens to launder money for the mob. In exchange for her brother's release from prison, Jordan is going to be there—with a date supplied by the Bureau. As the top undercover agent in Chicago, Nick McCall has one rule: never get personal. This "date" with Jordan Rhodes is merely an assignment— one they're both determined to pull off even if they can't be together for five minutes before the sarcasm and sparks begin to fly. But when Nick's investigation is compromised, he and Jordan have no choice but to pretend they're a couple, and what starts out as a simple assignment begins to feel a lot like something more

I don't even know where to begin with this one because it was just....THAT GOOD!!  Jordan is awesome, she has one heck of a sarcastic, sassy mouth on her that had me laughing so hard my kids looked at me like I had a screw loose!  Her relationship with her brother, Kyle who was in prison for....LOL....hacking into twitter and shutting it down for two days, is too funny (kind of reminds me of how I interact with my brother, hmmm....Terry, I now have some awesome material should you ever find yourself incarcerated so consider yourself warned!).  Anyway, it's so obvious they love and adore each other but the sarcastic wit they throw at each other is quite comical!  

"I'm hardly perfect.  I'm just a lot better at not getting caught than you."  She took in their surroundings.  "Maybe I should've given you a few pointers."  Kyle nodded approvingly.  "Nice one."  "I have months and months worth of this material" Jordan said.

So Jordan loves her brother right?  I mean like A Lot!  The F.B.I. need more evidence to make this arrest  so Jordan is visited by two agents during a blizzard and carted down to their office to discuss her brother.  She ends up agreeing to help them out to get her brother out of prison. 

Nick had me in knots...he has this rugged sex appeal and he's just as quick witted as Jordan....Total match made in heaven ;).  Anyway, he was asked by his boss to assist on the case involving Jordan as more of a favor because of his undercover expertise.  He's simply supposed to be there more for advice purposes than anything and is told he would be finished in time to head home to New York for his Mom's birthday.  Unfortunately things don't go as planned and he ends up as Jordan's date the night of the party.

Here's where Nick and Jordan's 'relationship' starts to get interesting.....

He finds her sassy and beautiful and has to check himself on more than occasion because she simply "isn't his type".  She finds him annoying 95% of the time and has to bite her tongue on more than one occasion to keep from getting into a sarcasm smack down with him.

"Tell me something.  Are you trying to get a rise out of me, or does being this irritating come naturally to you?"  Nick's eyes flickered over her with amusement.  "I suppose I may be trying to annoy you a little."

So....Nick ends up as Jordan's date because the agent who was supposed to go with her got the stomach flu the day of the event.  They start off as totally fake but it's undeniable there is some chemistry between the two even as they discuss their "cover story"

"Our cover story is that my character has been smitten from the moment he met you.  He's not about to let another man get anywhere  near you."  "Your character sounds a little possessive.  Is this something my character should be worried about?"

They go to the event and Jordan gives Nick a quick lesson on wine tasting.  It's quite amusing how simply talking about wine and the steps of a wine tasting can sound so.....dirty ;)....It's even more amusing to see how intrigued Nick becomes while listening to Jordan talk about it

"Fine by me.  I'm as eager as the next guy to get to spit or swallow."

Nick gets his job done that night and Jordan is relieved she was able to pull off her part of the deal.  Now that she is finished with assisting the F.B.I. she's ready to move on to the part where her brother gets released from prison!  Too bad for her, the bad guy has this psychotic illusion Jordan is meant for him and is quite upset that she showed up to his even with another man when he planned on impressing her with his wine selection that was made just for her.  So the bad guy hires a P.I. to follow Nick to find out more about him and his relationship with Jordan.  Which means Nick and Jordan get to continue their fake relationship and the release of Kyle isn't going to happen as planned.  Jordan is none to pleased about this turn of events but plays along because she really wants to see her brother out of prison.  Funny thing is....now she is playing a bigger part in the operation and is starting to enjoy all the secret agent stuff

"Are you sure I don't need a code word or something?"  Jordan asked.  "Maybe we should have one just in case."

So they go about their ways throughout the week.  Jordan seems to be unlucky when it comes to this case working in her favor.  She has to keep what's going on from her brother and because the paper announced that she was at the Valentines Day event with "Mr. Tall, Dark, and Smoldering" she now has to lie to her friends and family about her relationship with Nick.

Things start to pick up between Nick and Jordan and they both start to question what they're feeling because this is a fake relationship after all.  After a nice evening alone together on what could be considered an "almost" date where an "almost" kiss happened at Jordan's doorstep, one of Nick's lovers shows up at Jordan's store to question her relationship with Nick.  After she leaves Jordan calls to tell Nick about it and they get into a little bit of a tiff about it because he feels the need to explain but she tells him she doesn't need any explanations.  Nick decided to go talk to her only to find her having a glass of wine with a man at her store.

Something inside Nick snapped.  That was his fake girlfriend in there.  Sitting at the table where they had just shared cheese friends the night before.  And if she thought she could throw scorching hot sex-looks to any pansy-ass scarf-boy who wandered into her shop, she has another thing coming.

Things changed.... their "fake" kinda became real....for both of them.  Nick was doing things he'd never even thought to do for another woman and Jordan was discovering there was more to Nick than she thought.  So they have a chat and Nick tells her she isn't going to get the same speech he has used with all the women before her so Jordan invites Nick to Napa Valley.

They have an amazing weekend in Napa together.....a HOT, amazing weekend ;).  Nick knows it's time to make a decision about what should happen as far as him and Jordan are concerned but he's realizing that his usual MO wasn't what he was wanting and started considering career changes but decided it was up to Jordan to make the next move. 

Jordan thought, because of his past situations it was up to Nick to make the next move and she gave him lots of opportunities but because their communication on this subject sucked they ended up parting ways with a  

"this was an incredible weekend but....."

Both are unhappy with this decision and after thinking about it for a while Jordan decides to call Nick to talk about what was going on between them.  He's convinced it's not meant to be and doesn't pick up but the tightness in his chest doesn't let up even after he should have been "over" her

And here's what freaked him out most:  if he was one of those sensitive, introspective types, he would say that the feelings he had for Jordan sure seemed a lot like love and he, Nick McCall, didn't do love.

So Jordan gets held at gun point by the bad guy and Nick comes to her rescue and it all gets all happy and cute after that

"You came into my life and messed the whole thing up and now I'm screwed.  Because I'm in love with you.  As in balls-out, head-over-heels, watching- Dancing with the Stars on Monday nights, wine-and-bubble-bath kind of love.  Hell, I think I'd even wear a scarf indoors for you."

 See....happy and cute!  Kyle confronts Jordan about her involvement of him getting out of prison and then confronts her about Nick and tries to tell her what to do about "Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sarcastic" so she lets him know she thinks Nick is a keeper.  But it's even pretty obvious to Kyle that Jordan and Nick are meant for each other... after all his first reaction to Nick is to note that he's just as sarcastic as Jordan!

A Lot Like Love was an absolute delight!  I enjoyed every bit of this book and recommend that you read it too!  Julie James has marvelous knack for sarcastic humor and had me laughing just about every chapter!  It's already found it's way onto my reread list and will remain there even if just for the sarcasm alone....but really the entire story was great.....the romance, while funny, was still sweet and had me cheering for a happily ever after!  Check it out, you won't be disappointed you did!

Happy Reading!