KatManBlue

Written by a man and narrated from a guy's point of view, this love story lets readers step inside a male mind and see how love looks from the other side. The moment Jack Blue locks eyes with Katerina Reyes, he is not simply charmed. A wave of feeling overturns everything he thought he knew. In his view, a man who finds a love like this has discovered two legendary treasures at once: the Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth.

Just as Jack steps into what seems like paradise, a corpse turns up carrying an inheritance grand enough to impress a sultan. Then Doctor Drusilla Libica, a guerrilla leader with a grudge who goes by the Raven, sweeps in, and her henchmen go after Jack's new fortune. People around him start vanishing, including friends, frauds, and a few who are some of both. When Kat is kidnapped, the stakes stop being about money or luck. Jack's world collapses, and his heart becomes a battlefield.

The love story is fought in the trenches. Jack recruits Dick's Dicks, a team of private investigators who have seen the worst life has to offer, along with his tech-savvy friend Mike Speed. Their goal is not to rescue a damsel in distress but to recover a piece of Jack's soul that has been stolen. Ransom money is demanded, paid, and then snatched again, as if everyone is playing a shell game with Jack's life. Just when things seem as bad as they can get, a government agent whom Jack believed was an ally reveals where his loyalties lie.

Jack goes into hiding in Barcelona's El Raval district, where an experienced madam becomes an unexpected guardian angel. Because Jack works in advertising, he knows how to turn a story into action. He mobilizes a crew of street kids and takes over the Catalonian Independence March. He then places a bounty on the Raven and sends the wives of her soldiers in as insiders against her, a clever campaign he calls a nag attack. He still has one more surprise in store.

This is not a typical romance or a light chick flick. It is a love story with brass knuckles, a story about love in a world gone mad. Fast and relentless, it moves like a roller coaster and ends when Jack decides to strike back with full force.