Review and Author Guest Post: Uneven Exchange by S.K. Derban

Uneven Exchange

Uneven Exchange by author S.K. Derban was a fun, fast-paced, novel that had me reading late into the night.   We have 33 year old Alexandra who is a successful business woman, but really wants something more out of life.  What she wants is a relationship with Jake Taylor, her business partner.  Jake has no clue to Alexandra’s feelings, and even though he is in love with her too, he has not acted and pretends to love his bachelor life.  So Alexandra deciding to move on receives an interesting proposition from the DEA.  They need her to go undercover in Mexico posing as a certain drug cartel’s sister.  She eerily resembles Daniela, so wanting a little adventure in her life she goes for it.  As she trains undercover telling no one, she has found an outlet for herself, and actually starts to really feel like Daniela.  Jake, on the other hand has no idea what is going on.

We meet a whole host of characters, especially getting to know the team that Alexandra works with.  We are also treated to all of their points of views which were really neat as we were given a fuller picture of what was going on, personally and professionally.  This is a high stakes game they are playing and the DEA has left out a few details themselves that Alexandra will soon find out about.  Filled with spies, danger, and threads of different romance stories, I am really hoping Mrs. Derban writes more with these characters as I would enjoy catching up with them.  I received a copy for an honest review from iRead Book Tours and the opinions are my own.

Now a few words from the Author:

Before Cancun was a bustling tourist destination, you could walk for miles along the white sandy beaches without seeing a soul. My husband and I had the pleasure of spending weeks at a time enjoying this jewel of Mexico. I remember standing on our hotel balcony and just gazing at the water. The different shades of both aquamarine and blue seemed to hold my vision captive. I knew this incredible setting must be used in one of my books.

My feelings continued as we rode on the water taxi from Cancun to Cozumel. Since both destinations were equally breathtaking, I decided to also use the setting of Cozumel in my story. As I wrote Uneven Exchange I vividly remembered walking along the many places I chose for Alexandra to walk.

One fun story was used for Armando and Conner when they rode the bus to town for dinner. One night while on holiday in Cancun, we decided to go into town for a delicious Mexican dinner. At this point in Cancun’s history, very few hotels dotted the shoreline, and it was not profitable for a taxi driver to wait around hoping for a fare. The fastest and most economical way into town was on the bus. Fortunately, we were told in advance about the requirement for exact change. Ready for our adventure with change in hand, we boarded the bus, and headed into town. As the bus rumbled along, we observed, and heard, other passengers pounding on the side of the metal bus wall when they wanted to get off. The bus driver immediately stopped upon hearing their signal. When our turn came, we both rushed to make our sound, and were promptly let off right in front of the restaurant door. How fun! (Yes, the meal was amazing!)