Deathblow (Broslin Creek #4) by Dana Marton - From the splash of the opening scene you’re taken on a ride of multiple plots in this latest in the Broslin Creek series. I think the author must love the challenge of not just writing two suspenseful plots in one book but adds a third to keep you on your reading toes throughout the book. She does such a fabulous job of making these things all look like they have nothing in common and leaves you wondering where on earth she is going with things but never fear by the end she pulls all those plot points together.

Joe Kessler is a police officer with Broslin PD but lately has been doing undercover work in the next county trying to bring down rival gangs. When he’s nearly killed and injured he’s given some time off. But a couple of things interfere with that. One is an old friend is found murdered.

Wendy Belle is in an abusive relationship with the father of her young son. When her friend Sophie Curtis (from Deathrap) shows up right as things are escalating again she agrees to go with Sophie back to Broslin. Wendy and Joe had a one night stand three months ago and haven’t seen each other since so when Joe is assigned to watch her these two have a lot to work out all while trying to keep Wendy safe from her ex, figure out who murdered Joe’s friend and try and stop a gang war from happening.

I appreciated that the author chose to write Wendy in all the stages of an abused woman. First in denial but clearly having the classic self image issues and thinking she deserved or must have done something to provoke the abuse to realizing she needed to make big changes in her life and figure out who she was and what she wanted to be.

Her Last Chance (Her #2) by Toni Anderson - LOVED this book.. You know you meet secondary characters in a book and they are so powerful that they almost over take that book and leave you really wanting their story. The author gave us that with this book and it was everything I’d hoped it be and more.

We met Marsh and Josie in Her Sanctuary (which I recommend reading before this one) and were left with huge unfinished business between these two. Both characters are so fascinating that you’re just drawn to them.

Josie Maxwell is a woman that has been through things that would have broken most women. She survived being carved up by a killer known as the Blade Hunter when she was small child. During this time her mother also left her and her father emotionally abused her until she ended up with a foster mother who showed her more love than she’d ever known in her life. She’s a bit of a chameleon with her emotions and in what she allows others to see. Now the Blade Hunter is back and is promising to finish what he started 18 years ago.

Marshall Hayes is a fairly straight and narrow FBI agent even though in the previous book he took some liberties with the law to make sure the heroine in that book stayed alive. This made him cross paths with Josie who is her best friend and during one night that was a combination of betrayal and also something else he realizes that Josie is probably the woman for him but his devotion to his job that stems from a tragedy in his own life made it impossible to see a future with her.

When the Blade Hunter makes an attempt on Josie’s life Marsh no longer stands on the sidelines. He will do everything within his power to protect Josie even if she wants nothing to do with him.

This book consisted of two mysteries that are weaved through the story along with the romance between Marsh and Josie. The killer was written with such brutality and obvious sickness that you were on the edge of your seat wondering what he was going to do next and who this person was that had a 18 year reign of killing women. From the opening scene I was turning the pages totally entranced in the story. I’ve loved all this authors books but at this moment this has to be my favorite.

Garrison's Creed (Titan Book 2) by Cristin Harber - Seeing the woman you loved but thought dead for 10 years in your sniper scope as your getting ready to take out a target is a bit of a surprise for Cash Garrison and his best friend and her brother Roman Hart. But it’s a heck of a way to start a book.

Cash and Roman work for Titan Group which is a private security firm hired by para-military operations in any country, law enforcement in conflict zones, hostage negotiation and rescue operations, warzone assistance, and high value target projects. They were hired to take out an international terrorist and get so much more than they bargained for.

Nicola is a kick-butt CIA spy and Cash is defiantly an Alpha male which always makes for good reading. There was plenty of intrigue and suspense that kept you turning the pages.

Pace is pretty fast and is has a full cast of characters that also include the FBI, ATF and CIA who Nicola works for. Nicola, her brother Roman and Cash all grew up together. In college Cash and Nicola fell in love but kept it to themselves due to not knowing how Roman would react. Nicola winds up in Witness Protection due to outing the Mob on some dirty dealings she found which resulted in her “death” to the world. Here is one of the biggest issues I had with the book – For 10 years she let her family and Cash think she was dead while she went on to end up working for the CIA. When Cash and Roman find her at their mark’s location and eventually take her back to a Titan safehouse Cash and Roman’s response to her being alive was believable but no one rushed to tell her parents that she was alive. I mean these poor people had grieved for their daughter all these years and even when she finally goes and see’s them its all hunky dory – we forgive you and that’s that.

There were quite a few things brushed over like that throughout the book but all the characters both primary and secondary were interesting enough to me that I want to read the next books in the series.

Danger Close (Bagram Special Ops #4) by Kaylea Cross - This author defiantly knows how to write military suspense with the bonus of a good romance. Erin Kelly who is an Army nurse stationed in Bagram briefly meets a man she is suspicious of who’s visiting a friend in the hospital. When she is paired with him in a transport to the airport for her two week leave home her life is irrecoverably changed when they are attacked at a border crossing.

Wade Sandberg had been deep undercover for 3 years acting as a terrorist right hand man. When he’s forced to blow his cover to save lives all his hard work is throw out the window. He’s being sent home and since he hasn’t been back to the states in over 4 years he is struggling with going back stateside. But the terrorist isn’t willing to let him leave alive.

Erin and Wade manage to survive the first strike and do end up back in the states but locked in a safe house until the government can catch or kill Rahim. But Rahim has an agenda that he isn’t going to let anyone deviate his plans for and he’s bringing it to the US.

I liked this story. Wade had been living and practicing the life of Muslin for the three years undercover so when he is back on American soil he struggles a bit with readjusting. Erin was a great heroine very supportive to Wade and always was strong and held her own while being shot at and blown up in a building.

Cruisin' For A SEAL (SEAL Brotherhood, #5) by Sharon Hamilton - A group of Seals meet up in Italy to go on a cruise to scatter and old friend’s ashes. One of those Seal is still hurting from losing a woman to cancer he had become attached to who was his friend sister. The night before leaving on the cruise Marc has a one night stand with a woman he is still thinking about even the next day.

Once on the ship Marc finds that his Sophie works on the ship and is also engaged. Its an arranged marriage and one she was willing to do for her family but now that she’s met Marc she begins to question that arrangement.

As this is the 5th book in the series and I have not read the others I didn’t know the other couples or any of the history’s of the single Seals that were on the trip. Further along in the book the ship is taken over by terrorist. Now as you can imagine since there is a large group of Seals on the ship they do their best to foils the terrorist plans.

At the Heart's Command (A Place Called Home, #2) by Patricia McLinn - Warning.. Two great children involved and one breaks your heart with why do men always leave. This series is written around a small town called Far Hills in Wyoming. One family’s saga has left them feeling they are cursed from a cruelty an ancestor did a long time ago. John Griffin Jr. and Ellyn Sinclair grew up together and were best friends. John secretly loved Ellyn but due to his father and family’s history he never though he would be the man she needed so instead he pushed her into his friend arms and was even their best man at the wedding. John went on to work his way up to Colonel in the Army trying to forget that his friend is living the life he has wanted to have. Even once Ellyn husband dies John still doesn’t go back thinking that she is in Far Hills and the town and his Aunt will make sure they are ok. When his Aunt tells him that Ellyn isn’t doing well financially John decides to take leave to go home and help get her on her feet.

Ellyn isn’t a charity case and she won’t let anyone treat her or her kids that way. She’s glad to see John because she also has loved him since she was a teenager but she doesn’t want his pity nor does she want him getting her kids hopes up that he is going to stay after his leave is done. The two kids Meg and Ben were left with scars after both losing their father and when John just disappeared out of their lives years before. Ben being the younger one immediately latches back onto John and you can just see he wants the male bonding from another man. Meg’s attitude is exactly what I’d expect. She is sarcastic and very leery of letting any father like figure close again. During one heart to heart with John she point blank asks do men always leave. Heartbreaking..

This was such a touching story and John resisted his feeling right up to the bitter end but I liked how once Ellyn figured out all the truths about why John was the way he was and how he thought he was doing her a favor by always leaving she made a stand and man him see that loving her and the kids was the right thing to do.

Snowbound (The Protectors #2) by Karen Fenech - No time is wasted in throwing the reader right into the action in this suspenseful thriller. FBI Agent Mallory Burke’s cover’s been blown and she’s tied up in the back of a car being taken to the leader of a human trafficking ring. Luck is on her side when that location happens to be up in the mountains where its currently snowing heavily. She manages to get away when the vehicle crashes and then passes out in front of a cabin.

Gage Broderick isn’t too happy to open the door and have a woman fall into his arms. He’s on leave from the police department and wants nothing to do with people. Its not till much later in the book we find out why Gage is so antisocial and crabby and its heartbreaking. Mallory after what’s she’s been through isn’t too trusting of Gage at first but its not long before they call a truce and Gage works to get her back to town so she can tell the FBI what she knows. Gage decides to stay in town and help Mallory find the missing girls and to take down the leader.

The pace of this one changed a lot. Sometimes that doesn’t work but it certainly did here. This isn’t an overly long book but its got everything it needs to keep you on the edge of your seat and flipping the pages.


Everlasting (Evers, Texas #2) by Lori Ryan - Small town murder mystery. At 4 years old Katelyn Bowden’s father sent her to live with her Aunt after her mother’s death. She never totally understood why her father did that and even though she loved him she held some resentment toward a man she felt replaced her.

Now that her father is dying Katelyn decides it time to move back to Evers, Texas for good to take care of him before he dies. What she doesn’t realize is a killer got away with his crime for over 20 years and doesn’t want her back in town.

Alan Bowden had been the Sheriff and the one thing he wanted more than any was to find out who killed his wife. But the stress of losing her and not being able to find her killer had him drinking to much which killed his kidneys. He passed his job as Sheriff onto John Davies – a man he took under his wing when he came to Evers from New York with a haunted past that Alan helped him through. Katelyn isn’t very nice to John when she first gets to town due to her jealousy over his relationship with her father but once she finds out the real reason her father sent her away and that John is genuinely
a nice guy she starts to open her heart to him. But also at this time that she is violently threatened more than once to leave town and John's alpha instincts kick in to protect her and to finally solve the murder of her mother.

The mystery of the who and why her mother was killed is slowly revealed and it leaves the town in shock. I liked both aspects of this story – the mystery and the romance.
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so far loving the stories ( )

so far loving the stories ( )

so far loving the stories ( )

so far loving the stories ( )