This felt like a very strange ending to this series. I've been curious about these two from the start, but this was a big departure from the rest of the books, and I didn't like it as much. The rest of the team has been bodyguards and caretakers coming into a new place and making things better, lots of forced proximity pushing the couple together, sweetness. This was two people who have a long history together, focused on damage control rather than improvement, spending most of the book apart, and going quite dark and basically just staying there for the majority of the book. The PoV character goes through a lot of trials to try to recover the other MC, but it felt like 90% action (and not the fun kind) and 10% romance. I also didn't really buy the MMC being so entirely blind to the other's interest. There's having a blind spot, and then there's like, actively putting a hood over your head. I don't think he could really be so good at his job if he can't even follow when others are spelling it out for him. Even when the characters finally *were* together, on the same page of mutual interest, and out of danger, there was a lot of focus on backstory stuff that still felt very separate from the current romance and any happiness they might carve out going forward. Probably it was *okay* as an action drama, but kinda pitiful as a romance. And usually a final book, especially staring the team lead, would bring all the previous couples together, or at least involve the team members, but instead it was a whole new cast of characters. The plot was a little hinky as well. Lots of strange choices. ( )

I read it (but skimmed some parts): one star.

It was not a bad plot and I like most of the characters: another star. Only one, because I had some trouble keeping track due to similar names. Not really a book flaw, more a warning to others who have this issue.

There is, wow, just too much explaining in the first part of the book. I suspect the edit team lost a critical member. Sigh.

I found the (eventual) sex scenes dull, after enduring the repeated whine about their age gap, even after the first sex! Just... That was not okay.

Lastly, MC verbally relaying a past event should not be written as if that event is happening again, with its own scene break. That was done three times, and it was dorky every time.

CW: torture: at 56% to 58%, then 63% to 64%. If you consider that a spoiler, you must be new to CIA spy type stories. ( )