Caught between desire and loyalty…
Derek DiMarzio would do anything for the members of his disgraced Special Forces team–sacrifice his body, help a former teammate with a covert operation to restore their honor, and even go behind enemy lines. He just never expected to want the beautiful woman he found there.
When a sexy stranger asks questions about her brother, Emilie Garza is torn between loyalty to the brother she once idolized and fear of the war-changed man he’s become. Derek’s easy smile and quiet strength tempt Emilie to open up, igniting the desire between them and leading Derek to crave a woman he shouldn’t trust.
As the team’s investigation reveals how powerful their enemies are, Derek and Emilie must prove where their loyalties lie before hearts are broken and lives are lost. Because love is too hard to come by to let slip away…
Action and romance, it doesn’t get better than this.
I thought the Hard Ink series would be more romantic suspense, but there’s not a lot of suspense. It’s more like Action Romance, which I define as involving high stakes, car chases, guns blazing, and rocket launchers in the bedroom and out.
Going into this book I had some average expectations. I’d heard a lot of great things about the series, but I don’t tend to jump on bandwagons. Now, I regret not reading all the books in the series from the start. The bonus is that you don’t have to read all the books before reading this one. Kaye does a wonderful job of creating a standalone story with Derek and Emilie and I immediately felt a sense of all the whole cast as well as grasped a good understanding of the main story arc that covers the whole series.
As for the main characters, I loved Derek. He’s a man with one leg and a prosthetic for the other one. This guy has a big personality — sweet, sexy, loyal, and a downright badass. I really loved reading him from the sexy bedroom romps to the moments of action with his team. He’s definitely the whole package.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is Emilie. She’s a psychologist who loves her family, but knows things aren’t all sunshine and roses… especially with her brother. I like Emilie as well. She works hard, has gone through some tough times, and fights for those she cares about. The challenge I had with her, is that for a such a smart person her brother pulls the wool over her eyes pretty good and she doesn’t seem to catch on to those things until way too late. I found it a little hard to swallow that a woman as smart as she is and in her field wouldn’t take action. The justifications weren’t quite enough for me.
As for pacing, it’s spot on. Plenty of balance between the action and romance, along with some good set up for the next couple books in the series. The villains are off the charts and let’s just say if you enjoy movies that provide a body count, then Kaye won’t let you down.
Overall, this book is worth the read. I plan to go back and dive into the rest of the series, which is not my typical M.O. I highly suggest this book to readers who enjoy movies like Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and The Shooter.
Reviewed by Landra
Heat Level: Hot
