The Baker Family Saga

****Full Review****

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Olivia is experiencing a little bit of wrong place and wrong time. After being taken hostage because of issues to do with her CIA sister Eve and then rescued by one hot operative named Landon (Extreme Measures), Olivia's normal staid existence isn't cutting it anymore. With months of flirty texting back and forth between them, Olivia decides to surprise visit Landon in Spain where he is just finishing up a job. The surprise is on her though when a sexy woman appears in his hotel room and Olivia finds herself taken hostage once again as she runs down the street trying to get away from Landon. Landon barely has time to process Olivia showing up in Spain before he is battling a lethal woman in his hotel room and then taken in a van with Olivia. Landon and Olivia not only fight for survival but for a chance to prove to one another what they're really made of.
 
The suspense aspect of this gets rolling right away, the Red Brotherhood terrorist group makes a splash and our characters are running and fighting for their lives. Not only is a highly feared terrorist group involved but also a world defining serum that can be injected into a human body that would be able to track them undetected (think political leaders and knowing exactly where they are for assassination purposes). Dani, a girl that Landon once saved, is the only one who can create the antidote and perfect the serum and only he knows where she is, hence the abduction and leverage Olivia can provide. The Red Brotherhood injects Olivia with the serum to force Landon to travel to Dani for the antidote, the serum kills whoever is injected with it right now, thus revealing her hideout. A bunch of secondary characters from the previous book and future books make appearances (mostly operatives in the Aegis Security Agency) and help Landon and Olivia fight the good fight. Is this all a wee bit farfetched and possibly not very accurate? Yes, but Jason Statham movies are extremely popular for a reason, they are exciting and fun. If you're willing to roll with this story it will provide a quick rip roaring good time.
 
As with the suspense scenes, the sex scenes don't mess around and come up quick. There is a little bit of missed them falling in love as Olivia and Landon met in the previous book but the author does a credible job of showing and telling why these two characters feel so connected to one another. Olivia has a few annoying moments when she balks at the killing and violence (if I'm ever taken hostage by a terrorist group feel free to snap as many necks as you need to free me) of it all, making it a bit heavy handed with her innocence and goodness. She also has a couple TSTL moments with unnecessarily endangering herself, listen to the professional lady! Landon is the star of the show in this book, think of it as if Quinn from Homeland got placed in a romance story. He's a trained assassin who has had emotion systematically trained out of him but after meeting Olivia his heart is starting to beat again. He is strong, capable, and interesting to follow and read about. Olivia and Landon are very black and white but together they work.
 
If you like action movies with some precision timed sex scenes are willing to go with the flow and want a quick thrilling read, Lethal Consequence is for you. There seems to be plenty of heroes in the wings too, I’m especially going to be on the lookout for Jake the boss and Marley the sassy assistant's book.


*I was able to mention Jason Statham and Quinn from Homeland in one review! Such a big win for me :)

This is the second book in the Baker family Saga. Dianna is growing up and Richard is grown and ready for Princeton. Jonathan's not doing well and his doctor son, Miles, can't discover why. A death in the family effects everyone. Chester Thomas is as old as Richard physically, but he is worse with age, while Richard is more mature. Dianna looks good to him, but he scares and sickens Dianna. Then three other men move into Ferndale - a man and his two grown sons, Dianna looks good to both of them but only the younger one pays any attention to Dianna. Unfortunately he does not impress Dianna, but his brother is the answer to her dreams. In the midst of this unhappy love triangle Chester Thomas comes back to the west intent on evil.

Really, look no further if regency spy romance is your thing (and even if it's not), this series might just be the best at doing it. Would have liked a few more romantic scenes between Pax and Cami but the story and interweaving of story arcs and characters from previous books in the series was amazing. I also find myself needing to go re-read The Black Hawk to spend more time with Hawker :)

****Full Review****

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Kat is on the run, accused of murdering her stepfather and out on bail she decides Canada sounds better than a lifetime in jail. On the road Kat finds herself behaving and doing things she never would have thought herself capable of before. Only one man has been able to catch up with her, a bounty hunter she calls Steel because of his hard grey eyes and refusal to tell her his real name. Steel has been in the game a long time and plans on retiring after he collects this last bounty. The only problem is the closer to giving Kat up the more he doesn't want to. It becomes a game of who captured who and who will save who?

This story is written in first person pov with chapters alternating between Kat and Steel, this is not my favorite writing technique and is a personal prejudice that probably added to a lower rating, I feel it disrupts the flow of the story. If this doesn't bother you then please consider that when looking at my rating. The author also has a tendency to write with lyrical prose, very over descriptive and flowery, which I didn't really connect with. The suspense side of the story had a broad arc that was intriguing and good but some of the finer points were missing. The USB key around Kat's neck is mentioned sporadically throughout alerting the reader it is probably important but not until the very end is it explained and utilized in the story. Also, Kat is said to be a computer genius but her or Steel never take a moment to sit down and think about how they keep getting tracked down, seems like something people on the run would focus on. These were just two examples of the problem I had with the storyline, solid connecting puzzle pieces were left out in favor of creative writing side tangent ones.

The relationship between Kat and Steel worked better for me. Steel was alluring with his distant, hard, and cool personality. Kat is in her early twenties (Steel is in his early thirties) and their age difference with Kat's good-natured, pop culture spouting, light attitude ,and personality appeal mightily to his tired world weary soul. It is clear they both sense something in the other that each other needs and wants, Steel and his strength and Kat with her humanity. They play well off of one another, if not quite delving too far below the surface. This is in the vein of a New Adult so while Kat and Steel are extremely attracted to each other the sex scenes are muted.

There is an abrupt ending with everything wrapped up far too cleanly but also satisfactorily. There are a lot of hands in the pot, clingy ex-girlfriend, psycho sister-in-law, mother murder drama, and competing bounty hunter that fill out the puzzle, if not entirely click together. Held Against You is a quick read with a mysterious, sexy, and dangerous lead male that will capture your attention even if the surrounding story falls a bit short.