Review: Lethal Redemption

Lethal Redemption by April Hunt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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.

Grace's job as a FBI profiler has pitted her up against some of the most dangerous people. When the Vice President of the United States asks for her help in rescuing his daughter she can't say no, even if it involves going back to the cult she escaped seventeen years ago.
Cade will never stop loving his bestfriends' cousin Grace, even if he felt he had to walk away from her nine years ago. When she has to put herself in danger for the mission, he's going to be right there beside her.
Grace and Cade may have their second chance at love but they'll have to stop the murderous rage of a cult first.

Her worst fear---or one of them---was about to come to fruition. The other had been watching the man she loved---and trusted---walk away and out of her life.

Lethal Redemption is the second installment of the Steele Ops series, a group of former military men and women who have built their own security business. They operate out of a beer distillery and do operations that the U.S. government doesn't want their name attached to. The Vice President's daughter has fallen into The New Order of the Dawn, a cult, and needs to be rescued but the Vice President doesn't want any media attention. If you read the first in the series (Deadly Obsession) you'll remember Grace and Cade as the antagonistic twosome that obviously still had feelings for each other. Even though we got glimpses of these two in the first, you could still comfortably start here.

After seventeen years of being free of Father Teague's daily Blessings and her mother's nonstop disapproving lectures, she was headed back to New Dawn...and back to the people who stole eight years of her childhood.

Grace came to live with her four male cousins when she escaped from the Order of the New Dawn cult. Her father had died and her mother had dragged her into the cult. Cade and his sister Zoey (heroine from book one) were friends with the four Steele cousins and thus Cade and Grace grew-up together. They dated while in college and had big plans put Cade decided to reenlist in the Army without telling Grace and they broke up. I really missed watching Grace and Cade grow to be in love. Their second chance romance didn't get as much page time as I would have liked because of the cult storyline dominating the plot. The two did have a nice flow to their interactions but the feelings and attraction build-up has already happened and we get more of “well, let's try this again”, some fear from both sides, and then “we're together again”. These actions and emotions don't necessarily cycle through quickly, but they didn't have the number of steps and depth I need to really get involved with a couple.

She trusted him.
Now it was up to him to make sure she never regretted it.

Grace was the much more shaded in character, with her time in the cult, escaping, adjusting to living with cousins, Cade issues, and then having to go back into the cult and seeing her mother again. There is some ground work laid from the first book about the issues Cade has with his father but Cade was mostly in the story to support, get protective if Grace put herself in danger, and be there for the sex scenes. The fact that they had previously developed feelings of love and the cult plot really stole any page time from their romance.

The New Dawn cult, their workings, was interesting but the conclusion to how the Vice President's daughter fit in and the threads that untangled to reveal the who and what, made for a somewhat muddy and trying too hard to be clever climax. There are still some Steele Ops members that need their happily ever after and a possible Vice President's daughter and Secret Service Agent. This author does always manage to pull me into the story, there's an easy of flow and movement to characters that I enjoy, so I'll still be checking out the series next romance and adventure.

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Reading Update: 30%

 

Cloudy and rainy, looking to brighten my day with some second chance romantic suspense and shrimp tacos!

Lethal Redemption by April Hunt purchase link

Blackened Cajun Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa recipe

Review: Deadly Obsession

Deadly Obsession by April Hunt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

Starting off a new series, Deadly Obsession, introduces us to the Steele family. A group of four brothers, their cousin Grace, and their lifelong friends, siblings Cade and Zoey. After her fifth heart surgery, Zoey decides that she is going to take life by storm. This includes getting out of the Dungeon and taking her crime scene investigating skills top level, investigating crime scenes as soon as they are found. It also includes going for it with the eldest Steele brother, Knox.
Knox has stayed away from D.C. for two years, but his brothers are starting to pressure him to make a decision on joining their new security start up Steele Ops and his best friend's little sister had a set back with her heart, the little sister he has found himself caring more for than big brother Cade would like.
When the Beltway Cupid Killer brings everyone together to work on catching them, Knox finds himself unable to keep resisting Zoey and thinking maybe home really is where the heart is.


If you're fan of romantic suspense, you're going to like this. Deadly Obsession is trope heavy, group of former military men, best friend's little sister, no-strings sex agreement that goes sideways, a teased second chance romance, and a serial killer haunting the edges. Hunt's themes and characters are well traveled but her ease of writing and dash of charm will still have people well read in the sub-genre enjoying the ride and newbies captured.

This was clearly a start to a series book, the focus was heavier on showing and developing relationships around characters rather than more on the outside story. The serial killer gets povs that I thought created a great creepy factor and helped add to the story but in the second half they kind of disappear and we lose this story thread for awhile. I thought the author did a great job with giving clues to who the killer was, it becomes kind of clear about halfway through, then the reader gets to enjoy being in the know and feeling anxiety whenever they appear on the page.

The storyline of Knox staying away for two years was probably the weakest, I'm not sure I fully understood the reasoning. His mess up that endangered other Rangers and then abandoning his brother Roman when he was in a hospital in Germany, was mish mashed together and we never got a clear concise story of how Knox messed up. The tension between the brothers and Knox as they work to set-up their Steele Ops security firm, under the cover of a brewery named Iron Bars, was a little mish mashy too, it is just something you have to go with as the security firm is obviously what will be the hub for the series.

This could never get old. That heat. That excitement every time he touched her. Instead of claiming a new piece of her every time they were together, Zoey Wright, without a doubt, claimed a small piece of him.

I really enjoyed Zoey's character, she has unrequited childhood love for Knox and lusts after him but she never lets him get away with anything, she calls him on his b.s.. It was a sweet additive to have Knox making a secret hospital visit to Zoey too, helps add foundation to him liking her as there is a lot happening in this book and Knox and Zoey's relationship doesn't always get the spotlight it deserves. Their no-strings sex pact felt thrown in, because it doesn't seem to completely fit in with Zoey's feelings, yes she is taking more chances but she seems to completely forget about all those deep feelings for Knox that were fed to the reader earlier. They have some cute back and forth and I believed in their connectivity as a couple. I do wish we could have gotten a bit more of a focus on their developing relationship, they go from pseudo lying to themselves about having sex to just sliding into being together; not a lot of struggle or heartfelt moments.

There were some missing pieces and some underdeveloped characters, Knox's reason for staying away for two years, Zoey's boss Mason seems to disappear, and a character connected to Zoey and Cade kind of just gets thrown in, but overall, romantic suspense readers will feel welcomed and comfortable in this series Hunt is setting up. Zoey lusts after Knox but she doesn't let him get away with anything and Knox is the protective trying not to fall for the best friend's little sister, all surrounded with a hint of danger. Zoey's brother Cade and Knox's cousin Grace look to be the next couple and the tension felt between them here, has me excited to dive into their story.

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60%

"Have mercy." Zoey's eyes drifted closed. 

"Eyes on me every step of the way, angel," Knox demanded her attention with little more than a growling whisper.

Reading Update: Page 1

Easter leftovers served with a side of romantic suspense!

Deadly Obsession by April Hunt (April 30th) pre-order link

Carrot Cake Truffles recipe

Review: Holding Fire

Holding Fire by April Hunt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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.

Elle is sick and tired of being a yes woman. When she catches her fiancé cheating on her, she kicks him to the curb. Escaping both him and her overbearing Senator father, she travels with a friend to help build clinics in Thailand.
Trey is in Thailand waiting to get his assignment from his secret former military members Alpha group, when a hot blonde comes up to him at the bar. After one night he knows she's the one he's been waiting for. However, Elle doesn't want to be controlled by anyone ever again and pulls a ditch and run on him.
Trey can't believe it when protecting Elle turns out to be his assignment but now he has even more reasons to never let her out of his sight.
With Elle in danger and a villain lurking in the shadows, Trey has his work cut out for him protecting her and convincing her that sometimes one night stands can last for a lifetime.

"The ship Uncomplicated has already sailed, sweetheart. It is so damn far out to sea, Poseidon himself can't fucking track it. Get complicated with me, Elle. What do we have to lose?"

Second in the Alpha Security series, Holding Fire turns the focus on former Delta Force Trey. If you read my review for the first in the series Heated Pursuit, you'll know the hero was my favorite part of that story. Unfortunately, Trey didn't have the same impact on me as Rafe did. Trey had a bit of insta-lust/love for Elle right away and his character was centralized on getting her to accept they meant to be more than a one night stand. We know at age thirty-four he is done with meaningless sex and wants to start a family and he has a good relationship with his mom. We get scenes of him teasing and getting teased by his Alpha Security buddies and two or three scenes with his mother but I missed a fuller character. I think my disappointment with Trey was because the story itself didn't have a rounded out feel.

The story starts off great with push and pull between Elle and Trey then the added danger of who is trying to kidnap/kill her. However, in the pursuit to keep the reader guessing as to who and why Elle is being targeted, the villain remains deep in the shadows and they kind of become a non-entity in their own suspense story. There is a decided lack of action, until the very end, and after the third or so time Elle is almost captured, I'd be side-eyeing and asking to see Trey's credentials. Most of the story had a very rinse and repeat with how Elle was in danger and her resistance to Trey.

Elle started off as a character I really wanted to know, with her I've been screwed over by my father and fiancé but I'm grabbing life by the horns now attitude. Like with Trey though, the story didn't have enough substance to support her and she ended up kind of becoming annoying with every fifth line out of her mouth along the lines of "I'm in charge of my own life." Which is a great attitude to have, but in the beginning I just wanted her to maybe listen to the professionals trying to keep you alive and later it was more about her incessantly and blindly rejecting Trey, even though she inherently acknowledged she had feelings for him. It was a conflict that started 5% into the story and continued until 95%, way too dragged out.

With the story being a bit flimsy, little imperfections jumped out at me more. Trey's nickname of "sweetness" for Elle seemed just a bit overused and the British team member's continuous use of "bloody" and "love" seemed overdone as if the author really wanted to keep reminding us she was British and this was the only way she knew how. Even though it was only done twice, I'm super done with the whole women in "tight clothing" thrusting their boobs on the poor hero's chest and aggressively flirting with him, regardless if the heroine is right beside him, as was the case once. At least have these women be more suave and do it behind the heroine's back every once and a while. I kid, but I hope you all know what I mean.

The action storyline was lukewarm, it was tiring how long and often the conflict was only the heroine's, at first empowering but then exhausting, "I can't because I must be independent!", and this story wrapped up with just about the most perfect bow you could tie. Seriously, you will be tempted to roll your eyes and I think the author missed an opportunity to write a moving and emotional scene dealing with an issue not commonly found in romance, but fairy tale fans will probably like it as much as I didn't. The charm and heart I talked about in the first did peek out a couple times but the purpose of the story just wasn't there. There are plenty of Alpha guys and gal waiting in the wings and I'll still hang around to give this author another try because her style does lend to romantic suspense fun and hotness. This one in the series didn't match my tastes but the promise of another hero like Rafe will carry me over to the next.


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Reading Update: 60%

“When you downplay what you are? You have no fucking clue how much it pisses me off. It makes me want to hold you in front of a mirror until you see what I see— a strong, competent, and caring woman.” She was already shaking her head, but he reached out and captured her gently by her nape, holding her still… and looking at him. “It makes me want to hold you…” Trey murmured, slowly bringing her closer, “and touch you… and kiss you… until you feel it, too.”