Shared by Jane Rylon

Story: 3 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Powertools: The Shields

Main characters – Levin, Konstantin, Aven

Levin was raised and groomed to be a mafia leader, but it isn’t what he wants. With the help of the Shields he took out the old boss and is determined to dismantle the rest.

Konstantin was a Bratva brigadier and Levin’s secret lover. He joined the organization to help his family, but all their promises turned into a nightmare he couldn’t escape.

Aven made bad choices when she was younger, at nineteen she was divorced and cut off from her parents. Now she’s an accomplished pilot and a key member of the Shields team.

When Levin agreed to take over and dismantle his organization he had one condition, the Shields had to protect the man he loved, Konstantin. Konstantin did not appreciate this, in fact he used it to feed his insecurities, believing Levin had thrown him away. Aven and Levin grew close before he returned to his country but with Levin gone, her and Kon start to get close and she hopes she can be more than a fill in for Levin.

Their relationship gets hot and heavy and a little tangled with insecurities and the mafia threaten their chance to have it all.

I love Rylon and I have really enjoyed this series, however this one had me struggling. I understood the hurt and confusion Kon had in the beginning but it started to grate on my nerves and I had a hard time aligning a Bratva soldier with how Kon was behaving. I kept waiting for him to believe Levin’s actions and words but he wasn’t getting better. Levin and Aven were the stars in this story, but Kon kept making me put the book down to read later. On an upside James’ car is still a scene stealer!

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Without Sanction by Don Bentley, narrated by Jack Armstrong

Story 5 of 5 stars

Heat – n/a

Series – Matt Drake

Main Character – Matt Drake

Listened to audio narrated by Jack Armstrong. He delivers a no-nonsense narration that fit the Matt Drake character well, but I hated the voice he gave Frodo. It didn’t feel or sound right for the character.

Matt Drake is a former Army Ranger and former Defense Intelligence Agent who’s struggling after losing an asset and being injured, along with his partner Frodo while they were trying to get to his asset in Syria. He keep’s seeing their ghosts and worries that he may be a danger to his wife. While he’s trying to sort out his PTSD and medical problems, he’s suddenly recalled back to Syria. A chemical weapon making scientist he’d been trying to recruit says he has information on a military captive and demands Matt Drake to take him in.

This book grabs you from the start with alphabet agencies intrigue, political shenanigans and covert military action. There are no dull moments as Drake goes above and beyond to retrieve Shaw under impossible circumstances, with Frodo’s help. There are powerful moments as he falls back on his Ranger training to get him through the darkest moments of this mission and makes me want to que up ‘Black Hawk Down’ and watch it again.

This is Don Bentley’s debut thriller and I loved it from start to finish. You’ll want to grab ‘The Outside Man’ to continue Drake’s story.

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The Outside Man by Don Bentley

Story 5 of 5 stars

Heat 1 of 5 stars

Series – Matt Drake

Main characters – Matt Drake

Matt Drake was a spy for the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was an intelligence officer and former military officer, with seven years of operational experience. He resigned from the DIA a year ago but his past is about to bring him out of retirement.

Matt is pulled out of retirement after a highly trained team of assassins tried to kill him in broad daylight. His path for answers and to keep his family safe will bring him back to the Middle East and to a man who had already tried to kill him before he’d retired.

Matt’s story will take you down a windy path of spies, terrorists, and sex traffickers. Surviving in a hostile world where connections can turn on you and true friends come through in the end.

‘The Outside Man’ starts slow but gains speed at a break neck pace, creating an action filled, page turning story of a man determined to end all threats to him and his family, as well as saving a girl from a human trafficking ring.

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Lost by Jayne Rylon

Story 4 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Powertools: The Shields

Main characters – Dr. Kennedy Emerson, Marcus, Knox

Dr. Kennedy Emerson works with Marcus on the Shield team as their doctor. While she’s attracted to Marcus, her love for a man from her past keeps getting in the way.

Marcus left the force disillusioned but found the Shields a perfect fit for his need to help others and right wrongs. He’s been Kennedy’s partner since she joined the Shields and has wanted more from her for a while.

Knox grew up in neglect and his attempt at doing a good thing sends him down the road to drugs and gang life. He loved Kennedy but couldn’t shake his drug addiction and it cost him everything.

When the team gets an assignment to acquire Knox, Kennedy must face her past. Knox’s return is both painful and cathartic as Kennedy and Knox get a chance to heal old wounds allowing them to not only rekindle their love but allowing them to love Marcus as well.

Recovering from drug addiction is difficult but Knox is motivated, getting a second chance after burning his relationship with Kennedy brings hope and healing. Rebuilding trust and allowing yourself to be vulnerable isn’t easy, Marcus is the perfect partner that help them reconnect. There are stumbles along the way adding a level of realism but love wins out in the end.

These three have chemistry and when they come together things get very steamy. While you may not like some of their actions in the end, I think you’ll enjoy their happily ever after.

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Sniper’s Pride by Megan Crane

Story 4 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Alaska Force

Main Characters – Griffin Cisneros, Mariah McKenna

Mariah McKenna Lanier grew up in rural Two Oaks, Georgia, with a stereotypical redneck, hillbilly family. When David Abernathy Lanier approached her and swept her off her feet, it seemed a Cinderella story. Only David liked to cruelly remind her that she was just cleaned up white trailer, trash. For ten years of her husband and his family attempted to ‘clean her up’ and bringing her up to their standards, while letting her know she never measured up. The problem was no matter what she did, it never seemed good enough and she failed to give him any children, a cardinal sin in his eyes. When she caught him cheating, she had had enough and filed for divorce and then the attempts on her life began. She didn’t want to believe it and tried hard to find excuses for how shellfish contaminated her food twice but she had to face the facts, she needed help if she wanted to live.

Griffen Cisneros was trained by the Marines to be a sniper, when he left military life he didn’t know how to be a civilian and when he discovered his fiancé cheating on him with his best friend he sought out the Alaska Force and was done trying to fit into civilian life. Better to be the machine the Marines trained him to be. When he was assigned to assess Mariah for the team, her poise and beauty threatens his carefully built, fortified walls, no matter how hard he fights they keep crumbling the more time he spends with her. He tries to pigeon hole her as a spoiled southern gold digger, and his fight to protect himself makes him stupid.

These two both had painful pasts that lead them to create their own forms of remote, detached game faces to protect themselves from being hurt and I loved these two for each other. Griffin was a total bad ass and Mariah was too in her own way. I loved the way she realized how David systematically stripped her of self worth and that she was able to come back from that so strong. Knowing when she needed help, and also knowing when she needed to walk away and not allow herself to walk down that path again. I love watching characters grow.

Additional Thoughts****

Griffin talked a lot about honor and he was cheated on by his fiancé and Mariah was cheated on by her husband, so it felt very odd that these two had sex before her divorce was final, it seemed very out of character. While the scenes were very sensual, it left me feeling very disappointed with both characters.

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