Expected publication date: July 10th, 2018
Cover blurb:
From the author of the Alpha Ops series comes an action-packed, super sexy military romance.
A legend among black ops teams, Col. Duke Cameron can’t wait to get back in action again-no matter how high the risk. Two of the world’s best military pilots are missing after a midair collision, and he’s made it his job to find out why.
U.S. Air Force veteran Casey Jacobs loves working for a cutting-edge, high-tech company – until she suspects their newest design might have caused a horrible plane crash. But after a few “accidents,” it’s clear no one wants her asking too many questions. The only person she trusts to help her is Duke, the sexy secret crush from her flying days who still turns her on like no one ever has.
But someone is watching their every move, making sure they don’t uncover the truth. And when the danger turns physical, it’s not just their love that’s on the line. It’s their lives.
**
Just in case you were worried, I haven’t given up on my love of books with hot guys on the covers! (Even if there is no gun, sigh.) I’d read the first book in this series (Aces Wild), but somehow missed the second one, oops! While I remembered enough of the first one to understand the story line, this is definitely not a stand-alone so I would recommend that others not make the same mistake.
The book starts out with the two pilots from the first book missing after their planes crash during Red Flag, a military training operation at Nellis AFB in Nevada. Duke is running the competition while Casey works for the military contractor sponsoring the exercise. They had met previously in Afghanistan and while there was some attraction, they hadn’t acted on it until they run into each other again during Red Flag. They are about to go on their first date when Casey starts to suspect that her employer TGO is responsible for the missing aircraft and pilots, and Duke follows her when she escapes off the closed base. Unfortunately he isn’t the only one following her, and when she is attacked in a parking lot Duke saves her and they go on the run.
Regardless of missing the second book, the story seemed almost disjointed to me. Probably for me, the biggest issue I had was with Casey making a completely rookie mistake while she’s on the run. As it would spoil part of the plot I won’t give more detail here but suffice it to say that it’s the one thing I think most people today would not do. (I can’t imagine someone with any kind of military training especially E&E to do this!) And while I’m all for the action, the first smexy part took place when (and where) it definitely shouldn’t, though I will grant that it was hawt! In any other story the timing wouldn’t have bothered me, but again the particulars of this one were just off.
All that said, I did enjoy the overall story and will go back to read the second book so this one makes more sense. There is a lot of action and adventure, so other readers that like military romantic suspense would probablylike it as well when read as a series.
*ARC courtesy of Netgalley and Forever Yours, thank you!