Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 6th, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble |
Books-A-Million | Book Depository* | Chapters | iBooks* |
Indiebound | Kobo | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.
Blurb from goodreads:
He's taking it all back
His honor, his freedom, and the woman he loves
Rafe Montfort was a decorated Green Beret, the best of the best, until a disastrous mission and an unforgivable betrayal destroyed his life. Now, this deadly soldier has returned to the sultry Georgia swamps to reunite with his brothers, and take back all he lost. But Juliet must never know the truth behind what he's done...or the dangerous secret that threatens to take him from her forever.
It took Juliet Capel eight long years to put her life back together after her husband was taken from her. Now Rafe is back, determined to protect her at any cost, and it's not just her heart that's in danger. The swamps hold a secret long buried and far deadlier than either of them could have imagined..
That cover grabbed my eye and when I read the blurb, this sounded like a wonderful book. Romance, betrayal, mystery, the military, I couldn't resist.
Rafe went AWOL from the military eight years ago, betraying his country and his wife Juliet. She gets a divorce and moves on with her life though she's never forgotten him, her first love and also her last. She got her college degree and started a business. Meanwhile Rafe, after joining a mysterious mercenary band, ended up being caught by the US and thrown in jail, but now he's been released and he's back, trying to clear some matters and spend time with Juliet.
There was a lot going on in this story and it was a jumbled mess at times. Wray tried to do too much. There was Rafe and Juliet's romance, Pete and Samantha's romance, Nate's seizures and headaches, the ambush of two Green Beret teams, the imprisonment and pending trial of the survivors of those teams, a secret vial, attacks on Juliet's business, financial difficulties for Juliet, a secret society that was way over the top, and so on and so on. I needed a cheat sheet and a diagram to keep track of everyone and everything. I don't mind complicated or complex but this was just overstuffed. In all of that, Rafe and Juliet's romance got lost. It also wasn't terribly believable. In a matter of days they reconnect and fall back in love and get a doozy of an HEA. Given how things ended between them and everything happening now, their romance and reconciliation happened too quickly. While the romance didn't work for me, most of the mysteries and suspense did. I found myself skimming a lot of the romance portion and focusing on the mysteries, intrigue, politics, and betrayals. There were also a lot of characters and development suffered at times but they were interesting. I'm curious to see who the next romantic couple is, and which characters will return in book two.
In the end, though Rafe and Juliet's romance was a bust, I enjoyed the rest of the story. The secret society, which it sounds like we'll see more of, was both fascinating and difficult to believe. I did like all of its links to history, and after a while I got used to their habit of speaking in Shakespearean language and texts. The story had numerous mysteries big and small, and the overarching series mystery concerning the ambushes and the consequences intrigued me, enough so that I'll be back for book two. If I approach it as a mystery with a romance subplot, I think I'll be a more satisfied reader.
Come back tomorrow for an excerpt and a giveaway! ETA 3/3/18: Click here for the giveaway and excerpt.
Rafe went AWOL from the military eight years ago, betraying his country and his wife Juliet. She gets a divorce and moves on with her life though she's never forgotten him, her first love and also her last. She got her college degree and started a business. Meanwhile Rafe, after joining a mysterious mercenary band, ended up being caught by the US and thrown in jail, but now he's been released and he's back, trying to clear some matters and spend time with Juliet.
There was a lot going on in this story and it was a jumbled mess at times. Wray tried to do too much. There was Rafe and Juliet's romance, Pete and Samantha's romance, Nate's seizures and headaches, the ambush of two Green Beret teams, the imprisonment and pending trial of the survivors of those teams, a secret vial, attacks on Juliet's business, financial difficulties for Juliet, a secret society that was way over the top, and so on and so on. I needed a cheat sheet and a diagram to keep track of everyone and everything. I don't mind complicated or complex but this was just overstuffed. In all of that, Rafe and Juliet's romance got lost. It also wasn't terribly believable. In a matter of days they reconnect and fall back in love and get a doozy of an HEA. Given how things ended between them and everything happening now, their romance and reconciliation happened too quickly. While the romance didn't work for me, most of the mysteries and suspense did. I found myself skimming a lot of the romance portion and focusing on the mysteries, intrigue, politics, and betrayals. There were also a lot of characters and development suffered at times but they were interesting. I'm curious to see who the next romantic couple is, and which characters will return in book two.
In the end, though Rafe and Juliet's romance was a bust, I enjoyed the rest of the story. The secret society, which it sounds like we'll see more of, was both fascinating and difficult to believe. I did like all of its links to history, and after a while I got used to their habit of speaking in Shakespearean language and texts. The story had numerous mysteries big and small, and the overarching series mystery concerning the ambushes and the consequences intrigued me, enough so that I'll be back for book two. If I approach it as a mystery with a romance subplot, I think I'll be a more satisfied reader.
Come back tomorrow for an excerpt and a giveaway! ETA 3/3/18: Click here for the giveaway and excerpt.
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