Easy Target by Kay Thomas
Publisher: Avon Impulse (6/9/2015)
Series: Elite Ops, book 3
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: Tasty Book Tours
Purchase links || amazon | bn | itunes | kobo | publisher || add to goodreads
Rating: ★★★★
AEGIS: an elite team of ex-military men who will do anything for their country…and their women.
Fighting to clear her brother of murder, freelance reporter Sassy Smith is suddenly kidnapped and thrown into a truck with other women who are about to be sold…or worse. When she sees an opportunity for escape Sassy takes it, but she may have just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
Former Marine Bryan Fisher (aka Hollywood) is no stranger to dangerous situations, or to his best friend’s little sister. When he rescues Sassy, Bryan is determined to keep her safe…if he can keep his hands off of her. Because Sassy is all grown up and not at all like the girl he used to know. But he’s got bigger problems. And with enemies coming at them from every corner, Bryan and Sassy will need to work together if they’re going to survive.
about Kay || Kay Thomas didn't grow up burning to be a writer. She wasn't even much of a reader until fourth grade. That's when her sister read The Black Stallion aloud to her. For hours Kay was enthralled—shipwrecked and riding an untamed horse across desert sand. Then tragedy struck. Her sister lost her voice. But Kay couldn't wait to hear what happened in the story—so she picked up that book, finished reading it herself, and went in search of more adventures at the local library.
Today Kay lives in Dallas with her husband, two children, and a shockingly spoiled Boston terrier. Her award-winning novels have been published internationally.
{ excerpt } .
Bryan spared only a glance for the three men on the ground before holstering his Glock. They weren’t going anywhere. One had a broken neck, the other a cracked skull, and the third would be unconscious for several hours.He felt the adrenaline spike as he looked at Sassy. Her blouse was torn, and the flowing skirt she was wearing when he last saw her in Niamey was dirty and hiked up to the point where he could see her ripped panties and tell that she preferred bikini waxes over Brazilians. The bra she wore looked like something featured in the X-rated dreams he’d had about her over the past six months, even with a torn strap.
She was shaking like crazy, and her eyes were huge as she stood in the shadowed alleyway. He was shaking himself. So grateful he’d found her before any more damage had been done to her, he didn’t know what to say.
As it turned out, he didn’t have to say anything, because she immediately began peppering him with questions as she threw herself into his arms. “Ohmigod! You’re here. How did you find me? What is going on? Are they dead?”
The questions came with the rapid-fire pace of a machine gun. Even when scared out of her mind, Sassy could pull it together, and she never stopped thinking. As a kid, she could cope with disaster better than anyone he knew, and as an adult, she hadn’t relinquished the title.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and his body tightened with the inevitable response to that adrenaline dump and the lightning-fast switch from killing a man to embracing an abundant armful of warm woman. He knew the hug was an anomaly and decided he better enjoy it while it lasted.
He took a moment to hold her to his chest. “It’s complicated. I don’t know, and two of them are dead, yes.”
Sassy still clung to him, even as she stilled in his arms and tried to step back. He held on to her a moment longer until her hands changed from grasping him around the neck in honest relief to an abrupt slide across his chest with a red-tipped fingernail. He let her go, but he didn’t want to. The comfort of finding Sassy safe washed over him, along with the realization that no matter how hard he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her since they’d reconnected last summer after Trey’s arrest.
{ review } .
Were there parts that I felt a little bit lost?
Yes.
Would it have been beneficial to read the previous books?
I'm thinking so...
...but there was enough there that I wasn't lost. There were statements made that you knew were dealing with previous books, but bottom line -- you were able to get enough of Sassy and Bryan's history to appreciate their story.
When we start out, we have Sassy (name on birth certificate? Sarah Anne), who is a reporter by trade, trying to figure out how to help her brother's case. Trey is currently incarcerated and the woman who was last seen with him is still missing. On Sassy's mission to find helpful information, though, she ends up in the wrong hands.
...and in swoops Bryan to the rescue.
Bryan and Sassy have history -- not romantic history, but history. Bryan and Trey have been best friends forever; Sassy has crushed on Bryan since a teenager and little did she know, he returned the crush -- but he was older and no good for her, so he enlisted and left town.
With their history, it was easy to watch the 'quick' falling in love that they do -- because honestly, there was nothing quick to their relationship. This story takes place from December 23 to New Year's -- like I said, quickly. But Bryan and Sassy go through an awful lot in that time -- near rape, mugging, explosions, derailings... All because someone stuck her nose in things that she shouldn't have been.
What I liked most about this story, I've decided, was Bryan's belief that he wasn't good enough for Sassy -- he feels this way up until literally the last paragraph, kid you not. He has fought himself where Sassy is concerned for years, and watching him struggle with what he deserves versus what he thinks he deserves, was enjoyable to read. I love watching big strong men struggle...
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