(I started this review on a computer, and finished on a phone. I will be going back through and fixing and italisizing and all that fun stuff when I have the chance. I apologize for errors).
When you are reading 0.5-2 books a day, sometimes series fall off your radar. Sometimes on purpose ("Dude, I have to get through my ARCs"), sometimes on accident ("Oh, shoot, I forgot the new Animal Magnetism/Lucky Harber/KGI*").
*Seriously, how does one forget the new KGI?!?!?! Swanny still sits in my closet, dying to be read. Oh, Swanny... I'll get to you and your beautiful self; I will, I promise...!
I was invited (
WOO-HOO!!) to read the newest HOT book. I remembered that I loved the previous (
HOT Shot), and that I'd read the synopsis for the following book (HOT Rebel) and was excited for it's eventual release.
And then I forgot. Easy to do when you're reading books as fast as you can, enjoying every single moment inside the lives of all these characters.
When I was invited to read HOT REBEL, it all came rushing back to me and I was super excited to read it (I also was reminded that I needed and wanted to read Lucky and Kev's story; which as of writing this blog -- I have! And I loved it as much as I thought I would. Their review will come soon).
I absolutely love this series. Sometimes I find that there's a lot of repetition in themes -- when an author sticks with one theme and writes it again and again and again, it begins to feel unreal, like this could never happen, how is it every single member on this team found their 'true love' the exact. Same. Way...?
Lynn doesn't do that.
Granted, I've only officially read 3 books, cover-to-cover, but I have skimmed the other ones in my possession (ok, so HOT PURSUIT is the only other full story I have, but no worries, HOT MESS and HOT PACKAGE are totally on my radar).
So.
HOT REBEL.
Before we go any farther? Total 5. I don't do 'point' numbers. You get a nice, full, whole number. My scale pretty much never goes below a 3; 3 is 'it's a good book, just not for me'; 4 is a great book, there were things I didn't like, and maybe I'd read it again; 5 is I'd totally read it again, let me highlight that badboy in my Excel spreadsheet of books I own (no, seriously, I have an Excel spreadsheet of books I own).
 |
| Publication Date: 9/28/2014 |
HOT REBEL is the story of Nick "Brandy" Brandon and Victoria Royal, two elite snipers who had gone through sniper school together in the Army. One day, though, Victoria disappeared. It was assumed she dropped out.
Years later, Nick is on an op with his HOT team, getting ready to take the kill shot...
...and someone else does it, but delivers the shot to the wrong person in the party. Without time to worry, Nick and his partner scramble to move from their location before the enemy finds them. In their relocation, they run into a woman, who, it turns out, made that fatal shot. And because she killed the wrong person, she is considered a traitor (or as Mendez later calls her, a rebel).
Problem is, she's not just some female sniper -- she's the one who was Nick's biggest competition in training.
Victoria recognizes him, too.
"Recognition hit Victoria like an unexpected encounter with a bat. She knew that face. Knew that mouth, the hard curl of those lips as he’d hurled insults at her during the few weeks they’d spent as competitors at the Army Sniper School. He’d been the only one there who’d had the ability to get to her, to rattle the smooth surface of her calm. And he’d done it again and again."
But she can't explain to him her motives. She's on a multi-year long mission and he and the Army will just screw it up.
"'What happened to you?' he blurted, unable to hold it in any longer. 'You had a promising career, and you threw it all away to do what? Become a mercenary? What the fuck, Victoria?'
"Her lips thinned and her rain-gray eyes flashed. She still had the head covering on, but he knew that her hair beneath the cloth was a deep, rich red. Or so he hoped anyway. What if she’d changed it?
"'Maybe I didn’t have a choice, Preacher Boy. Did you ever think of that?'"
So she leaves him at gunpoint.
Eventually, though, Mendez gets his way and Victoria ends up in his hands. Gotta hand it to Mendez... He's a hardass but damn, I love that man.
"“Half my damn team’s shacked up with someone they met on the job, so don’t bet any money on me not asking every motherfucker that comes through this door who he, or she, is sleeping with.”"
Oh, Mendez... Way to put it out there. But when a man knows, a man knows -- even when it's his team walking in the door with women they'll eventually fall for.
Granted, Nick had fallen for Victoria years ago.
I really loved this story. Without going into the true meat and potatoes of the story, I loved Victoria's loyalness, her fiercefulness, and her lovingness for her sister. She would do anything for her, which she has proven simply in her actions. I love that Nick doesn't give up on her, that in the end he (...is a stupid guy and pushes her away so she can have what she's been aiming for for the past 2 years) gives her what she needs and wants.
...and that he loves her. I love a big strong Alpha falling for an equally strong lady.
When reading this, I was reminded (and quickly completed the purchase) that I wanted to read Kev and Lucky's story. And while Kev and Lucky are undoubtedly my favorite HOT members.... Victoria and Nick are in a SUPER close second.
Buy TODAY for your
Nook or
Kindle.
Edit: October 14, 2014
I decided to take a peak at Lynn's webpage to see if the next book was announced, because I remembered being super pumped about the next release. From the way I was reading things... (all the little side stories with Ice and the mini-glimpses into him), he totally was next to fall at the mercy of Lynn's hands.
And it's totally true :)
...I gotta say, I love when authors hint at the next book by making their secondary characters pop out at you, wanting to learn more about them; I love when those secondaries become primaries :)
He's being released to the public in December. Can I wait that long?!?
