This is two books in one, which I didn’t realize until I’d already started. Jeb is a former special ops soldier in the US military. He recently left active duty after a mission has disastrous results. He now works for Ranger Security, which is made up almost entirely of other former military men. Jeb’s first assignment seems a little low key…he is to find out who is taking valuables from elderly people who live in a retirement community. What should have been an easy in and out job turns complicated when his number one suspect ends up being the darling surrogate granddaughter of all of the community’s residents.Sophie had a horrible upbringing. Her mom, dad, and brother were terribly abusive to her. Fortunately, she was raised by her grandmother after the age of six. When Sophie is left with all of her grandmother’s inheritance, the rest of the family doesn’t take it too well. She’s taken out restraining orders for quite awhile and lives a fairly fearful life, though her ‘family’ of elderly people give her more love than she knows what to do with.My thoughts:I almost wish that the military aspect would have been left out. It was almost a side note to the ‘real’ story, and to me, it just made me lose focus. I didn’t know when I started this that it was the first in a series and that is a big no no for me also. I’m a stickler for reading order. My issues with the lackadaisical attempt at making Jeb a tough soldier boy could have been forgotten had I had more of a back story from his company. As it was, I felt like I was thrown into the middle of the story, and I never really connected with Jeb because of that.Sophie’s story was much easier to grab onto. She’s a fun loving, tenderhearted woman who loves the people around her and is happy living her life the way it is. She’s occasionally afraid of her violent and evil family, but takes major self protective steps in order to take care of herself. I admire her resilience and her ability to roll with the punchesThese two were just needing a reason to bump into each other and the thefts at the retirement community finally makes them meet. It takes quite some time for them to do anything more than give some smoldering looks…over halfway through the book, and they still hadn’t even touched for so much as a handshake. For me, it was a bit slow. Once they get together and realize that they have some major sparks between them, it’s easy to forget how congested the rest of the story felt.It had been a very long time since I read a Harlequin. I’m glad to say that I was presently surprised, as it seems that Harlequin Blaze has continued on in terms of sophisticated content and readability. I don’t know what exactly I expected, but I now know that if I see another Blaze title that looks interesting, I’ll go for it!!I did not read the second book, which is actually the FIRST in the series. I think it’s odd that it’s tacked onto the end, and I may read it later if I decide to backtrack and read the rest of the series.My thanks to Harlequin via Net Galley for the opportunity to read this title in an exchange for an honest review.
Duchess Loves Books
This is two books in one, which I didn’t realize until I’d already started. Jeb is a former special ops soldier in the US military. He recently left active duty after a mission has disastrous results. He now works for Ranger Security, which is made up almost entirely of other former military men. Jeb’s first assignment seems a little low key…he is to find out who is taking valuables from elderly people who live in a retirement community. What should have been an easy in and out job turns complicated when his number one suspect ends up being the darling surrogate granddaughter of all of the community’s residents.Sophie had a horrible upbringing. Her mom, dad, and brother were terribly abusive to her. Fortunately, she was raised by her grandmother after the age of six. When Sophie is left with all of her grandmother’s inheritance, the rest of the family doesn’t take it too well. She’s taken out restraining orders for quite awhile and lives a fairly fearful life, though her ‘family’ of elderly people give her more love than she knows what to do with.My thoughts:I almost wish that the military aspect would have been left out. It was almost a side note to the ‘real’ story, and to me, it just made me lose focus. I didn’t know when I started this that it was the first in a series and that is a big no no for me also. I’m a stickler for reading order. My issues with the lackadaisical attempt at making Jeb a tough soldier boy could have been forgotten had I had more of a back story from his company. As it was, I felt like I was thrown into the middle of the story, and I never really connected with Jeb because of that.Sophie’s story was much easier to grab onto. She’s a fun loving, tenderhearted woman who loves the people around her and is happy living her life the way it is. She’s occasionally afraid of her violent and evil family, but takes major self protective steps in order to take care of herself. I admire her resilience and her ability to roll with the punchesThese two were just needing a reason to bump into each other and the thefts at the retirement community finally makes them meet. It takes quite some time for them to do anything more than give some smoldering looks…over halfway through the book, and they still hadn’t even touched for so much as a handshake. For me, it was a bit slow. Once they get together and realize that they have some major sparks between them, it’s easy to forget how congested the rest of the story felt.It had been a very long time since I read a Harlequin. I’m glad to say that I was presently surprised, as it seems that Harlequin Blaze has continued on in terms of sophisticated content and readability. I don’t know what exactly I expected, but I now know that if I see another Blaze title that looks interesting, I’ll go for it!!I did not read the second book, which is actually the FIRST in the series. I think it’s odd that it’s tacked onto the end, and I may read it later if I decide to backtrack and read the rest of the series.My thanks to Harlequin via Net Galley for the opportunity to read this title in an exchange for an honest review.
