Kill Without Mercy

Rafe Vargas is eager to get back to his new life in Texas until he crosses paths with Annie White who’s clearly in danger and he can’t just walk away in this pulse pounding romantic suspense. Alexandra Ivy’s new series gets hearts racing with lots of suspense, excitement, romance and strong, sexy, and compelling characters that easily draw the reader in and refuse to let go. There is lots of sizzling chemistry between Rafe and Annie and with Rafe’s protective instincts and knows what he wants attitude that even though Annie’s dark past understandably causes emotional distress and confusing feelings, she has a hard time denying the growing connection and burning desire that heats up the pages. The plot is fast paced and flows smoothly with lots of pulse pounding tension building throughout the story as Rafe, Annie and the team tries to unravel a history of deadly lies before Annie becomes the serial killer’s next victim with unexpected twist adding surprises that keep the readers as well as the characters on their toes. The intriguing events ensnare the readers guaranteeing that they can’t put the story down as the well written scenes and vivid details brings the characters as well as the story to life making it easy for the reader to become caught up in all the excitement and romance. Alexandra Ivy is the author of some of my favorite paranormal series, so there was no hesitation in my acquiring this book when I could and I have to say that I was extremely pleased that I did. I was pleasantly surprised by the touch of paranormal to the story and I love the tortured sexy heroes and how they formed a close brother like bond that ensures that they have each other’s backs no matter what and as Alexandra Ivy is so good at what she does of course she’s already got my curiosity raging over what’s going to happen next.

3.5 Star Review I have some conflicting feelings about the story. First of all, I thought it was well-written and entertaining. I enjoyed the book and thought the mystery/suspense aspect of the story was thrilling. There were some minor things that bugged me and often took me out of the story. When the ARES men would refer to each other, there would often be a “the older man said” or “the younger man said” that was kind of off-putting. Not that it was a big deal or anything, but it got me to thinking, do these men have significant age differences between each other? Age is not really mentioned of any of the men of ARES, but every time someone was referred to as “older” or “younger” made it difficult to visualize the characters, thus taking my concentration out of the story. Like I said, it’s not a huge deal, but it was a little disconcerting to me while reading. Another thing that bugged me was the lack of growth in Rafe and Annie’s “relationship.” It wasn’t really a relationship, per se. Stuff happened and Rafe was unfortunately in Annie’s path and was quickly swept up in her drama. (view spoiler) I didn’t feel they had chemistry, more like a relationship of convenience. And I didn’t much care for Annie at all. I feel like her character was eclipsed her past tragedy and we never really see who she is. The men of ARES are interesting. A few men get more page time than others and I felt they had a good dynamic as a team. I just wish we could’ve seen more of them. I thought the suspense was good and some parts of the book were a little difficult to handle, especially the mention of someone’s past that included child abuse. I’m on the fence on whether I want to continue the series. I would recommend the book though because Alexandra Ivy is a gifted author and she did write a good book. I just had some hiccups along my reading journey. ***I was gifted an eBook copy from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. All conclusions reached are my own***

Had not read one of her books before but now can't wait for the rest if the series