Kendra Edens
Full review originally posted on Reader's Edyn on 10/15/17 Alexa Chase (Amber Kelly) is on the run with her sister. She is now Amber and a part of the Witness Protection Program. Her sister married an extremely bad guy, which she refuses to see, but Alexa knows the truth. Uncovered evidence and turned it in to the FBI, in fact. Problem is, some of the guys are on the take and even a new location and a new identity can’t keep them from being found. She’s just been discovered again and her handler calls in a favor this time – Gage Morgan. He’s gorgeous and he’s come to protect her, but he’s going to have to get her to trust him first – easier said than done when you’ve been hunted the last year. Gage Morgan is not wanting anything to do with this job, but he ends up taking it anyway. Glutton for punishment and all that. His gorgeous target isn’t going to make things easy on him either. Hell bent on rescuing her frivolous, unappreciative sister, they end up finding trouble at every turn. Luckily Alexa is pretty smart and self-sufficient; allowing them to help each other at times. Not to mention the steamy attraction between them that they’ll have to address at some point … if people would stop trying to kill them each time they get close. This book is the first in the Dark justice series – fast moving and entertaining, you won’t want to stop reading. Packed full of suspense and a lot of quirky characters with their own stories waiting to break out, you’ll be kept on an engaging ride from start to finish. If you are looking for an HEA, you won’t find it here. Well, maybe a bit of one, but the book ends on a slight cliffhanger. While some things are explained and wrapped up, others are left wide open. I’m particularly interested in Bear’s story. And even more of Gage and Alexa. The had some pretty interesting lives and I can’t say much of it was explained. Partially, but I feel like there is more there than what we were given. As far as Rachel (her sister), I didn’t connect with her much. She’s expendable unless she makes a complete 180 and begins to contribute something other than trouble in the future. But I have no idea, I’m just making assumptions on what may or may not be a part of the next story. The only thing I struggled with were the switch in names from Amber to Alexa and back again, for example. Generally speaking, I don’t care for cliffhangers. They twist me up – and when I have to wait for the next installment, I get annoyed. However, Ms. Ryan did a good job with this one in that it wasn’t a huge cliffhanger that left me wanting, but it did leave enough open that I want to come back for more. Satisfied enough to return, I guess you could say. Several of the characters introduced through Gage had their own stories to tell and I wondered why more of it wasn’t told, so maybe we will see them more in the future. I would describe them as characters with depth, but a depth we were denied – if that makes any sense. I feel like I might be talking this book down, when I really enjoyed it, so I’ll end it now. Overall, this book was quite enjoyable. You can read it quickly and will more than likely find yourself wishing the next book in the series was already out. At the very least, I want to see where Ms. Ryan takes the series and what she plans to do with these characters. Somehow I think they all might end up intertwined even more so when it is all said and done. But we’ll have to see … Kindle version provided by NetGalley/Entangled in exchange for an honest review.
linda quick
Wow! I loved this book - it's fast paced romantic suspense at its best. Amber is smart and self sufficient, but ends up in trouble after she provides damming information to the FBI on her employer. Unfortunately, the FBI has moles in it that promptly returns the data to the criminals. The criminals then set out to find Amber and her sister (who are in witness protection) to torture and kill them. Gabe is sent to find and protect Amber and Rachel (her sister) and brings his well developed skills and his eclectic group of friends to help him. He's the perfect hero - with a dark and vague past and a strong moral compass, in that killing is ok, as long as its the bad guys. I loved watching how the relationship between Amber and Gage developed. This is a must read novel for fans of the genre. Its the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last as I've added her to my must read authors' list.