Unbroken (Blood Brothers 6) by Samantha Wilde-a review

Unbroken (Blood Brothers 6) by Samantha Wilde-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 5, 2023

➞ Protective hero
➞ Mafia princess gone rogue
➞ Enemies to lovers
➞ Forced proximity

He only has to keep her alive for seven days . . .

When Savannah Carrington’s life is threatened, she refuses to be whisked to God knows where just to appease her father—the infamous leader of Sinners Syndicate. But when the owner of Backcountry Protection Services, Toth Holmes, is hired as her personal bodyguard, her choices are ripped away yet again. Her protector—make that captor—is anything but a saint. He looks at her like no other man dares, branding her with his gaze and promising to own her body if she’d let him. He’s hot and delicious but she’s not stupid enough to give into temptation. Doing so would sign his death certificate.

He said no to the job. More than once. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off the devastatingly beautiful mafia princess made refusing the contract offer a no-brainer. But when Savannah’s life is at stake, Toth knows he can’t turn a blind eye. Seven days is the length of his contract, the shortest one he’s ever signed, yet the most dangerous. If she’s killed on his watch, he’ll pay in blood. Same goes if he dares to touch one silky strand on her head.

As Toth battles with the desire riding between them, Savannah’s father’s enemies get closer. The more her father strikes back, the harder the villains come for his daughter. Toth might not be able to keep her alive forever, but he’ll die trying.

•••••

REVIEW:UNBROKEN is the sixth instalment in Samantha Wilde’s contemporary, adult. BLOOD BROTHERS romantic suspense series. This is former US Marine, and security specialist / owner of Backcountry Protection Services Toth Holmes, and Mafia princess / freelance web designer Savannah Carrington’s story line. UNBROKEN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual omniscient third person perspectives (Savannah and Toth) UNBROKEN focuses on the protection and security of our story line heroine. Savannah’s father is a crime lord, and someone is targeting her for the sins of her father. Hired to protect Savannah Carrington went against Toth’s better judgement but in the face of several rejections by the brothers he never knew, Toth accepted the assignment only to discover that not all was as it appeared to be. At every move, someone else countered Toth’s attempts to protect the woman with whom he would fall in love, and with the help of some unlikely sources, Toth would discover several betrayals at the heart of the vengeance. What ensues is the building relationship between Toth and Savannah, and the potential fall-out as ghosts from the past return to take aim at our story line heroine.

The world building follows several paths including Toth’s introduction to the family he never knew- four brothers, their spouses, and the growing family, all kept secret by the demons from the past. Meanwhile, someone has targeted our heroine, and from the outset, it appears it may be someone she knows.As Toth struggles to protect the woman he loves, secrets reveal a staggering number of lies hiding the heart break of loss and revenge.

The relationship between Savannah and Toth begins as an assignment ,one in which neither one is happy with the other. Toth believes he has crossed the line working for a Mafia boss, and Savannah wants nothing to do with her over protective father’s need to hire someone else. On the run, Savannah and Toth’s fall victim to a possible mole, someone on the inside tracking them down. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, dangerous and captivating secondary and supporting characters. Along with the return of Toth’s brothers and their spouses, we are introduced to Savannah’s brother Lach, and their father Danny Carrington, and Toth’s business partner Rami. The requisite evil has many faces.

UNBROKEN is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The fast paced, action packed premise is intriguing, entertaining and fascinating; the characters are desperate, determined, and forceful; the romance is seductive and provocative. The author has left open the potential for a new series, a spin-off focusing on the Backcountry Protection Services.

Reading Order and previous reviews
Bound
Traced
Unchained
Extracted
Marked

Own a copy

Reviewed by Sandy

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Unbroken (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen 4) by Lisa Renee Jones-Review and Book Tour

UNBROKEN (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #4) by Lisa Renee Jones-Review and Book Tour

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Unbroken
The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #4
by Lisa Renee Jones
Release Date: September 7, 2015
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romantic suspense

Unbroken

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 7, 2015

From bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones comes the fourth and final part in the sexy, suspenseful The Secret Life of Amy Bensen series—finally revealing the long-awaited wedding between Amy and Liam. But with the explosive secret they’re hiding, will their enemies ever let them live happily ever after?

For six long years I lived on the run, in fear and devastated by loss. That began to change the day I met Liam Stone, who is so much more than his money and power, and even the protection he has offered me. He is passion. He is friendship. He is love and happiness, and the man who made my enemies his own. And now with his help, the secret that drove me into hiding is buried, our enemies contained. Liam and I can finally start our life and put this behind us. The nightmare is over. Unless…it’s not.

••••••••••••

REVIEW: UNBROKEN is the fourth and final installment in Lisa Renee Jones’s adult, contemporary The Secret Life of Amy Bensen romantic suspense series focusing on Amy Bensen and billionaire businessman Liam Stone. UNBROKEN should not be read as a stand alone as much of the series premise and prior history is revealed in the previous three installments. UNBROKEN overlaps some of the events of FORSAKEN (book three) where the truth about what happened to Amy’s brother Chad, and Amy’s life on the run is revealed.

Told from first person point of view (Amy Bensen) UNBROKEN is the conclusion of Amy and Liam’s adventure. Throughout the series we are witness to Amy’s need to hide from the people who are hoping to end Amy and her brother Chad’s life. Chad has something the most powerful people in the world are hoping to find, but with it comes heartbreak and grief in the wake of their parent’s murder, destructive fire and Chad’s presumed death. UNBROKEN focuses on the Amy’s life following the loss of her brother Chad, and the continuing relationship with the love of her life Liam Stone.

UNBROKEN is a storyline that focuses on Amy and Liam’s preparations for their upcoming nuptials but it also finds our couple proactive as it pertains to their personal safety and the appearance of the CIA and an agent who may or may not be on their side. Chad’s loss finds Amy the target of some powerful government agencies, and Liam is consumed with the need to keep Amy safe. Amy and Liam’s backstories are heartbreaking-both are broken souls who found one another at a time when it was needed the most.

The relationship between Amy and Liam continues to be sexually aggressive. Liam is a man who expresses his love for Amy through $ex and physical contact; Amy is a woman who has fallen for a man whose overriding need to protect what is his finds Amy surrounded by body guards at all times. The $ex scenes are erotic and intense.

UNBROKEN is the culmination of Amy’s life on the run in the hopes of staying one step ahead of the people who destroyed her life. The premise is intriguing and suspenseful-the truth about what happened is a mystery until book three. There are moments of action and drama wrapped in a bubble of questions and mystery. The characters are colorful, engaging and charismatic; the romance is the stuff of fairy tales and happily ever afters.

Lisa Renee Jones UNBROKEN is a satisfying conclusion to The Secret Life of Amy Bensen- a series in which the heroine’s story is shrouded in mystery-revealed in layers of intrigue and suspense-ending with Christmas celebration no one will forget.

Copy supplied by the author

Reviewed by Sandy

unbroken 3

excerpt

“Let’s make more good memories, baby.”
“Yes. Please,” I say, and my words land on his tongue as he kisses me tenderly. His mouth lingers over mine, my body coming alive, and I feel him breathing with me. Sometimes it feels as if he’s the only way I can breathe.
Liam shifts the spell between us to new places, turning me to face the massive four-poster bed that stirs wonderful, intimate memories, and I am most definitely ready to make more. He unzips my skirt and with deft fingers undresses me, removing one of the barriers between us. Slowly. Seductively. Somehow he never touches my skin but I feel him everywhere. My skin tingles the way my backside had when he smacked it. I know he’s teasing me, driving me to a place where there is only this man, this room, and me. I feel the energy shift and know that he’s no longer directly behind me, leaving me naked and untouched. The freedom to be vulnerable with this man, which I don’t dare with anyone else, is sexy in a thrilling way.
“Turn around,” he orders, and the rough, aroused quality of his voice tells me I affect him, too. I like that even when he’s in control, there’s a part of him that I set free.
I face him, finding him close, but not close enough. He shrugs out of his jacket and I’m mesmerized by him, his power, his grace. Every move he makes is controlled. Every action calculated. And I realize something I think I’ve known all along: we are the same. Both damaged. Both shattered in some deep way. Both defending ourselves from future wounds with our self-control.
He tugs his tie off and wraps it around his hand, silently promising me that soon I’ll be at his mercy. It’s not the first time he’s tied me up, and each encounter is different in a good way. Yet tonight feels like the first time—as if we really are starting a new chapter.
During our first encounter, he’d said, “Sometimes having a safe place to give it away is the best way to block everything else out. I’m asking you to let me show you that I’m that safe place.”
And Liam is my safe place.
“Amy.”
His voice commands my attention, and I look up to find I’ve missed the delicious moments leading up to him now being gloriously naked. My gaze lands on the “pi” tattoo on his belly, the 3.14 etched above a row of numbers in an upside-down triangle that is all about the infinite possibilities of life. It’s both thrilling and terrifying at times when I consider them with this man.
“Hold out your hands,” he orders, and it speaks volumes that I no longer hesitate to give myself fully to Liam.
He twists his tie around one of my wrists, and I think of the many ways he has helped me escape my past. But what about his past, which is just as etched in heartache as mine? He doesn’t talk about his mother, not since his sole emotional breakdown. Since then, he’s protected me—but who protects him?
He completes the knot binding my hands and pulls me to him. “And now, you’re mine to please and tease.”
“Yes, I am,” I agree.

series spotlight

Escaping Reality
The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1
by Lisa Renee Jones
Release Date: July 22, 2013

Escaping Reality

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N /KOBO

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of ESCAPING REALITY

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 22, 2013

Infinite possibilities….

Infinite passion…..

Infinite danger….

His touch spirals through me, warm and sweet, wicked and hot. I shouldn’t trust him. I shouldn’t tell him my secrets. But how do I not when he is the reason I breathe? He is what I need.

At the young age of eighteen, tragedy and a dark secret force Lara to flee all she has known and loves to start a new life. Now years later, with a new identity as Amy, she’s finally dared to believe she is forgotten–even if she cannot forget. But just when she lets down her guard down, the ghost’s of her past are quick to punish her, forcing her back on the run.

On a plane, struggling to face the devastation of losing everything again and starting over, Amy meets Liam Stone, a darkly entrancing recluse billionaire, who is also a brilliant, and famous, prodigy architect. A man who knows what he wants and goes after it. And what he wants is Amy. Refusing to take “no” as an answer, he sweeps her into a passionate affair, pushing her to her erotic limits. He wants to possess her. He makes her want to be possessed. Liam demands everything from her, accepting nothing less. But what if she is too devastated by tragedy to know when he wants more than she should give? And what if there is more to Liam than meets the eyes.

______________

Infinite Possibilities
The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #2
by Lisa Renee Jones
Release Date: November 11, 2013
Genre: New Adult, contemporary, romance, suspense

Inifinite PossibilitiesAmazon.com  / Amazon.ca / Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of INFINITE POSSIBILITIES

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #2) by Lisa Renee Jones

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 11, 2013

Secrets and lies. They are everywhere: haunting her, tormenting her. In the midst of it all, he’d been her escape, her passion. The only person she’d trusted in six years. And then he’d made her doubt that trust, cutting her deeply. But as she’d once told him, she was damaged, not broken. She is ready to fight and not just for survival. She is fighting for the truth and she won’t stop until she has it, not even for…him.

____________

Forsaken
The Secret Life of Amy Bensen 3
by Lisa Renee Jones
Genre: new adult, contemporary, romantic suspense
Release Date: August 18, 2015

 

ForsakenAmazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 18, 2015

In this third book in the sexy, suspenseful “The Secret Life of Amy Bensen” series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones, we meet Amy’s brother Chad—and the woman who either loves him or wants him dead.

Six years ago, Chad’s hunt for a dangerous treasure turned deadly when his family home was set on fire, his parents killed. Faking his and his sister Amy’s death to protect her from further retaliation, he set her up in a new life with a friend’s help, letting her believe he’d died.

But now the men who hired Chad to find the treasure have found him, imprisoning and torturing him to learn where it’s hidden. A dark-haired beauty named Gia helps him escape, promising him access to his worst enemy. And as he tries to unravel the deep secrets of the past, he starts falling for her…only to discover she’s not what she seems.

Unable to trust anyone, Chad focuses on only two things: protecting his sister Amy and getting revenge. Is love even possible in the midst of heartache?

•••••••••

about the author

Jones_Lisa_Renee-1ABOUT LISA RENEE JONES

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT TRILOGY which has sold to more than ten countries for translation with negotiations in process for more, and has now been optioned by STARZ Network for a cable television show, to be produced by Suzanne Todd (Alice in Wonderland).

Since beginning her publishing career in 2007, Lisa has published more than 30 books with publishers such as Simon and Schuster, Avon, Kensington, Harlequin, NAL, Berkley and Elloras Cave, as well as crafting a successful indie career. Booklist says that Jones suspense truly sizzles with an energy similar to FBI tales with a paranormal twist by Julie Garwood or Suzanne Brockmann.

Prior to publishing, Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by Dallas Women Magazine. In 1998 LRJ was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Lisa loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her through her website and she is active on twitter and facebook daily.

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$15 Amazon Gift Card (2 Winners)
Signed Set of The Secret Life of Amy Bensen Series (Books 1-3) (2 Winners)

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UNBROKEN (Outcast Season #4) by Rachel Caine-a review

UNBROKEN (Outcast Season #4) by Rachel Caine

UNBROKEN (released in February 2012) is the 4th book and final instalment in Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season. A spinoff of Caine’s Weather Warden series, the Outcast Season follows fallen Djinn Cassiel and her lover Luis as they endeavor to prevent the end of the world-literally.

Once again, Pearl the sadistic and power hungry Djinn has taken control of the young Wardens. With their power enhanced by Pearl’s manipulation, the children are now capable of destruction beyond human comprehension, and it is the destruction that Cass and Luis are trying to prevent. With Pearl’s ambition to rule, Mother (Earth) is angry and refusing to stop the elements of destruction. Mother is not pleased.

With the rescue of Isabel (Luis’s niece) it becomes apparent, that Pearl’s abuse inflicted on the children, has created a power too great to contain. 6 year old Isabel is convinced that she would be in a better position to help if she were older, and unleashes a power that will shock and amaze, but one that will push her growth beyond measure. And it is not only Isabel that has suffered at the hands of Pearl. Many of the young Wardens are as powerful as the Djinn themselves. But it is the black void, the emptiness that is feared above all else.

Cass and Luis find themselves on the run throughout Unbroken, and heading from one disaster into another. Plagues, fires, earthquakes and tornadoes have ravaged most of the earth, and the Wardens are powerless to save the humans or the earth. And every step of the way, Pearl’s presence and manipulation is obvious. But it is not until Cass is held ‘prisoner’ in a crystal cocoon, do we see the extent to which Pearl is willing to reap the benefits of the power of the Djinn.

Jo and David (from Caine’s Weather Warden series) return as Warden and Djinn husband and wife, but even their powers can be bottled with a little control. Bottling the powers would ultimately aid the Wardens, but escape is inevitable when the Djinn are willing to break their own rules.

Esmerelda, the serpent/warden continues to antagonize Cass and Luis but it is Es who is neither good nor evil. Befriended by Isabel, Esmerelda is capable of inflicting a quick death with poisonous fangs, but it is with the death of another that the Djinn will finally be able to send Pearl where she belongs.

UNBROKEN is a fast paced storyline with rarely a moment to catch one’s breath. The constant flow of disaster upon disaster, as well as the appearance of many of the Wardens and Djinns from Caine’s previous Weather Warden series, will culminate into a finale that will close both the Weather Warden and the Outcast Season series together.

When asked whether she was going to continue the Weather Warden/Outcast series…well, I guess you have to read our interview with Rachel Caine on May 7.

Reviewed by Sandy

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