Title: Stripping Her Defenses
Series: Ex Ops, #2
Author: Jessie Lane
Released Date: October 31, 2014
Book Trailer:
Blurb
He can’t change the scars on her body…
but fate will give him a second chance to mend the scars he put on her heart.
Riley Sullivan and the Ex Ops Team are headed to Miami undercover… as bikers. Following up a lead, the men will perform their investigation acting as members of the Regulators Motorcycle Club with the club’s permission. Surrounded by hardcore bikers and investigating missing strippers, Riley finds the last person he ever expected to see again—his ex-wife.
Kara Sullivan left the man she loved after a tragic accident cost them their unborn son. After years of therapy, she’s come to grips with the loss and has re-emerged from the pain a brand new person. That doesn’t mean she’s ready to face the man who inadvertently broke her heart, and who she’s hurt in return.
Riley has never stopped loving her and he never will. He’s ready to fix their marriage and move on with their lives, however Kara’s reluctance to renew their relationship isn’t their only problem. Danger lurks just around the corner… and there’s a chance she could disappear permanently.
Stripping Her Defenses (Ex Ops, #2)
Secret Maneuvers (Ex Ops, #1)
Review
Secret Maneuvers
Foxy Rating = Four stars
This is the first book in the Ex Ops series which is about a
secret organisation headed by the CIA, made up of ex-military and agency men so
yes plenty of alpha men! This story is Belle and Bobby’s story and also
introduces the whole team with a glimpse of their back stories to entice us for
future books in the series.
Belle and Bobby were an item from a young age, both from
opposite sides of the tracks. Bobby was going places but he was taking Belle
with him, away from her trailer park life with her devious and violent father.
He joins up for the Army and promises Belle he will be back for her after his
training. But Bobby never comes back and sends a ‘dear Belle’ letter telling
her things have changed and they need time apart. This devastates Belle and
with nothing to hold her in the town anymore, she packs and flees little
knowing that another big curve ball will be thrown at her that will affect her
and Bobby for the rest of their lives.
Two weeks after writing that letter Bobby realises he made a
big mistake and sends another telling her this. But Belle never received this
and with the help of his family they try to track her down. Bobby never finds
her, even after many years have passed he has never lost hope of finding his
soul mate again and hoping she will forgive him.
In the fifteen years that have elapsed since that time Bobby
is now part of a secret ops organisation and the Texas ATF need help on a case.
When the ATF officer walks into the room to debrief the team, Bobby is shocked
to find out it is Belle who is the officer. Little does he know she has another
shock in store for him.
I just loved the whole world building of this series, the
team of secondary characters are an instant hit and entice the reader into
wanting to know more about them.
The reunion of Belle and Bobby is not an easy one, Belle is
standoffish and will not entertain any interaction with her ex-lover. Bobby is
not a pushover though and he, along with the help of his team mates, the
Sullivan brothers – Declan and Riley, Belle finds herself unable to ignore him.
Once the barriers come down it is just fabulous to be pulled into the sensual
tension and explosive encounters between the pair. But Belle is holding a secret
and once Bobby finds out the hostility is enforced but only this time Bobby is
the enforcer.
Whilst all this romantic tension is going on there is still
a case to be solved and the dangerous recons the team are signed up for give a
generous helping of suspense and drama.
From the get go this was an instant hit for me and a book I
could not put down. The only reason this is not a five is that I wanted more
interaction with Seth and Bobby. It just fell a little flat in that area and I
would have loved to see that bond growing and cementing. There were also some
over the top drama that Belle submitted to, especially the ‘forgiven’ episode.
There is then a lot of further angst thrown in that for all that the reader has
already been taken on, I didn’t feel it warranted it.
However I just loved this book and am hooked on this series
now, so much so that I went straight onto book two – Stripping Her Defences. Fabulous.
Four stars.
Stripping Her Defences
Foxy Rating = Four stars
This is the second book in the Ex Ops series about a secret
organisation of ex-military and agents run by the CIA. This is Riley and Kara’s
story.
In book one we knew that Riley is the quiet and secretive ex-navy
SEAL who mourns the split with his ex-wife when she left and divorced him. They
had been teenage sweethearts who had married young but adored each other. Riley
went into the navy but as career took off his marriage was left floundering with
neither knowing how to fix it. Riley subconsciously shied away from the
problems in his marriage by taking on more missions rather than staying home on
his downtime. He could not understand what was happening with his wife who was
changing from the free and fun loving curvy woman into the ghost of who she
once was. Kara felt the need to be the perfect navy wife to stop any reason for
him to leave her. However her reasoning to save her from abandonment was the
catalyst that set everything into free fall. Once again finding herself alone
whilst Riley was again off on a mission, the devastation that met her on that
lonely night was just a step too far for her fragile mind to take anymore, so
she flees and divorces Riley.
Eight years later Riley is on a secret mission that puts him
undercover as a member of the Regulators MC and staking out a strip club. The
picture of the masked beauty leaves him with flashbacks of his beautiful wife
as the body of the star stripper is eerily alike that of his wife. How
astounded he is when he finds out it is!
Riley has never
stopped hoping of ever finding his wife again so to find her in the most unlikely
of circumstances just seemed to be meant to be. He will not let her get away
from him again. Kara on the other hand has gone through a lot of soul searching
and therapy in the years they have been apart. She now accepts who she is and
who she should be and not to pretend to be somebody she could never be – the perfect
someone. What she doesn’t realise is that the real her is the perfect someone
for Riley and he her.
I just love second chance romances and this one is a
fabulous read. I was already in love with the team of ex ops but Riley just
made me want to know more of him and here I was pleasantly given his story.
Both he and Kara were instantly likeable and the chemistry and love you felt
between them was amazing.
As with the first book the reader is also witness to some
serious dark and dangerous mission the team are on and this one was particularly
hardcore and devastating for the team. It did, however, introduce us to a new
series the author has written, along with Chelsea Camaron – Regulators MC, the
first book being Ice, about Ice the president of the MC. Ice has also been a
significant person in Kara’s life over the last few years. The fronting between
Riley and Ice was at first dicey but after a few further interactions a new
understanding was made between them and also the MC and Ex Ops team.
I really loved this second book in the series and it is a
definite yes to recommend to others to get to grips with. These men are awesome
and although the themes of second chance love is repeated and the coincidences
so high, I still want to read on. Can’t wait for the next book. Oh and Ice!
About the Author
Jessie Lane is the best selling author of The Star Series, Big Bad Bite Series and the Ex Ops Series.
She lives in Kentucky with her two little Rock Chicks in the making and her over protective alpha husband. She has a passionate love for reading and writing naughty romance, cliff hanging suspense, and out-of-this-world characters that demand your attention, or threaten to slap you around until you do pay attention to them.
Jessie writes Adult Paranormal and Contemporary Romance and Upper YA Fantasy/Paranormal Romance.
Giveaway!
Coming Soon from Jessie Lane and Chelsea Camaron
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00014]](http://www.readlovelust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/JL_bikercover_front-1.jpg)
ICE (Regulators MC, #1)
Release Date: December 8, 2014
Model: Shawn Dawson
Photographer: Golden Czermak/Furious Fotog
Cover Designer: Mina Carter
Loosely attached to Chelsea Camaron's Hellions Series and Jessie Lane's Ex Ops Series.
She's an investment banker.
He's an outlaw biker.
A little bit of heaven is about to meet a whole lot of hell.
Morgan Powell was raised to be perfect, to set an example for her sisters to follow. Her life has been dedicated to making something of her career, so she wouldn’t know what to do with a man even if you gave her an instruction manual.
Brett 'Ice' Grady spends his days trying to keep up with his teenage daughter, his nights consumed in Regulators’ MC business. He has no time for anything more than a casual hookup.
Two worlds collide when the dangers of his life crash into the calm of hers.
Can she go beyond her own boundaries and chip her way through to the man known to be as cold as ice?
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