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kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
Fourth in the Alpha Crew romantic suspense series and revolving around the members of this SEAL team. The couple focus is on Special Agent Alexa Mays and Navy SEAL Jake Heath.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Gallery Books for an honest review.
My Take
Okay, I gotta say I'm disappointed in Total Control. The plot was rather thin with the focus on the romance...and only the romance. There's no office interaction for Alexa other than her brief mention of why her boss is a pain and agents who are helping her out. As for Jake, there's only the intro of his team on this practice mission, and we get very brief mentions of that family camping trip he's blowing off. Comments that do reveal why it's so easy for him to ignore it, but still...? And what is his rank? I know he's the corpsman, but that's a job description.
It's that third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Alexa's and Jake's perspectives that keep us in touch with what each is thinking and experiencing. Always helpful in a romance!
It is a treat to have a macho kind of guy like Jake appreciate the same attributes in a woman, and it's too bad that she has that built-in bigotry against him. Okay, so that's not a fair comment, as Alexa's experience with the "boys' club" has colored her attitude toward men "in the office", which does make it plausible as to why Alexa is reluctant to get involved with Jake. But...oy...
However, Alexa does irritate me with her too-gung ho attitude and refusal to comprehend that Jake's contacts may not want contact with a fed. I mean, duhhh... Nor do I understand Mario's attitude...if he's such a SEAL legend.
That's a tacky move, asking for that favor after blowing Jake off for six months. As for Alexa conducting this investigation on the side, how does she manage to get so many agents to do surveillance for her...'cause it sure sounds like they're full-time.
I do love Scout, he's an interesting character who brings a nice bit of humor to the story with his interactions with Jake and Alexa, lol.
Still, it was a sweet and unexpected ending with Alex making a major advance on her character arc...we'll have to see where it goes in #5.
The Story
Alexa Mays is following a hunch, investigating a terrorist on her own time, and needing Navy SEAL Jake Heath's help. Aid she doesn't want, but Alpha Crew has a reputation, as does Jake, for finding those who don't want to be found.
And Alexa is desperate to find this terrorist before his people strike.
The Characters
Special Agent Alexa "Lexie" Mays works counterterrorism in the LA office in a male-dominated environment. Her dad had been a homicide detective in Phoenix before he retired.
FBI Office, LA
Special Agents Brian, Amy Chen, Connors, and Hull are helping Alexa out. Supervisory Special Agent Nate McCormick is Lexie's boss...and an ex-boyfriend. The counter terrorism chief is a friend of Lexie's.
Navy SEAL Jake Heath is a corpsman. His surgeon dad has cancer, and his three brothers are all doctors.
Alpha Crew is...
...good at finding people who don't want to be found. His SEAL teammates include Petty Officer Kyle Marin; Ryan Owen, who is one of Jake's best friends; Ethan Dunn; and, Lucas Ortiz, who is dog sitting Scout, a retired explosive-detection canine with medical issues.
Lance Kilborn, former CIA, is a friend of Jake's who now runs a PI firm in Orange County. "Mario", a retired Navy and a SEALs legend, is a friend of a friend and customizes guns. He shares space with Sammy's Custom Choppers. Emma is Ryan's girl (At the Edge, 1). Tinley is an ex-girlfriend of Jake's.
Jerome Matapang is a terrorist; his brother Joe had been arrested for drug running. Courtney Stapleton, a yoga instructor at Black Swan Yoga, is Jerome's ex-girlfriend. Tom Green is known as Tango X. John Ocampo's truck is registered in Nogales, Arizona.
The Asian Crescent Brotherhood (ACB) is under investigation for attacks throughout the world.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a complement of blues and oranges in Jake's bare (and muscled!!) torso, his dog tags hanging around his neck. The background is quite appropriate with that chain link fence on an angle against a deep blue-gray background. The text begins just above Jake's pecs with an info blurb in white, the author's name immediately below it in white as well. The title is below that in a colonial blue with the team insignia between the words. At the very bottom is the series information in white.
The title is what Alexa wants: Total Control.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Gallery Books for an honest review.
My Take
Okay, I gotta say I'm disappointed in Total Control. The plot was rather thin with the focus on the romance...and only the romance. There's no office interaction for Alexa other than her brief mention of why her boss is a pain and agents who are helping her out. As for Jake, there's only the intro of his team on this practice mission, and we get very brief mentions of that family camping trip he's blowing off. Comments that do reveal why it's so easy for him to ignore it, but still...? And what is his rank? I know he's the corpsman, but that's a job description.
It's that third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Alexa's and Jake's perspectives that keep us in touch with what each is thinking and experiencing. Always helpful in a romance!
It is a treat to have a macho kind of guy like Jake appreciate the same attributes in a woman, and it's too bad that she has that built-in bigotry against him. Okay, so that's not a fair comment, as Alexa's experience with the "boys' club" has colored her attitude toward men "in the office", which does make it plausible as to why Alexa is reluctant to get involved with Jake. But...oy...
However, Alexa does irritate me with her too-gung ho attitude and refusal to comprehend that Jake's contacts may not want contact with a fed. I mean, duhhh... Nor do I understand Mario's attitude...if he's such a SEAL legend.
That's a tacky move, asking for that favor after blowing Jake off for six months. As for Alexa conducting this investigation on the side, how does she manage to get so many agents to do surveillance for her...'cause it sure sounds like they're full-time.
I do love Scout, he's an interesting character who brings a nice bit of humor to the story with his interactions with Jake and Alexa, lol.
Still, it was a sweet and unexpected ending with Alex making a major advance on her character arc...we'll have to see where it goes in #5.
The Story
Alexa Mays is following a hunch, investigating a terrorist on her own time, and needing Navy SEAL Jake Heath's help. Aid she doesn't want, but Alpha Crew has a reputation, as does Jake, for finding those who don't want to be found.
And Alexa is desperate to find this terrorist before his people strike.
The Characters
Special Agent Alexa "Lexie" Mays works counterterrorism in the LA office in a male-dominated environment. Her dad had been a homicide detective in Phoenix before he retired.
FBI Office, LA
Special Agents Brian, Amy Chen, Connors, and Hull are helping Alexa out. Supervisory Special Agent Nate McCormick is Lexie's boss...and an ex-boyfriend. The counter terrorism chief is a friend of Lexie's.
Navy SEAL Jake Heath is a corpsman. His surgeon dad has cancer, and his three brothers are all doctors.
Alpha Crew is...
...good at finding people who don't want to be found. His SEAL teammates include Petty Officer Kyle Marin; Ryan Owen, who is one of Jake's best friends; Ethan Dunn; and, Lucas Ortiz, who is dog sitting Scout, a retired explosive-detection canine with medical issues.
Lance Kilborn, former CIA, is a friend of Jake's who now runs a PI firm in Orange County. "Mario", a retired Navy and a SEALs legend, is a friend of a friend and customizes guns. He shares space with Sammy's Custom Choppers. Emma is Ryan's girl (At the Edge, 1). Tinley is an ex-girlfriend of Jake's.
Jerome Matapang is a terrorist; his brother Joe had been arrested for drug running. Courtney Stapleton, a yoga instructor at Black Swan Yoga, is Jerome's ex-girlfriend. Tom Green is known as Tango X. John Ocampo's truck is registered in Nogales, Arizona.
The Asian Crescent Brotherhood (ACB) is under investigation for attacks throughout the world.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a complement of blues and oranges in Jake's bare (and muscled!!) torso, his dog tags hanging around his neck. The background is quite appropriate with that chain link fence on an angle against a deep blue-gray background. The text begins just above Jake's pecs with an info blurb in white, the author's name immediately below it in white as well. The title is below that in a colonial blue with the team insignia between the words. At the very bottom is the series information in white.
The title is what Alexa wants: Total Control.
mistysreads's review against another edition
3.0
I'm going to start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Laura Griffin's books and try to read each one she releases especially her Tracers series. However, I didn't really feel like this story was one of her best. I felt like Alexa was trying to keep Jake out of the investigation even though she went to him for help. Alexa and Jake didn't get a happily ever after like we expect, but an "I trust you" as the ending. I enjoyed the interactions between the two characters and thought they were well rounded characters but their ending wasn't satisfactory. I hope that there is a continuation to their story or at least a novella to where we can see more from them.
Received ARC in exchange for voluntary honest review from NetGalley.
Received ARC in exchange for voluntary honest review from NetGalley.
romancejunkie1025's review against another edition
4.0
As in previous stories in this series this was way too short but I enjoyed the story and the connection between Lexie and Jake was fun and the overall plot was twistie and Interesting
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
3.0
I need to start looking for the right order when I read books
saschadarlington's review
3.0
blog post will go live on 9/1 at 4:30 am
3 1/2 stars
I have loved the other novels in Laura Griffin’s Alpha Crew Series. They are a great blend of sensuality and action. While Total Control also possesses that combination, I was not as engrossed as I had been with the previous novels.
We briefly met Alexa Mays, the FBI agent in Cover of Night (read my review here). In Total Control she’s our female main character and probably the source of my issue with this novel. She’s pretty much devoid of personality, unlike the women who had been at the center of the previous novels. Perhaps it’s because she’s an FBI agent who is constrained by her job, but her main emotion seems to be “fuming.” We don’t really get to know her, with the exception that she had to be tough to compete in a man’s field.
read more: https://saschadarlington.me/2019/09/01/review-of-total-control/
3 1/2 stars
I have loved the other novels in Laura Griffin’s Alpha Crew Series. They are a great blend of sensuality and action. While Total Control also possesses that combination, I was not as engrossed as I had been with the previous novels.
We briefly met Alexa Mays, the FBI agent in Cover of Night (read my review here). In Total Control she’s our female main character and probably the source of my issue with this novel. She’s pretty much devoid of personality, unlike the women who had been at the center of the previous novels. Perhaps it’s because she’s an FBI agent who is constrained by her job, but her main emotion seems to be “fuming.” We don’t really get to know her, with the exception that she had to be tough to compete in a man’s field.
read more: https://saschadarlington.me/2019/09/01/review-of-total-control/
romancereadingreactions's review
3.0
3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this book! It was a light, easy read, the story was interesting and kept the reader engaged, and just the right amount of tension between the two main characters. By a third of the way through the book I knew I wanted to look up others by this author!
The book starts off with a really great SEAL training exercise, and we get a feel for the dynamic between Jake and Alexa (Lexie) early on. They have a bit of history, but for the past six months Lexie has been ignoring Jake until she needs his help on an off-the-books job. They both have really strong personalities and while they knock heads for a bit, there's no doubt that they make a great team. There was a good amount of give and take between them; between who drove, who made contacts with individuals during the investigation, and making sure the other took care of themselves. In the search for an extremist, they have to pool together their resources and get creative to figure out the groups plans before it's too late, as well as push past their personal hesitations towards each other. In the end, the manage to protect the city and their hearts! The ending was realistic and sweet, and I can't wait to see how their relationship continues to develop.
My only real complaint is that this book left me wanting more, in both good and bad ways. I wanted more because I really love the chemistry between Jake and Lexie, but I also felt like we were given little details about things that were just enough to pique our attention, but then never spoken of/brought up again. I kept thinking details were important, but they weren't! It is fairly short, and I feel like a bit closer to a novella than a full novel. The story was very fast paced so it worked, but more details and fleshing everything out a bit more would have made the book really great. I would have liked to see more backstory with Jake's family (and the reactions to him bailing on the weekend trip), more of the dynamic between Lexie and her coworkers (specifically with her ex; I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with him being involved with the main plot, or why he always dismissed her suggestions), and more of them together! Also, what was in the package at Lexie's front door in chapter 3? I kept waiting for that to have some significance! The secondary characters were very brief in their appearances, so it would be nice to see more from them since they were all interesting! Especially Scout!
While this book is a part of a series, it can definitely be read as a standalone. I will absolutely be going back and reading the others; I want to know more about these characters and their world!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book! It was a light, easy read, the story was interesting and kept the reader engaged, and just the right amount of tension between the two main characters. By a third of the way through the book I knew I wanted to look up others by this author!
The book starts off with a really great SEAL training exercise, and we get a feel for the dynamic between Jake and Alexa (Lexie) early on. They have a bit of history, but for the past six months Lexie has been ignoring Jake until she needs his help on an off-the-books job. They both have really strong personalities and while they knock heads for a bit, there's no doubt that they make a great team. There was a good amount of give and take between them; between who drove, who made contacts with individuals during the investigation, and making sure the other took care of themselves. In the search for an extremist, they have to pool together their resources and get creative to figure out the groups plans before it's too late, as well as push past their personal hesitations towards each other. In the end, the manage to protect the city and their hearts! The ending was realistic and sweet, and I can't wait to see how their relationship continues to develop.
My only real complaint is that this book left me wanting more, in both good and bad ways. I wanted more because I really love the chemistry between Jake and Lexie, but I also felt like we were given little details about things that were just enough to pique our attention, but then never spoken of/brought up again. I kept thinking details were important, but they weren't! It is fairly short, and I feel like a bit closer to a novella than a full novel. The story was very fast paced so it worked, but more details and fleshing everything out a bit more would have made the book really great. I would have liked to see more backstory with Jake's family (and the reactions to him bailing on the weekend trip), more of the dynamic between Lexie and her coworkers (specifically with her ex; I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with him being involved with the main plot, or why he always dismissed her suggestions), and more of them together! Also, what was in the package at Lexie's front door in chapter 3? I kept waiting for that to have some significance! The secondary characters were very brief in their appearances, so it would be nice to see more from them since they were all interesting! Especially Scout!
While this book is a part of a series, it can definitely be read as a standalone. I will absolutely be going back and reading the others; I want to know more about these characters and their world!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
beckymmoe's review
4.0
Reviewed on my blog, Becky on Books, on 9/9/19.
A fast paced, fun read!
Total Control keeps the tension high as Alexa and Jake race against time to stop a terrorist plot--at least Alexa is pretty sure there's a terrorist plot; her boss (and ex) is less convinced (sigh). Theirs is a second chance romance; they had worked together six months or so earlier and went out once, but Lexie's past experiences with workplace dating and reservations about being in a relationship with someone who frequently goes on long deployments has had her ignoring his attempts at communication since. But now she needs his expertise, and Jake is determined to take this opportunity to convince her to give their relationship a second chance.
Ms Griffin kept the focus on Lexie and Jake throughout the book--especially their burgeoning relationship and their attempts to uncover and stop the terrorist plot Lexie is sure is going on. Even though Lexie's working throughout the story (Jake is on weekend leave for most of it) we don't see her in the office much, and she only briefly interacts with coworkers on the page. Still, the suspense portion kept you on the edge of your seat, especially toward the end when things really started to come together.
Total Control is the 4th book in the series but could work fine as a standalone as well. You'd miss out on the earlier portion of Lexie and Jake's relationship, but they reflect enough on it here that you'll still understand what went wrong then and have faith that their HFN here could turn into an HEA in the end.
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
A fast paced, fun read!
Total Control keeps the tension high as Alexa and Jake race against time to stop a terrorist plot--at least Alexa is pretty sure there's a terrorist plot; her boss (and ex) is less convinced (sigh). Theirs is a second chance romance; they had worked together six months or so earlier and went out once, but Lexie's past experiences with workplace dating and reservations about being in a relationship with someone who frequently goes on long deployments has had her ignoring his attempts at communication since. But now she needs his expertise, and Jake is determined to take this opportunity to convince her to give their relationship a second chance.
Ms Griffin kept the focus on Lexie and Jake throughout the book--especially their burgeoning relationship and their attempts to uncover and stop the terrorist plot Lexie is sure is going on. Even though Lexie's working throughout the story (Jake is on weekend leave for most of it) we don't see her in the office much, and she only briefly interacts with coworkers on the page. Still, the suspense portion kept you on the edge of your seat, especially toward the end when things really started to come together.
Total Control is the 4th book in the series but could work fine as a standalone as well. You'd miss out on the earlier portion of Lexie and Jake's relationship, but they reflect enough on it here that you'll still understand what went wrong then and have faith that their HFN here could turn into an HEA in the end.
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.