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jeannethinks's review
4.0
Step into the futuristic world where global economy has crashed after a hacker took out the records. Imagine no history of your bank accounts, no history of most anything. With little recovered and other massive changes to the environment the world isn't what you'd expect. Add to that enhancements done to a select number of soldiers and the potential for creating super soldiers has created a group of protectors.
Nina didn't ask for the enhancement, but they saved her life. Now she moves from protection detail to detail with little need for downtime. Her normal operating procedure his a bump in the form of Ewan Donahue. Ewan had been the main lobbyist against forbiding the tech that saved Nina. When he comes under fire and threats to his life force him to seek the best, Nina is hired.
What can happen when walls come crashing down and secrets are revealed?
*This is a cliffhanger*
Nina didn't ask for the enhancement, but they saved her life. Now she moves from protection detail to detail with little need for downtime. Her normal operating procedure his a bump in the form of Ewan Donahue. Ewan had been the main lobbyist against forbiding the tech that saved Nina. When he comes under fire and threats to his life force him to seek the best, Nina is hired.
What can happen when walls come crashing down and secrets are revealed?
*This is a cliffhanger*
booklvrkat's review
3.0
Super charged elite fighting body guard meets billionaire hiding for his life. This was just ok for me.
rclz's review
4.0
More like a 4 1/2. A bit syfy, which I don't usually read, a bit mystery, and mostly romance. I wanted a bit more something, not sure what but it didn't quite make a 5. That said a really good book. Loved the characters. The world building isn't deep but what's there works well in the frame work and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
deannasworld's review
2.0
When I read the blurb for this story, I was instantly intrigued. An enhanced female bodyguard and the man she's sent to protect. On top of that, I've heard good things about Megan Hart and her writing, so I was interested in dipping in and reading her work. Unfortunately, while this story had a lot of potential, it did not deliver for me. For starters, this is a series which follows Ewan and Nina through a number of books. It was not what I expected so things play out a lot more slowly than I anticipated. I wouldn't have minded as much if the dialogue and interactions between Ewan and Nina hadn't been quite so stilted and stuffy. While there was a simmering attraction between the two, the writing lacked flow and emotion, and the pacing was a lot slower than I liked. While there isn't outright antagonism between Ewan and Nina, there's certainly a lot of conflict. I didn't enjoy reading Ewan and Nina fighting with each other so often. Ewan doesn't like enhanced people and Nina is trying not to be attracted to him while doing her job of protecting him. Little does Nina know that Ewan is the one responsible for the tech in all her enhancements. I'm pretty sure that revelations are going to cause waves in Ewan and Nina's relationship. I think I should have been more careful in reading the blurb of this book before deciding to read it. Not because of the book itself but because of the subsequent books all following the same couple. I tend to be a lot more selective of stories which follow the same couple across multiple books.
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llamareads's review
4.0
I adore scifi romance, but I'm not a big fan of the "women kidnapped by aliens" genre, so it can sometimes be slim pickings. The blurb reminded me of the Deus Ex game series, which is a personal favorite, so I was very interested. This is, at heart, a scifi version of a "bodyguard and client" romantic suspense, and is a nice mix of action and romance.
Nina's basically the female version of your typical ex-military alpha hero, which worked surprisingly well. I like books with strong heroines, but usually they also have even stronger heroes, so it was a breath of fresh air to have a heroine who's both stronger and more alpha than her partner. She's delightfully no-nonsense, and makes no apologies for who - or what - she is. She doesn't hesitate to call out Ewan's bullshit, either professionally or personally. When Ewan points out that they're from completely different worlds, that his is dinner parties and business deals and hers is fighting and violence, Nina fires back that it's people like him that make people like her necessary. She also makes no bones about the fact that they're on opposite sides ideologically, and but she respects his opinion on that, which, frankly, is much more levelheaded than I would be in that situation. Without the enhancement upgrades, which Ewan actively fights against, Nina's brain will slowly degrade until she's basically a vegetable. Nina, however, has more of a "carpe diem" attitude, and I'm sure it also helps that she views their relationship - as boss and bodyguard as well as as a couple - as temporary.
“I’ve tossed it around from every direction. What it took to bring you into my life. How you’re the worst possible choice for me—”
“As far as compliments go, I have to say, you could use a few lessons in how to give them better.”
I was torn on Ewan. He's a bit Darcy-ish about his attraction to Nina - a lot of the chapters from his point of view are about how much he hates his attraction to her. The part I had the hardest time with was the secret he kept from Nina. Ewan's guilt for his part in the enhancement program is a driving motivator in his life. So, besides being ridiculously hypocritical, keeping that from Nina felt, basically, like a betrayal. Ewan has some roundabout logic that he doesn't want to get into a relationship with Nina because he's afraid it might actually turn into a longterm relationship. Part of her attraction to him, actually, is that as part of the enhancement process, she's lost the ability to feel strong emotions, so she could never fall in love with him.
“[W]atching her in action had been one of the hottest things Ewan had ever seen . . . and he hated it. He didn’t need a reminder about what she was, and he definitely didn’t need to find it attractive. The idea of it was perverse, like if the doctor had wanted to make love to his monster after creating it.”
Their relationship is...interesting. From the start, there's a tension between them that is unusual for both of them. She's much stronger than him, obviously, and he actually gets off on her hurting him - nothing whips and chains, level, just biting and pinching, mostly. Ewan being Ewan, though, it's another thing he doesn't want to accept and tries to turn back around on her. Neither seemed to be able to decide whether they really wanted a relationship or not. While they do, eventually, fall in love (thanks to what seems like a giant dose of forced intimacy and cabin fever), I wasn't completely sold on it, given Ewan's actions and general selfishness. While he certainly takes steps towards redeeming himself, by the end of the book, he's still not there. Also, this is part of a series, so there's no HEA, and, in fact, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger.
I waffled back and forth on whether to give this 3 or 4 stars, and eventually rounded up to 4 because I do really want to know what happens next. Can they make their relationship work? Now that one threat to Ewan's life has been dealt with, will more spring up, especially once their relationship becomes public?
Overall, while I found some parts frustrating, I'm very much looking forward to the next book to find out what happens next. Recommended if you like romantic suspense scifi with strong alpha heroines!
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.
Nina's basically the female version of your typical ex-military alpha hero, which worked surprisingly well. I like books with strong heroines, but usually they also have even stronger heroes, so it was a breath of fresh air to have a heroine who's both stronger and more alpha than her partner. She's delightfully no-nonsense, and makes no apologies for who - or what - she is. She doesn't hesitate to call out Ewan's bullshit, either professionally or personally. When Ewan points out that they're from completely different worlds, that his is dinner parties and business deals and hers is fighting and violence, Nina fires back that it's people like him that make people like her necessary. She also makes no bones about the fact that they're on opposite sides ideologically, and but she respects his opinion on that, which, frankly, is much more levelheaded than I would be in that situation. Without the enhancement upgrades, which Ewan actively fights against, Nina's brain will slowly degrade until she's basically a vegetable. Nina, however, has more of a "carpe diem" attitude, and I'm sure it also helps that she views their relationship - as boss and bodyguard as well as as a couple - as temporary.
“I’ve tossed it around from every direction. What it took to bring you into my life. How you’re the worst possible choice for me—”
“As far as compliments go, I have to say, you could use a few lessons in how to give them better.”
I was torn on Ewan. He's a bit Darcy-ish about his attraction to Nina - a lot of the chapters from his point of view are about how much he hates his attraction to her. The part I had the hardest time with was the secret he kept from Nina. Ewan's guilt for his part in the enhancement program is a driving motivator in his life. So, besides being ridiculously hypocritical, keeping that from Nina felt, basically, like a betrayal. Ewan has some roundabout logic that he doesn't want to get into a relationship with Nina because he's afraid it might actually turn into a longterm relationship. Part of her attraction to him, actually, is that as part of the enhancement process, she's lost the ability to feel strong emotions, so she could never fall in love with him.
“[W]atching her in action had been one of the hottest things Ewan had ever seen . . . and he hated it. He didn’t need a reminder about what she was, and he definitely didn’t need to find it attractive. The idea of it was perverse, like if the doctor had wanted to make love to his monster after creating it.”
Their relationship is...interesting. From the start, there's a tension between them that is unusual for both of them. She's much stronger than him, obviously, and he actually gets off on her hurting him - nothing whips and chains, level, just biting and pinching, mostly. Ewan being Ewan, though, it's another thing he doesn't want to accept and tries to turn back around on her. Neither seemed to be able to decide whether they really wanted a relationship or not. While they do, eventually, fall in love (thanks to what seems like a giant dose of forced intimacy and cabin fever), I wasn't completely sold on it, given Ewan's actions and general selfishness. While he certainly takes steps towards redeeming himself, by the end of the book, he's still not there. Also, this is part of a series, so there's no HEA, and, in fact, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger.
I waffled back and forth on whether to give this 3 or 4 stars, and eventually rounded up to 4 because I do really want to know what happens next. Can they make their relationship work? Now that one threat to Ewan's life has been dealt with, will more spring up, especially once their relationship becomes public?
Overall, while I found some parts frustrating, I'm very much looking forward to the next book to find out what happens next. Recommended if you like romantic suspense scifi with strong alpha heroines!
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.
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