3.5 stars ( )

3.5
The first like 75% is great. Love the plot (it reminds me a lot of the show Leverage). I like the characters and the build up it's a nice slow burn. Then Ms. Phoenix must give in to her inner wanton because the last quarter is like hard core sec scenes with soooo much detail. I caught myself just scrolling through page after page skipping 'nipple, wet, clit' I mean we get it no need to have so many scenes one right after another just to take up pages. ( )

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! Although, it's more of a 4.5 than a 5 for the simple fact that it could have been cut short by a LOT, but whatever. I LOVED IT.

It's got a lot going on for it.

A swoon worthy hero - Yep. ETHAN IS PRETTY MUCH AWESOME PERSONIFIED. He's protective, but not overbearing and controlling. He's alpha just enough to make him sexy but not creepy. He's not a womanizing douchelord (and we all know how much I love a hero I don't have to worry about). He's so honest and straight-forward with feelings that I never for a second doubted him.
And, according to our heroine, good in bed. Like a sex god, or something. Not kidding.

You know what, I say he alone is reason enough to read this book! But to make things better, the book also has

A pretty damn awesome heroine - Alex is spunky, sharp wit, and can probably take better care of herself than anyone else can take care of her. I liked that she never played the dumb, weak heroine, and whenever something major happened, like her realizing she grew too attached to the kids, or her feelings for Ethan, she ended up facing those things and dealing with them. I liked that when the time came, she let Ethan take care of her. I loved how protective she was of him, almost as much as he was of her.

Do you know how I felt? I felt these two were completely even in this relationship, kind of the way it should be, eh.
OMG the frickin sexual tension was killing me. The whole time I thought, it better be worth it in the end! (It was). They have such amazing chemistry, these two. It's not insta love! They get to know each other, they become really close, they fall in love. It's a natural, slow-building type of romance that makes you want to savor every word because it's that good.

The sheer determination these two put into fighting for each other... it was awesome. I knew they were in love.

I'm pretty stoked about this book because one, it was something different in a sea of same-old-same-old NA, but also because I was never, for a second frustrated with these characters and their decisions. There's drama, there's action, there's steam, and it's all handled in a way that didn't piss me off.
And it was also an original story, you know.

I loved all the side characters, the author gave them all personalities and I felt like I knew them by the end just as much as Alex did.

The writing is engaging, funny, had me LOL quite a few times, great dialogue. But sadly, it was just a little too much. I think mostly I skimmed the fighting and training scenes? It's ten thousand plus kindle freaking locations - this book. Took me forever to read it, even if I was very very interested in what happens.

There are a couple of graphic sex scenes, I thought they were done very well.
Oh and yeah, mildly graphic violence as well.

Overall? Yeah, if you're looking for something different I'd definitely recommend this book! It does deal with the story that's a bit - out there. I don't think there are actually houses for pick-pocketing kids to improve their skills and then use them for good or whatever. But you know, it's all fiction. It was a great, entertaining (and hot!) read. I'm kind of hoping for an August/Spencer story? Yeah. Definitely recommend it. ( )