Tag: Alpha Ops series

Guest Review: Pushing the Limit by Emmy Curtis

Posted January 13, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Pushing the Limit by Emmy CurtisReviewer: Tracy
Pushing the Limit by Emmy Curtis
Series: Alpha Ops #2
Also in this series: Dangerous Territory, Over the Line, Compromised, Pushing the Limit, Over the Line
Publisher: Forever Yours
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
Format: eARC
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

 

After their one-night fling at a wedding, archaeologist Henrietta “Harry” Markowitz thought she’d never see war hero Matt Stanning again. So when they’re paired up to investigate a military plane crash in Iraq, she’s not sure if the three-month reunion is serendipitous or cursed. What she does know is this gorgeous man lights her body on fire—and incredible sex is always a welcome distraction.

Air Force Sergeant Matt Stanning has been called a hero, but he feels nothing like one when he realizes the sexy blonde in his bed is the widow of his fallen brother-in-arms. Even worse, he actually has to work with her, and she’s unearthed evidence that points to a military conspiracy. If they dig deeper, they’ll put their lives in danger. If they don’t, they’ll never know the truth—not only about the mysterious plane crash, but about each other.

Matt and Henrietta (aka Harry) met at their friends’ wedding and had a little naked sexy time in the garden in the rain. Neither one has been able to foget about that short but wonderful time in their lives.

Harry is an archaeologist who is working for a private company in Iraq. Matt Stanning shows up after Harry puts in a call about a piece of metal she found that might possibly belong to a downed military plane. From the minute that Matt shows up he and Harry cllick once again. They end up sleeping together – finally! – but that all turns a little nuts when Matt realizes that Harry is the widow of his best friend who died seven years earlier. Matt is mortified that he’s betrayed his best friend but Harry doesn’t see the issue. Yes, she loved her husband so very much and feels that she’ll never let anyone into her heart again, but she sees no problem in sleeping with Matt as it won’t mean a relationship.

While the two are dealing with the “sleeping” arrangements their lives are in danger. There is someone out there who wants whatever is below the surface at Harry’s dig site and will stop at nothing to get it.

This was another great story in the Alpha Ops series. So far I’ve really enjoyed reading about the different characters that we met in the previous book. I think that both the suspense part of the story as well as the romance was well done and blended nicely with each other.

The dig site and what’s underneath the sand in Iraq is a major part of the story but it provides a nice catalyst for bringing our two MC’s together. Both Harry and Matt had dealt with Danny’s death in their own way. Matt felt incredibly responsible for Danny’s death even though Danny was a man who worked with explosives and nothing Matt could have done would have saved Danny’s life. Despite that Matt had deeply mourned his friend for the past seven years and hasn’t moved on.

Harry knew that Danny had been her one true love and that she’d never love anyone the way she’d loved her husband. Knowing that, she had allowed herself the rare sexual partner but had always held herself apart from any true connection. When she met Matt she thought that they could just sleep together and have some fun but she soon realized that Matt meant more to her than even she thought possible. Each of them had to come to terms with their feelings about each other and I really liked how Curtis took us on their individual journey’s in dealing with their grief and recovery. I did want to slap Matt a time or two near the end of the book because he was acting like an ass but other than that I loved reading about the romance between these two characters.

The other parts of the book that dealt with the suspense portion were incredibly interesting. I found myself completely absorbed with the story which is always a good thing.

Overall the book was well done and I can’t wait for the next installment in the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Reading Order:

 

four-stars

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Guest Review: Over the Line by Emmy Curtis

Posted December 3, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Over the Line by Emmy CurtisReviewer: Tracy
Over the Line by Emmy Curtis
Series: Alpha Ops #1
Also in this series: Dangerous Territory, Pushing the Limit, Compromised, Pushing the Limit, Over the Line
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 7th 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Army Special Forces Sergeant Beth Garcia owes James Walker big-time for saving her life in Afghanistan. So the least she can do is agree to be his rock-climbing partner. After a year of physical therapy, she's finally eligible for deployment again, and what better way to celebrate than a weekend with a sexy Air Force hero? She's prepared to kick his ass at climbing-until James reveals what he really has in mind . . .

Pretending to be engaged wasn't the most brilliant idea James ever had. Neither was dragging Beth to his sister's wedding. The competitive tomboy is a far cry from the type of woman his family usually pushes on him. Yet Beth is more exciting than anyone he's ever met, and James has a feeling that if he can get her in bed, she'll blow his mind.

They're just supposed to be acting-but as the wedding weekend wears on, Beth and James have a fighting chance at something real and much more lasting . . .

 

Tracy’s review of Over the Line (Alpha Ops #1) by Emmy Curtis

James Walker saved Beth Garcia’s life while in combat. A year later they meet unexpectedly. He always had a thing for her and she him but neither ever said anything. Now he sees his chance to take her out to dinner and she accepts! Their plans for dinner almost immediately morph into a weekend spent climbing together as James is trying to get away from his family, and his sister’s wedding. That’s until he finds out that both of his sisters have been getting creepy emails from an unknown source. James and Beth decide that they need to go to the wedding and James asks Beth to play his girlfriend to ward off any matchmaking his mother and father might do. Playing girlfriend soon turns into playing his fiancé and while neither really like the deception they agree it’s necessary.

They head to James’s parents house and Beth is overwhelmed with the wealth of the place – that’s when James decides to tell Beth that his father is the Director of the CIA. Wow – completely unexpected – especially as Beth is planning to apply to the CIA when she ends her army duty. She manages to play it cool but James’s family is whack. Seriously messed up – well, at least his parents are. His two sisters are wonderful and he loves them. There’s definitely never a dull moment in the Walker household.

Beth and James end up taking their role as an engaged couple to the next level and end up in bed together – multiple times throughout the weekend but strange things keep happening – attacks on Beth and James’s sister Sadie, the bride among the big ones While both of them would like to just concentrate on the other there are interruptions, gun fights and cocktails with his parents to get through. It certainly wasn’t boring.

This was a pretty great story. I really liked both James and Beth individually and together they were even better. I also loved that the author didn’t try to push an insta-love weekend on us and try to get us to believe it. Yes, most of the book took place during that one weekend but there were no “I Love You’s” spoken during that time and I really appreciated it. Because of their close proximity James and Beth were able to explore each other in a way that they probably wouldn’t have ever done had they just gone to dinner or even spent the weekend climbing. The closeness that created made for some pretty great sex scenes and a very good love story. 🙂

I think this was a good follow up to Curtis’s 0.5 novella, Dangerous Territory, and I can’t wait to read what happens with James’s ex girlfriend Harry and Air Force Sergeant Matt in the next book. So far a great series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Forever Yours Publishing.   You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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