Captain Jessa Tok is a veteran soldier, but when an artillery strike separates her from the squad she commands, it may be the end of her career and her life. Then a single Dawn Soldier fights his way behind enemy lines to find her. The last man she’d expect. The one soldier she’d had a fling with and was trying to forget.

Sergeant Ryder Hiltop never thought of himself as a hero. He’s a career soldier, just trying not to get killed. But when his captain is lost during an attack, he has to go find her. And not just for the sake of the other Dawn Soldiers. A shore leave with Jessa left an indelible mark on him, and he’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe. But is it a suicide mission to find her? And if they manage to fight their way to safety, can their brief affair grow into something more?

Jessa and Ryder are Dawn Soldiers in the Limit War. They are currently on Kopol fighting the Dusk Warriors for its inhabitants who can’t fight for themselves. They are cut off from communication and can’t get a message out to ask for reinforcements. Jessa is captain of the team and heads off to try and place an antenna to try to get some sort of distress signal out. What she gets is knocked out by a Dusk Warriors blast. She’s dizzy and out of it but not so much as to not know when 3 Dusk Warriors come across her.

Ryder is a sergeant but it doesn’t really matter what rank he is he fights the same. When the Dawn Soldier squad regroups in the bunker after the latest Dusk Warrior attack and Ryder realizes that Jessa is still out in the open he automatically starts arming himself. He heads out on his own to try and find her. You see, Jessa and Ryder had recently spent some time together on an extended shore leave and though Jessa went right back to being Ryder’s captain, Ryder discovered that he definitely had more feelings for her than just being her subordinate.

Ryder saves Jessa but they soon realize that they can’t return to their bunker. They head the other direction and find the Dusk Warrior encampment, deciding to do a little covert damage to their equipment as long as they’re there. The couple stealthily move around and through the Dusk Warrior’s soldiers and silently disable the guns that keep the Dawn Soldiers from receiving aerial assistance.

Throughout the time that they are separated from their comrades they talk – not only about their backgrounds but also about their relationship and where it’s going, if anywhere. Jessa has serious reservations about making any type of relationship known within the ranks because of what happened to a friend in the past. Ryder is positive that all can be worked out. Can they get off the planet alive in order to find out what will happen in the future?

This is the third book in the Limit War series and definitely my favorite so far. While the other books were good this one had such a great blend of romance and fighting (a war) that once I picked it up I didn’t want to put it down.

I really enjoyed getting to know both Jessa and Ryder and their different personality quirks. I loved that Ryder thought Jessa was just as sexy being a soldier and fighting as he did when she was wearing nothing in a hut on the beach. His honest admiration for her and her capabilities was definitely a very attractive part of this hero.

Jessa wasn’t quite as open as Ryder at first but she soon realized that she loved this man and that she needed to do what she felt was right in all ways. She was a strong soldier and she let that strength move into her personal life as well. She took the chance that she wouldn’t get hurt and it paid off for her in the end.

In addition to the romance in this story we also had a fierce battle going on – which was woven into the romance seamlessly. Rosso did a fantastic job of making me want to read about the fight with the Dusk Warriors almost as much as I wanted to read about the romance. Both romance and battle scenes were well written and I got very caught up in the fight between the two factions.

Overall I thought it was a very good book and I just wish it were longer!

Rating: 4/4.25 out of 5


Nico Rosso
Liquid Silver Books