I would like to thank Scarlett Cole, St. Matrin's Press and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.
Review By Stephanie
Scarlett Cole is a sure thing for my and her Love Over Duty series is fastly becoming my favorite series!
Final Siege has it all!! The storyline, action and suspense was legit! The steam factor in this book is WOW!!! Lastly the pages are full of humor and amazingness that I have come to expect from Scarlett! This is a MUST read!
I can not wait for more from Scarlett Cole.

So good! I couldn't put it down! Lots of action and suspense! The hero and heroine burn up the sheets. I really enjoyed their chemistry and banter! The storyline was fast paced and kept you riding by the seat of your pants. Highly reccomend it.

Scarlett Cole knows how to write a gripping story......its action packed, suspenseful but with enough romance to make you sigh. The characters are wellwritten and you feel like you know them. You won't be disappointed.

**4-4.5 stars** Final Siege is the second book in Scarlett Cole’s Love Over Duty Series and it was one I was highly anticipating. After reading and loving the first book, Under Fire, I couldn’t wait to read this one! This can be read as a standalone though.

14 years ago, former SEAL Mac MacCarrick lost his best friend Brock in a tragic accident. He’s blamed himself all these years for Brock’s death and so has the love of his life (Brock’s sister). He never thought he’d ever have a chance at getting Delaney back in his life. Delaney is an investigative reporter and when she gets too close to finding out incriminating info on a weapons dealer, she’s kidnapped. But that’s just the beginning of the trouble that lies ahead. When Mac gets a call from a hospital in Germany telling him that Delaney is in the hospital and has been asking for him, he jumps on a plane to go to her.

When Mac sees Delaney again, he knows his feelings for her are just as strong as they were all those years ago and he’ll do anything to protect her. But for Delaney, seeing Mac brings back all the pain and anger from when she lost her brother, as well as feelings for him she wishes she didn’t have. She doesn’t want to let him back into her life, but now there are new threats to her life back in the states and Delaney knows going to Mac for help is her only option. Can they work through the hurt and painful memories and hope to heal from the past or will the past continue to get in the way of their happiness?

I really enjoyed Final Siege. It kept me turning the pages! A sexy, emotional and thrilling romantic suspense read!

**I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Final siege is the second volume in the Love Over Duty series by Scarlett Cole. Just like Six, the hero is a former Navy SEAL.

I loved the first volume but I had a contradictory feeling for Final Siege: I both wanted and was afraid to read it.
Wanted because I trust Scarlett to offer me real romances and I know I won’t be disappointed. Afraid because I knew the theme would be reunion. It’s a theme I like a lot, however the author must really offer a beautiful story where the separation and reconciliation are believable.

In Final siege, the theme is well handled, but Delaney Shapiro, our heroine, annoyed me several times, and it’s a shame. As for our hero, Mac (his real name being Malachai, yes it’s strange but it’s explained in the book lol) MacCarrick, because of him the book has a very good rating. Which is why I say I love Scarlett’s heroes.

Mac and Delaney were friends before falling in love and becoming lovers. However a terrible tragedy happened and they broke up. They meet again 14 years later when the heroine, wounded, call on him in her moments of lucidity. The hero sees an occasion to win her back and to talk things over once and for all, when the heroine refuses to listen to him at all.
It’s the first point for which Delaney annoyed me. At first I really understood her hesitations and refusals, but after a while she stays too much entrenched in her viewpoints and I had the feeling she was using the past in order to refuse to give a new chance to their story. When the reconciliation takes too long after the explanation, that tends to annoy me, which is the case here.

Mac however was really great. We see how in love he is and how much he wants her back in his life. He does everything he can to stay near her, even when she doesn’t want it. By the way one of the positive points concerning our heroine is the fact she’s not TSTL; she acts as she must in dangerous situations, and she trusts professionals when it’s necessary.

Final Siege is a romantic suspense. The suspense side has two angles: the common thread linking the different volumes, and what happened to the heroine when she was in Afghanistan. I won’t say more in order not to reveal too much, let’s just say there are some surprises.
Delaney has become an investigative journalist and she investigates arms trafficking between the USA and Afghanistan. It’s the second negative point about her. I like that my heroes are guided by ideals. Our heroine investigating a traffic to bring down the people responsible, that’s perfect. That her only aim is to be the first to reveal everything and/or the Pulitzer, it’s not okay at all. That means there’s no altruism in her. That she doesn’t care for human lives. Yes I know I go far in interpretation but it’s the feeling I had when Delaney talked about her job and her investigation. So she went down in my estimation firstly because of that, then she judges the hero for his actions. In short, for now, Delaney is the heroine I like the less in Scarlett Cole’s books.

On the romance side, aside from the heroine’s behavior, I still believed in their HEA. There’s not a lot of love scenes, as the story focuses on their reunion. The other members of the group are very present and I saw our heroes from the first volume with pleasure. The conclusion of the series should happen in the next volume, titled Deep Cover, planned for July 2018. I can’t wait to discover Cabe’s story, the last member of the trio who really needs to be taken down a peg or two, as he advocates duty before everything.

To conclude a good opus in spite of my hesitations concerning the heroine.

Final Siege had everything I love in a romantic suspense! There was, indeed a lot of suspense, a bit of anguish, some romance, and a lot of past hurt to resolve. The characters were very well fleshed out, and I loved getting to know them through their trials and hope.

Final Siege by Scarlett Cole
Book #2: Love Over Duty Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 3/5

Holy Hannah! A day I thought would never come, has come. This, dear reader, is the day I have to honestly and sincerely assign less than five stars to a Scarlett Cole book. Yes, there was mild depression involved.

Mac MacCarrick hasn’t seen the love of his life, Delaney Shapiro since shortly after her brother died in a horrifying accident Mac feels wholly responsible for causing. In the years since that awful day, Mac has made the most of his life and fulfilled his promise to his long-dead friend to become a Navy SEAL. Not only has Mac fulfilled the promise, but he excelled in the Navy and rose to a position of command. Since his separation from the Navy, Mac and his two best friends have launched Eagle Securities, a company designed to pick up where the red tape ties up the US military. Though the company isn’t intended to take up personal matters for individuals, Mac is on the first plane out when he’s contacted about Delaney in a military hospital in desperate condition.

Since the death of her beloved brother, Delaney has spent her life in the pursuit of truth. She isn’t interested in sensationalized news, just pure truth that is found through hard work, dedication, and often more than a little danger. Though she is in a bad way now, Delaney would gladly take the pain again and again if it means getting closer to the truth and taking down a criminal organization with more than a bit of mayhem planned. In fact, Delaney would go through even more than she already has if it means achieving her end goal. The only thing she regrets is calling out for Mac in her delirium.

Delaney and Mac together, in this day and place are like oil and water. Delaney can’t let go of her anger toward Mac over her brother’s death, and Mac can’t get past the guilt he feels over Delaney’s brother’s death. The problem is this: Mac and Delaney are absolutely attracted to one another, but their old hurts are hard to move beyond. Without letting go of the past, a future is absolutely out of the question. All of the personal issues are coming to a head just as Delaney is forced to admit only Mac and his highly skilled team are capable of helping her get to the truth of her latest story.

As events shake out, Delaney and Mac are thrown ever closer together and are forced to deal with the respective issues toward the other. It gets messy, sexy, dangerous, and ugly before all is said and done, but neither would have it any other way. When the truth finally comes out, Delaney, Mac, and the rest of Eagle Securities have toppled a small portion of a much larger empire dead-set on destruction.

The Bottom Line: Here’s the bold truth of the matter, I HATE Delaney and general character type. Unfortunately, Cole has produced a character that never plays well for me in any book. Delaney is the typical anything-for-a-story journalist who is reckless, careless, and whose single-minded determination has collateral damage. Additionally, Delaney’s constant jabs at Mac about the loss of her brother and her inability (despite being a journalist hellbent on finding the truth!) to accept that maybe, just maybe her brother’s death isn’t Mac’s fault after all. For all intents and purposes, I like every other aspect of this read; it’s Delaney and Delaney alone who pulled this read from a 5-star to a 3-star rating. Please be aware, dear reader, I fully appreciate this bias toward this specific character type is mine and mine alone, and most readers, particularly long-time Scarlett Cole fans, are going to eat this book up like a large slice of chocolate cake. 😊

I am a huge fan of Scarlett Cole's work. Her "Second Circle Tattoos" and "Preload" series are two of my all time favourites. This is the second book in her "Love Over Duty" series and like her other series there are personal and emotional struggles that the hero/ heroine and sometimes both have to conquer before finding their happily ever after. Those who have read the first book know about Six, Mac and Cabe's best friend Brock. The fourth friend who died in a tragic accident many years ago and spurred the other three to become SEALs to make his dream come true. Well, this story brings Brock's sister Delaney back into the picture. Mac and Delaney were inseparable before Brock's death. However, Delaney holds Mac responsible for the accident and has kept her distance from the three since. But an unexpected call brings Mac and Delaney back together again.

Malachai "Mac" MacCarrick has never been able to forgive himself for his friend's death. He not only lost his friend that day, but also the woman he believed he would be spending the rest of his life with. He desperately wants to find Delaney and explain what happened that day. No woman has ever been able to take her place or even come close to it. So when he gets a call from the medical facility at the American Army base in Germany, telling him that Delaney Shapiro has been asking for him he takes the first flight to go to her. It seems that Delaney has gotten herself in some trouble and Mac is the perfect man to protect her.

Delaney has blamed Mac for his brother's death. She has no recollection of asking for him so is surprised when she finds him at her side upon gaining consciousness. She was abducted in Afghanistan while on a trail for a piece she was writing. She is determined to find answers, but it seems that danger is still very close behind. And even though Mac is the last man that she wants help from, he is also the only man for the job. While the attraction they once felt for one another seems to burning just as intensely as it once did, there are too many questions and pain between them. Will Delaney be finally able to forgive Mac and give them a second chance?

Even though I enjoyed "Final Siege", I have to admit that it fell short of being as impressive as Scarlett Cole's usual work. Delaney's pain seems to be just as sharp as the first day that she lost Brock, I get that. What I found frustrating was the fact that she didn't want to talk to Mac at all about it. He attempted to broach the subject many times only to be shut down by her. And even though I admire her determination to go after her work and not kneel in the face of danger, I found her to be too reckless and stubborn. I felt that the suspense aspect of the story trumped the romance and passion of it.

I hate to write this but this is another romantic suspense military romance story that fall in the its ok but I don't think I will read it again.
The characters were not well developed and many times it felt like the author was writing a story around sex scenes.
I loved the idea of a report and former seal but this story has been done many times over and much better.
The female lead Delaney did what I hate and did the opposite of everything her hero\love interest asked her not to do many times. Leaving this reader wanting to yell at my ebook.
There was some editing that could clean up a little confusion but all in all it was a so so Romantic Suspense book.
Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy

With the intense start of a run for a rescue of an old girlfriend half across the world, at the beginning of the story, I jumped in the series by a new author to me with high hopes and great expectations. I liked the idea of the story, the plot of the young lovers separated 14 years ago by a tragic death of a brother and a best friend and all the trouble they run into because of their professions as a journalist and a former SEAL now security expert.
I thought that the team of best friends and military brothers were fun and entertaining, their teamwork seamless, and the support they gave to each other priceless.

I liked Mac, he was attractive, kind, protective, loyal, and smart. He was easy to be around with, and he genuinely cared about people around him. He was an alpha military man, tough and rough, yet his heart's desire was to have a family, a loving wife and children, a home.
He once thought he was going to have it all with Delaney Shapiro but she tore them apart accusing Mac of her brother's death.
I tried to like Delaney, I tried to be as forgiving as Mac and keep giving her second chances. But she just rubbed me the wrong way with her selfish, stubborn act that was rather immature, as well. Her ideologies and judgments made me see red, there were a lot of details with her that I struggled with through the story.
The push and pull between Mac and Delaney didn't stop them from having steamy love scenes. The big secret that Mac was holding out of loyalty to his dead best friend was the key that kept me reading, I wanted to see how Delaney reacted to the reveal, hoping she would redeem herself.

The majority of the story deals with the back and forth between the reuniting Mac and Delaney. It is towards the end where the action starts, where the investigation jumps forward leaps and bounds, that the adrenaline starts pumping, and things start happening with hair-raising speed and vigor.

Like I mentioned at the beginning I liked the plot and idea of the storyline, but the eARC I received must have been a really raw and rough copy of the book since there were issues with timing - did it happen three days ago, a day ago, or that morning - type of guessing. When you have to go back and check what was it, and the timeline confusing the natural flow, it did make an impact on the enjoyment of the tale.
Another thing was the jumping from scene to another without any warning or indication of the change of the different place, time, or the characters altering. This would just happen in the next sentence. Sometimes what was in a middle of a scene, in my mind. Either there were big junks of the story cut off without smoothing the edges or there was a considerate amount of editing still needed before the book is released.

Despite all the issues I personally faced with the story and its flow, I hope the final copy that ends up in the reader's hands has been smoothed out of all the kinks. For the tight brotherhood, for the action and pressure towards the end, for Mac and his patience, loyalty, and love of family
~ Two Spoons with a teaspoon on the side

This is book 2 of Ms Cole’s appropriately titled, Love Over Duty. But if like me , you have not read book one, rest assure it’s a stand alone and the author gives you enough background information that you get the gist of book one.
Mac’s and Delaney’s story is a second chance story filled with a suspenseful, intriguing , but a plot that is at times faced paced and at other times slow paced. That is , when it wasn’t inconsistent and hard to follow.
The characters were interesting.
An example of the inconsistency is when Delaney refers to an incident that happened the day before, then says it happened 3 days before and back to one day prior.
When the author jumps abruptly from one scene to another it distracts the reader.
This all became distracting and took away from the two main plots of the book, the story of a second chance, and the reason why Delaney was kidnapped.
I was gifted this copy by Netgalley and St Martin’s Publishing. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

In the second entry of the Love Over Duty series, the reader is introduced to Delaney Shapiro the heroine of this tale. Delaney is smart, independent and a real go-getter and this is what makes her an excellent investigative journalist. Unfortunately, I really couldn’t get into her character, at least I will not be apart of the Delaney fan club. The character's backstory has affected her personality and Delaney seems really selfish and maybe way too stubborn. As the reader, it is always a goal of mine to find books that highlight strong female leads. Female leads who kick butt and take names with some flying kicks here and a couple of roundhouses for good measure. Delaney holds her own when her in this story but her interactions with her male lead (Mac) leaves a bit of a sour taste. It seems that her character didn’t contribute much to balance the relationship.

Malachai “Mac” MacCarrick is the overly considered hero of Final Siege and he is what all heroes are chalked up to be. Mac is dashing, handsome and an all around good/protective guy. Like so many of these stories the hero is easily twisted around the small finger of the heroine and does whatever it takes to get into her good graces. Where’s the balance? Mac spent a lot of time securing the heroine’s safety without much appreciation. Honestly, I thought that these two characters would part ways towards the end of the book in order to save the hero his dignity or just to give him some of his dignity back. Now, I must say that grief is a hard thing to deal with (even for us regular folks) and people cope with their grief differently. I just needed a little more balance between the characters.

A sign of a really good author is his/her ability to draw the reader into the story. Scarlett Cole was able to draw this reader into the book and into her characters. Though I did not care for the heroine, the male lead and the secondary characters were really great. The action sequences we're fascinating and a setting/background were well-thought-out and well-planned.

As the series progresses it will be interesting to see the different types of female leads introduced. Not only that, it will be equally as interesting to see how the stories of future female leads connect with established heroines.

This is the 4th book I've read by this author and she never disappoints!

On a day always burned into his memory, Mac lost his best friend and the girl he loved. The girl he saw his future with. The girl who meant everything to him. He lost everything that day and there was no coming back.

We're led to believe we know what happened that day on the cliff, but the truth doesn't come out until much later into the story. My heart broke for Delaney and what she went through; her anger towards Mac even so many years later was understandable.

Some parts of the book could be confusing as there is a LOT going on with the story that Delaney is trying to break. That's the only thing that stopped me from giving this 5 stars.

My first read by author Scarlett Cole & I loved it. I couldn’t put it down. The drama & suspense was amazing, as was the strength of the characters. The storyline seemed to be connected to the previous book but I had no problem following it. I was impressed with the authors descriptive narrative both internally & externally. She did a wonderful job on the back history of the main characters & the lead up to their story. I found myself rooting for Mac constantly & couldn’t believe how strong & resilient that Delaney was. I definitely want to read the first book in this series & look forward to more. Definitely recommend.

This book is so exciting. Fun sexy everything you could expect from scarlett cole. second chance at love with some scary russian arms dealers thrown in the middle. Loved it

3 stars... I am not really a romance/suspense person. I gave to a go, and it was good. Just not my thing.

Will one act define your life? Delaney, Mac & Brock were friends growing up, they did everything together but that all changed when Brock was killed. And Delaney believed that it was Mac's fault she never gave him a chance to explain. She is in trouble and Mac is the only one that can help but it needs to be on her terms. Mac has loved her all this time and he will make sure that she is safe even though she is fighting him all the way. Will Delaney back away from the story that almost got her killed? Mac knows that her work is important to her but it is going to get her killed one day soon. Mac will use whatever skills he has to try help her find the truth about the weapon but she has to follow his rules which doesn't go down so well. How can they ever move forward from the past and have a future when the past is always hanging over them? Will Delaney ever forgive Mac for her brother's death and can she give in to his love? Some smoking men, spunky women and a whole lot of guns. What isn't there to like? I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

Delaney is an Investigative Journalist and she does what she needs to when pursuing her story. Mac was Delaney's first love, she thought they would be "forever" but when her brother died that changed because Mac was responsible.

Mac is ex-military and is partnered with his ex-military "brothers" in their own company: Eagle Securities. He also grew up with Delaney and was best friends with her brother: it was their dream to go into the military together but his death stopped that.

One day Mac receives a call from Overseas, Delaney has been hurt and is asking for him...he doesn't hesitate to go to her. When Delaney regains consciousness she doesn't recall asking for Mac and is angry he is there. In the course of her investigation, Delaney was kidnapped and beaten and Mac has sworn to protect her, which is just what she doesn't want.

This book was awesome!! I loved it! First you have the anger and confusion Delaney feels over the death of her brother and Mac's part in it, then the fact that she has never loved anyone like she did him. She finds that once she returns back to the US there is still danger for her but that doesn't stop her from working on her story!

Mac made a promise to Delaney's brother and he has kept that promise even if it has made him a pariah to the family that he was part of. Now Delaney is back in his life, full of anger towards him and in danger. He will do whatever he has to keep her safe.

Can Mac protect Delaney? Will Delaney ever understand Mac's promise to her brother?

Awesome, awesome story...looking forward to more!

I really enjoy this author's romantic suspense titles! I LOVED book 1 of this series, and this one was great too, though I didn't love it quite as much. Totally a personal issue, as I have a serious love/hate relationship with second chance romance stories, and how they make me feel. And the angst between them in this story, and the reason for it, was a doozy!

Malachai "Mac" MacCarrick is a former Navy SEAL, who now runs his own private security company with his 2 best friends. There used to be 4 of them growing up, but their other best friend, Brock, died when they were teenagers, and Mac has always blamed himself. Their friend had dreamed of becoming a Navy SEAL, so the three of them decided to pursue that dream on his behalf. They all excelled at it, but especially Mac. He always felt the need to be better, stronger, faster, than everyone, in order to live up to Brock's memory. Then, there's the other giant hole in his heart from his past: his high school sweetheart, Delaney. She's Brock's younger sister, and she never forgave Mac for his part in Brock's death. But, when she's hurt badly while out on assignment and asks for him, there's nothing that could keep him away.

Delaney Shapiro is an investigative journalist. She uses her position to try to make things better in the world. She mostly does it to honor her big brother, Brock, who always wanted to do the same thing, in his own way. She's never really had a great relationship in her life since Mac, because no one ever measured up to him. But, she knows she could never be with him again, because it would only remind her of everything she's lost. They haven't seen each other in 14 years, but when she's hurt while in the middle east on assignment, in her drugged up haze, she asks for him, and is shocked when he actually shows up. As her head clears, she's torn on being happy to see him again, and how painful it actually is seeing him again. They clearly have unfinished business.

Mac and Delaney's chemistry was off the charts, but then, that was never their issue. There is A TON of emotional baggage, things unsaid, assumptions made, and more, that have kept them apart over the years, and unpacking all that was quite the angsty journey. Here is where my love/hate of this type of story comes in. Usually, that serious angst is a little more than I enjoy in my stories. It was very relatable here though, and they were still so young when things fell apart, that it was more understandable too. I really liked the slow burn of them coming back to each other, and their journey to understanding each other, and their past actions, better.

The suspense plot in this one was intriguing, and all had to do with Delaney's investigation and how it followed her back to the U.S. There were some interesting twists and turns with that and it kept me excited the entire way through. I really liked how they both handled the differences in their perspectives when it came to dealing with the bad guys, and how that could affect their relationship. It was an interesting angle that I'd never considered before in this type of story.

As in the prior book, I loved all the side characters, especially the other guys that work for the security company. Also, seeing the heroine from book 1, Louisa, again was fun too, and the relationship Delaney built with her was very enjoyable as well. I love seeing positive relationships between women in my books, and they are both spectacular women, so I'm thrilled at how they got along.

I really enjoyed this entry to the series, and I'm very excited to read book 3, about the final best friend/co-owner of the company, Cabe. I highly recommend this one!