*3.5 stars*

This is the second book in The Lost Platoon series and the suspense, the twisty turns, heated up even more!

Brittany was on a search for justice and didn’t expect to run into John again after all this time. How things left off didn’t help re-building trust between them and that had to happen. Fast! They quickly became knee-deep in high-stakes secrets that put them both directly in a killer’s sights. Secrets people would die for…

Brittany’s brother tied them together yet kept them apart. So much to juggle as John needed to stay hidden while Brittany was digging to get all the details exposed. They fought about this, their past and how their future would go. Nothing was easy or simple as the circle of possible betrayers kept growing and became more deadly…

My feelings were all over the place with this read. The story was solid and there wasn’t any nook or cranny that didn’t have erupting emotions or actions. Maybe it was the lead characters who, while driving the story, had their relationship punted to the background at times by another couple’s relationship. Despite that, I look forward to the next story where I hope we’ll see a resolution to all the unanswered questions.

Brittany Blake isn’t buying the story the government is feeding the public about the disappearance of her brother. Putting her investigative reporter skills to use, she launches her own investigation which leads her to her brother’s best friend, John Donovan, one of the surviving SEAL team members in hiding. John tries his best to throw her off the track and get her off the story—because he knows she will become a target—but perhaps she is just what the team needs to set a trap . . .

Brittany is a tenacious and focused woman on her own mission, and I enjoyed getting to know her. I could appreciate her reluctance to trust John, even though I knew he was a good guy. He may be smoking hot, but he has a reputation with the ladies and he isn’t being completely honest with her about what happened to her brother, not at first. Not to mention that John broke her heart once before. John himself comes with his own baggage, not wanting to commit because of past experiences. He and Brittany have something special though and both of them can only fight it for so long.

This really is a series that needs to be read in order. The events in each book play on each other. In addition to Brittany and John's story, readers get to see more into another budding-second-chance love story, which carried over from the first book and will continue into the third. There is plenty of suspense as Brittany and John and the others in their group get closer to the truth of what happened to the SEALs team in Russia. I definitely had my suspicions as I read this book. Full of tension and steamy romance, Off the Grid was a fun read.

The Lost Platoon series is the kind of romantic suspense that I LIVE for. I am utterly addicted to the action, the steam, and the chemistry between the main characters. I put off reading Off the Grid until the third book released so I could binge them back to back, and boy am I glad I made this decision. I was in romantic suspense heaven continuing this fantastic series. Off the Grid is the middle child of the series, though it doesn’t have the middle book syndrome. There is so much that happens, both in terms of the romance(s) and overall plot arc, so if you enjoyed Going Dark, you’re definitely going to want to read this follow-up!

Brittany Blake is an investigative reporter who knows something has happened to her missing brother. The U.S. military gave excuses for the missing men in SEAL Team Nine, but Brittany is determined to uncover the truth. The first step to doing so? Connecting with her brother’s best friend and fellow SEAL, John Donovan… the man who broke her heart years ago.

John Donovan and the rest of the surviving SEAL Team Nine men are off the grid. They can’t let either the U.S. or Russia know that they are the sole survivors of a Russian attack, as they were never supposed to be on Russian soil. But their secrecy is in jeopardy when John’s dead best friend’s sister starts nosing her way to the truth. John is tasked with distracting and eventually stopping Brittany from her investigation. But he can’t help the connection that he’s always felt for her, that flares up just as strongly now as it did five years ago.

I enjoyed Brittany and John’s characters, though at times they did seem immature. John is known as the funny guy in his team, and I loved the light-heartedness he brought to the book. He’s also a bit of a player, and I wanted Brittany to make him work just a bit harder to win her over, but I can’t blame the girl for falling so easily into his arms. A six foot plus, 200+ pound alpha-male that is allll muscle? I wouldn’t say no either.

In addition to John and Brittany, we also get more of Kate and Colt’s story that we initially learned about in Going Dark. I’ll admit, a big part of why I wanted to continue the series was to get Kate and Colt’s (hopefully) happy ending, and in Off the Grid, we definitely see them heading in the HEA direction, though it’s not quite there yet. As far as second chance romance goes, this one is spectacular. All the angst and all the heartache!

Off the Grid is a fantastic installment in the Lost Platoon series, but trust me, it only gets better from here. The suspense is well done – it kept me guessing who did what. Brittany and John’s relationship starts off fast in bed, but the slower development of feelings is worth the read. As far as military romances/romantic suspenses go, this one is SO good.

DNF -

I lost interest in this story. When someone you know real well, tells you that he is in hiding because a mission went bad, someone killed your brother and now is trying to kill the surviving members of your platoon, don't be a jerk and decide you have to get the truth out there if it means the loss of more innocent lives.

I just couldn't get over Brittany's selfish "I have to publish this and save my career...oh, and for my brother too" attitude.

Another fabulous story in Monica's new LAST PLATOON series! OFF THE GRID is filled with action and romance and is a hot read. I've been loving this new series - its ties to Scotland and the new characters.

Brittany Blake, an investigative reporter, has made it a mission to find out what happened to her brother, Brandon, and his missing SEAL Team. They just disappeared and the military won’t even acknowledge they’re gone. Her newspaper articles are making lots of people uncomfortable, especially John (Dynomite) Donovan, Brandon’s best friend and member of his Team. John and other members of the Team that survived the blast in Siberia are in hiding, not wanting those that set up the Team to die to know they’re still alive until they can figure out who was behind the treachery. He’s dispatched to find Brittany and redirect her efforts, a woman with whom he has a past connection.

The story continues with John and others still trying to unearth clues to help them solve exactly what happened in Russia. I liked the use of flashbacks at important moments that gave more depth to the characters and intersecting relationships. The timing was spot on and I also liked that secondary characters had major roles. John and Brittany had a budding relationship five years ago that ended badly so their reunion wasn’t a joyous one but it was explosive. It developed quite nicely as they worked together.

While there were quite a few twists and revelations, the mystery of the Siberian blast is still unsolved but it’s clearer with some likely outcomes. I really enjoyed the narrator, Charles Lawrence, who handled the female roles very, very well. He’s also a good storyteller who made this a good reading experience. I’m enjoying the series and the next book is set up quite nicely.

Off the Grid is book two in Monica McCarty’s series, The Lost Platoon, and although I haven’t read the previous book (Going Dark) I was able to follow the plot in this one without any trouble, so it worked perfectly well as a standalone. What didn’t work so well, however, were the hackneyed storyline, stereotypical characters and the hero’s thirty-going-on-thirteen attitude towards the heroine. Oh, and description of the hero’s mighty wang as a “turgid beast”. I kid you not.

The book opens with a prologue in which John Donovan and the rest of Team Nine – a top secret group of Navy SEALS which has been put together to undertake the blackest of black-ops – searching a supposedly abandoned Russian gulag for proof of the existence of some kind of doomsday weapon when an explosion kills half the platoon. The rest of the men make their escape and then scatter, dropping off the radar while their commander, Scott Taylor, tries to work out exactly what happened. He believes they were betrayed by someone on their own side, and it’s safest for them all to stay dead until he can figure out what the hell happened.

Ten weeks later, John is living as Joe Phillips, a Canadian ski-bum, and is working at a resort in Finland as a ski instructor and tour guide. He’s bored to the back teeth, until he gets a call from Scott informing him that Brittany Blake, whose brother, Brand, was killed in the explosion, is stirring up trouble. An investigative journalist, Brit has written a number of stories for the paper she works for about the so-called ‘lost platoon’ in hopes of finding out what happened to her brother, and her latest article has just hit the international news sites. Scott tells John to find a way to silence her, and when John is reluctant, points out that she could well be putting her own life in danger as well as those of the rest of the platoon.

Brit and John have history; five years earlier, before both John and Brand joined Team Nine, John and Brit spent a halcyon summer together and had become very close. In spite of John’s reputation as a bit of a player, Brit believed they really had something going between them – until John ripped out her heart and stomped on it when she caught him fooling around with a pair of twin sisters. Needless to say, they haven’t been in contact or seen each other since.

John comes up with what he thinks is a way to stop Brit, but she’s not falling for it, and not long after this, turns up out of the blue at John’s local bar. The last thing he needs is for her to start yelling at him, especially as she has no idea he’s living under an assumed name, so he does the only thing he can think of and forestalls the tirade with a blistering kiss. Rather than smacking him, she melts into the kiss (of course she does) and even though they’re both angry, they’re not angry enough to resist the pull between them and return to John’s house to work off all that anger on the living room sofa. Fortunately, his four housemates are out, or that could have been a bit awkward.

The rest of the story basically consists of John and Brit running from the bad guys, and in between having a city break in wonderful Copenhagen where John – whose mother was Danish – entertains Brit by taking her to see all the sights, which, coincidentally (not) provides the perfect way to distract her from pursuing her story. Naturally, she’s not best pleased once she realises what John is up to – and doesn’t believe him when he protests that yes, he wanted to distract her, but that he’s also enjoyed the time they’ve spent together. Maybe she’d have been more inclined to believe him if he hadn’t spent so much time pushing her away (because of that unwritten rule of romance novels – the best friend’s sister is untouchable – except when she isn’t and they shag), and generally being a bit of a dickhead towards her.

That’s not to say Brit is perfect. She’s one of those stereotypical ‘spunky reporter’ types, the sort who will stop at nothing to get to the story and is so blinkered that she can’t see she’s putting lives at risk (including her own) or doesn’t care. I can understand her need to find out what happened to her brother, especially given the complicated history surrounding their estrangement, but she wasn’t willing or able to see a bigger picture, and that sort of character drives me nuts.

In addition – and to its detriment – the novel contains a secondary (second-chance) romance that is obviously set to run throughout the series, between Team Nine’s former chief, Colt Wesson and his ex-wife, Kate, who is a CIA analyst and the only person outside the team that knows they aren’t all dead. I gather the couple made an appearance in Going Dark, but not having read that, I wasn’t prepared for the shift of focus and found it irritating. Kate and Colt (who is also a dickhead) get almost equal page-time to John and Brit, but while their story is intriguingly angsty and is, I assume, setting up their eventual book, the lack of resolution here is somewhat frustrating, and the time spent on developing their story means that not enough time is spent on the romance between John and Brit, which is consequently lacking in depth and emotional connection.

The Lost Platoon series has an intriguing premise and I enjoy these sorts of conspiracy-based thrillers, but in the case of Off the Grid, the author is trying to do too much in juggling two romances and a complex plotline. It all combines to produce an unsatisfying read in which the main storyline advances very little, one romance is superficial and the other left hanging.

There are better romantic suspense novels out there, and I’d urge fans of the genre to look elsewhere for their fix.

I'm loving this series and can't wait for the rest of them. She balances the romance and suspense perfectly.

I really want to like this series particularly since I absolutely love the Highland Guard series from Ms. McCarty. The idea of a platoon of seals who are betrayed by their own government is intriguing. The tantalizing possibility of why and who betrayed them should make for a great story. At this point I'm a bit confused about who survived and so far there are no good clues leading to the traitors. I felt betrayed that there was no pulse pounding suspense.....

Brittany is an investigative reporter who looks into government plots. She sets out to look into the disappearance of her seal brother but instead of finding some good clues only ends up stirring the pot and perhaps raise the antenna of the wrong people whomever they might be. Her brother's friend with whom she once enjoyed a romance is dispatched to quiet her and squash the story.
Parallel to Brittany and John's romance is the another story of an estranged husband and wife who seemingly have allowed random facts to create a wall between them. Colt apparently is the only man who can get to the bottom of the betrayal but it will require him working with his ex-wife Kate. I am disappointed that Colt who is supposed to be this cracker jack who will be able to investigate the source of the betrayal of Seal Team 9 couldn't see figure out his own life and let jealousy and suspicion get in the way of the best thing he had going.
Similarly, John comes across as immature not a kick ass seal. I am still intrigued with the promise of the story and would love to find out what happened so I will definitely like to read the next book in the series to see if the story delivers on the promise.

***ARC Provided by the Publisher via NetGalley***

In order for a romantic suspense to work, you have to believe that the connection is strong enough for the characters to be able to form a connection while, sometimes literally, being chased by people who are shooting at them.

Brittany and John have this past connection, and a bit of a forbidden relationship as her brother warned John away from him years ago...but, part of the reason they are together now is that her brother has been killed, and Brittany is determined to find out why...even at the cost of the safety of the men who lived through the same mission and are in hiding.

I believed the romantic aspect of this book, and I also believed the suspense. All of the elements were there for me to be willing to accept that both were happening simultaneously. There were a couple of places where I felt it dragged a little, and there was a subplot that worked and felt unnecessary at the same time, but I enjoyed it overall.

I recommend this title.

✦Review & Giveaway: OFF THE GRID (The Lost Platoon) by Monica McCarty https://wp.me/p3d0RZ-aO5
►Enter Giveaway (Paperback) ➢ https://bit.ly/2NFITBs
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Reviewed by: Reading in Pajamas/ Donna
Rated 4.5 Stars

Another exciting installment in the Lost Platoon series. The author managed to give good insight into John’s situation and personality without resorting to an info-dump (much appreciated). I rather liked his brooding attempt to keep from getting attached to Brittany. I related to her rather quickly and loved how their sexy romance ebbed and flowed through the turmoil. I wish the platoon wasn’t so dispersed, so they could have more of a group dynamic to the stories. I want to be pulled in deeper to them as a group. That being said – I loved the mystery, danger, romance and edge to this book.

*Review copy provided by Penguin in exchange for an honest review.

~*~*~*~

Kindle http://amzn.to/2subV0J

Check out Book 1:
GOING DARK (The Lost Platoon) by Monica McCarty
✦Review 5 Stars http://wp.me/p3d0RZ-9G1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Kindle http://amzn.to/2qtdF55

When a top secret mission goes wrong in Russia and more than half of SEAL Team Nine is killed, the survivors are ordered to scatter and go dark. Only not everyone is willing to let them stay off the grid. Reporter Brittany Blake can smell a government cover up a mile away and since this one involves her missing – possibly dead – brother, she’s not about to let it rest until she discovers the truth.

John Donovan hates being stuck in Finland, doing nothing, while he waits for orders from his lieutenant commander. And while he would like to pretend otherwise, John also can’t move past the death of his best friend and teammate, Brandon Blake. When he’s ordered to shut Brittany up – for her safety as well as the rest of his surviving teammates – it throws him for a loop. Years ago, Brandon made it clear Brittany was off-limits. But with the adrenaline rush of danger and the pull neither John nor Brittany can deny, it’s clear that some promises are meant to be broken…

I really struggled with rating Off the Grid. On the one hand, Monica McCarty’s writing is engaging, drawing me into the book and keeping the story moving at a quick clip. The action is cinematic and the overarching series question of who betrayed SEAL Team Nine and why was interesting. That being said, I struggled with the characters which kept me from liking this book as much as I wanted to.

Brittany Blake gave me flashbacks to Lois Lane (always a good thing). She’s a reporter with a sharp mind and dogged determination to get her story. She has been wronged more than once by a government cover up and her brother is one of the missing SEALs, so I did understand why she was so determined to find out what happened to the group of men she dubbed “The Lost Platoon.” That being said, Brittany’s strengths were also her weaknesses. She can get tunnel vision, which is frustrating when she doesn’t seem to fully understand – or more importantly care – that she’s putting other lives in danger besides her own. One of those lives belongs to John Donovan, the man who broke her heart five years ago. John is known for his laid-back ways, but he’s mostly intense and frustrated in this book. He definitely has reason to be, but at times it felt like his personality had melted away and we were left with a generic military hero, which was a pity. John and Brittany do have chemistry, but their romance paled in comparison to the sexual tension between two supporting characters. Added to that, Brittany and John suffer from the same problem that a lot of characters in this book do: a lack of honest communication. It’s a common enough plot device, but it’s one that I find a bit frustrating, so people who aren’t bothered by this may like their romance more than I did.

Off the Grid isn’t just John and Brittany’s story. Former SEAL Colt and his ex-wife, CIA analyst Kate are working to discover who betrayed Colt’s former team. Colt and Kate are the reason I am so invested in this series. Their chemistry is off-the-charts explosive and the pure drama keeps me coming back for more. The pain, anger, distrust, and lust practically jump off the page and I cannot wait to see if/how Ms. McCarty makes things work for these two. She definitely has her work cut out for her, because even though I got a fair sense of Colt’s history and why he acts the way he does, he definitely is cruel to Kate; so much so that I’m honestly not sure if I should be rooting for him to win her back. Whether or not he does, he and Kate livened up the book and their storyline ensures that I’ll be back for Out of Time, the next Lost Platoon book.

Another must read in the Lost Platoon series that leaves you on the edge of your seat. It's a steamy, sexy adventure that spans the globe.

If you want a series that leaves you on the edge-of-our-seat don't miss this exciting new relase from Monica McCarty.

I can't wait to read the next story!

Oh, I’m loving this series! Covert-ops-gone-bad with a SEAL team thought to be dead, they’re on the run and in hiding. Just like the first book there’s action, danger, conspiracy, and the best part…romance!

Brittany Blake’s brother Brandon, along with his best friend John Donovan have gone missing and suspected to be dead. Brittany knows they’re part of some super-secret Navy SEAL team. Since she’s has had less than stellar dealings with the government and cover-ups in the past, Brittany’s pretty suspicious of all their explanations. She decides to force the government’s hand by publishing sensational exposé type newspaper articles questioning the team’s whereabouts and the mission they were lost on, dubbing the stories: The Lost Platoon. Her articles are stirring up interest and not the good kind. Brittany’s got a target on her back and the survivors of SEAL Team Nine are being put at risk for discovery with all the scrutiny.

John Donovan couldn’t have a serious relationship when he first met Brittany, but their connection was instant and intense. They didn’t part on good terms, but John thought it for the best even though he’s never felt the same way about any other woman. Hiding out in Finland has become dull, but things take a turn when Brittany starts stirring up trouble with her articles. Scott, the team’s Commander, orders John to handle Brittany and lock down the talk, but his efforts throw Brittany right into his path again with danger trailing along after. Will they survive?

Off the Grid has a second chance romance, one of my all-time favorite types, and this one’s oh-so-good! With John being the best friend of Brittany’s older brother, they have a history. There was a connection, and then John broke her heart. Brittany hasn’t forgotten the hurt but doesn’t matter, when they meet again fireworks spark and ignite, and the pull between them is irresistible! That first kiss, woo!! These two are so very hot together!

As if their romance wasn’t enough we also have Colt and Kate. I’m totally riveted by their history (they were married) and their exchanges now in the present. Colt was a total ass to Kate, but they’re working together again to get answers for SEAL Team Nine. The hurt (on Kate’s side) and anger (on Colt’s side) is palpable! The revelations through this story were soooo good and I’m DYING to find out what happens next!

Off the Grid is the second book in The Lost Platoon series, but it’s not necessary to read the first book to enjoy it. However, the first book, Going Dark is really good too, so why not read it as well?

OFF THE GRID is the second instalment in Monica McCarty’s contemporary, adult THE LOST PLATOON romantic, military suspense series focusing on SEAL Team Nine whose members are MIA or dead following an unsanctioned and undercover mission to Russia. This is twenty-seven year old investigative reporter Brittany Blake, and twenty-nine year old Navy SEAL John Donovan’s story line. OFF THE GRID can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary although I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as there is an ongoing theme and premise throughout. There is also a developing story focusing on former husband and wife duo Colt Wesson, Team Nine’s former chief, and CIA agent Katherine ‘Kate’ Wesson.

Told from several third person perspectives including Brittany and John, and Colt and Kate, OFF THE GRID continues to follow in the aftermath of a mission that went horribly wrong, an unsanctioned mission to Russia and incident that could have easily sparked as US-Russian war. With only six survivors from their original fourteen, the remaining SEALs must remain ‘off the grid’ in order to survive. The US government claims no responsibility or knowledge therefore it is up to one of their own to search for the truth.

Former Navy SEAL John Donovan knows loss including the loss of his best friend, and fellow Team Nine SEAL Brandon Blake but coming face to face with Brandon’s sister Brittany, an investigative journalist hoping to prove a government cover-up in the death of her old brother and his team of Navy SEALs, finds John on the defensive as he must keep Brittany from her self-appointed task in order to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love, and the men with whom he has served. What ensues is the building relationship between John and Brittany-a second chance of sorts for our story line heroine, and the potential fall-out as Brittany is targeted by more than one source, in her journey to uncover the truth.

Brittany is hoping to write a tell-all expose on the military operation that took her brother’s life. A clandestine rendezvous nets our heroine some important information, information that is about to get our heroine killed. As John continues to warn Brittany away from her current path, her TSTL attitude places herself and John in the direct line of fire forcing John to work overtime in order to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love. John’s LC Lieutenant Commander Scott Taylor, fears the team has been set up to take the fall for an act of betrayal and revenge.

Meanwhile Team Nine’s former chief Colt Wesson is tasked with working alongside the woman he once loved. Burned by betrayal, Colt struggles to trust CIA agent Kate Wesson, a trust that was destroyed years before. As Kate and Colt begin to uncover a trail of Russian spies and US operatives in a government cover-up that could very well go to the very top.

OFF THE GRID is a story of danger, suspense, action, and the prideful determination of a journalist trying to prove she is more than just the sum of her past. Brittany’s inability to see beyond her own journalistic drive threatens the lives of the surviving Team Nine SEALs, as well as her own-in this I struggled to accept her desire for the truth. The premise is intriguing, frustrating and revealing; the romance is fated and provocative; the characters are numerous, colorful, animated and intense.

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Danger. Intrigue. Suspense. ROMANCE! McCarty's next Lost Platoon novel has all that and MORE! Brittany went in to investigative reporting for a reason, the death of her parents and the supposed cover-up of who killed them. Now the disappearance and hush-hush attitude about her SEAL brother weighs heavily in her mind. She knows she has to take any action to find out the truth.

John's living a life of secrecy on Finland. One of six survivors from his platoon he's got to keep his identity under wraps until their leader can suss out who tried to kill them...and why. It was going easy for a few months of numbinginly drinking and exploring the wilds. When his lost platoon brother's sister begins sniffing around their disappearance he has to take extreme measures. But a contingency he hadn't planned for soon bubbles up. Brittany's grown into a striking woman and John may have finally found something that shakes his calm demeanor.

I'm categorizing this as a second chance romance. John knew Brittany five years before his platoon's destruction. Back then she had been in a rough place with the supposed loss of her career and he found himself caring for her immediately. Now these two come face to face and battle it out as John fights to protect his secrets and Brittany fights for her family and the truth. McCarty does a fantastic job keeping action going on every page. Whether its investigating, running, or fighting these two are always up to something and I couldn't put this book down!

I feel as if every action/suspense romance I pickup has the tendency to get redundant but I'm so glad the McCarty keeps it fresh and inventive as her world takes crazy twists and turns. I could very easily see this being made into a movie! There's also a side story about Colt, Kate, and Taylor... OMG I was HOOKED on it and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book! Wonderful world building, powerful characters, and never a dull moment!

I wanted to love this book. One of my favorite summer subgenres is romantic suspense and this book seemed like it would hit all my favorite buttons: best friend’s sister, sexy SEALs, suspenseful plot line. Unfortunately, the relationships fell a little flat for me.

I didn’t hate this book. It had some real potential. Ms. McCarty is an excellent writer she just tried to do a little too much. The SEAL slang and military talk wasn’t overdone and seemed believable. I liked the international culture aspect and McCarty handled the many locations and shifting plot lines with ease.

Going into this book, I was expecting a part second chance love story, part best friend’s sister story. What I didn’t expect was two parallel relationships with almost equal page time. While I usually enjoy a good romance between sub characters, Kate and Colt, a divorced couple who have to work together to try to solve the over arching mystery, almost stole the show from Brittany and John.

Brittany is an investigative reporter investigating her SEAL brother’s mysterious disappearance. John is Brittany’s brother’s best friend on a secret SEAL team. He is tasked with trying to stop Brittany from reporting while still living in deep cover.

Just putting this out there, both Colt and John did and said some unforgivable things. I really disliked them. John’s immature, scared of commitment, continually hot and cold attitude made Brittany look weak for loving him. Kate was the only character I really connected with. She was strong and professional even in the face of Colt’s open hatred.

I don’t feel like this book moved the over arching plot forward at all. If anything, it seemed like a prequel for Colt and Kate’s book. John and Brittany’s relationship was almost completely secondary.

While this book is a page turner, I was left with conflicted feelings at the end. I am intrigued enough to read on in this series, especially because I am completely invested in Kate getting an HEA. Let me just say, if Colt is going to be her “hero” he had better grovel A LOT.

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

Off the Grid continues the story of the survivors of the "Lost Platoon" with John, aka Dynomite, and Brittany. John was hiding out as a ski instructor in Finland when he was tasked with convincing Brittany to stop her articles about the lost platoon. Brittany can't give up on finding out what happened to her brother, Brandon. They had a falling out years before and hadn't been close, but she knows she has to find out the truth. Obviously, with the identity of the person/persons who sabotaged the SEAL team still unknown, Brittany is digging into dangerous territory for herself and the survivors who are still in hiding.

John is such a manwhore. He and Brittany have a little history and his behavior is just icky. I'm not a fan of the hero who has slept with so many women everyone in his life jokes about it. That does not endear him to me. I admired Brittany's pluck and determination to get the story, but sometimes she was just making BAD decisions. Decisions that were likely to get her killed or abducted. She isn't a naive girl, so her behavior sometimes was maddening.

While I wasn't a huge fan of Britt or John, the plot is interesting! Trying to figure out who wants to silence Britt, who is helping her, and who is behind all of it was interesting. Because the story is told in 3rd person, the focus isn't always John and Britt, which actually worked well for me. If you like espionage, government conspiracy, and world travel, Off the Grid might appeal to you!

This is the second book in Ms. McCarty’s The Lost Platoon series and it’s amazing.

Lost SEAL Team 9 member John Donovan is hanging out in Finland, acting like a ski bum, earning money by working on the mountain. Really, beneath the ski bum exterior is a man who’s dying to get back in action. But he, and the other five surviving members of his team are staying under the radar. Someone set them up to die, so for all intents and purposes, they’re dead.

Brittany’s brother Brandon was one of the SEALs lost. She knows something more is going on than what the official reports are saying, especially since his team didn’t exist, at least not on the books. Brittany is a reporter with a chip on her shoulder about the government, so when she has a chance to expose something, even if it’s potentially dangerous, she goes for it. But her sources lead her to believe that not only are her instincts correct, her brother is probably dead, but that there may have been survivors. And a mysterious email leads her to John.

John and Brittany have a history between them, and she’s furious he can still get under her skin. He’s furious she’s not only putting herself in danger, but also potentially his surviving teammates. I’m sure you can imagine the sparks that these two are throwing.

But this is more than just a Romantic Suspense where the hero and heroine are on the run to stay safe and one step ahead of the bad guys. This is an intricate and intriguing story where the author delicately weaves strands throughout the book until something happens that you didn’t expect and you’re flipping pages as fast as you can to find out what will happen next.

For Brittany and John, there’s more in their way than his supposed death. She’s a reporter. She holds the truth as the most important thing in life. But where does she draw the line as a reporter? Publishing the truth is important because the people deserve to know what is going on, however publishing the truth could get someone killed. How can she reconcile that? And how will her article affect her budding relationship?

This is one of those books where you know the author did her research. SEAL Romance isn’t easy to write. They aren’t just a job. It’s amazing how much detail is given to the whole situation. The use of current events gives this book a realistic vibe, rather than dating it. It’s unique in that respect. There’s enough recap that you can read this book on its own, but at the same time you won’t feel as if the beginning is repetitive.

This author hooked me with her Highlanders once upon a time, and I’m pleased to say that I’m loving the new adventure she’s taking us on. Mixing real life issues and moments, combining them into the fictional SEAL Team 9, gives this series an edge. You’ll love it, trust me.

***ARC courtesy of Berkley

3.5 stars

Packed with danger, intrigue and suspense, Off the Grid, delivers a punch in the Lost Patrol series and leaves you wanting more. Investigative report Brittany Blake has been writing stories about the missing platoon in hopes to find her missing brother. Uncovering the truth is her only mission and it leads her to finding his best friend John Donovan living in Finland. John has been lying low for weeks now since the failed mission, waiting for answers himself on how the mission was compromised and half the team was killed. Now he’s trying to stay one step ahead of Brittany and her tenacious search for the truth, while keeping her out of harm’s way and his identity under wraps.

Off the Grid is the second story in the Lost Patrol series and had a different vibe from its predecessor. The story was following two couples and toggled between them as they paralleled each other in time and came together in the end. It was hard getting a read on either of these couples because individually all four of them were harboring their own secrets and was reluctant to the trust the other with their information. Granted that is all part of the suspense but frustrating as it carried on all the way to the end and left the minor character’s story line in a cliffhanger. The romance between the two main characters, Brittany and John, felt almost incidental when it concluded and a little cheesy at the end with the big proposal. I finished this story not learning anything more in the over-arching series story than I had at the beginning and wondered why there wasn’t any progress. Overall it was an okay story for the series but I didn’t come away with a satisfying feel and in love with the main couple. I’m not ready to give up on the series and hope that the next one fill in some more missing pieces along with a gripping storyline.