This is the second time I have read this book and I just had to leave a review this time. If you have ever wanted to go on a trip into the jungles of Mexico to see the Mayan or Agulinta architecture from hundreds of years ago, you should read this book before you go. Lily has decided that nothing is going to stop her from going to see the ruins and trying to understand what he is talking about in a journal she found after he died. I enjoyed this book so much the action and suspense is non stop as Lily, Carter and Otomi their guide with his rooster Ponto hike through the beautiful, hot, dangerous jungle. Ms. Talbot has done an excellent job of describing this awesome landscape in a way you can see in your minds eye. Carter and Lily find that their trip is going to be a little more than they planned on and it is absolutely amazing the way they handle different unexpectations. You can tell that there has been a lot of research done in order for this story to be so real. I intend to read more of Ms. Talbot's books because this one blew me away. As a word of warning this book does contain profanity and some intimacy

A newly discovered Mayan Temple, secrets in a journal, well-traveled photographer, and a jungle adventure romance awaits one intrepid woman.
Review

I had a moment of nostalgia when I was in the middle of this story because it reminded me of the first book, Lost in Kakadu, I lovingly devoured by this author and I haven’t looked back since. I love a stirring adventure romance in an exotic location and I don’t read them as much as I’d like.

Lily has come to the Mexican jungle to discover the secrets her father kept from the family until his journal and some photos were discovered of time in his life he never spoke about. Carter is using the newly discovered Mayan temple as his chance to discover that elusive picture that will skyrocket his career. With one mishap after another, the pair are lost and running through their lives in the Mexican jungle and relying on Lily’s camping experiences from back home to survive.

I enjoyed this pair and liked getting the story in alternating points of view. Carter is older and has a troubling past that he just wants to forget about so he travels and keeps to himself until Lily bursts into his life and her forceful nature won’t allow him to stay aloof and reticent. He tries to bow out, but she won’t let him. And, Lily, Carter well-named her ‘Tiger Lily’. She is stubborn and forceful and this gets the pair of them into worse situations. Though, to be fair, her ability is what keeps them alive and her stubbornness keeps her going when things are looking pretty bleak.
The romance worked with how they had to focus mainly on staying alive, but slowly the attraction built and deep in the story, they pulled out their feelings, recognized them and fell naturally together as a pair. Okay, there might have been a heated moment when Lily got fired up after misreading a situation then getting hurt and angry, but it resolved when her temper cooled and she let Carter explain. This reminds me- I loved their snark and banter that really worked for their deplorable circumstances.

The jungle setting, situations, survival techniques, dangerous, emotional reactions of the characters, and the unforeseen circumstances all came together to make for a tense, well-paced, action-filled story that kept me flipping pages and not wanting to put the story aside. It was an extremely satisfying read and I didn’t want it to end. It read fast, but wasn’t lacking.

What really got me excited was the prospect that there will be more romance adventures for an all new couple in an all new location for the next book. Meanwhile, I recommend adventure romance lovers grab Out of Reach and get caught up for book two.

My thanks to the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love an exciting adventure, and Kendall Talbot delivered in spades! I am both an avid traveler and an adventurer, and I recognize a kindred spirit in both Talbot and her terrific new release, OUT OF REACH.

There are so many elements of this story that reach out to me. Chief among them is the combination of Maya history and the action in the Yucatan peninsula. Talbot sets a scene that’s as important as the characters and the plot. When footage of a newly discovered Maya temple hits the news cycles, Lily Bennett recognizes elements of it from sketches her family discovered in her late father’s leather-bound journal — elements that make it pretty clear he knew about it 30 years ago. Questions plague the Bennetts, because the man they thought they knew lived a totally different life before picking up the helm of dairy farmer in Montana. And in trying to discover who he was, Lily takes the road less traveled from Seattle to Mexico.

Carter Logan is an Australian photographer who, pertinent to the temple discovery, is the closest National Geographic freelancer on hand to cover it. It’s the perfect assignment for the perfect career for the perfect wanderluster. A man who has his own secrets and demons plaguing him, but who is fascinated by the younger Lily.

I love a story where the characters are balanced, where our heroine isn’t a simpering woman reliant on a man to save her. Lily is brave and determined and willing to go head-first into the fray. Carter is a great leading man for her, because where she goes, he follows. Their path to enlightenment leads them on a race through the jungle, drug runners, a lost guide, endless pitfalls and danger. But Talbot delivers an exciting tale with a hero who isn’t a special forces soldier and a woman with enough pluck to navigate the jungle in a foreign country, where she doesn’t speak the language and has to rely on herself to hunt and kill lizards to eat … and she still survives. Regular people of the world: Unite!

Of course, we finally find out what secret the elder Bennett was keeping and why Carter has been traveling the world for so many years. Men can be so dramatic, let me tell you. But they can also be remarkably sweet. For every step forward Lily and Carter take, they fall back 10, but that forward momentum is never far from the forefront.

OUT OF REACH is far more adventurous than suspenseful, but it’s exciting and thoroughly enjoyable. This Aussie author may not be a Hemsworth, but her book sure did make my heart race!

*Originally published with USA Today's Happy Ever After: https://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/2018/05/17/dolly-r-sickles-recommended-romantic-suspense-out-of-reach-kendall-talbot/

An amazing, breathtaking, life-dangering adventure to find what the truth was about her father's past.
I have never had the pleasure to visit Mexico - or a true jungle for that matter - but with the images the author draws to my mind's eyes, they were vivid, colorful, precise, like watching through the camera lens. The waterfalls, the out of control river, the monkeys, the roosters in the morning, and the dangers lurking just around the next push, it was the best. I loved it, the tension, the possible hazards, the risk of each step they took, and the great adversary and provider - at the same time - the woods surrounding them were.
The human threat they face, the constant feeling of being hunted, trying to survive, the fight for their lives, it was intense, it was powerful, mixed with the jungle, it was giving an unique energy and atmosphere to the tale.
Lily was an amazing survival expert, both physically and mentally strong young woman who was not afraid to face a challenge, no matter what the challenge was. She had such positive outlook, can-do attitude, an endurance to be envied. She is determined to find out about her father's past, and there is nothing that will step on her way or stop her from getting to the truth.
Carter Logan has been traveling the world for years. His troubled youth left permanent consequences into his life. He is an adventurer, he is a thrill seeker, he is a loner and prefaces to spend his life alone. He is considerably older than Lily, he actually thinks at one point that Lily looked like his daughter and was the same age the daughter as well.
I liked both Carter and Lily, a lot actually. I think they had an amazing perspective on life and to the situation, they were in. I believe they had chemistry between them, as a team, as friends, as people working towards an important goal together. For several reasons, mainly from the inner thoughts of Carter and the fact that Lily didn't seem to be attracted to him, just thankful he saved her in so many situations, I actually wish that the romance would have left out of the story, without it, it would have been five spoon read for me. Or maybe an epilogue into the future could have saved the romance for me.
Two very different yet likable characters conquering their fears, the jungle, and the life-threatening danger during an amazing, thrilling adventure through the Mexican primeval forest while fighting for the survival and to find the truth about the past.
An exciting and hair-raising experience​
~ Four Spoons

I discovered Kendall Talbot’s books in 2013 when I read her debut novel Lost in Kakadu which walked off with a swathe of awards. I have read quite a few of her books since and she has never let me down, so was thrilled to get my grubby little paws on her latest release.

I loved Carter and Lily – they were perfect for each other – and although they did not trust each other at first it was lovely seeing how the barriers gradually came down. Thanks to life on a dairy farm Lily had all the skills needed to survive in a jungle – she was not a helpless little miss at all.

…A laugh tumbled from his throat. “I really am lost in the jungle with Lara Croft.”…

The setting was wonderful, the jungle descriptions were so evocative that I could close my eyes and imagine myself there – except I had to open then again to keep on reading! Pesky monkeys, amazing wildlife, terrifying canyons to cross on rickety little rope bridges, and camping miles from the nearest settlement. But in paradise there is a snake – and this jungle paradise is no different. Not only a venomous snake that changed the agenda – but the human kind too – Drug dealers who don’t want witnesses. All too quickly the situation gets dire and Lily and Carter are running for their lives to get back to civilisation. But despite a death, danger, injuries and a chicken rescue mission there are a lot of light moments in the story to break the tension – and there is a lot of tension.

OUT OF REACH is action packed, Lily with her survival skills and Carter with the courage and strength make a perfect team. This is romantic action suspense at its best. Secrets are revealed, problems overcome and safety is eventually reached but not without more than a couple of ‘how the heck are they getting out of this’ moments.

The first in a series – I can’t wait until the next one is released.

What a story this one is my goodness it is filled with action, danger, suspense edge of your seat suspense wow and mind blowing strength as two people who have just met in a tiny town in Mexico start an action filled journey together that have them in grave danger of losing their lives as Lily endeavours to find the truth about her father and Carter aims to take the best photo but along the way they find each other and love.

Lily Bennett has travelled to Mexico after the death of her father to search for answers after she finds a suitcase with a journal and what appears to be a secret life before he became a dairy farmer in Montana and this all comes about after an ancient stone structure is discovered by archaeologists in The Yucatan Jungle, as she starts her journey she meets Australian Carter Logan and together they start an adventure, for Lily this will see her fleeing drug traffickers getting shot at and surviving in the jungle and getting to know the one man that she knows will protect her.

Carter Logan left Australia four years before to capture the best photo ever, an award winning one, he aims to travel the world and see the seven wonders and with the discovery of Agulinta in the Yucatan Jungle he arrives and the minute he meets Lily in the hotel he sees her spunk and is drawn to her like no other he is a loner normally but when they are forced to share the same guide he finds that he likes her company and when danger chases them and they save one another from some really bad situations he can’t help but fall for her but will she still want him if he tells her his secrets?

This story is amazing I could barely it down I had to keep reading to see how things worked out for them, to be lost in the jungle the way they were, to lose their guide, but they never gave up, Lily has such awesome survival skills and Carter the courage and strength to encourage and protect as they slowly fall for one another, they saved each other time and again. MS Talbot has written an awesome romantic suspense one that I highly recommend and woohoo it is the first of a series with more to come, if you have never tried one of MS Talbot’s stories then I suggest this one because you will be sold and hooked way to go Kendall Talbot this one rocks thank you.

Lily Bennett had arrived in Mexico in search for answers. Her father’s recent death had created a chasm where everything she, her mother and brothers thought they knew about him, had shattered. The old suitcase with the strange contents had had Lily heading for Mexico, much against her family’s wishes. But she was determined…

When Carter Logan saw the feisty young woman in the cantina, then encountered her later he wasn’t sure what his thoughts were. But it seemed that Lily and Carter would be travel companions for the next few days as their guide took them to the vast ruins of Agulinta which had been recently discovered in the Yucatan jungle. Carter was Australian born but his love of photography had seen him travelling the globe over the past few years. He had been in Mexico for some months before his journey to Agulinta.

The dense jungle and sheer mountains were both beautiful and terrifying; the colours and contrasts had Carter reaching for his camera constantly. The screaming monkeys, the majestic toucan – all fascinated both Lily and Carter. But they could also see the danger lingering on the edges. And suddenly that danger was right in front of them – would they make it back to civilization? With threats on all sides; drug runners, snakes, hunger and thirst plus the crocodiles in the fast-flowing river, there wasn’t much going for them. But giving up wasn’t an option…

Aussie author Kendall Talbot has hit the nail on the head in this gut-wrenching, tension-filled first in the Maximum Exposure series. Out of Reach had my heart in my throat many times, while the occasional wry humour had me laughing out loud. A highly entertaining read for any fans of an adventurous romantic suspense – heavy on the suspense! I’m already looking forward to book 2 in the series! Out of Reach earns a hearty 5 stars and a high recommendation from me!

With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for my digital ARC to read and review.

This story is fun, fast pace and I love how the female character decides nothing is going to stop her from finding the truth.
The story is pretty straight forward really no twist or turns readers won't expect. This story is all about the journey and the ride not so much the destination.
If you love Romance in the Stone type of story one is perfect for the to be read summer pile.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Lyrical Liason for the advance copy of Out of Reach (Maximum Exposure #1)
by Kendall Talbot