Absolutely smoking hot. Definitely for the spicy list. Take two damaged characters and a series of impossible situations and you have a novel you can't put down. I didn't!

I loved this book!

It was action packed, it had romance, it was fast paced and had an excellent storyline

It was a brilliant page turner and the story had me hooked from the start – it was romantic and sexy throughout and I loved following the journey through the book

It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended – I loved it!

2⭐️ K, first of all, if we’re gona write in first person, let’s make sure we stick with it. I got so confused several times when there were typos from the first person POV.

Now, this was entertaining, I liked the idea of the plot. Freya sounded like such a badass from the beginning, going undercover to find out what happened to her brother with the guy that was framed for her brother’s disappearance, but that quickly morphed into her just being dumb and stubborn for 75% of the book. Jed, for an ex special forces guy, was an idiot. His undercover operation didn’t make any sense with the rest of his personality because he made so many stupid mistakes for an ex special forces turned high tech security guy. Freya and Jed’s personalities made no sense. What killed me the most was their out of the blue declaration of love. Like what?!?! I almost put the book away at that point.

Anyways. This sounded so promising. And I was really looking forward to it. The plot sounded so fun but things quickly spiraled.

❤️❤️❤️
💋

The story is good and exciting, always something going on, it’s edge of your seat stuff.
The characters are confusing at the start, I felt like I’d missed a book, but was assured this was the first in the series. However I stuck it out and found it ok, I wish I could find more expressive words for the description but ok if as far as I’d push it.

Characters are interesting and the ending was good too, it’s not one I’d run to the shops to buy the next, however that’s my opinion, make sure to read other reviews too and make up your own mind.

My thx to Netgally for the Arc,
I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

This was action packed, fast paced and just enough ridiculousness in the plot to keep me Interested.
Freya and Jed are thrown together when they paths collide while looking for information about her brother/his friend. They are pitted against a mercenary crew, one with an axe to grind against Freya's family. What follows are shoot-outs, hostage taking, undercover operations etc. While going through all of this, they of course manage to have sexy time as well, and declare their love for each other in 2.5 seconds.
This would be a good read to get you out of a reading slump. It's a quick read and enjoyable.

Master of Lies by Shannon McKenna
This is my first read by Shannon McKenna. Jed and Freya are very different from each other with the same goal in mind: to find Freya’s brother. Initially I kept wondering if I missed the first book or a backstory in another novel she wrote but then you begin to understand the backstory and the characters. I do recommend and would read another by Shannon. Spice is there but not overwhelmingly and more on the mild in this slow burn romance.

What a way to kick off a new series! Master of Lies is the first book in Shannon McKenna's new Unredeemables series, and the hero of this installment is Jed, who has been undercover in prison for 5 months, trying to discover who set up the attack on the Unredeemables tech company and killed everyone but him (they tried) and kidnapped his best friend, Shane. But his escape with his brilliant but autism spectrum cellmate, Mickey, has been planned to occur in 3 weeks, and all that changes when beautiful but dim bubblehead, Sandee, who has been sending Jed letters and sexy photos, is a complication he doesn't need or want. He's finally agreed to allow her to visit him, and although he's kept a low profile, Sandee gets way too much attention, and all hell is about to break loose. The escape plan is a disaster, his cellmate is brutally murdered (and if you can't stand gruesome, this is not the book for you), and he grabs Sandee to save her and they are both soon on the run. This was quite a startling way to kick off a novel and it gets 5 stars from this reader.

It turns out that Sandee is really Shane's younger sister, Freya, who started to crush on Jed at age 14. She's now 26 and on a mission her other brother, Ethan, has been kept in the dark about her plan. Luckily, it takes some time for Jed to realize just who Sandee is and since Jed was set up to take the fall for the attack on his company, and Shane was not among the victims, she believes that Jed was behind the attack and knows where her brother is. The reason for the attacks is made clear--Shane has the password to a computer algorithm that would allow the user to easily hack into any system, the Pentagon, world banks, any system anywhere, and the bad guys want that program, and are not above torture, murder, or anything else to get their hands on it, and now they're hot on the trail of Freya and Jed, ready to kidnap, torture and kill her to get Shane to give up the password. Action-packed is a mild way to describe what Ms. McKenna has these two characters endure as they try to stay alive and find Shane.

Steamy is another word for this novel, and as Ms. McKenna's two adversarial comrades try to stay alive, keeping one step ahead of their enemies, the tension and attraction between them heats up--does it ever! If graphic and frequent sex scenes offend you, once again, this is not the book for you, but, quite frankly, I loved it. These two characters practically set this book on fire. In all my years of reading romantic suspense novels, there are few authors who can do that as well as Ms. McKenna.

While we get lots of information about what drives Freya to take this ill-advised and reckless chance, I would have liked a bit more background on Jed, but once the action got going, Jed's backstory was the last thing on my mind. So, how does it all end? Do Freya and Jed find and rescue Shane? Do both survive being tracked and attacked by the evildoers? Do they mange to outwit the bad guys? Where does their steamy yet fractious relationship go? Since I don't do spoilers, you'll just have to get your hands on a copy of this sexy, suspenseful novel and find out for yourself. I highly recommend it. It's scheduled for release on 4/11/23.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.

As a first time reader of Shannon McKenna, I was quickly Jed and Freya stories. While they were both different, both had the same goal: find Freya’s brother. At first this book kept me questioning as to whether I missed the first book or a backstory in another novel, yet I quickly began to understand the characters and who they were. Shannon has written a great beginning of a new series and I just found a new author.

I’d read Shannon McKenna years ago and really thought to give her another go, seeing as how I did like a few of her books back then…and the blurb of ‘Masters of Lies’ seemed morally ambivalent enough for me to request an ARC of it.

First chapter in however, I kept getting the odd feeling that I’d been flung straight into the middle of a series of sorts—with a back-story that was sorely lacking somewhere—with a hurried info-dump that filtered through in bits and pieces. Still, it does feel like a suspenseful twist on the best friend’s sister who has grown up type of trope, except that Freya's entire precedent to do so was based on an unbelievable, forehead-smacking act that's beyond batshit crazy at best.

The start of the book seemed great, with Jed Clearwater plotting an imminent prison break as just Freya Masters barreling in with a (frankly shallow and stupid) plan to bimbo-seduce the truth out of him and throws his well-made plans into disarray.As Jed looks to clear his name and Freya searches for her brother, their paths converge at a prison where Jed is undercover seeking intel...and the latter sweeping in as an unhinged, attention-seeking nutcase with a case of Hybristophilia.

Despite the relentless pacing, the POV-switches (first person for the protagonists, third person for the baddies) threw me off quite badly, along with the characters whom I just couldn’t seem to like at all. The combination Jed’s exaggerated brutishness with Freya’s half-arsed stupidity going through more than half the book gave me whiplash as a consequence of them both keeping up their appearances until the inevitable happens. The fallout was expected but difficult to read through not in an angsty way, but in a way that had scenes cycling through TSTL-moments, hysterical screaming, cold shoulders and sex (the only way they can properly communicate it seems) within a short amount of time. That they suddenly said ‘I love you’ only 3 days into barely knowing each other, made their relationship feel more like an adrenaline-fuelled romp which skirted only emotional surfaces.

I did start out enthusiastically, loving the idea that both Jed and Freya were hiding behind their own web of lies and had to find some way to disentangle themselves from the tangled web they wove, but that soon became an honest struggle to finish when I found myself reading about a relationship that simply looked like a train wreck in the making from the very start.


*ARC by the publisher via Netgalley

What a hot and spicy book that was all wrapped up with heart and feelings. I absolutely loved this book, couldn't lift this one down. Loved the story and the plot twists. Absolutely a must read.

This was an action packed book! You instantly are hooked when you are learning about Freya and Jed, the guy she is after for information regarding her brother. Jed has been framed and is giving everything he has to get information to find his lost friend. The last thing he expected was to fall for the prettiest woman he had ever seen. Will they be able to get along long enough to get the information they need without being killed? I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a longtime fan of McKenna's and count the standalone HOT NIGHT, and first three McCloud Brothers books among my favorite romantic suspenses. Plus, her early novellas were so readable. She lost me for a while with the Obsidian Files and Hellhound Brotherhood books, and the two Harlequin series ... so, imagine how totally excited I was to return to what I consider to be the O.G. McKenna style. She writes a mean bad guy, a complicated hero, and a heroine full of moxie. There's nothing light and airy about this story; it's full octane from the first page, but it's so readable. I love the inherent obstacles Jed and Freya encounter, and I love that their shared goals eventually shift from their tangental endpoints to one of parallel efforts. Plus, who's unredeemable? Not this group of guys. I can't wait to read the next one!

Wow! What sizzling romance and a hold your breath adventure.

Two very different people trying to find the same man. Read as Jed, brother in arms, with Shane comes together with Freya, sister of Shane, to find the missing man. As things get extremely dicey it takes both doing their best work to try to locate the man they both love in different ways while also falling for one another. It's hot, scary and full of action an angst. All the things that make an action romance the best things.

Shannon McKenna is the best when it comes to combining these things and what a way to start a new series. I already can't wait for number two and while you're waiting go read her other sizzling series the McCloud and Friends.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.