Lethal Redemption

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Netgalley but all opinions provided are my own.

April Hunt’s Lethal Redemption offers a cornucopia of tropes for the romance lover: it’s a second chance, lovers-to sorta enemies-to lovers, best friend’s sibling romance with plenty of thrills.

Cade, Steele Ops employee and brother to Zoey (whom we met in the first book in the series), is willing to do anything to re-kindle his relationship with Grace. They grew up together and dated for several years when, without any advance notice, Cade re-upped his military contract and he and Grace split up. Now their relationship is mostly comprised of a combo of antagonistic and so-cold-you’ll-get-frostbite treatment. Not exactly conducive to a deep romantic connection.

But then the Steele Ops and the Vice President ask FBI profiler Grace to assist with a rescue mission. The VP’s daughter is living in a cult that Grace was a member of as a child. Of course, this mission will require that Grace confront her own past and the partner she’s unwillingly saddled with—Cade.

The sexual tension between Cade and Grace is great, but the real challenge for them is the emotional work they both have to do to get anywhere close to a HEA. I wanted a bit more groundwork on how their separation actually happened—the treatment felt a tad vague—but Hunt does provide sufficient background into why it’s so hard for Grace to learn to trust again.

Cade and Grace have some confronting & self-reflecting to do, and both handle it maturely, without anything feeling too angsty. I love how Grace eventually shows that she’s willing to fight for them, and she becomes someone who’s not willing to let decisions be made for her.

While this book didn’t hit me quite as hard as the previous book in the series did, Lethal Redemption’s got the “good stuff” I’m starting to associate with an April Hunt book: sexy, consuming romance set against a dramatic, fast-paced story, and a set of characters that I really like spending time with. Can’t wait for Roman’s story!

Lethal Redemption April Hunt (Steele Ops)
Grace and Cade

Content information: This book is loaded with f-bombs and has a few explicit sex scenes. If those things will cause you to leave a bad review, you'll want to skip this book. While there is a cult involved, there is no non-consensual sex or anything sex-cult-creepy in this book, just some really steamy sex between the hero and heroine.

I need to start this review with a truth: I do not read romantic suspense. I prefer my romance fluffy and funny and totally escapist reading, so I tend to avoid romantic suspense. It's just not my jam. All of that said, I really enjoyed this story from start to finish to the point where I stayed up until almost 2 am reading because I HAD to find out how the ending played out.

This was my first book by Ms. Hunt and I really enjoyed the way she wrote with such a great sense of humor. While all of the parties took their rescue mission seriously, and the topic was serious, they also had hilarious banter and inner dialogues and those things helped to even out the more serious moments but never lessened the importance. I highlighted dozens of passages as I read because they were either laugh out loud funny or subtly hilarious. (I will never be able to hear a goose call without thinking of this book.) But it wasn't just humor, the story of Grace's childhood and her return to the cult was incredibly intriguing, and the twists and turns kept me from wanting to put the book down until I knew what happened. The story was so interesting, in fact, that I found myself skimming over the sex scenes – not because they weren't sexy or they bother me, but because I really needed to know what happened. That's a huge compliment to Ms. Hunt's writing.

Although romantic suspense is not my usual jam, I will keep an eye out for more books by this author.

***MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH*** The only thing that kept this from being a five star read for me was that it felt like there were strings left blowing in the wind that made me cuss out loud when I got to the end of the book. The cult has people on the outside in all levels of the military and the government (including a state department person who funnels them big, scary guns), and other cult members and Elite Guard members are still out there with a mission to wreak havoc on the world or else they won't achieve their “New Dawn”, but there's no mention of any of them being found and dealt with. Even just a throw-away line about mass arrests shaking up the world would have been great. Instead we're left wondering if Grace and Cade really accomplished much in the long run which is really disappointing.

I found Grace and Cade’s story riveting. Grace was raised with her cousins after leaving a cult when she was a teenager. She and Cade were good friends growing up and in a relationship when she was in college until Cade decided to re-up for another tour of duty without telling Grace.. The two of them, have to put aside their personal issues to help rescue a girl from the same cult that Grace escaped from. She will have to face her deepest fears and come face to face with the one person she never wanted to see again.. Even the ending was shocking but so good!

Lethal Redemption by April Hunt is a romantic suspense novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It also explores the nature of what makes a family. I really enjoyed this story it gave me a lot to think about. Hot guys, strong women and some thoroughly bad individuals give you a heart pounding escape.

Extreme Honor by Piper J. Drake features hunky men, dogs and a good mystery. This book rocked! Hope’s Crossing kennel provides a second chance for abused working dogs and the former military guys that run it. Atlas is a special case. He is a hero dog who is suffering because his handler was killed by “friendly fire” as requested Atlas is sent to Hope’s Crossing with secrets on his shoulder, David is determined to find out what happened to Atlas and his handler. The last thing he needs is a pretty subcontractor distracting him. But Atlas responds well to her and well so does David but the closer they get to the truth the more danger they are in. I really enjoyed this fast paced romantic suspense. The characters are multi-dimensional and hard not to like. The author makes you feel for them and for Atlas. The story is loaded with surprises and keeps you enthralled.

Grace Steele is an FBI profiler - who is called upon to help on a special mission she is uniquely qualified for. It isn’t her profiling skills that are needed this time - it’s her knowledge and history.

When Grace was a little girl, her mom moved them to live with the Order of the New Dawn - a cult. Now someone very important is in the cult and it’s up to Grace and the Steele Ops team to extract her. If that wasn’t already the last place she wanted to be - she’s also going to have to go undercover partnered with Cade, her first love that ended badly 17 years ago.

This book was a wild ride with so many great elements:

✔️Second chance romance
✔️Cult
✔️Suspenseful moments that will have you on the edge of your seat
✔️A plot that will have you rapidly turning pages to see what happens next

This is the second book in the series and while I do think it added something to have read the first, you could also read it as a stand-alone.

Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

This is the second installment in the Steele Ops series. This book can be read as a stand alone but since I'm enjoying the series so much I highly recommend reading the first book in the series. This book has heat, humor, lots of action, an interesting plot and a kick ass heroine. Cade's not too shabby either. Highly recommend.

Hunt writes solid books. Her writing is good and the stories interesting. I liked Grace and Cade and there was plenty of action to keep me involved. They've got a lot to overcome and need to discuss it honestly but that, of course, takes most of the book to get to. The attraction hasn't been dampened by the years of avoidance and distance. The situation couldn't be much more dire and the two find themselves at great danger from those they need to expose. I like my romances with good suspense and this book had both.

This is a first read for me by April Hunt. I really enjoyed this book. Great characters, and main couple with 2nd chance romance also has a story with good suspense. Such a page turner and I look forward to more!

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.