Cover of Darkness

<b>Re-read December 2012****Review completed January 3, 2013</b><br><br><b> <i>"The first rule in a SEAL team is to never leave your man."</i> </b> <br><br><a href="http://s1071.beta.photobucket.com/user/MsBaba4/media/FUN/MEN-AND-MEN-WOMEN/Bildschirmfoto2012-10-04um182201.png.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380342606i/698279._SY540_.png" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br><blockquote> <b> <i>"I'm here, Dec," she whispered, barely intelligible. He was in this state because of her. "I'm right here and I love you. I love you, you hear me? Don't let go. You're no quitter, Dec, you don't know how to quit, remember?</i> </b> </blockquote><br><br>Our heroine, Bryn McAllister, has been targeted by a terrorist cell at the US Embassy in Beirut. However, she and her father survive the bombing but both of them end up kidnapped. They are being held hostage in a cellar somewhere in the desert. Enter Declan (Dec) McCabe, a Navy SEAL Lieutenant. Dec and his team as well as Luke Hutchinson are determined to bring Bryn and her father to safety. Luke is an old friend of Bryn's father. <br><br><blockquote> <i> <b>"I brought you something." (…)<br>Instead, he pulled a piece of paper out of one of the pockets in his camouflage pants and unfolded it, holding it out for her to see.<br>Bryn stared at the purple crayon drawing of a heart-shaped medal. She glanced up from the paper, glowered at him. "Tell me you're joking."<br>"What?" he asked, all innocence. "It's a purple heart." (…)<br>"Took me all morning to find a purple crayon."</b> </i> </blockquote><br><br>When Bryn is convinced that her nightmare is over, Luke asks her to help track down his enemy number one, Farouk Tehrazzi. Luke is a former Navy SEAL who is running a private security company out of Baghdad. From time to time he does contract work for the CIA. Tehrazzi and Luke go way back--over twenty years. Luke trained the teenage Tehrazzi during covert operations in the Afghan-Russian war. Since Tehrazzi evolved into a lethal threat against the USA, Luke is back to accomplish his "personal" mission: to kill the lethal prodigy. His final lifetime goal so to speak.<br><br>Tehrazzi put a bounty on Bryn's head. In fact, Bryn signed up as human bait because Tehrazzi wants her dead and she will give Tehrazzi incentive to come out of hiding. Also, Bryn is motivated to join Luke's team because of her <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="0a1ef5ab-634c-430e-af45-900126d37077" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="0a1ef5ab-634c-430e-af45-900126d37077">father's death. Sadly, he did not survive the rescue mission.</label> Although Dec is not happy at all with Luke's decision, he agrees to join his team for the sake of Bryn because she trusts him. <br><br><blockquote> <b> <i>Signing up for a covert op with the CIA was one thing--it was another to involve a civilian, and a female at that. "You guys must be desperate to even dream that shit up."<br>"Yep."<br>"And you must have pulled some pretty big strings to get me assigned for this."<br>Luke's shoulders lifted in a negligent shrug. "I know some people."</i> </b> </blockquote><br><br>Dec admires this beautiful, smart, feminine, gentle yet very tough woman. Both of them feel attracted to one another, however, Dec knows that he cannot act on his feelings since he has to preserve his professionalism. <br><br><a href="http://s1071.beta.photobucket.com/user/MsBaba4/media/gifs/tumblr_lgbe4geNpJ1qedgz1o1_500.gif.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380342606ra/698280.gif" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br>Again, I have to repeat myself by saying that I love Luke, but I was a little bit shocked to see how callous he acted when he put Bryn in danger. With that said, Luke willingly compromised her safety when he sent her to <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="426c3e70-7a83-49cb-8d5e-0b34d8e49815" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="426c3e70-7a83-49cb-8d5e-0b34d8e49815">Fahdi's place.</label> Incredible. And then he just told Dec that Bryn signed up to his mission and knew that she would have to deal with dangerous situations. WTF? On top of that, when he had to choose between <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="48b0f503-2e5d-4637-b0cf-827ed116d28f" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="48b0f503-2e5d-4637-b0cf-827ed116d28f">killing Tehrazzi and saving Bryn's life, he hesitated and almost made a wrong decision.</label> *major facepalm moment* Luke, I swear, I wanted to hit you…you…relentless SOB. Ugh! On the other hand, I loved to get some insight into Luke's mind and heart. Even though he left Emily and their son, Rayne, many years ago, he still loves her immensely. Their second chance at love will be told in <i>Absolution</i> the final book in this series. <br><br>You will witness some utterly beautiful moments between Tehrazzi and his beloved mare.<br><br><blockquote> <i> <b>The mare's black mane streamed out behind her like a banner as she transitioned from a canter into a gallop. The coarse hair whipped at Tehrazzi's face as he crouched over her neck, urging her onward with only the pressure of his knees. Her muscles coiled beneath her skin in a fluid rush, setting his heart pounding as they soared over the desert, hooves pounding the sun-baked earth.</b> </i> </blockquote><br><br><a href="http://s1071.beta.photobucket.com/user/MsBaba4/media/gifs/tumblr_l84th71A8B1qb0tnwo1_500.gif.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380342606ra/698281.gif" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br><i>Cover of Darkness</i> is rather light on the sex but I didn't mind at all. What was there was well-written and quite steamy after all, and I admired Dec for his high moral code of conduct, his loyalty, and his professionalism. He did his job properly and yet he couldn't deny his attachment to Bryn in ways that made it impossible for him to maintain his distance from her.<br><br><a href="http://s1071.beta.photobucket.com/user/MsBaba4/media/gifs/gifs_hands/Woah.gif.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380342606ra/698282.gif" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br><blockquote> <b> <i>"Only incentive I need is you."<br>Her eyes misted over. "You've already got me. For as long as you want."<br>"Yeah? I won't let you go, then."</i> </b> </blockquote><br><br><a href="http://s1071.beta.photobucket.com/user/MsBaba4/media/gifs/tumblr_ljo02mmCLP1qg39ewo1_500.gif.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380342606ra/698283.gif" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br>Needles to say that I loved Dec. He is another yummy alpha male as well as a real sweetheart. Dec is a born leader and would have given his life to protect Bryn. It goes without saying that I enjoyed <i>Cover of Darkness</i> from start to finish. It is a breathtaking, action-packed and heartbreaking story of life and love in a war zone and what it takes to survive. Also, I enjoyed the different setting of the story. It takes place in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The final chapter is set in Oregon, USA. Furthermore, I'd like to remind you that Samarra Wallace and Ben Sinclair, heroes of <i>No Turning Back,</i> are nicely set up in <i>Cover of Darkness.</i><br><br>Kaylea Cross's voice is very engaging and she writes great alpha males. In addition, the action scenes in her stories are thrilling and well-executed. Bottom line: if you are a fellow RS lover then I recommend you to give this author a try. Enjoy!</["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]>

3.5 stars<br /><br />This follow up is totally different compare to Book 1. While Book 1 felt more like a contemporary romance with a little suspense, this one was straight up hardcore military suspense with a little romance thrown in. I was caught off guard by that fact.<br /><br />There is a lot of details about the Middle East politics, which drives me a little dizzy. But I'm amazed by Kaylea's knowledge nonetheless. This whole deal is about Luke trying to make use of Bryn's as a human bait to capture Tehrazzi, while recruiting the Navy Seal, Declan as some sort of bodyguard. But I don't understand the rationale behind it at all. All Luke did was whisking Bryn all over Middle East trying to follow Tehrazzi's location. He can totally take down the man himself without the added burden of Bryn. To me Bryn totally didn't serve her purpose. <br /><br />The romance and the steam level between Declan and Bryn is just okay. In comparison to the grand scheme of thing happening, maybe it doesn't really matter much. In fact, I find Luke's limited conversation with his ex-wife, Emily more heartfelt. Oh, I just can't wait to go through the next two books and get my hands on the final one. <br /><br />Action plot and Luke - 4 stars<br />Romance plot - 3 stars

5 stars.<br /><br />If you think you've read the best of romantic suspense but have yet to read Kaylea Cross, then you're kidding yourself. This was hands down one of the best (if not <i>the</i> best) romantic suspense I've ever read.<br /><br />Thank you, thank you, thank you GR recommendations for pointing me in the direction of the first book in this series, <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/6406914.Out_Of_Her_League__Suspense_Series___1_" title="Out Of Her League (Suspense Series, #1) by Kaylea Cross" rel="noopener">Out Of Her League</a>, otherwise I never would have known about Kaylea Cross.<br /><br />I loved the H/h in this book. It amazed me how fabulous Bryn was - imagine an RS heroine who checked all the right boxes for me!! Smart, intelligent, didn't read into situations or overreact, wasn't bitchy, didn't put herself into dangerous scenarios and knew she was on to a good thing when she was developing feelings for Declan therefore, <i>didn't screw it up</i>!<br /><br />Dec was ohmygod... absolutely divine. Unf. Not only was he a highly trained, amazingly professional Navy SEAL; but he was such a great guy. Sweet and protective and... just breathtaking, really. *sigh*<br /><br />Cross' writing throws you right into the thick of the action and doesn't hold anything back. She seems to have an excellent grasp on the technical aspects of the armed forces that she writes about; and while I initially thought that would bore me, I was actually quite spellbound by it. Her writing was flawless, <i>flawless</i>. Even the array of secondary characters didn't throw me off at all, their interactions in the story were well-timed and perfectly delivered and I look forward to reading their stories.<br /><br />I don't know what else to write. I'm kind of speechless to be honest. And my eyes are straying to my e-reader, desperate to feast on <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/8327442.No_Turning_Back__Suspense_Series___3_" title="No Turning Back (Suspense Series, #3) by Kaylea Cross" rel="noopener">No Turning Back (Suspense Series, #3)</a>, so that's it for this review!

Too much stupidity and lack of logic. Too much telling, no showing. I wanted it to be over. It was tedious reading.<br /><br />REVIEWER’S OPINION:<br />Way too much stupidity and illogic by both the heroine and the good guys. At one point I thought boy these SEALS are incompetent. An example of illogic: the good guys want to get into a nightclub to wait for a bad guy to show up. They know they won’t be admitted by themselves. So they want a belly dancer prostitute to perform at the club with one of them going inside with her. You’d think they would get a local prostitute to do this. But no, they ask Bryn (our heroine) to do it, but to disguise herself so the bad guy won’t recognize her. Of course something bad happens to her because the bad guy recognizes her. Later they go on a mission to attack a compound where the bad guy is staying. There was no need for Bryn to go along. All she did was yell, run when she shouldn’t have, and not follow orders. Another time Luke told Bryn to stay at someone’s home “alone” without any of the guys on his team to protect her. Luke knew he was sending her to the home of one of the leaks. Yes something bad happens to her. Why didn’t he send one of his team to protect her? He wanted all of them to help him investigate the source of the car bomb. Of course the author doesn’t show us any of the investigating activities.<br /><br />Way too much telling and no showing. For example an explosion happens. It is described after-the-fact by someone thinking about what happened and saying there must have been a leak. We didn’t see the bad guys planning or doing it. We didn’t hear any conversation between the leak and the bad guys. Too many events were done this way – not enough showing. I never got into the heads of the bad guys. There were occasions where the bad guys took action against the good guys based on leaks, but we never saw any details about the leaks. In one case bad guy B realizes X gave info to the good guys, so B kills X. Then B thinks there must be a second leak, but there was no reason for him to think there were two leaks.<br /><br />What was good? I liked the way the bad guy loved his horse. There were several action scenes of people running and shooting. I suppose those were ok, I just didn’t care for the reasons behind them.<br /><br />STORY BRIEF:<br />Bryn is visiting her father who is a diplomat in Lebanon. They are kidnapped by Tehrazzi and thrown in a hole in the ground in the desert to die. They are rescued by some Navy SEALS. The father dies but Bryn survives. Tehrazzi is angry and wants Bryn dead because her escape makes him look bad. Luke works for the CIA and has been after Tehrazzi for years. He wants to use Bryn as bait to get Tehrazzi. She agrees. Dec is one of the Navy SEALS who is part of Luke’s group. Bryn and Dec are attracted to each other. Dec won’t follow his feelings for her because he needs to stay focused on the job. Bryn hurts because she wants him.<br /><br />This is book 2 in the series. Various characters are introduced in one book and then have their own stories in other books in the series. In book 1 the main story is about Rayne, and we briefly meet Rayne’s friend Bryn and his father Luke. You do NOT need to read book 1 before this book.<br /><br />DATA:<br />Story length: 337 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 10. Setting: current day mostly Syria, Lebanon, and Irag, with one scene in Oregon, U.S. Copyright: 2009. Genre: romantic suspense.

<br />Thrilling ride from beginning to end! I little more romance would have been nice, but I still really enjoyed it. On to the next one!

<br /><br />IF you love military romantic suspense then you really do owe it to yourself to read this story. THIS IS MY favorite genre and I would put this story up against Melton or Brockmann any day. I can't wait to get more from her. I hope she has plans to write more around the characters that were in this one. <br /><br />Declan was one seriously hot alpha male, take charge of any situation. He was solid. There is not one thing I would change about him. Bryn was an awesome female lead. Very strong physically and emotionally considering all that happens in this book. <br /><br />The bad guy Tezharri was freaky scary. I can picture him out there exacting his next plot......<br />Again I am so glad I found Ms. Cross. I look forward to reading more and waiting for her next installment.....I have added this one to my military ops list of books to keep!

Very exciting romantic suspense. The book reminded me of Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter series. <br />This was one of the best military/ books I've ever read.<br /><br />Keeper Shelf!

W.O.W. !!!!!! Thrilling ride all the way through. And the story continues ......... Excellent

I liked this pretty well. The military actions were well done. There was a lot of action and almost all of it made sense. The villian was well done and I liked the way he was humanized by showing his love for his horse juxtaposed against his killing of anyone who got in his way.<br /><br />Things that I felt held it back just a bit:<br /><br />The characterization of the two main characters seemed a bit underdone. It was nothing too major but I think with more explanation of where they were coming from might have rounded them out a bit. For example, the heroine, Bryn, was half Lebanese half American. The author never explained anymore than that. You don't know if her mother was Caucasian American or Lebanese American or what. Where did her parents meet and why did they split up? How long had she been going to visit her dad during the summer months? How vested was she in being Lebanese in addition to being American? How did her ethnic background shape her?<br /><br />Same basically for Declan although he was very whitebread American we don't know much about his background I'm not even sure I know what color his hair was. If it was mentioned then it was only mentioned once not enough to set it in my mind.<br /><br />Also, I never really bought into why she really needed to be on the second half of the mission. It wasn't totally unnecessay but I wasn't totally sold on it either. I also didn't like the way Ben called Declan, Irish. It wasn't bad enough to be a slur. They weren't close enough for nicknames that weren't derogatory.<br /><br />It was an odd choice for the heroine to be saved at the last by the other man, Luke instead of the hero, Declan. This is a romance so it makes more sense emotionally for the hero to save the heroine. Then he could get injured if need be. <br /><br />All in all it was well written and I will probably go on with the series.<br /><br />

I'm so into the romance-suspense-action genre right now, and this one did not disappoint!!!<br /><br />The writing was <b>SUPERB</b> in this book. The way the background, atmosphere, internal dialogue of the characters and the flow of the story was <b>GREAT!!!</b><br /><br />Bryn McAllister is one kick-ass chick! The things she goes through would understandably break any woman. There's one particular scene, where she tries to <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="286f51f2-e9f6-44a4-85ea-4b080c0ee73d" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="286f51f2-e9f6-44a4-85ea-4b080c0ee73d">save two kids from being caught in house being blown up</label> that scene was so powerful and heartwrenching!!! She was a great heroine, that did not disappoint or piss me off at all!<br /><br />Declan is <b>AMAZING!!!</b> Able to keep his cool under pressure, mature, smart, strong, lethal, gorgues! He's falling in love and handles it beautifully! He feels protective of her, doesn't want to compromise the mission or the lives of his teammates, wants to spare her a life of living with what he does for a living, the risk and danger of it all..<br /><br />Their internal dialogue was: <b>SPECTACULAR</b><br />All the secondary characters: were <b> interesting, intriguing and gave great weight to the MC</b><br />The steam : Slightly disappointed that there weren't more steam, only two love scenes, but the emotional connection between the MC definitely made up for that!<br /><br />