Hide from Evil

This was another solid 4 star read from this author. Plenty of action in and out of bed.<br><br>Sean was now a free man, living a quiet life. But all that changed when Krista, the Prosecutor, who helped put him behind bars for 2 years, shows up at his cabin with questions she wants answered. But there are folks who don’t want her and him to uncover the secrets that lie buried. Got to catch up with some characters from the previous book.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380437411i/884525.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br>I will read the third in the series at some stage but I did not really like the MC who will feature in it in the first two books.<br><br><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lygvqq9rUZ1qhmz7po1_400.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

Let me say up front that <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/10203130.Beg_for_Mercy__Trilogy___1_" title="Beg for Mercy (Trilogy, #1) by Jami Alden" rel="noopener">Beg for Mercy</a> (the first book in this series) was one of the most outstanding RS books I've read this year. While <b>Hide from Evil</b> was quite good and certainly held my interest, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor. But Jami Alden set the bar waaay high with <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/10203130.Beg_for_Mercy__Trilogy___1_" title="Beg for Mercy (Trilogy, #1) by Jami Alden" rel="noopener">Beg for Mercy</a> with the plot, the suspense, and the characters, so maybe it's a little unfair to expect lightning to strike twice?<br><br><b>Caution: Possible spoilers ahead...</b><br><br>This was Sean Flynn's story. Sean has finally been exonerated for the crime he didn't commit, is out of prison, and now just wants to be left alone. He's having a hard time adjusting to life outside the prison walls. He's cranky, gets flashes of anger, and suffers from a type of claustrophobia (he always needs an open window or door nearby or he gets panicky). Sean's trying to put the past betrayals behind him. He doesn't want to dwell on what happened to him 3 years ago or think about how close he came to dying by lethal injection. He's living out at a secluded cabin outside of Seattle, doesn't want to see anyone (except his sister Megan) and even after 3 years, has no desire for the opposite sex. Until the cool blonde beauty who helped to put him behind bars (Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Krista Slater) shows up on his doorstep, trying to right the wrong she committed and asking for Sean's help when a former friend of his is brutally murdered. Is his murder tied to Sean's case? Are there facts about Sean's case that still haven't been uncovered? Is there someone/something bigger and more powerful behind the scenes who helped to set Sean up? Krista thinks there is, and won't stop digging until she gets to the <i>whole</i> truth. Now will Sean help her connect the dots, and blow the lid off a powerful corrupt organization and uncover secrets that can bring down a whole city? Or will his resentment of Krista and desire to forget about the past cause him to send her away?<br><br><i>Sean...</i><br><a href="http://s880.photobucket.com/albums/ac3/aunteecr/?action=view&amp;current=tumblr_lawyojzRYZ1qdx7g7o1_500-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380353060i/706457.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br>Not quite as much suspense in this one, because we the reader already know who the big bad guy is, and we're just waiting for Krista and Sean to put two and two together. Lots of names are tossed around, and if it's been a while since you've read <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/10203130.Beg_for_Mercy__Trilogy___1_" title="Beg for Mercy (Trilogy, #1) by Jami Alden" rel="noopener">Beg for Mercy</a>(which you <b>must</b> if you want to enjoy this one) you might find yourself getting a bit confused. If I had to do it over again, I would've done a quick scan of the previous book just so I could wrap my head around the facts. Anyhow, Krista and Sean end up on the run from the bad guys when attempts are made on their lives and they don't know who they can trust. Luckily, they get a <i>lot</i> of help from a sexy computer/electronics geek/ former Army Ranger friend of Sean's (Tomas Ibarra, who I hope gets a book of his own). There's a big, exciting showdown at the end with the bad guy, where a reluctant-to-feel-anything Sean is forced to face his feelings for Krista. I must say, the last third of the book moved at an exciting pace. The budding romance got hotter, the plot all came together, and the suspense was high octane.<br><br>Now about the romance...I thought Jami Alden did a credible job with this. Sean was reluctant to fall for Krista, and who could blame him? This was the woman who put him behind bars for a crime he didn't commit! But he had to admire Krista's tenacity at wanting to get to the truth, her desire to right a wrong, and of course he had to admit to himself that he was incredibly attracted to her. Against all odds these two had sparks and plenty of chemistry--it was just a matter if they (or more accurately Sean) could get past the <i>past</i>. Sean was basically a good guy, with a protective streak. Their love/sex scenes were p-l-e-n-t-y steamy, even if Sean sometimes acted like an ass afterwards. For a lot of the book Sean <b>did not</b> want to want Krista, and acted like a jerk sometimes. But you had to forgive him (as Krista did). This guy went through a lot, was still trying to come to terms with how his life got so messed up, and I thought he was going to need some therapy to get himself back on track. It took him a while to let himself <i>really</i> love Krista, and I was quite relieved when it finally happened. Krista was a worthy heroine for Sean, loving and sensitive and suffering some devastating betrayals of her own, and was fearless and kick-ass when she had to be. Yep, these two were good for each other...<br><br>To sum up: if you haven't already done so, read <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/10203130.Beg_for_Mercy__Trilogy___1_" title="Beg for Mercy (Trilogy, #1) by Jami Alden" rel="noopener">Beg for Mercy</a>, and follow up <i>quickly</i> with this book (less confusing that way). It may have taken me a while to get into this book because a lot of time and many books have come between <b>Beg For Mercy</b> and <b>Hide From Evil</b>, but once I started remembering I was able to enjoy it. This is a very compelling series, but I'm wondering what direction the series will take now that the baddies have been taken down. I guess we'll find out with Talia Vega and Jack Brooks's book (<a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/11994905.Run_from_Fear" title="Run from Fear by Jami Alden" rel="noopener">Run from Fear</a>) out in March 2012. 4 stars

Hide from Evil is the second book in an untitled trilogy by Jami Alden, the first book of which skyrocketed its way towards my favorites book shelf earlier this year. If you are tempted to pick this one up, not that you can’t read this as a standalone, but in my opinion you definitely need to read book 1 first to experience the full impact of the story as it unfolds and for you to be invested in the characters and the outcome of their happily ever after as much as I have been ever since finding out about the expected release date of this book.<br /><br />Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Krista Slater is a woman on a mission. Krista who has a vision of her working her way towards the top of the Prosecutor’s Office, always sticking to the rules and never straying from them finds herself wallowing in a conflicting mass of guilt and regret when she finds out that she has wrongly prosecuted and sent an innocent man to the death row. It had only been the tenacious work of Sean Flynn’s sister Megan who had refused to give up on her brother against all odds that had brought to light the actual killer who had neatly tricked everyone into believing that Sean had been the Seattle Slasher.<br /><br />Refusing to put the case to rest though Sean has walked away a free man, something about the case and its loose ends pricks and prods at Krista until she uses her own resources to find out whether there could be more to the Seattle Slasher case than everyone had originally thought. Her digging opens up a can of worms that she never comprehends, putting her and Sean in the path of a powerful family who would do anything and everything in their power to keep the secrets that they hide from ever seeing the light of day.<br /><br />The last thing Sean expects is for Krista to turn up out of the blue and make him confront all those feelings that he has bottled up inside, having numbed himself for the past three years of his life because remembering the past just causes him nothing but endless grief, rage and pain. But Sean’s dormant libido seems to have its own agenda when it comes to the classically beautiful and reserved Krista, behind whose propriety lies a wicked sense of humor that cracks through his numbness right from the very start.<br /><br />Though Krista knows that she shouldn’t let her wayward hormones rule when it comes to Sean, she can’t help but be drawn towards the man buried deep inside the mass of seething resentment that she had previously seen and brushed aside as the egoistic mannerisms of a psychotic killer. But as passion bursts forth and refuses to be denied in its quest to be fulfilled, neither Sean nor Krista is powerful enough to deny each other the need that they have for the other.<br /><br />As a nationwide manhunt ensues for both Sean and Krista with no way of finding out whom they can trust, the harder they dig their quest leads them to places neither expected, forcing both Sean and Krista to face their changing feelings towards each other as the clock ticks towards the hour of reckoning.<br /><br />Hide from Evil though a bit toned down in the darker aspects that we come across in Beg for Mercy is still a book of the unputdownable variety. Sean Flynn was everything that I had imagined him to be in my mind and I damn near swallowed my tongue from salivating over his tortured hotness that just about seeps through the words each and every single time he comes into the picture. His desire for Krista that spills over the tight control he holds over all his emotions was one of the best aspects of the story, his resentment towards the woman who helped put him behind bars no match for the red haze of lust and need that nearly blindsides him with its ferocity.<br /><br />Krista is a heroine basically carved out for my favorite heroines shelf. She is beautiful &amp; smart with a heart of gold, a woman who has the best of intentions at heart and whose truthful nature forces her to face the one mistake she has made in her career and put it to rights. It was the way she seemed to understand Sean, the fears that he battles with each and everyday of his life since he walked out of prison and the way that she wants him with that a no holds barred passion that makes her the type of heroine that I just adore.<br /><br />Once again, I loved how Jami seems to know just in which direction to steer the story forward, when to bring in the action and when to bring in those intricate details about the past events that teases the memory to recall what happened in book 1 of the trilogy. The scenes of passion between Sean and Krista are of the scorching hot variety, not overly erotic but with just enough action to really make one heat up as you read along. Paving the way for book 3, Run from Fear which is to come out early next year starring the sexy ex-Green Beret Jack Brooks that I just know is going to invade my heart as soon as I get my hands on the story, though Beg for Mercy proved to be a tough act to follow, Jami Alden comes darn close in delivering what the reader expects from her in this second installment.<br /><br />A taut, gripping novel of suspense with underlying sexual tension hot enough to keep the adrenaline pumping; Hide from Evil is another superb installment in Jami Alden’s unbeatable trilogy of dark romantic suspense!<br /><br /><b> Rating=4.75/5 </b><br /><br />Original review posted on <a href="http://www.maldivianbookreviewer.com/2011/10/30/arc-review-hide-from-evil-by-jami-alden/" rel="nofollow noopener"> MBR's Realm of Romance </a><br /><br />My quotes included below the review!

After reading "Beg for Mercy" there was absolutely no way I was going to miss this one or the next one, FEAR NO EVIL by Jami Alden. After starting the series out on such a high note, I was afraid that HIDE FROM EVIL couldn't or wouldn't live up to the hype. But I shouldn't have had any doubts. Jami Alden has another winner. Sean is a haunted, traumatized man who has suffered quite enough. I loved his character and the man he stands for. The coupling of him and Krista, the woman who is partly responsible for putting him on death row for a crime he didn't commit, was far more than I expected and better than I ever hoped it could be. Alden capably handles bringing all the pieces together and wrapping up the bad guys in this well-done second addition to the series. My only fear is that Mrs. Maxwell is out of jail and on the loose. I'm anxious to see what this author brings us in the third installment with Jack and Talia.

I've been waiting for this book ever since I finished Beg for Mercy and this one picks up the from the events that happened in the previous book.<br /><br />Krista Slater feels guilty, guilty for putting an innocent man on death row and questions what she did wrong and despite her boss Mark and everyone telling her that everything is over, she cannot stop digging, trying to find if everything ended with Nate (the rapist/murderer) who framed Sean or went deeper. When she tracks down Jimmy ( a friend who served with Nate and Sean) she thinks she finally has something and instead he turns up dead in what people think is a suicide but Krista senses something more and tracks down Sean to a remote cabin where he has taken refuge ever since his exoneration.<br /><br />Sean, oh what an awesome hero he was, he had only just gotten out of the army and when trying to help out a woman, he finds himself accused of rape and murder and spends a year on trial and the next two in solitary preparing for death. If that doesn't change a person, what will? He found that the people he had known all his life found it so easy to believe the worst of him and it was only his sister Megan who fought on relentlessly even when he gave up, putting her life in jeopardy. <br /><br />So, when Krista shows up on his doorstep his reaction is more than understandable after all she is part of what he is trying to forget and get over, not that successfully. Prison changes a man and that is no less true for Sean, he has always been a protector but now he just wants to be left alone to deal with the mess of his life and his head and fears.<br /><br />Honestly, it took me a long while to like Krista and then again I am not sure what I feel about her, yes she was honest and relentless in what she felt was justice but I hated how she came to mess up Sean's life again. She makes herself stranded so that knowing the kind of person Sean is he has no choice but to help her, but it ends very badly with an attempt on their life and Sean getting pulled right back in the conspiracy that led to his incarceration.<br /><br />The thing about Sean was, he was awesome, he could have left Krista alone to deal with the mess and checked out on her, after all he had the skills to protect himself but he didn't because he wasn't that kind of a man even though he isn't sure about himself. So, despite being smack in the middle of trouble he helps out and I loved it when he sometimes came lose telling Krista it was her fault because honestly in my book it really was. Not only did she bring killers after him but also landed him up in the news for being a possible bad guy and putting his sister in danger again.<br /><br />Yes, it is shown time and again that her motives were good but well that doesn't wipe the slate clean. Now, no I didn't dislike the book, I actually liked it a whole lot but this is the reason I didn't love the romance as much as I did in Beg for Mercy.<br /><br />The sexual tension between them was smoky and the hot moments totally awesome and the suspense moves along at a very nice pace, with things happening at every given moment.<br /><br />The book was very well written and paced and counts as solid Romantic Suspense, with villains who seem to be completely un-catcheable.<br /><br /><br />I am looking forward to the next book but I am not sure I like the heroine of that one much.<br /><br />Hide from Evil is another awesome book in this thrilling trilogy. <br /><br /><i>ARC provided by Netgalley. </i><br /><br />

Story Rating 5 stars<br />Character Rating 5 stars<br />Romance Rating 4 stars<br />Heat Level 3.5 stars<br />Action Rating 5 stars<br />Overall Rating 5 stars<br /><br />This was a very exciting and fast paced book that had me hooked right from the start. This is book 2 in the series and I really enjoyed this story line. Loved all the characters too and Jami brought a bit more heat with this story than she did Beg For Mercy and if you know me that is always' a plus.<br />We get a nice HEA at the end and believe me these two deserved it.<br />I thought we had all the bad guy's wrapped up but seeing the preview for the next book in this series Run From Fear coming out March 2012, I guess there are still some bad guy's lurking around.

Loved it. Just as good as Beg for Mercy. A GREAT steamy hot, nail-biting romance suspense series, so glad I finally took everyone up on their recommendation to read this one. Alden writes quite a bit of her stories from the male POV, and I love that. More please!!

The first two books of this series have made Jami Alden a must read for me. I loved both of them. They both have a great mixture of suspense and romance. While I thought Beg for Mercy was wonderful, I liked Hide from Evil even more. <br /><br />After being introduced to Sean Flynn in the first book, I was glad to read his story. He made a very sympathetic hero, a wounded soul who remained caring and protective regardless of being through the trauma of believing his execution for a murder he did not commit was imminent. I really had a hard time imagining him developing a relationship with Krista Slater since she was the prosecuter who sent him to prison and death row. I didn't feel that I knew as much about Krista as Sean after the first book, but as I learned more about her in Hide from Evil, I really liked her character. I especially liked the way she took the responsibilty for having Sean released quickly after she discovered he was innocent and wanted his name cleared and the true murderer caught. <br /><br />Krista Slater prosecuted the wrong man in a murder case, and he was very nearly executed. After his release from prison, all Sean Flynn wants it to be left alone, but Krista appears and soon asks for his help finding out who set him up. As they come together to try to determine the identity of the murderer, attraction explodes between them, but Sean is reluctant to recognize his feelings for Krista. As they both face danger and betrayals, they have to decide if they are willing to risk a relationship togther.<br /><br />I thought this was a very strong romantic suspense with all of the elements that make a great book. The storyline was riveting, there was plenty of action and suspense, the characters were compelling, and there was lots of chemistry between them. I received this book as an ARC through Netgalley, and I will be looking forward to the next book in this series.

Sean Flynn is trying to come to terms with having spent three years of his life in prison on death row for a crime he didn't commit. His sister, Megan, was largely responsible for literally sparing his life by helping to find the real killer. Krista Slater, the deputy prosecuting attorney responsible for getting Sean's conviction, worked even harder to get him exonerated. She's still guilt-ridden over what happened to him but is also convinced that the real killer didn't act alone and is determined to draw Sean into her investigation. There are many in influential places that don't want Krista digging around and she unwittingly involves Sean in a fight for their lives as they work together to solve the mystery. <br /><br />This follow up to the first novel in the trilogy really delivers. There is plenty of nail-biting suspense, action and romance to keep you on the edge of your seat. Krista and Sean are the most unlikeliest couples given their history but their attraction was inevitable. There are also enough evil players in this story to make your head spin as Sean and Krista struggle to unravel the mystery. It's a rapid-fire pace and you'll find it difficult to put the book down, even though there are a few moments where the angst of the couple over their burgeoning feelings for each other bog down the story. It recovers nicely and the climax was thrilling. <br /><br />I don't know what's next in the final story of this trilogy but I'm sure I can expect to be thoroughly intrigued and nervous. This trilogy has all the elements I look for in the romantic suspense genre.

This is a great romantic suspense book and sequel to Beg For Mercy. I strongly recommend reading Beg For Mercy first because the characters here play a big role in the first one and the story lines are heavily intertwined. I had a lot of anticipation for this book after being so pleased with Beg For Mercy, and, thankfully, it delivered. It's very steamy with a high quotient of romance, but the suspense is still hot and heavy. For me, who often finds not enough sex or romance in my suspense, this is the perfect blend. The romance is the main feature, the suspense is what they use to get there.<br /><br />The one caveat is that I was disappointed in the quality of editing. Despite my fast pace at reading, due to a compelling story, I noticed several typos. And beyond that, there was a certain lack of polish to the writing. It seemed worse than Beg For Mercy. It definitely seemed below the level that I'd expect from a mass marketed book. I actually had to double check if it was self published or from a small press, since my copy was digital.<br /><br />This wasn't enough to move me off the series, not at all. I am eagerly awaiting the third book, and just crossing my fingers about the editing. (*ahem* If anyone's listening, the third sentence in the excerpt for the next book has two words reversed.)