Veena’s review of Take to the Limit (Unbroken Heroes, Book 1) by Dawn Ryder
Contemporary Romance published by St. Martin’s Press 29 Aug 17
Sooooo! I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately. Books don’t offer the same escape they once did. I’m sure it’s me because even my favorite mainstay authors are making me feel edgy and unsatisfied. I stopped and started this book so many times, I’m not even sure if I recall exactly how it all played out, but…
Bram Magnus has always lived a life in the shadows. Son to a shadow warrior, he grew up to become one on his own. He is seduced by the sense of home he feels with Jaelyn and her family, so he promptly picks her flirty older sister to date. However, when LeAnn cheats on Bram right before he ships out for Afghanistan, Jaelyn can’t resist the burning hot kisses Bram bestows upon her.
Bram and his team have enemies in high places determined to bring the team down. The story starts out confusingly enough with one in a Mexican prison, another one Bram picks up in Afghanistan and then yet another one who’s found a place with a lot of political clout. Confusing much? Then we have Bram on a guilt trip when his enemies pick up on the fact that he cares about Jaelyn more than he cares about LeAnn and they kidnap Jaelyn. Fortunately for Jaelyn, Bram and his team rescue her. Unfortunately for them he plays right into his enemies’ hands by whisking her into a secret location, which is what his enemies want him to do.
I felt the trope of the BDSM slave a little overdone, with Jaelyn’s kidnapper setting her up to be a sexual slave, but she’s a bright girl who manages to hold on for a rescue. Then Bram’s one-eighty where he, in turn, becomes a sexual dominant with Jaelyn when he has her safe and buried in a top-secret location. The surprises don’t stop. Jaelyn’s grandfather, it seems, has a secret past and has played his own share of cloak-and-dagger games.
My head just kept spinning with the surprises, and, trust me, they don’t end since the last chapter in the book will wake you up and leave you in suspense waiting for the next shoe to drop, which you’ll have to wait for. There’s a lot of action, both secret spy stuff and between the sheets, so this book might be a great cup of tea for some readers while it just did not quite do it for me.
Grade: C
Summary:
They are part of an elite unit. On task. Off grid. These are the men of the Shadow Ops task force. Be seduced and thrilled by Take to the Limit, the next Unbroken Heroes novel by Dawn Ryder.
Holding out for a hero
A hardened military machine, Bram Magnus is a tough, combat-ready, all-American hero who never surrenders. But the one thing he can’t fight? His smoldering, intense attraction to his girlfriend’s younger sister. He’s always kept his feelings locked deeply down. But when his girlfriend betrays him the night before he ships off to Afghanistan, Bram has one chance to show the woman he’s resisted for years that he wants her as fiercely as the first day he saw her.
Ever since her older sister first brought home the soldier with steely hard muscles and piercing eyes, Jaelyn has wanted Bram, and when her sister casts him aside the night before he leaves, Jaelyn can’t resist one steamy hot kiss with him. But danger is not far behind, and even as a deadly enemy hunts them, their relationship only grows more explosive. It’s all Bram can do to keep Jaelyn safe, but with a threat this powerful, will they pay the ultimate price for their passion?
