#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh is back—with a vengeance—in her latest novel of passion and intrigue, Dagger’s Edge, featuring the men of Brute Force.Ivan Resnova wants nothing more than to escape his hard, brutal past. Starting over is not so easy once you’ve been a powerful crime boss but now, instead of being punished for his alleged crimes, Ivan fears that the one woman he … that the one woman he can’t forget is in danger of paying the price.
Crimsyn “Syn” Delaney thought the danger she’d faced was over, and that she could resume her life. She never imagined it would return with a vengeance and throw her back into Ivan’s world. But when an attempt is made on her life, she needs Ivan more than ever to keep her safe—even if she is in danger of falling deeply and dangerously in love. . .
“Leigh’s books can scorch the ink off the page.”—RT Book Reviews
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Dagger’s Edge deserves a solid 3.5 stars. The book is a romantic suspense involving a bad boy falling in love with the enemy’s daughter. Ivan wrestled control of his Russian crime family from his evil father and his cohorts. Syn a.k.a. Journey Taite is the daughter of an evil family who tortured Ivan’s mother but hopelessly drawn to Ivan. On the run from her family and their enemies, Journey runs and hides under a new alias until Ivan’s daughter Amara needs her. Spending time with her younger friend firmly puts Journey in Ivan’s sights and soon her identity is revealed. The couple start a very sensuous and dangerous game in order to take down her family while falling in love. I found the characters memorable, Ivan as the dark and dangerous alpha male, and Journey as the heroine who grows and comes into her own strength. Ivan’s appeal is apparent and Journey grows on you as she exposes a backbone of steel. I thought a lot of the plot becomes lost in the sex scenes, almost like the sex becomes a filler for the story. The story does contain plenty of action and the HEA is pretty sweet, definitely preferred for people who like really steamy reads. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
On the edge of your seat kind of book!!!! Ivan has always noticed Journey even when he knew he shouldn’t. When she needed him most, he shows up but then they lost touch. He did everything he could do to find her but it was like she fell off the face of the earth.
Fast forward 4 years and there she is. He’s finally found her or has she found him? Makes no difference to him, he wants her and will do whatever it takes to have her and keep her. She has other ideas.
Will they be able to stay ahead of their enemies? Will they both get what they want or will one be left wanting more than they get?
I can’t even describe how hot this book is!!! Smoking, fiery, etc…doesn’t do it justice.
I will say I was confused in a few places but it wasn’t enough to take away too much from the story in my mind.
Another hit from one of my go to authors. I had read the first book to this series quite a while ago so did not remember exactly where that left off, but I wasn’t too confused starting this one. (I am planning on re-reading it though)
I loved Journey/Syn in this book. Even with her horrible family life, I saw her as a brave and resilient young woman. And Ivan, he was a true alpha, protective and possessive. All Ivan wanted was to protect Syn and he was going to do whatever he can to make that happen. I loved how there was only the little bit of time where secrets were kept, but all was revealed quickly and the story was able to move on. I loved the love story between the two. All Syn wanted was to be loved, she wanted it so much she was willing to settle for the illusion of love. Ivan kept saying he didn’t believe in love, but his actions told a different story. I love to see the ultimate alpha male fall so deeply. And the steamy scenes, wow! This is definitely a Lora Leigh book.
I received a complimentary copy of Dagger’s Edge from Netgalley, all opinions are my own. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book!
This was at least as enjoyable as book one in the series! I will admit, I still feel like I’m a little lost, like this is a spinoff of a previous series and a bunch of events and couples I didn’t read about. But if you can look past that, and I could, this was spicy and hot, action-packed and filled with suspense.
Ivan is a scary guy-with a mushy center for his daughter and for the woman he loves. He’s definitely not someone you want on your bad side. But he is someone you would want in your bed! “Syn” breaks my heart with her flat out refusal to believe someone could really love her. These two had some rough upbringings and won’t have an easy life ahead of them. I’m SOOO curious who could have a story next!
Welcome back to Brute Force. I would highly recommend reading the first book before you read this one as you will lose a big portion of the background of this series if you don’t. It was great to catch back up with Ivan and Syn. In this book they finally don’t hid there attraction to each other. This book is more of what happens in the first and I really don’t want to give anything away but I will say finally. I do hope this series continues as I do like it a lot.
*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*
Occasionally a book comes along that will have me completely consumed, no just hooked to the point that I will not put it down. I mean it consumes every waking thought, dreams, and it is all I think of for a few days after finishing it leaving me with a severe book hangover. This was one of those books. There was danger, twist, a who is responsible that I never saw coming, and scorching heat. The chemistry between Ivan and Crimsyn is so hot that I swear the pages would have caught fire if they could. This is book two in the Brute Force series and I would recommend reading book one first or there will be pieces missing that will make you go huh. Just my opinion.
So many secrets that it is tough to talk about this book without spoilers.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
It took me a second to get my bearings when I started this book. The prologue is actually from the last chapter of Live Wire (Jordan and Teyha’s story), except this time around it’s from Journey’s perspective instead of Teyha’s. Journey just learned how heinous her grandfather and father really are (like disgustingly so), doesn’t know what to make of the fiancée she was essentially sold to, and learned her boss was actually a cousin she thought missing/dead. Jump four years later and the story picks up from Collision Point where Journey-now known as Crimsyn-has helped save her friend Amara. Syn is hoping Amara’s dad Ivan, doesn’t recognize who she really is before she can escape and stay on the run from her seriously messed up family.
I was disappointed with the storyline. The potential for suspense and progression was there, but instead it was like Hey! Let’s just slap a sex scene here and here. Annoyingly, they didn’t even make sense! Let’s both get shot and then go hot and heavy with no mention of wounds even though she’s grabbing the should injury. Like, okay… These weren’t even sexy love scenes, but repetitive, same ole, same ole. Frankly, I got bored and started skimming. I also had issues with Ivan’s backstory, specifically how young he was when he became a parent to his daughter, Amara, and when he and Journey first noticed the other. That was on the ick side for me
The positives: I’m too perturbed about the negatives to find the positives.
I really wanted to give at least three stars but couldn’t because I’m so disappointed! With a convoluted plot, more sex than story, and an ending that answered many questions too little too late, maybe this series need to be retired. Rather than the second exciting book of the Brute Force spin off series, Dagger’s Edge felt like a filler book to appease longtime fans of the Elite Ops series and personally, I think it fell way short of that particular goal.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
After my disappointed with the first book in this series, I hadn’t planned on going any further. However, I decided to give it one more shot, mostly in hopes that it would live up to its potential. Unfortunately, I found more of the same except this one plunged completely into the unbelievable. I understand that it’s a spin-off series, but I would expect at least some explanation of who these people are and what’s happened to them to this point. Instead, the book just plunges in and I suppose the reader is expected to figure it out. That, or go back and read the original series, which I have no inclination to do given my feelings for this one. I have no problem with a continuing story or a series that relies on past information, but a small disclaimer with the blurb would remedy a new reader’s disappointment. That aside, there were just too many things about this book that are completely over the top and stretch the imagination far past a suspension of disbelief. As with the first book, those that read the original series and are familiar with the characters may enjoy this, but I certainly can’t recommend it to anyone new to the author.
At least Ivan is honest, “…I can be a rather greedy man, Syn. I doubt one night would be enough.” Ivan very rarely gives any warning, “I’m about two seconds from pushing you back in that seat, ripping that skirt off you, and effing you like a godd**ned animal,” he snarled, the challenge in her gaze pushing a button he hadn’t known existed within him. “Don’t push me right now, you little wildcat, or I’ll do just that.” Not much phases Ivan, especially when it has to do with his woman, “of course it isn’t.” Confidence all but oozed from him. “I’m certain we’ll disagree over it quite often. You’re a temperamental little thing, so I really expect nothing less.” I loved this book, Ivan comes off as a hard man but he’s mush when it came to his woman.