To ex-Navy SEAL Mitch Granger, responsibility isn’t just a word. It’s his Code of Honor. But when assigned to protect Coercion Ten’s latest target, she challenges his authority, defies his rules, and wreaks havoc on his personal willpower. Fighting for her isn’t a problem. Giving his life for her isn’t a problem. Forgetting their world-stopping kiss? Definite problem. And if he can’t concentrate … concentrate solely on keeping her safe, it may cost them both their lives.
Journalist Liz Walkert’s missing father sent her a cryptic message that she was in danger. What he didn’t tell her was why. Unbeknownst to Liz, her family has been in Witness Protection all her life. Mitch may be her bodyguard, but his protection comes close to being control, the one thing she has none of in his presence. After a kidnap attempt and a narrow escape from attacking CT forces, they both realize they’re going to need to focus on the mission and fight their attraction if they have any hope of surviving.
Each book in the Shades of Leverage series is STANDALONE:
* Slater’s Revenge
* Dangerous Lies
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I attempted to read the advance reader copy of this novel more than a year ago, and just couldn’t get into it, especially since it was the second title in a series and I hadn’t read the first one title. I’d been reading a host of new authors and starting in mid-series and was tired of getting lost way too often, so I put it down. Wow, was I ever wrong! Dangerous Lies, which is the second novel in Claudia Shelton’s Shades of Leverage series worked just fine for me as a standalone and was one heck of an action-packed romantic suspense novel. Because it was a little light on the romance, it gets 4 stars from this reader.
I really liked and admired Elizabeth Walkert (Liz), the heroine. She’s a smart, snarky, independent and accomplished journalist and she isn’t about to just accept and go along for the ride when the hero, Mitch Granger, an operative for a shadow organization called OPAQUE, shows up in her life, informs her he’s there to protect her, and he has a host of reasons why, none of which he shares easily. Elizabeth had received a message from her father warning her that she was in danger and that he was sending protection for her, and as hot alpha males go, I’d have stopped asking Mitch questions as soon as he arrived and she set eyes on him. She’s about to learn that her entire life has been a lie, and she doesn’t take the news lightly, especially after she and Mitch are accosted as soon as they the cafe/marina where they met, and then, to quote Bette Davis, “hang onto your hats, it’s going to be a bumpy night,” and the bumps just keep on coming, and so do the other sexy OPAQUE operatives, and enough bad guys to keep the danger level high throughout this novel.
From that first meeting on, this is one exciting, sexy, and action-packed read that doesn’t really let up until the astonishing conclusion, and I wish I could tell you more, but to do so I’d have to let you know what the danger is and the reasons for it, and I prefer not to do spoilers. While I wish I’d read the first novel in this series before reading this one, it certainly didn’t hamper my appreciation for this one. All I can tell you is that if romantic suspense is a favorite genre of yours, don’t miss this one–it’s a winner.
As stated at the outset, I read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.