Every Last Breath

I love finding new-to-me-authors to add to my ever-growing auto-buy list and also to my bookshelves (which I already have too many books as per my husband, but he doesn’t understand I love having my library at home.) This was my first book by Author Juno Rushdan and won’t be my last. It also was my first Romantic Thriller book. The minute I started reading the first chapter I knew I would have a hard time putting it down. The main characters and the secondary characters kept me intrigued, and the storyline left me on the edge of my seat. I’m now looking forward to the rest of the series and also checking out what other books Juno decides to write later on too.

Maddox Kinkade works at the Gray Box, which is a special operations agency/team with other teammates that have to neutralize threats that could end up causing biomedical disasters, etc. They are different from the FBI, CIA, and any other government agency. This agency is not funded like those agencies. Maddox has found out that a killer is on the loose that wants a biomedical weapon that could cause a pandemic. Her team ends up recruiting Cole Matthews, but he used to go by another name several years ago. Maddox was very close to Cole and thought he was dead. She has to work with him because he can help catch the killer that wants to cause a pandemic in the United States. Truths will be revealed between Maddox and Cole and what happened to them. There will also be truths behind the killer too.

Maddox is a kick-butt female character who can handle her own, especially when it came to dealing with the ruthless bad guys. She tended to get herself caught in so many different situations but managed to get through them without any help from the male characters, and it drove Cole crazy in the book. Cole is another kick-butt character, but he has a back-story that is told in the book too that I found interesting. I can understand why he didn’t like Maddox at first when she noticed him, but once he found out the truth, then he changed. I loved learning about the other characters too and finding out that someone is not who they seem they are to the team. The bad guy was awful in this book, but he was only getting revenge for his family. This book is what I would consider a ‘blowback’ situation of how the government did something they shouldn’t of and innocents got caught in the crossfire.

I loved this story by Juno, and I can’t wait for the second book. I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy thrillers and romantic suspense. Yes, there are steamy moments in the book too, so it has romantic elements. The main characters are a previous couple that is going to get a second chance together, and I love those kinds of stories.

Story Rating: 5 stars
Steaminess Rating: 3 stars
Standalone or part of series: Part of the Final Hour Series.
Do I recommend this book? Yes, most definitely.
Will I read other books from the author? Yes.
Tropes/Elements: Special Ops; Suspense; Lethal Bioweapon on the loose; Kick-butt characters; Secrets; and so much more.

Maddox has worked hard for her position and to gain the respect of her fellow officers at the Box. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she was tagged to be lead a priority op after not even being back stateside for three hours. She had to develop a plan to beat the Russians to the targeted asset and convince him to help with the op to prevent the sale and release of a deadly virus. But she never expected to come face to face with a man she believed had been dead for nearly a decade.

Cole was on a forced vacation and hating it. He also sensed trouble brewing and it didn’t take long for it to arrive. Suddenly he was surrounded and trying to fight his way out and then he was waking up restrained and looking at the woman he’d being trying to forget for almost a decade.

Maddox and Cole have to figure out a way to work through the hurt and the lingering attraction between them to identify the individual planning the deadly attack and his intended target. Can they learn to trust each other in time to save thousands of lives?

This is just the type of thriller I regularly seek out but rarely find It was faced paced, gripping, and the concept was downright scary. Add into the mix an indomitable female who’s come back fighting after seemingly losing the love of her life, and the story becomes even more rewarding.

Maddox Kinkade is an Agent for Gray Box, an organisation tasked with handling impossible situations and hunting down terrorists worldwide. When reports reach Gray Box of an auction for weaponized smallpox, the team are immediately put on high alert and know they must do everything they can to get in on the auction. However, when Maddox learns that Ilya Reznikov is one of the invited auction attendees, she is forced to face past memories she had wished never to revisit. Having been in love with Ilya’s brother, Nikolai, and lost him without warning, Maddox knows that this particular mission is going to test her in more ways than one.

Gray Box’s first job is to retrieve and recruit someone with close ties to the Reznikov family, Cole Matthews. With the Russians also looking for Cole, Maddox’s team must act fast but she is stunned when she comes face to face Cole and has to relive a memory which almost killed her. Cole is equally surprised to see Maddox, especially when he realises she is now an Agent but agrees to help her with her mission. With Cole on-side, Maddox and her team start their mission to find out who exactly wants the enhanced smallpox virus and why.

The story is not without violence, as expected, but there is also a struggling romance trying to be released from its heartbreaking and emotional tethers. With time, Maddox and Cole find themselves falling for each other and yet the more Cole pushes the more Maddox tries to resist him, fearful of her emotional fragility.

When the mission and story reach its conclusion, it leaves readers with more questions than answers, especially as the story ends of a cliff-hanger. Will this be the end of the Ghost, who is Cobalt and who is the high-profile, well-informed Broker who is behind the sale of the smallpox weapon.

I really did love this story and it kept me engrossed despite its length. The writing was strong and realistic, the mystery tantalizing and the romance volatile and endearing. For fans of romantic suspense/thrillers, this book will keep you highly entertained, page after page.

Juno Rushdan was a new author for me and Every Last Breath was a action packed book. Suspense/thrillers are one of my favorit genres to read and this book certainly didnt disappoint. The chemisty between Maddox and Cole was intense. My only drawback for the book was it left me hanging so now I will have to read the next installment of the series. I would certainly recommend this book to those that enjoy suspense/thrillers.

Wow! This is romantic suspense at its best.

The drama and super-secret spy thriller is on par with the likes of Catherine Coulter with a hearty dose of second chance romance at its best.

I can’t wait for more from this author.

Could not put this one down surprisingly, I’ve never read a novel with so many components! Thrills, action, a bit of romance, twisting plot, emotion and just pure adrenaline! I got an advanced read and can’t wait to get my hands on a hard copy to add to my collection! Kudos and can’t wait to read more from Juno Rushdan!

This book starts with a bang from the beginning, literally. And the action never stops. Action-packed, heart pounding, thrilling, those are not cliches when it comes to this book. These are accurate descriptions of what you will feel while reading this book. The writing is superb and I felt like I was in the moment every step of the way.
The rapid fire style of writing keeps you interested and doesn’t let up. Even the quieter moments have an underlying anticipation about them, that something is about to happen.

I look forward to the rest of this series.

ARC received from NetGalley for an honest review.

Maddox is part of a secret agency that does jobs other agencies sometimes can’t. She is one of the top operators and is about to can on a mission that could change her life. Someone has developed a smallpox virus that is deadly. Cole is a Russian and was Maddox’s boyfriend years ago until she thought he died. He faked his death and Maddox is supposed to try and get Cole to help them. He is still mad because of Maddox, his father was killed. Now together this must go undercover and try to be the winning bid for the virus. But her cover is blown and they barely escape and now an assassin has the virus and plans to release it. Can they find him and stop him before he kills thousands of people?
First time reading this author and I absolutely loved this story. So much suspense, action, and sex. There is a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next one. This will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat, so be prepared.
* Voluntarily read and reviewed this for NetGalley *

This was a new author for me and I am hooked. This action-packed romantic suspense is written in third person from multiple POV.

I loved Maddox. She is a woman who is super tough and knows how to push through physical and emotional pain to get where she wants to go. Cole is a man from her past. Their complicated relationship is explained over the course of the book. They must work through feelings of shock, anger and betrayal to get to a place of honesty and forgiveness. They have a smoking physical chemistry going for them, and I love how the author incorporates so much of their feelings and emotions into the physical scenes. I appreciate how protective he is of her once he accepts that he still loves her. His anguish and fear for her safety is palpable.

The story was well-written and I enjoyed the secondary characters and their relationship to Maddox. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat as they race the clock to find the bioweapon while overcoming some serious obstacles. I am hooked on the series and I am dying to find out what happens next. Cole and Maddox get their HEA in this book. There is an underlying plot that will continue through other books in the series.

We are reading Juno Rushdan’s book in the Hippie Chicks on October 29th — so I picked it up early so I could prep questions, etc. And holy shit I finished this book basically in one sitting after that. This is the first in a trilogy (three different couples but one overarching story) and the suspense, the thrill, the stakes made this book such a page-turner. Plus a truly bad-ass heroine, a hot as hell hero, tons of steam, and TONS of action. A true escape and a marvelous one!