A life debt… isn’t just another assignment. She’s also the younger sister of his best friend, the man who died taking bullets meant for him. There’s no way Derek can refuse.
An inescapable attraction…
Jenna Hamilton doesn’t need a bodyguard, especially not one hired by her intrusive and controlling father. She knew the risks when she signed on to work in rural Afghanistan, and the hospital already has armed security. She also doesn’t need the distraction of a big, brooding operative skulking about, even if he is her late brother’s best friend—and sexy as hell. As far as she’s concerned, he can pack up his Humvee and drive into the sunset. And, no, nothing her hormones have to say about him will change her mind.
A merciless enemy…
From the moment his boots hit the ground in Afghanistan, Derek does his best to win Jenna over, posing as her brother so the two of them can spend time alone. Except that what he feels for her is anything but brotherly. Stolen moments lead to secret kisses—and an undeniable sexual attraction that shakes them both to the core. But events have been set into motion that they cannot escape. When a ruthless warlord sets his sights on Jenna, Derek will do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it costs him his heart—or his life.
more
Kept me on the edge of my seat at times. Awesome!
Great book
Loved!!!! Derek and Jennas story. He was tasked with protecting her and getting her to come home by her dad. (Who is an a-hole). She is a midwife helping educate and treat patients. She also happens to be the little sister of his best friend who died saving his life in the service, green berets. Sharing an instant attraction in a country where people are beaten or worse for “inappropriate” contact or speech was one of many hurdles. One thing I didn’t like was that I think more should have been done to punish her father for what he did. Loved the ending!!!!
Fantastic way to start off a new series. There is so much goodness going on in this book I don’t know where to begin. Derek Tower is a perfect alpha male character while Jenna is his perfect compliment. The action is fast paced with plenty of twists of turns. I look forward to book 2.
This is book one in the Cobra Elite series and it features Derek and Jenna. Her brother was Derek‘s best friend. He took a bullet for Derek and lost his life. Now, years later, her senator father wants Derek to bring her back from doing aid work in Afghanistan, before something happens to her. The action and suspense are fantastic! The chemistry between these two is sizzling! He really has a HARD attitude about not being built for love or relationships. It was heart wrenching knowing why.
This is a great series opener! I can’t wait to read more about these amazing men.
I’ve been a fan of this author’s works for a while now, but I honestly don’t remember seeing much of Derek Tower in those books. Therefore, reading this was a very pleasant surprise!
First off, I have to say that I found this to be a very illuminating read! It was interesting to read about how the Afghani women lived, and I felt is was a story that needed to be told. As a Western woman, I had no idea just how suppressed and repressed they were! That was definitely an eye opener!
Secondly, I liked Jenna’s passion for her work! I liked her devotion to the women and how courageous she acted under the various pressures she encountered. I also enjoyed Derek’s protective nature, as well as his willingness to let Jenna be her independent self.
However, their romance felt a little too insta-lovey to me. It didn’t feel truly believable, partly because the stress of their situation wasn’t addressed in their relationship. The romance was very steamy, no doubt about it, but I think it would have worked better if we had seen more of it when they weren’t in a life and death situation.
This was definitely an engaging and enjoyable read! I can’t wait to read the next one!
This is Book 1 in the Cobra Elite series. What a good book! Derek was a Green Beret and now owns an international security agency. He’s asked to protect Jenna who is a midwife volunteering in Afghanistan. She’s also the sister of the man who died protecting Derek. The only thing is Jenna doesn’t think she needs a bodyguard. This was so good. They became friends in a country where men and women aren’t friends. There’s a lot of excitement happening when they find out Jenna does need a bodyguard. Also, a bad situation involving Jenna’s dad. I highly recommend you read this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book that I received from Netgalley.
4.5stars
Intense, action-packed romance. Derek is forced into Afganistan to persuade Jenna, his best friend baby sister to come back home. But because he won’t take force her father makes a step further and starts a few unexpected, intense events. A great love story between two very interesting characters. I loved both Derek and Jenna they were easy to fall in love and it is great to see how their love story begins and how they got their HEA.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgelly
4.5 Stars
Hard Target is the first title in Pamela Clare’s new Cobra Elite series.
I’m yet to be disappointed by Pamela Clare. Her romantic suspense titles are not only packed full of action, intrigue, and drama but they are insightful, educational and incredibly engaging.
Jenna is strong, stubborn, committed, independent and resilient. She’s passionate, caring and compassionate when it comes to her role as a nurse and midwife and sharing her knowledge and skills with the women of Afghanistan.
Derek is an alpha to the core, a former Green Beret he’s no stranger to the dangers that are present in Afghanistan. He’s cocky, loyal and intelligent, and being around Jenna brings forth all his protective tendencies, yet he doesn’t smother her independence.
A sweet and sexy read with a few familiar characters who make cameo appearances, I can’t wait to see which of the Cobra Elite operatives will be next in finding a happy ever after.
Action packed start to a new series that blends familiar characters from the I-Team series along with new characters who work for Cobra International.
Javier Corbray and Derek Tower run Cobra, a black ops group funded by the government. Nick and Holly Andris are also part of Cobra. Those are the familiar characters from the other series but we are introduced to the rest of the men and women who work for Cobra.
First up is Derek Tower’s story. He is asked to go and get the sister of a man who died for him out of Afghanistan where she is a midwife on a humanitarian mission to try and educate the women of that country to try and save the live of women and their babies.
Jenna Hamilton father is a tyrant who pushed both of his children out of his life. She refuses to leave with Derek when he shows up. She understands the risks of an American woman educating Afghani women could result in her death but doesn’t care. It’s not long before things go FUBAR and Derek and his teams mission changes to bodyguard and getting Jenna safely out of the country. What they don’t know is they have been betrayed. Soon everyone is after them – warlords, Taliban.
Action, suspense, edge of your seat thrills along with a hot romance all make up this book along with getting an up close lesson on women’s issues in Afghanistan, Uganda and Haiti.
I have been a Pamela Clare fan but I am saddened to say that this one just didn’t do it for me, I tried and could not get into the story as much. We have two people that I did respect their professions and the work that they do but I didn’t love them. However all that being said, her writing was good and descriptive and I will continue to read her.
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
Derek Tower is the co-owner of Cobra International Security and was pressured into a new assignment by an influential US senator who can control his company’s destiny. The senator wants his daughter, Jenna Hamilton, removed from a women’s clinic in Afghanistan. Jenna is a nurse and midwife who is six months into a two-year volunteer assignment and she’s not leaving. Derek thought he could give it a week before he successfully extracted her or abandoned the assignment but things turned dangerous really fast.
The plight of women in Afghanistan under the threat of Taliban rule is dismal, especially when complicated by other extremist forces who don’t even pretend to have a religious context. I learned a lot about the current politics and culture and ended up with a better understanding of our contribution to that country. Jenna’s commitment was admirable as she had nothing to gain by staying there and so much to contribute. This story was as educational as it was suspenseful with Derek and Jenna’s blossoming relationship providing needed relief from the dark circumstances. Both of them were fully developed characters who I came to admire and root for.
It’s wonderful having Clare return to this genre as she’s so skilled at writing exciting scenes that you experience viscerally and intellectually. I felt the fear and pain during the dangerous moments and the triumphs when the characters you cared about prevailed. Derek and Jenna were well suited and I loved their romance. I’m a big fan of the I-Team series and this is a worthy spinoff. It was also great to see the crossover folks appear here. I’m in for what I hope will be a long run as I want more of the members of Cobra. I enjoyed everything about this story.
(Thanks to NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
Loved it! I highly recommend Hard Target if you like smart, sexy, suspenseful romance.
Pamela Clare is one of my favorite romantic suspense authors. I have read every single one of her romantic suspense books and LOVED them all immensely. Hard Target did not disappoint and it is just as good as her previous romantic suspense books. I also highly recommend her I-Team series.
“Jimmy had been Derek’s best bud in the Green Berets. He had died saving Derek’s life, and Derek truly didn’t want his little sister to get hurt or killed.”
Derek had to try to get Jenna out of Afghanistan per the orders, aka threats, from Senator Hamilton. Senator Hamilton seemed to want his daughter back in the States for her own safety. But honestly, Hamilton usually had ulterior motives that were more revolved around himself.
Upon meeting Jenna, Derek realizes getting her to leave Afghanistan before her contract was up was not something she was willing to do. She took her job as midwife very seriously. Her refusal to go and his immediate attraction to her is definitely messing with his plans.
Jenna hasn’t seen an American man in a very long time – so she attributes her attraction to her lack of interaction with the opposite sex. But as the days go by, she knows it’s more than that.
As things heat up between Jenna and Derek -and Jenna is threatened more than once, Derek is willing to put his life on the line for her. No matter what.
Pamela Clare hits the mark again with the start of this new Cobra Elite series. I get all the wonderful feels that I got with her ITeam series! The action, the romance and the fantastic story line drew me right in!
Derek is not exactly happy when he is cornered into taking a job in Afghanistan, babysitting the daughter of a Senator. This stubborn woman has put herself in jeopardy, and now he needs to get her back home.
Jenna loves working as a Midwife but in Afghanistan just getting babies delivered and keeping their mothers alive is dangerous work. Between misogynistic attitudes and poor supplies, she and her small team have their work cut out for them. She does not need her father making her life more difficult and trying to drag her back home. She doesn’t care that Derek is a handsome guy…nope, not even a blip on her radar. Damnit she can’t even lie to herself!
A brilliant read with a really well-researched story detailing the problems faced by women in the war-torn area and the struggles to even survive pregnancy into motherhood. Derek always finds a way to respect the local cultures but also keep them safe. When you realise that time and time again it is someone close to them who puts a target on Jenna’s back, well your blood will boil!
Pamela Clare launches her Cobra Elite series with “Hard Target,” a thrilling, fast-paced romance between battle-hardened private black-ops company owner and a volunteer midwife.
Watching over a US senator’s daughter in Afghanistan isn’t Derek Tower’s normal job assignment, but Jenna Hamilton is no ordinary aid worker. She’s the younger sister of man who died while saving his life and now he’ll do anything to keep her safe.
Jenna knew the dangers of doing volunteer work in Afghanistan. She doesn’t want or need the bodyguard hired by her controlling father even if he is drop dead gorgeous in a brooding kind of way. But when she finds herself in an increasingly dangerous situation, she must trust Derek with her life.
Clare pens a high octane story full of twists highlighted by the sexy romance that feels absolutely real with a well-researched backdrop. Nail biting moments take the reader on a steamy and intensely thrilling ride. Derek and Jenna may seem completely incompatible, but in the spellbinding suspense their romance makes perfect sense.
Derek and Jenna are wonderful characters with an obvious attraction. Derek is the quintessential alpha male. He’s bossy, cocky, protective and loyal while Jenna is passionate and caring. I loved catching up with Laura and Javier from Striking Distance and other couples from Pamela’s I-Team series and can’t wait to read more about the new characters introduced in this hooking page-turner.
Hard Target is book #1 of the Cobra Elite series by Pamela Clare. It is a standalone, romantic suspense, told from both points of view, and has a happy ending.
4.25 stars–HARD TARGET is the first instalment in Pamela Clare’s contemporary, adult COBRA ELITE romantic, military suspense series focusing on the men and women who work for the Black Ops Company known as Cobra International Security. This is Cobra owner and Green Beret Derek Tower, and thirty-year old, nurse/midwife Jenna Hamilton’s story line. COBRA ELITE is a spin-off from the author’s I-Team Series. Several characters cross-over for familiarity and back story including Holly and Nick, and Javier’“Cobra’ and Laura.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Derek and Jenna) HARD TARGET followed Cobra International Security owner Derek Tower as he is hired to retrieve US Senator Hamilton’s daughter from a compound in Afghanistan. Jenna Hamilton is a midwife who is contracted to work with, and help the women struggling in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, which is currently under the protection of a warlord turned politician. What ensue is the battle to protect Jenna from an unknown enemy, and the building relationship between Derek and our story line heroine.
Years earlier Green Beret James Hamilton lost his life protecting our story line hero Derek Tower, now it was his turn to pay back the family by rescuing the woman with whom he would fall in love. Things go from bad to worse when Jenna refuses Derek’s offer to return back to the States, as she struggles with the religious beliefs of a country not known for protecting their own. Several attempts to kidnap our will eventually be successful but in doing so Derek’s man will risk their lives for the woman he loves.
The relationship between Derek and Jenna begins as a forbidden romance in a country where women are treated like trash. As Derek goes undercover as Jenna’s brother, their secret will come to the forefront threatening everyone including our story line couple. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including numerous men and women who work for Cobra International Security; several midwives in training in the Afghanistan compound, along with the security and soldiers; as well as Jenna’s father Senator Hamilton. The requisite evil has many faces.
HARD TARGET is a fast paced story line with a copious amount of technical detail and military jargon, researched geographical locations and destinations, as well as the threats against the women living and working in the Middle East. The premise is intriguing, engaging and edgy; the romance is seductive and captivating; the characters are energetic and inspiring. HARD TARGET is an action packed story that pays homage to the women who suffer to protect the lives of others.
Hard Target by Pamela Clare is my 2nd book I’ve read from this author and I really enjoyed it. It was action packed and kept me on my toes. Derek Tower, a former Green Beret and now co-owner and CEO of Cobra International Security is pretty much ordered to kidnap the daughter of a US Senator who is volunteering in Afghanistan as a midwife. Reluctantly Derek goes, but insists he will only be a bodyguard and try to persuade Jenna to come back to the states.
Jenna Hamilton is passionate about her work as a mid-wife and educating the woman in the region. So when Derek shows up and she learns her over-bearing father hired him to bring her home, she is furious and refuses to leave. Jenna is not just any assignment to Derek, she is the younger sister of his best friend, who happened to have died saving his life. So if Jenna is not leaving, he needs to make her as safe as possible.
Their story was full of action and suspense, some heartbreak with the conditions in the region, and great chemistry between them. I do have to say, that there was one particular scene I was really annoyed with Jenna. She had been in the area for six months and knew the culture so her actions frustrated me. I loved her passion and dedication to saving lives, but I was still frustrated with her.
But overall, I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
**I received a copy of Hard Target from Net Galley and the author in exchange for a voluntary and honest review. My opinions stated below are mine and not solicited in any way**
Hard Target by Pamela Clare is the first book in her new Cobra Securities series. If you’ve read any of her I Team series you’ll recognize some of the men who now work for Cobra. I loved this book and am so glad to have the author go back to Romance suspense again. The research that Ms. Clare did to write this book is outstanding as it puts you the reader right there with Jenna helping to deliver babies and teaching her students at Kazi Women’s hospital in a country that doesn’t allow women education.
Jenna Hamilton is in Afghanistan for the next 18 months teaching the local women how to be a midwife. Her meddling senator father has sent her late brother’s best friend to bring her home but she has no intention in leaving before her contract is up. Jenna makes one mistake when a young girl is in maternal danger (Not allowed) will have both of them fleeing for their lives. Little does she know that someone close to her will put both Derek and Jenna in danger and taken hostage. Will Cobra find them in time?
Derek Tower grew up in Foster Care after his mother ODs on drugs and joins the military after graduation. His friendship within his Green Beret unit but when his best friend James sacrifices his life to save Derek during a sniper attack now has the Senator demanding he bring his daughter home. He’ll help Farzad with new security cameras after an attack and find out who the traitor is when both Jenna and Derek must leave to keep the hospital and the student safe. Derek’s Cobra partner Corbray from the I team series will soon have to rescue both of them after being taken hostage.
Awesome book and can’t wait to read about some of the other men of Cobra Securities.
What a fantastic read! 75% of Hard Target is set in Afghanistan where our heroine, Jenna is volunteering to work as a Midwife as well as training the women of Afghanistan. When her father finds out, he calls up our hero, Derek to bully him into bringing her back home where it’s safe.
This read was a bit of an eye opener. I was pretty fascinated to read the struggles Jenna had to teach the women of Afghanistan about their bodies and how to help prevent needless deaths in pregnancy. She willingly took risks to help these women who have so few rights. It’s not an easy thing to read about.
Derek was just as compelling in this book. He’s one of my favorite heroes. The way he navigated the shaky ground he and Jenna were on as Americans, and the way he was willing to protect Jenna with his life. You really can’t help but fall for this guy.
I think I can officially say I am a fan of Pamela Clare. She has a way of capturing my attention from the first chapter to the last. I’ve also learned to read her acknowledgements and author notes first because it really shows she takes a lot of time to do the proper research for her books.
We meet some great side characters in Hard Target. I can’t wait to learn more about them in their own books.