This Navy SEAL is putting his life – and heart – on the line to protect a woman on the run, but her dangerous secret threatens to destroy them both in this high-octane novel that proves “no one does romantic suspense like Diana Gardin” (Susan Stoker, New York Times bestselling author).
I’m a Navy SEAL and a member of the elite Night Eagle Security team, so you better believe I take every one of … team, so you better believe I take every one of my missions seriously. But this one is different. I’m protecting Frannie – she’s beautiful, fiercely independent, and on the run from her criminal ex-husband. I know he’s dangerous, that he’ll do anything to get Frannie back. But there’s no way I’ll ever let that happen…
Trouble is, I can tell Frannie is hiding something from me. Something big. Since she barely got away from her ex alive, I understand that she’s wary, but I can’t help her if she doesn’t let me in. And no matter how badly I want a future with her, I swore I’d never allow myself to be with someone who doesn’t trust me. But when Frannie’s secret comes out, I have to decide whether her betrayal is enough to make me walk away…or if I’ll protect the woman I love no matter the cost.<!–~b~–>
Wow I truly have missed this authors writing. Just like book 1 in this spin off series, Diana makes you feel right at home with old and new characters.
Loved how she threw a few bombshells in there making you wonder what the hell you just read.
Do yourself a favour and one click!
Ryder is the second novel in Diana Gardin’s Delta Squad series, but it’s also the first novel I’ve read by her, and while I didn’t think that my not reading the first book in the series detracted too much from this story, I’m guessing the main characters in it were introduced in the previous installment and I wish I’d read the first novel before reading this one. Nevertheless, I found this to be a very good read and am giving it 4 stars.
Told in alternating narration, something I love, we first meet the heroine, Francesca (Frannie) one year in the past. She’s at home and goes outside to pick up a package from the mailman, a onesie for the the 3-month-old fetus she’s carrying, eager to show it to her wealthy husband, Eli Ward. As Eli comes in the door, she approaches him happily, excited to show him her purchase, but he immediately accuses her of flirting with the mailman, and regardless of the fact that she’s carrying his child, he nearly beats her to death, and, as we soon learn, this isn’t the first time. If domestic violence is a trigger for you, consider yourself warned.
We next meet the title character and hero of this novel, Thorn Ryder, a former Navy SEAL, who is now working for Night Eagle Security, and he isn’t at all happy about the assignment he’s being given–“babysitting” their new client, Francesca, who has refused to go into the Witness Protection Program while the authorities are hunting for her evil, abusive, and controlling husband, Eli, who is searching for her but has gone into hiding, while making it clear that he wants his wife (his property) back. Even though Francesca moved across the country, changed her name, and tried to start over once she was well enough to travel, she is working as a nurse in local hospital to pay her bills, but sources are aware that Eli is now in the area, hence the need to hide and protect herself. She’s also got a secret that she absolutely refuses to disclose to anyone, and although Thorn is immediately attracted to his new client, he needs to know as much about her as possible in order to protect her, but Frannie stonewalls him for most of the novel.
Thorn too has secrets in his past, and he’s not willing to disclose them either, and because I’ve always been drawn to tough, broken, and brooding heroes, those who are hiding their pain behind that wall of toughness, Thorn was an easy hero to like. Since this is a romance novel, the mutual attraction between Thorn and Frannie was expected, however the heat generated by these two characters and the number of times, places and sexual positions Thorn and Frannie engage in was a bit over the top for this reader, not because of their graphic nature, but because of their frequency, which always indicates to this reader that these scenes end up becoming a way to stretch out the novel without adding much forward momentum plot-wise.
I liked Frannie’s independent streak, her toughness, her taking boxing lessons, and her learning how to use a gun to protect herself, admirable. However, I also found her serious, surly and stubborn behavior toward the man charged with protecting her, utterly ridiculous, dangerous, and just plain dumb. Knowing that her crazy husband is out there looking for her, what does Frannie do? She leaves Thorn asleep in the safe house and sneaks away. She does have a valid reason for doing so, but her getaway clearly endangers not just herself but two other characters, and no, I won’t spoil it by telling you who they are.
As soon as they met, I expected these two characters to bond, and bond they did, and just as I also expected, somewhere along the way, Eli was going to discover Frannie’s secret and her whereabouts, attempt to abduct her, punish her, and try to take control of her again, and those elements and the suspense involved led to an exciting denouement, although, once again, Frannie’s behavior, her choices, and her rejection of Thorn’s attempts to protect her didn’t win her any points from this reader.
As a devout reader of romantic suspense novels, I love knowing that there’s an HEA ending awaiting me, and I did like the way the epilogue gave us a look into this couple’s future together. All in all, I found this novel to be an enjoyable and suspenseful read, with well-drawn characters, and despite a few of the flaws I mentioned, I plan to follow this series in the future, and backtrack to the first installment of Delta Squad too.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
This was a great read for me. I really liked Ryder and Frannie. I would recommend!
This is my new favorite by Diana Gardin.
Thorn Ryder’s Job is to protect Frannie. Which at first he didn’t want to do.
Frannie is hiding from her husband, Eli Ward and Ryder has to protect her and he will do everything he can to keep her safe.
Loved this book so much. Protective Alpha males and suspense and brotherhood are my favorite things in a book and this one had it all.
The search for Eli Ward continues. He wants his property, his wife, returned to him and he is willing to do pretty much anything to get what he wants. But there is one almighty roadblock in his way – Ryder and the Delta Squad!
Ryder felt an almost instant tug towards Frannie, the former Mrs Francesca Ward. He knows she was not involved in her husband’s nefarious schemes but now she is also his protectee, meaning all the feelings he may or may not have for her are going to have to be buried.
Frannie enjoys her work at the hospital and her former husband is not going to take it from her! She gives Ryder a run for his money in the stubborn stakes. This former victim now has a spine of steel and a couple of guns as back up. She will no longer rely on anyone but herself to keep her, and her secrets, safe.
Great story and superb characters. There were more layers to Ryder than an onion and Frannie…wel she is something else. The length that woman will go to for those she loves is infinite. I’m really hoping the supportive Lobelia gets her own HEA!