“Fantastic characters, scorching sexual tension, and non-stop action make this one of my favorite reads this year!”–New York Times bestselling author Laura Kaye RITA nominee Scarlett Cole’s Under Fire pairs a hot Navy SEAL with a medical researcher who finds herself in too deep. Hot, hard-bodied Sixton Rapp is a former SEAL who’s raring to begin his brand-new civilian life. He and his Navy … his brand-new civilian life. He and his Navy “brothers” start a security firm that offers the kind of services only a team of military-trained professionals can provide. But nothing prepared Six for his new client: an innocent woman on a mission to improve thousands of lives. . . unless someone takes hers first.
Dr. Louisa North knows time is against her as she tries to create a “miracle” medical treatment for a disease with no known cure, until she creates a sample so powerful that the wrong people want to use it as a chemical weapon. At first, Six is unwilling to accept Louisa as his client. But soon he realizes that the danger is real and that there’s much more to this plain-Jane scientist…including a burning passion between them that neither of them can resist. And now that an enemy is on Louisa’s trail, Six will do whatever it takes to protect her–or die trying.
“Cole is a genius at weaving together heart-racing, suspenseful moments with scorching intimacy and real characters.” – USA Today
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“Not all questions need answering.”
I started with book two and then circled back to Under Fire. I have to say that the nerd in me really enjoyed quirky Lou who is socially awkward and quotes scientific formulas. She gets severe anxiety in social situations and prefers the isolation of her research lab. Yes, it’s a lonely existence but preferable to the stress of trying to overcome her nerves.
Once I became aware of the situation it was very exciting for me to anticipate the eventual meeting of Six and Lou. I was seeing rainbows and unicorns during my mental matchmaking. I love it when a big muscled sexy former SEAL is nice to a nerdy girl when he doesn’t have to be. He is HOT and can get any woman he wants, but he’s still nice instead of being arrogant.
Fast forward and the edge of your seat suspense kicks in and the excitement escalates, in and out of the bedroom. The Love Over Duty series checks all the boxes, bringing sweet and sexy along with action and suspense. I especially love the bond of the military trained brothers who’ve joined forces to create a security firm. I can only imagine the trouble they are going to get into in the future and I can’t wait to read about it. The line forms here…
I need a hero like Six.
I was really looking forward to this book. Who doesn’t like a hot ex SEAL turn security guy to protect them. Well I sure do and Six and the rest of Eagle Security can protect me anytime. I just know this series is goin to be amazing. I really luvd Six and Louisa there characters were just brilliant and getting a lil glimpse of the other as me wanting there books now I m dying for more of Mac after the way things went in the epilogue.
I have to say I alway learn things in books but good this was hot sexy and educational haha. Louisa leant me quite a bit in this book. I luvd her character from the start it’s actually very hard not to luv her. Louisa is a very shy woman and doesn’t do much outside of her work she is very dedicated to what she does. It actually makes life easier for her this way until she meet the very sexy Six.
Six/Sixton is an ex SEAL and now is opening up a new security firm Eagle Security with is best friends. They al have there own experiences in what they do and are one of the best. Six had met Louisa while on the job he was the security for a gala Louisa was doin a presentation for. He knew there was something different about he she was shy not very confident but there was something about her drawn her to him and she was the same. They were both very different people but that didn’t seem to matter they couldn’t get each other of there minds.
I really enjoyed this story. I was hooked from the start I was dying to know what was goin on and like I said I learnt something from this book as well. The story was full of drama from the start till the very end. Things differently didn’t go easy for Six and Louisa they had things thrown at them from al angles. But having a guy like Six protecting you you know your in good hands.
I would highly recommend this book. Everything about it was great. I only started reading this author this year. I ‘ve read al her books and I ‘ve luvd everyone of them. I can’t get enough of her books I hate putting it down once I ‘ve started. I m dying for the next book in this series I m really excited for more.
Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)
Author: Scarlett Cole
Publisher: St. Martins Paperbacks
Edition: Kindle
Amount of Pages: 319
Genre: Military, Suspense, Romance, Contemporary
Date Read: 11-03-2019 – 15-03-2019
Favorite Quote: “I don’t know where I am going to end up when this is all over, but I hope it’s with you.”
Review:
I was looking forward to reading this book. I’ve been really into military books lately.
After I read Fractured Heart by the same author I dived straight into this one.
I could really connect to Louisa, I have social anxiety as well. Maybe not as severe as she does but I could relate to her, relate to what she was thinking and feeling.
I liked Six, he is a good guy.
I do feel like the mystery part could be better. There was allot of build up but the end was wrapped up rather quickly.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book
Rating:
3 1/2 I liked it Stars
After finishing Cabe’s story (Deep Cover) I went back to read the other’s. It turns out I’ve already read Six and Louisa’s story but it was so good I read it again! I love the idiosyncrasies of the characters that make them more “real” and believable. It’s a great series and I am hoping more books are coming.
This was a great read. After reading both the 2nd and 3rd book in this series I had to read the one that started it all. I enjoyed Louisa and Sixton’s story. Louisa North is a biological research genius and is presently working on how to stop Huntington’s Disease. The disease that killed her father. Louisa and Six meet at a fundraising party, that Six happens to be doing security at, with his new company Eagle Securities. I loved the research into Huntington’s Disease that was very descriptive here and the condition that Louisa suffers from was also very well done. It was very well-written and that part I liked very much. As for Sixton, there were a couple of moments that I don’t think he knew which way he was going. It was obvious he had serious feelings for Louisa, but when she became a client he had to reign in those feelings and treat her as a client? Like I said a bit confusing for a moment. However, there was action and Six and Louisa could no longer deny their feelings for each other. 4 stars
Loved this fast-paced, action-packed book. Definitely going to buy the second in the series!
Scarlett Cole does it all so well. The characters, the plot, the dialogue. I discovered her with her Second Circle series. This series is an entirely different genre with the military political bent, but just as well done. Thank you Scarlett! You rock.
Under Fire is the perfect blend of romance and suspense. Dr. Louisa North is a research scientist who may or may not someday develop Huntington’s Disease, as her father did. She’s sweet, smart and kind and loving, and very shy and anxious in crowds and around people she doesn’t know. Sixton Rapp is a retired Navy SEAL who formed a private security company with his Navy brothers. When he meets Lou at a fundraising event, he’s instantly intrigued by the obviously anxious, but interesting woman.
When they form an unlikely friendship over the next weeks, where she helps him when he needs to talk about his flinching responses to unexpected noises, and he helps calm her anxiety with crowds, it’s obvious that they are forming a strong bond, not so much physically, although the sexual tension is thick, but emotionally and mentally. When she hires Six’s company to protect her when things start going wrong in her lab, that’s when their relationship takes a turn, a good turn, but one formed under fire as the action and suspense heats up.
Under Fire is an excellent start to a new series. Six and Lou’s chemistry is off the charts hot, but more importantly, they have a compatibility that isn’t often seen in romances today. It’s born under pressure, yes, but it’s strong as steel, and I can only hope we get more of them as the series goes on. Kudos to Scarlett for a strong, sexy, compatible couple made of two amazing people, and to the start of a great new series!
Scarlett Cole can write! She took my breath away with her Second Circle Tattoos series then with Preload, a spin-off series from Second Circle Tattoos, I became even more committed to her writing SO when I saw a retired group of men to star in her third series I wondered if she could pull it off. She definitely did!
As an introduction to the Love Over Duty series we meet Mac, Cabe and Sixton – the founders of Eagle Securities. They have saved money while in the military with the idea of opening a business when they retired from the Navy. And, with all three finally on the ground in San Diego and ready to work together they are hiring men to be on the team, spending time together and busy, busy, busy. One night Sixton “Six” Rapp is working a fundraiser as security where he meets brilliant nerdy Louisa “Lou” North. He supports her as she faces speaking to the group willing to donate money toward her research (and other projects) and then they meet again when out on a trail and she helps him with a bit of PTSD. So, both have some issues with hers being anthropophobia and his PTSD. I always enjoy learning something new and this term was new to me (severe timidity and trouble dealing with people). I also learned about “box breathing” and though I have done breathing exercises THIS was new to me.
Anyway, the two hit it off but really get together when Louisa approaches Six with her fears that the lab she is doing experiments has been compromised. The stakes are increased when papers and more go missing from the lab and then Louisa is targeted for kidnap. With Six and his team paid to keep Lou safe and on the job to find out what is going on the case is solved and resolved (mostly) by the end of the book AND there is a HEA for Six and Lou to look forward to as well as the reader getting to contemplate what will happen next in the series.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.
Love and duty make for uneasy bedfellows
I went into Under Fire by Scarlett Cole with no expectations whatsoever – despite loving all of Scarlett’s previous novels (from the Second Circle Tattoos and Preload series) – as romantic suspense has been a genre that I just haven’t connected with in the past. Well, I’ve now learnt that when it comes to a fantastic story, it’s all about a talented author, because often the genre doesn’t matter as long as the writing is great!! And I have to say, I am now looking forward to reading more in this genre as I know that if it’s written by an author I love, it’ll be a story worth taking time for.
The first book in the Love over Duty series, Under Fire introduces us to Eagle Securities – a firm set up by three former Navy SEALs: Mac, Cabe And Six. This is Six’s story but we are getting books for the other two men as well and I cannot wait! Six is an interesting character – he’s in denial about suffering from PTSD, he’s new to the working of Eagle Securities as he was the last to be discharged but he’s definitely ALL Alpha male and you can’t go wrong there. His love interest is Louisa – a super intelligent researcher who suffers from a severe case of shyness that almost cripples her when Six and Louisa first meet at a charity dinner supporting Louisa’s work. What I love about these two is that Six and Louisa bring comfort and support and a sense of safe to one another, at a time when it’s desperately needed.
Now as romantic suspense, there is a big chunk of book dedicated to the action and drama surrounding the main conflict. And I have to say it was written brilliantly. Often I’m skipping the non-romance or character building bits in these sorts of books, but I thoroughly enjoyed the action scenes. They are written with realism and using all the correct terminology, and I felt so connected to both Louisa and Six that I desperately wanted to know that they’d survive all the drama that was thrown their way!
This is an outstanding book by Scarlett Cole – not that I would expect anything less – and I’m very much looking forward to reading Mac’s book when it releases in a few days time.