Black Heart (Black's Bandits #5)
By Lynn Raye Harris
Blurb:
She plans to
destroy him.
Former CIA agent
Ian Black has done terrible deeds. Sacrificed his honor and reputation for God
and country. He’s a fighter and a survivor. His mission is to rid the world of
scumbags who prey on innocent people.
No price is too
high, and no one crosses him. Not for long, anyway.
But then Natasha
Oliver walks in, threatening to expose the one thing Ian thought dead and
buried: his heart.
Natasha’s
innocence was ripped away years ago when she was thrown into prison for crimes
her parents committed. Now, as the assassin Calypso, she intends to hunt down
those responsible for what happened to her.
Including Ian
Black. Getting involved with him is madness, but she made a vow - and she will
do whatever it takes to keep it.
Until she
discovers that the line between hate and love often stands on a razor’s edge...
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 4.75 stars
Heat Rating:
Review:
We
have waited so long for this story that honestly I expected it to be anticlimactic
as so often happens when a story is so long anticipated, but I can report
honestly that was the furthest thing from the truth. Ian and Natasha’s story
has been building since the beginning when she burst into his life and her true
identity was uncovered, but I don’t think anyone realized just what would be
coming for these two. I have never read a story by Lynn Raye Harris that didn’t
surprise me in at least one way, but I can surely say I never expected what
was coming, nor the full truth of Calypso’s motivations for her deeds
all these years. This story is truly
filled with betrayals, sadness, fears, and ultimately the most terrifying trust
that is needed to keep two people in love alive and together. I loved every
moment of this story even when these two remained on opposite sides, but once
they came together in a common goal and finally admitted their connection the
love that built between Ian and Tasha was so deep and complex that it took my
breath. I am dying to read the next
story in the series and see Tyler find his own chance at an HEA and a woman that
will rock his world and lower his shields with an ultimate love.
Ian
Black hardened his heart long ago to any chance at a woman of his own, but he
can’t deny that the inescapable draw between him and Natasha Oliver is likely
to one day get him killed. When she
arrives in the middle of one of the team’s biggest undercover operations he
doesn’t know if she’s been sent to kill him, as a member of the dark underbelly
he’s investigating, or arrived of her own free will to tempt him, but either
way he’s not letting her escape him.
Calypso has made a name for herself as one of the deadliest assassins in
the world, bought and paid for by the criminal syndicate that pulls her
strings, but the pull she feels toward Ian Black keeps her coming back into
contact with him, despite her superiors’ wishes. After a night of passion leads to some very
permanent consequences for her, Natasha is finally ordered to do the one thing
she never imagined she’d have to do and she has to make a choice between the
two loves of her life and the chance at her future. But Ian discovers her subterfuge and takes
the choice out of her hands and now the two of them have to decide if they can
trust one another enough to have a chance at a future together, because if not
one or both of them might not survive the battle to come.
I
can honestly say I have never met two more ruthless and deadly characters and
it was riveting to watch these two going against one another again and again,
until they finally found the ability to trust in one another and work together
instead of against one another. Ian lives in the shadows and the world of grey,
having left black and white behind long ago, but the passion that Natasha
evokes any time he even thinks about her is not something he can easily
dismiss. I loved watching him struggle
to understand his feeling for her and work through the feelings she aroused in
him, not to mention the lines he crossed in order to try to make her
happy. His strength and commanding personality
has always intrigued me, but seeing the thoughtful and caring ways he treated
her, even when she was lying to him, showed us that he could never really bring
himself to hurt her in any way. Doing
everything in his power to make her happy and give her the future that was
ripped from her as a young girl seems to be his only goal once he finally gets
her in his grasp and I loved watching the team also come to love her and those
that come with her. Natasha has been forced to serve her masters for a long
time, indoctrinated as a young girl, but even still she has always found small
ways to rebel without giving them a reason to hurt those she loves the
most. When push comes to shove, Natasha
will do whatever it takes to protect those under her care, even if it means
tearing out her own heart or risking her own death because she will never give
up on those she loves. She has lived a
very difficult life to be sure and it amazed me just how soft and loving she
could be when she allowed herself to lower her shields with those she deemed
trustworthy. I mean really who could
have predicted the hobbies this international assassin had acquired not to
mention her love for her friends and family and even for the simple celebrating
of Christmas. Once she began to open her
heart and mind to the possibility of a future, any future much less one with
Ian and those she loved free from her bosses, we finally get to see the woman
she has had to hide deep in her soul all these years in order to survive and
she’s sassy, sweet, caring and loving, even if she maintains her edge when she
needs it. I really relished finally getting to know Natasha, her full story,
and seeing her drop her armor so that she could be the woman she always should
have had the chance to grow up to be with the man of her dreams.
Black Heart
is a misnomer for sure as neither Ian nor Natasha truly has a black heart, but
it certainly took each of them to show the other that fact and allow Natasha to earn the Black heart she wanted. I cried through at least half this book and
laughed through a good bit of the rest when I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my
seat in dramatic fear of what was coming. Harris as always has a way of
bringing you right into the story and making you feel like you are living it
along with the characters, leaving you invested in their lives and the outcome
of their story as you root for the lovers to get their happy ending. Ian has tried for so long to resist the draw
of the deadly assassin that could kill him entirely too easily, but once he
finally has her in his clutches nothing but earning her full trust and love
will satisfy him—and he sets out with a single-minded mission to do just
that. Natasha knows her time is coming
to an end and she will have to make the ultimate choice, but she tries to grab
for the tiniest bit of happiness and thankfully it leads to the ultimate gift
for both her and Ian and that chance for a life together neither of them ever
imagined was possible. I loved watching
these two come to terms with the passion that has roared their them since their
eyes met (whatever color those eyes were at that time 😉 ) and understanding
that the chance they have at love only comes once in a lifetime and is not to
be squandered. The story races quickly
as always and you find yourself unable to put it down so I suggest having
plenty of drinks, snacks, and tissues handy and finding a comfortable spot to
plant yourself as you will get lost in Black
Heart and won’t escape until the very end.
We also get the special treat of TWO epilogues to enjoy as we get
glimpses into the continuation of Ian and Natasha’s love story, and they are
worth every second to read, but I am dying to get to see them in future
novels. This series just continues to
grip my heart and pull me deeper under its spell and I can’t imagine it ever
letting me loose. The magic never fails
as Lynn Raye Harris and her Black’s Bandits tear through the world defeating evil
and keeping the helpless safe.
*eARC provided by Author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review.
No compensation was provided.
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