HOT Secrets (Hostile Operations Team #13)
by Lynn Raye Harris
Blurb:
She
nearly ruined his life. Now she needs him to save hers.
It
was supposed to be a simple job for hacker Bliss Bennett: access confidential
files and turn them over to the CIA. But something went wrong—and now Bliss has
a target on her back. With no idea who to trust, she heads straight toward the
one man she hopes won’t turn her away.
Sky
“Hacker” Kelley is a badass Special Operator with lethal moves and mad computer
skills. He hasn’t seen his former lover—former wife—in four years, not since
she nearly cost him his military career. Her arrival on his doorstep in the
middle of the night reveals a gut-deep truth—he might want nothing to do with
her, but he still wants her. And as much as he’d love to slam the door in her
face, Sky isn’t wired to turn away anyone in distress.
Protecting
Bliss won’t be easy. The files she stole are at the heart of a dangerous
conspiracy, and someone is willing to do whatever it takes—including kill—to
get them back. It’ll take all Sky’s considerable black-ops skills to keep Bliss
safe—and all his willpower to resist falling into her bed, and her life, ever
again…
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 4.5 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
HOT returns with a glimpse into one man’s past
and a return of the woman he thought he never wanted to see again, but
obviously never actually never stopped wanting.
This series has been running a long time, but continues to be
interesting and keeps me coming back for more no matter which of the men plays
the leading role. I always find that the
men and women of these books are both sensual and sometimes clueless until it
hits them right between the eyes at the most inopportune of moments. I love watching these men fall in love, or in
Hacker’s case rediscovering a lost one, but even more I love watching them
scramble to prove that they are man enough for the woman that has stolen their
heart. Harris has a unique ability to
bring the most amazing of plotlines, filled with spies, blacktops, and flying
bullets, down to a level that even the most mundane of people can find a basic
connection with. Love conquers all is
something that everyone believes in and hopes remains true, and Lynn’s stories
remind us that there are some men out there in the world that live that way
too. I am dying to see what comes next,
but in the meantime there might a binge read in my future sometime soon during
a long-awaited and much-needed vacation.
Sky
Kelley has been working for HOT for the past four years and trying to forget
the woman who shattered his heart and belief in love with her betrayal, though
he’ll deny that. When she explodes back into his life, begging for his
assistance, he tried to push her away, but the obviously real fear for her life
causes him to relent and some he is swept up in a deadly mission to keep her
safe. Bliss has been trying to distance
herself from her childhood since she escaped it, but when she met Hacker she
allowed her immediate and intense attraction to him to cloud her judgment to
her job, until there was no avoiding the fallout. When she lost of man she loved, she threw
herself into her work, but her latest job has her running for her life and she
has no one to trust or to turn but Sky, even though she knows he wants nothing
to do with her. Soon they are both
pulled into the danger surrounding her and the world around them is becoming too
dangerous to fight against one another, or against the pull they feel to one
another. But only by admitting to the
true depth of their feelings and trusting fully in one another can they
overcome the dangerous game they are fighting, something neither one of them
ever thought they would be able or willing to do again.
I
was very surprised with Sky’s behavior at the beginning of this story, despite
the pain I knew he was in, but thankfully he managed to pull his head out of
his ass and show us the truly honorable man he is. Sky has been around the block with several
levels of betrayal and the one thing he cannot stand is lies, but once he
decides to accept his own part in their past, his forgiveness makes him an even
better man. I loved every minute of
getting to know Sky and seeing him working through his issues and finding his
way back to the love of his life. While
he is definitely just as alpha and badass as all the other men of the HOT
squads, his is a quieter and subtler kind of badass—at least until someone
threatens the life of his woman. Bliss was a woman on a mission all her life,
one to shake off the dirt of her past and find a way to make herself into a
better person, though I think she might not have gone about it in the best of
ways, I cannot judge another person’s path too harshly. She has obviously never stopped loving Sky
and knows that when she is in danger her only hope for staying alive is to get
to him, even though she knows she will be meeting with a serious level of
resistance. She is badass in her own way, evidenced by the turn her life takes
near the end of this story, and she is the perfect match for Sky once they stop
fighting that perfection. Seeing the
goodness in Bliss, sometimes buried under what looks to be a shallow
superficiality, reminds us that sometimes what a person seeks in life might be
as important as why they seek it.
The
HOT Secrets in this story unfold in a
story of love and redemption, fear and faith, and finally the understanding
that the only way two people can build a life together is with full and
complete trust. I enjoyed every second of reading this story and getting to see
both old and new characters in actions, but my favorite moments were the quiet
times between Hacker and Bliss as they finally took the time to talk and get to
know the deeper thoughts of one another.
Maybe had they taken that step in the past their relationship would have
survived the problems they encountered without crumbling, but we’ll never know
now. Sky more than earned his name in
this novel, hacking his way into my heart, as well as finding a way to show
Bliss that she could take a chance on them a second time. Sky proved to be a sexy and dangerous man,
even if he was an asshole for the first part of the book, but once he comes to
terms with the mistakes they both made in the past he becomes the man –and the
mate to Bliss—he was always meant to be. Bliss on the other hand was a woman
that I could see others disregarding as a superficial and money-hungry type
that care little about the feelings of others as she steps on them to get what
she wants. Once we get to know her, we
can see that she is cut from the same cloth as all of the HOT operators, maybe
without some of the more deadly skills, and one who is always willing to do
what needs to be done. When she started
working with Sky and his team to figure out who is after her, Bliss becomes my favorite
lady in recent novels, and I was thrilled to get to see them in action
together. Even when they were sniping at
once another we could see that the passion remained between them, but once they
joined forces and stopped fighting their feelings, the heat about blew me away. I loved watching them find their way back
together, just in time to keep them both alive and bring the bad guys to
justice. Whatever comes next will be
amazing I know, but I am hoping it is just as fast paced and sexy as Sky and
Bliss’s journey back to love and happily-ever-after.
*ebook provided by author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review.
No compensation was provided.
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