KILL WITHOUT SHAME (ARES Security #2) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 27, 2016

Five brave military heroes have survived the hell of a Taliban prison to return home—and take on civilian missions no one else can. They’re the men of ARES Security. Highly skilled, intimidating, invincible, and one by one, tested again and again…

Lucas St. Clair’s prestigious family had a political future neatly planned out for him—one that didn’t include his high school sweetheart, Mia Ramon. Under their pressure, Lucas gave her up. But since surviving captivity, he’s a changed man—and a crucial member of ARES Security. When he discovers a dead man clutching a picture of Mia that bears a threatening message, his fiercest protective instincts kick in, and he knows he must go to her.

Mia has never forgiven Lucas for breaking her heart, and she’s convinced her feelings for him are in the past. But it’s soon clear that isn’t true for either of them. Now, determined to solve the crime and keep Mia safe, with his ARES buddies backing him up, Lucas will have to reconstruct the murder victim’s last days—and follow a lethal trail that leads right back to the fate of the woman he still loves…

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REVIEW: KILL WITHOUT SHAME is the second installment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult ARES Security romantic suspense series focusing on the five men who own and work for ARES Security. This is ARES co-founder and former military hero Lucas St. Clair, and independent business woman Mia Ramon’s story line. KILL WITHOUT SHAME can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Lucas and Mia) KILL WITHOUT SHAME follows the second chance romance between Lucas St. Clair, and Mia Ramon. Fifteen years earlier Lucas, a young man with an aspiring political career, walked away from the woman (or young girl ) he loved fearing she would end up like all of the other ‘plastic’ housewives of the rich and famous. Entering the military to escape his family Lucas would eventually find himself in a Taliban prison where he will meet the men who would become his friends, brothers and partners in the ARES Security firm. Fast forward to present day wherein Lucas will come face to face with his past when a photograph of the woman he still loves, found in the possession of a dead man both he and Mia knew years before, has her marked for termination. What ensues is the rekindling relationship between Lucas and Mia, and the search for the person (s) responsible for threatening our heroine’s life.

Lucas St. Clair hails from a well-to-do family; a family that had hoped Lucas would enter the political race straight to the White House but a family of robots controlled by power and money. To protect Mia from a potential life as a politician’s wife, Lucas pushed Mia out of his life and in the ensuing fifteen years kept watch from the side lines whenever he could. Mia Ramon took over her father’s landscaping business but has had a difficult time since the death of beloved mother and her father’s escape into the bottle and subsequent death.

The relationship between Mia and Lucas is one of second chances; a rekindling romance between two people whose backgrounds were as different as night and day. Mia’s father worked for the St. Clair’s, and Mia was never an acceptable mate for their well-to-do son. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense; Mia is quick to accept Lucas St. Clair back into her life although several attempts on her life, and the threat of death place Lucas in the perfect position to be by Mia at all times.

We are re-introduced to Lucas’s ‘brothers’ at ARES Security-a team of former US soldiers including Max Grayson (forensics specialist), Hauk Laurenson (sniper), Teagan Moore (computer specialist). A secondary storyline continues to develop with regards to the team’s time in Afghanistan-mysterious messages and threatening emails aimed at Hauk Laurenson. Rafe Vargas, a covert ops specialist (Kill without Mercy #1) is noticeably absent.

The world building focuses on the hunt for a killer; someone who is willing to ‘kill without shame’; someone who is hiding a dark and dangerous secreted past. Although KILL WITHOUT SHAME is a story of mystery-a whodunit with a couple of twists and turns- the killer was easily deduced upon introduction.

KILL WITHOUT SHAME is a story of mystery, romance and suspense; a tale about two people whose lives are threatened by sins of the past. The premise is intriguing; the characters are charismatic and animated; the romance is fated and dramatic. Alexandra Ivy’s ARES Security is an imaginative and fascinating series.

Reading Order and previous reviews
0.5–Sweet Rapture
1-Kill Without Mercy
2-Kill Without Shame

Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy