LOVE ANOTHER DAY (Masters and Mercenaries #14) by Lexi Blake-Review and Excerpt Tour
LOVE ANOTHER DAY
Masters and Mercenaries #14
by Lexi Blake
Release Date: August 22, 2017
Genre: adult, contemporary,erotic, romantic suspense
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 22, 2017
A man born to protect
After a major loss, Brody Carter found a home with the London office of McKay-Taggart. A former soldier, he believes his job is to take the bullets and follow orders. He’s happy to take on the job of protecting Dr. Stephanie Gibson while the team uses her clinic in Sierra Leone to bring down an international criminal. What he never expected was that the young doctor would prove to be the woman of his dreams. She’s beautiful, smart, and reckless. Over and over he watches her risk her life to save others. One night of pure passion leads him to realize that he can’t risk his heart again. When the mission ends, Brody walks away, unwilling to lose another person he loves.
A woman driven to heal
Stephanie’s tragic past taught her to live for today. Everything she’s done in the last fifteen years has been to make up for her mistakes. Offering medical care in war-torn regions gives her the purpose she needs to carry on. When she meets her gorgeous Aussie protector, she knows she’s in too deep, but nothing can stop her from falling head over heels in love. But after one amazing night together, Brody walks away and never looks back. Stephanie is left behind…but not alone.
A secret that will change both their lives
A year later, Stephanie runs afoul of an evil mercenary who vows to kill her for failing to save his son. She runs to the only people she trusts, Liam and Avery O’Donnell. She hasn’t come alone and her secret will bring her former lover across the world to protect her. From Liberia to Dallas to Australia’s outback, Brody will do whatever it takes to protect Stephanie from the man who wants to kill her, but it might be her own personal demons that could destroy them both.
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REVIEW: LOVE ANOTHER DAY is the fourteenth installment in Lexi Blake’s contemporary, adult MASTERS AND MERCENARIES erotic, romance series focusing on the men and women who work for the McKay-Taggart and Knight Security Agency. This is former SASR (Special Air Service Regiment –Australia) soldier and security specialist Brody Carter, and Dr. Stephanie Gibson’s story line. LOVE ANOTHER DAY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary although there are references to ongoing scenarios from previous investigations and the continuing fall out from a mission that saw the rescue of too many men whose minds and memories were wiped clean of their pasts.
NOTE: LOVE ANOTHER DAY contains sexually, graphic scenes of Domination and submission.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Stephanie and Brody) LOVE ANOTHER DAY follows the building but acrimonious relationship between former SASR soldier and security specialist Brody Carter, and Dr. Stephanie Gibson. Approximately one year earlier Brody was assigned security detail to Stephanie Gibson and her crew who worked and operated out of a medical clinic near Freetown Sierra Leone, South Africa. Stephanie’s attraction to Brody is immediate and palpable but our hero is reluctant to start anything knowing there time together is limited and coming to an end. One night together finds Brody walking away from the woman he will never forget. Fast forward to present day and Brody will come charging back into Stephanie’s life when our heroine is targeted for something she knows nothing about. What ensues is the rekindling relationship between Stephanie and Brody, no promises for the future, and Stephanie’s dogged determination to make reparations for sins of the past-reparations that place Stephanie in the direct line of fire on more than one occasion.
Dr. Stephanie Gibson suffers with survivor’s guilt; PTSD that pushes our heroine to risk her life without consideration of others or the people she leaves behind. A past shrouded in tragedy, Stephanie’s ongoing guilt and need to risk her life, placing herself in danger gets old, very fast. Our heroine tries to sacrifice herself (on multiple occasions) for the sake of others but a sacrifice that would destroy the man that she has grown to love. Brody Carter doesn’t do relationships; his line of work as a security specialist places him in dangerous situations and a relationship would only add further complications to a lifestyle rarely conducive to family and love but Stephanie Gibson keeps secret a very important part of her life-one that places Brody front and center, for now and into the future.
There is a very large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including security expert and former SASR solider Alfi Dauterre, Ian and Theo Taggart, and many of the previous story line couples, as well as Tucker and all of the ‘lost boys’ whose memories have been wiped by Dr. Hope McDonald. The requisite evil has many faces including several members of the Ukrainian mob.
LOVE ANOTHER DAY struggles with the ongoing self-sacrificing actions of our story line heroine. Stephanie’s need to ‘martyr’ herself for sins of the past was anything but heartbreaking as I endeavored to accept her actions as anything but a cry for attention. For me, the heroine’s continuous need to place herself in danger, risking not only her life but the life of those who had to constantly step in to search and rescue, made for too many anxious moments-moments I felt were unnecessary and over the top. In short, I had a difficult time sympathizing with Stephanie Gibson; her attitude and relentless efforts to get herself killed was disconcerting and disappointing. The premise was engaging but at times distressing; the characters were colorful and dynamic but the heroine’s actions affected my overall enjoyment.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
Tough chick was winning. Steph let her take over. It was surely better than the desperate girl who lived inside her. She kept asking for love and affection and getting swatted away. This was the next best thing, possibly the only thing she would ever get. “Then don’t. Let me go and I won’t bother you again.”
“No, you’ll go find Ezra Fain and bother him,” Brody said on a growl.
“Somehow, I don’t think he’ll find me a bother.” She’d barely spoken two words to the man, but she wasn’t going to admit it. It was better to let Brody think she wasn’t a love-starved girl.
“He won’t fucking find you anything at all. If you’re determined to not sleep alone tonight, you can damn well do it with me.” His mouth came down on hers and every inch of her skin came alive. His kiss was overwhelming, hungry. There was no slow meshing of mouths. He took her, his tongue surging inside and dominating her own. He let go of her hands and started to explore her body. His hands were on her hips when he came up for air. “I’m leaving in the morning. I’m going back to London and I can’t come back.”
She’d known that would probably be his answer. She’d known he wouldn’t want to stay and she couldn’t leave.
“One night. That’s all I want.” It was all she could have. It had been foolish to think it could be any different.
His mouth came down on hers again and she let herself get swept away. One night and her life would go back to normal. One night and then she would be alone again. His hands started to roam over her and she tried to forget all the reasons why this was a bad idea.
He stepped back, his entire body set in hard lines. He strode over to the bed and sat down. “Take off the gown. It’s pretty, but I want to see you.”
She hesitated, all her insecurities coming to the forefront. Somehow, she’d thought he would simply take her. “Let me get the lights.”
He was back in her space again, his hand wrapping around her wrist. “I didn’t say turn off the lights. I said take off the gown. How am I going to see you if you turn off the lights?”
“Brody,” she began.
He was having none of it. “You got on your knees in front of me and you said you knew what you were offering me. The first thing you were offering me was obedience. The second was your body. You’re giving me neither right now.”
His voice had gone midnight dark and something about the tone made her soften. He was right. She did know what she’d offered him and now she was trying to have it all her way.
There was nothing wrong with her body. It was feminine and she was healthy. What was she afraid of? “All right.”
He let go of her wrist and sat back down, looking like a damn king waiting on his concubine’s performance. For all his “I’m nothing but a grunt” talk, the man could be incredibly arrogant, and damn if she didn’t find it sexy as hell.
Something about that voice let her know that everything was going to be fine. He was past the point of rejection. He was in and that meant he would play her Dom for the night. He would take care of her. She was as safe with him in the bedroom as she’d been in the field.
At least she was safe for the night. In the morning she would be in a world of hurt, but she wasn’t thinking past tonight.
ABOUT LEXI BLAKE:
NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog int eh world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance and urban fantasy that she found the stories of her heart. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem.
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