RAW POWER (11th Hour #1) by Jackie Ashenden-a review

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About the book: Release Date February 27, 2018

They fought for their country. Now they fight for you.

To find the people lost in the shadows, you need the men who live in them. The former soldiers of 11th Hour are unaffiliated, unacknowledged, and definitely illegal. They protect the innocent, destroy the guilty–and capture hearts along the way . . .

Rugged, skilled, and hard-bodied, Jack King’s whole life was the Marines until an injury left him discharged from active duty. But he finds a new purpose when he’s recruited by a special unit that employs ex-military to do very special jobs. Yet he’s not impressed when his first assignment is babysitting the pretty, perfect daughter of a politician–especially when she’s far from the angel she appears to be . . .

Callie Hawthorne hates politics, and she hates playing the part of a senator’s goody two shoes daughter even more. It only gets worse when her father decides she needs a security detail 24/7–and the bodyguard happens to be the most insanely hot guy Callie’s ever seen. Still, she’s not going to be ordered around just because of some half-assed threat to her father. . . . But when it turns out her dad’s no angel either, Jack has to kidnap Callie in order to protect her. And as danger closes in, he’ll need all his considerable talents to keep them both alive. The greater challenge will be to keep his hands off her .

••••••

REVIEW: RAW POWER is the first instalment in Jackie Ashenden’s contemporary, adult 11th HOUR romantic suspense series focusing on the men and women who work for 11th Hour Security. This is former US Marine Jack King, and socialite Callie Hawthorne’s story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Callie and Jack) RAW POWER follows the building romance between former US Marine Jack King, and socialite/Senator’s daughter Callie Hawthorne. Hired to protect our story line heroine Jack King doesn’t want to babysit a spoiled socialite especially one who doesn’t seem to give a damn about her personal security. But an attempt against her, along with a number of hidden cameras found in her small apartment, find our heroine beginning to understand that Jack King is the least of her worries. What ensues is the building relationship between Jack and Callie, and the potential fall out when Callie’s life becomes fodder for the man in charge.

Callie Hawthorne has lived a life of sheltered abuse by a man whose public persona is matched by the evil that has become her life. Trying to get away places everyone, including Jack King, in danger, a danger she isn’t willing to risk for the man with whom she has fallen in love. Jack King is new to the personal security business, so new his first assignment goes all to h*ll when he isn’t willing to play by the rules in an effort to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love. No one, not even his new boss, is able to force Jack to give up on the woman he has been tasked to protect. Scarred both inside and out, our hero refuses to lose another soul to the evil that has followed him from most of his life.

The relationship between Callie and Jack begins acrimoniously. Callie comes across as a spoiled socialite, a role she has been groomed to perform from a very young age but a role she hides behind in the face of the truth at home. Jack’s immediate attraction to Callie is tempered by her willingness to place herself in a danger, a danger she believes comes from only one direction. The $ex scenes are intimate and erotic without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. –Both Jack and Callie like it rough in the bedroom.

We are quickly introduced to the team at 11th Hour Security: Team leader Isiah Graham, Faith Beasley, Sabrina Leighton, former Navy SEAL Kellan Blake, and the money behind 11th Hour – the mysterious Mr. Night.

RAW POWER is an intense story line; a sexy, intriguing and spirited story of romantic suspense. The premise is edgy; the characters are sassy and energetic; the romance is provocative and dramatic.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy