Reviews, Promo Blitz & Giveaway: Midnight Alias (Killer Instincts #2): Elle Kennedy
Midnight Alias (Killer Instincts #2)
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She’s smart, seductive, and in way over her head.
He’s her only way out.
An undercover DEA agent has gone off the radar. Suspecting an internal mole, the government needs Luke Dubois and his elite team of operatives to recover their man, and the New Orleans native thinks he’s found his way inside the dark underbelly of Manhattan: Olivia Taylor, the girlfriend of a mob boss and the sexiest woman he’s ever laid eyes on. His new mission objective? Get past Olivia’s defenses and convince her to take a chance—on him.
All Olivia wanted was to finish law school and live a normal life, but that dream was shattered when one dangerous night put her deeply in a mobster’s debt. Now Luke and his team will help her escape—in exchange for intel on the missing agent. But Olivia doesn’t anticipate her intense attraction to the reckless Louisiana charmer or that she’ll be forced to risk everything—including her heart.
Olivia Taylor is stuck in a stripping job with a boss who wants all of her and does not care what he has to do to get it. And even she has no idea what a big mess she is really involved in.
Luke Dubois is a mercenary. He is sent in to find someone, but finds himself attracted to the stripper instead. This Ragin' Cajun is hot, charming, and sexy. But he's a playboy, reckless, cocky, bossy, fierce, and protective. But he's also got a down to earth, what-you-see-is-what-you-get personality.
Olivia is smart, funny, sweet, practical, and strong. She has dealt with a lot in her life and has to be responsible. Her hope for her future is to find a cautious, stable, and even boring man...all of which Luke is not. She finds herself immersed in his investigation while Luke promises to get her out of trouble.
Despite it being a bad idea, Luke and Olivia find it hard to resist their attraction. Nothing could ever come of it with their lives and needs being so different. It only adds to their precarious situation. And they have a lot to contend with to keep her safe and complete the mission and deal with the bad guys. It is told in multiple points of view and set in the world of strip clubs, drug trade, and Mafia entrenched New York. There are lots of underhanded deals, mysteries, danger and suspense.
I was not so sure about the story line before starting this one, but I became attached to both Luke and Olivia. I liked their chemistry and soon became entrenched in the story. It brings back old friends like Kane, Abby, Ethan, Holden, Isabel and Trevor. And we are introduced to new characters Sully, Liam, and Ollie. I find this series addictive and love all of these characters. The stories have humor, romance, passion, action, and suspense. We have seen Trevor and Isabel now through two missions and I can't wait for their book Midnight Games. I am already invested in them.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Welcome to Luke and Olivia's world!!
I'll preface this by saying, I encountered much conflict with our protagonists. I liked them as individuals, but as a couple, I wasn't so sure. They left me sitting in the middle of the fence plenty of times. When it came to these two, I struggled a bit with their fast growing obsession/love for one another. Not sure if that was because I often struggle with insta anything or if it’s because Olivia and I didn’t always see eye to eye. However, I totally got their attraction to each other. Luke was our resident sexy SEAL who was beyond ready to save and worship our damsel in distress. Olivia was our charismatic stripper with a strong, determined personality who wasn't looking for a knight in shining armor. I loved that Olivia was independent and ready to do whatever it took to take care of her family, even playing up to her Mafia boss. This endeared her character to me. I have to admit, I had high hopes for Luke’s love interest to be another operative, but Kennedy took a different route and gave us a stripper with her own set of “balls!” And while Olivia may have annoyed me at times with some of her moronic decisions, I did come to like and appreciate her as Luke’s girl.
Unfortunately though, as much as I enjoyed Luke as the leading man, the side characters are what held me captive, keeping me turning the pages. Trevor, Derek, and Izzy stole the show. I hate to say this, but I found Luke and Olivia’s chemistry to feel more like friends than lovers at times, but Trevor and Izzy’s chemistry, on the other hand, was anything but that. They threw off some serious spark every time they were in the same room together. D's secrets had me beyond intrigued. I desperately want to unravel him layer by layer. Not to mention, give him a huge ole hug! I have been drawn to these characters since the first book, and I am anxious to dive into their perspectives. Trevor and Izzy are up next, CANNOT wait!!
Alongside enjoying my favorite characters, I really appreciated the development and depth put into the good vs. evil. Kennedy has a way with taking taboo subjects and navigating through the vivid descriptions, in order to build upon the growing suspense and tension between our heroes’ vs antiheroes. I can say with confidence, the bad dudes were still gritty enough to hold their own when it came to being well bad dudes. The good dudes were as always sexy and quite badass in their penance to save the world one escapade at a time. Elle balanced out all that crazy by introducing us to some new players in the game as well as keeping us entertained with some familiar faces. She also engaged our sense by amping up the intrigue on certain characters, new and old.
Midnight Alias was a good read, but if I’m being honest, I didn’t like it as well as I did Midnight Rescue. As with the first book in the series, the author provided us with a great blend of romance, suspense, and action. Even with all that, Luke and Olivia took me a bit to actually settle into their story. I was sure they would end up being a DNF; but I pushed through, and thankfully ended up enjoying the overall character development, interaction, and plot line. I will say, Midnight Alias was a tamer subject matter than Midnight Rescue, with a more comfortable story line, yet no less thrilling in action department.
As a huge fan of Elle Kennedy's, I would definitely recommend these addictive characters, especially for fans of the series.
Thank you, Penguin Group & Signet Eclipse, for the complimentary copy of Midnight Alias.
Book 1: Midnight Rescue: Tammy and Kim 4 Star Reviews.
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A USA Today bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a B.A. in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager.
Elle writes romantic suspense and erotic contemporary romance for various publishers. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!
(1) Paperback Copy of Midnight Alias (Killer Instincts #2): Elle Kennedy (US ONLY) -- provided by the publisher.
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