In this sexy, suspenseful New Adult novel, a young woman hiding from her criminal past is taken captive by her ex-boyfriend, the ultimate bad boy.

Evie is about to embark on the perfect life. Beautiful, poised, and engaged to a rising business star, she fits the part of trophy wife perfectly, except for one thing: her entire identity is a lie. 

Five years ago she created a new identity for herself, but it all crashes back when something she witnessed years ago comes back to haunt her. Now she's in danger of losing more than her social status. 

Determined to protect the careful life she's built for herself, Evie doesn't want anything to do with Riley, the criminal for hire who broke her heart years ago. But Riley has other ideas. He's never forgotten Evie, and to protect her, he steals her away. Hidden from the world, sparks begin to fly as old memories resurface and their passion reignites.

With one phone call from his brother Gage, Riley's life is completely changed. Everything  he thought was real was a lie and worst of all his brother and the woman he loved both kept it from him.

Riley and Evie were high school loves and also did jobs for the notorious "crew" that Gage has distanced himself from but Riley is still involved in. But one day she was gone and he thought it was for good. 

Five years later, she is living a new life, a facade built over old secrets, lies, and pain. From the surface it looks like she has everything.  But now her past is after her and she needs someone to help keep her safe. So Gage sends a confused Riley in to help.

She is stubborn, strong-willed and secretive. Riley had always been her safe haven, but he's dangerous too because he is very determined and hard to resist. She needs control and he makes her lose it. She has nightmares that won't let her go and a past that is chasing her. And her whole life is based on layer of lies and secrets. And now Riley is trying to get answers and is stuck right in the middle of it. 

I really liked Riley. He is strong, alpha, protective, caring, and sincere. But he is also hurt and angry. She has always been his weak spot even when he thought she was gone for good. So many of his choices were a result of things that happened with her. 

They have a soul deep connection, history and hot chemistry They are volatile and out of control together. They both play power games with each other as they struggle for control. Neither wants to be seen as week or give up power.

But they are in a bubble and it is all about to burst as they have to face the people out to get her and other demons she is hiding. They are caught up in an unpredictable and dangerous game. And both just want to the keep the other safe.

But in trying to protect the other will it put the other right in harm's way?

This brings back his older brother Gage(Ghost) and Madison (Captive) and features another interesting crew member Aaron. I love Gage and how he supports his brother. There are a few rotten antagonists that made my skin crawl and added more drama to the plot.

I was intrigued from the beginning as the story came into focus and they were thrown back together. Towards the middle I felt that it got a bit bogged down with sex and it took awhile for some of the secrets to be revealed. But I was interested in uncovering them and seeing how the complicated situation would all play out. It was steamy, intense, and emotional. The characters had depth, flaws, and deep connections. I was glad to get both of their points of view to understand their feelings more even when they did not reveal all of the hidden information. The story line had multiple layers and was intriguing, and full of suspense, danger, and mysteries. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Riley joined Max’s crew, despite his brother’s protests as a way to get vengeance for the girl he loved and lost. A single phone call from his brother, now out of the life, changes everything Riley thought he knew and every reason he had for working for Max.

Evie has been hiding more or less in plain sight for the last five years. Having cut herself off from her old life, nothing about her present self resembles the girl she was in Chicago and everything is built on secrets and lies.

When Riley storms back into Evie’s life to protect her, they have a lot of issues to work out, maybe the least of which is the current threat to Evie. And that threat is a doozie. Their history, their childhoods, their present. There is so much to wonder about and watch play out over the course of the storyline.

I wasn’t pulled in to this as quickly as I was Captive, but by the end I was fully invested in Evie and Reilly and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to get to the end. These two were steamy together, with years of grief and separation to make up for.

I liked that there were multiple threads of story running through the novel and that they were able to take the time to work out each piece a little at a time. There was a great weaving of past and present that kept me guessing about what led each character, especially Evie, to land where they had.

By the time the book was over, most of the threads had been tied up nicely. But there were a couple details that I felt like were left hanging, questions I never found an answer to that make me wonder if there is more coming from this series. Ghost/Gage and Madison make appearances throughout, and more members of Max’s crew play a variety of roles. As a whole, this was an entertaining read, with a good continuation from Captive.

Brighton Walsh  Facebook/Twitter/Goodreads/Website

Brighton Walsh spent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before deciding to take her storytelling in a different direction and reconnect with her first love: writing. When she's not pounding away at the keyboard, she's probably either reading or shopping--maybe even both at once. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children, and, yes, she considers forty degrees to be hoodie weather. Her home is the setting for frequent dance parties, Lego battles, and more laughter than she thought possible. Visit her online at brightonwalsh.com.