Pretty Sassy Cool All Things Pretty, Sassy, and Cool.
Hard To Come By by Laura Kaye Also by this author: Hard As It Gets, Hard As You Can, Hard To Hold On To, Hard To Be Good, Hard as Steel, Hard Ever After, Ride Hard, Ride Rough
Series: Hard Ink #3
Also in this series: Hard As It Gets, Hard As You Can, Hard To Hold On To, Hard To Be Good, Hard as Steel, Hard Ever After
Published by Avon Books on November 24, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Pages: 384
Goodreads Buy the Book
Caught between desire and loyalty…
Derek DiMarzio would do anything for the members of his disgraced Special Forces team—sacrifice his body, help a former teammate with a covert operation to restore their honor, and even go behind enemy lines. He just never expected to want the beautiful woman he found there.
When a sexy stranger asks questions about her brother, Emilie Garza is torn between loyalty to the brother she once idolized and fear of the war-changed man he's become. Derek’s easy smile and quiet strength tempt Emilie to open up, igniting the desire between them and leading Derek to crave a woman he shouldn’t trust.
As the team’s investigation reveals how powerful their enemies are, Derek and Emilie must prove where their loyalties lie before hearts are broken and lives are lost. Because love is too hard to come by to let slip away…
Erin: I loved this book! Hard To Come By is the third book in Laura Kaye’s Hard Ink series and to say it’s my favorite thus far is an understatement! This book has everything—car chases, shoot outs, explosions, steamy sex, witty dialogue, snarky and swoony moments, and most importantly, this book focuses on Derek “Marz” DiMarzio! *sigh* I love him hard. As the computer genius of the group, Derek is the epicenter. At this point in the series, the team of ex-Special Forces soldiers are getting closer to the answers they’ve been searching for. We also have a solid, and I mean ROCK SOLID group of people willing to do anything for each other, and the truth.
No one epitomizes this more than Derek. He’s already sacrificed part of his leg in order to save best friend and fellow soldier, Beckett Murda, and watching these two deal with the after effects in the midst of all the chaos surrounding the team as they continue to delve into the events in Afghanistan was one of the most engaging parts of the series thus far. I LOVE how Laura Kaye has handled Derek’s situation (I won’t even call it a handicap because Derek is SO strong!) The guilt Beckett feels at being the one still whole while Derek has lost most of one of his legs, the determination and strong spirit of Derek, Derek’s humor and desire to do anything for his team … it all makes for some fabulous reading.
When the team sets their sights on getting information from Manny Garza, who’s been working with Seneka Security and the Church Gang against them, his sister Emilie unwittingly becomes their focus, and no one is more intrigued … and attracted than Derek. I thought their relationship was very believable even though it developed quickly, as all the prior ones have. In the fast paced setting of the series, it works. I really enjoyed watching Derek struggle with his loyalty to his team with his fierce desire to be honest with Emilie and let her know about her brother as well as his feelings for her.
Again, as in the preceding books, Emilie is a strong woman and more than capable of handling even the toughest situations. Laura Kaye has done a fabulous job of showing intelligent, determined women with no extraneous drama or contrived angst. All the relationships, from the romantic ones to the ones between the team members feels authentic and real. That’s hard to do when there are so many personalities and so many different angles in play at one time. It should be too much, but it’s definitely not.
The pair of Marz and Emilie totally works. Marz is sexy (and his dirty talk is SO SO hot!) and witty and even though he is the happy-go-lucky one of the bunch, he’s got an incredible depth that makes him irresistible. Emilie is tough as nails, but vulnerable and though her past makes it hard for her to trust, she can’t fight her attraction to Derek, or her belief in doing the right thing for his team in their search for justice, even if that means facing the hard truth about her brother. This series is fun and captivating and this book took it to a whole other level. If you haven’t started Hard Ink yet, what are you waiting for??
She's a Texan, though she drinks her tea plain and NOT sweet. She loves cheesecake, strawberry limeade's from Sonic and her favorite color is purple. In her books, she loves an HEA, but she never minds if the road is rough to get there, as long as the reward is worth the struggle.
| Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Cover | |
| Characters | |
| Plot | |
| Writing | |
| Steam | |
| Overall: | 4.5 |
