New Release Review and Giveaway! HARD TO COME BY by Laura Kaye (Hard Ink #3)

Whoa–Laura Kaye really ratcheted up the tension in the third full-length book (fourth book overall, counting Easy’s novella) of her Hard Ink series!

Confession time: Easy’s book ( Hard to Hold on To ) was the first Hard Ink book I read…and I just listened to book one ( Hard as It Gets ) last week. Book two ( Hard as You Can ) is on my must-listen-to-ASAP list. Yes, this is part of a series, and yes, there is an overall story arc that is continuing through all the books. You probably should (and of course you’re going to want to–trust me!) read the other books before this one, but I honestly think you could–if you had to–start with this one. Laura does a great job of reminding/telling you what you need to know to follow the “men of Hard Ink need to restore their honor” part of the story without pounding the info into you if you already knew it.

My point–if this is the only Hard Ink book you’ve got in your clutches at the moment, READ IT NOW. Seriously. You’ll thank me later.

Marz, Marz, Marz–where do I start? I absofreakinglutely lovethis guy. He lost a good chunk of his right leg during the ambush in Afghanistan that changed all of their lives, but he somehow manages to be the most upbeat guy on the team. He’s already proved that he’ll literally put his life on the line for those he cares about (he lost his leg saving the life of his best friend and teammate Beckett), and he continues to do more of the same in this book–he’s there for the other guys, their women, all the people they’ve pulled in to help their cause so far, and–of course–for Emilie. He’s also a total tech-geek who can find the humor in just about any situation. (His idea for an exciting new patent–genius. And almost had me spewing iced tea all over my Kindle–soooo funny!)

Totally. Love. Him. And with all the truly sucky things he’s had in his life so far, he so deserved an awesome story here.

Yay–he got one 🙂

Emilie is another heroine worthy of a Hard Ink team member. She’s generous, brave, loyal, and cool in a crisis. Her background as a psychologist and her lifelong love for her older brother Manny are both telling her that he’s in big trouble. She doesn’t realize when she first meets sweet and sexy Marz that he’s also looking for Manny, because he just might hold a key to fixing Marz’s team’s reputation. When she finds out that she is actually part of Marz’s mission she’s upset, but she doesn’t let her hurt blind her to the reality of the situation. She’s strong enough to sift through everything she knows and what she’s been told to find the truth, even when it’s not an emotionally easy task.

And whoa, is their relationship steamy… 🙂

As for the over-arcing plot, some explosive things happen on that end (pun totally intended). The team learns some major information toward the end of the book that shifts the their mission going forward–and I do mean major. (And after reading book one last week, I was especially glad to find this information out. It was a total, “Ha! I knew it!” moment for me 😉 ) Finishing this book had me immediately rushing to find out when the next book in the series will come out (and the answer isn’t pretty. It’sApril. April! You’re killing me here, Laura Kaye!)

But the good news is that it’s Jeremy’s story…

Sigh–waiting. I hate it.

But I’ll do it. For Jeremy. And Charlie. And Beckett. And Nick. And Easy. And Shane. And Eileen. And Marz 🙂

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A-

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.