Every Last Breath (Final Hour, 1)

Be prepared not to be able to put this book down, read well into the night, and be blown away by Juno Rushdan’s Every Last Breath ( Final Hour #1). This is the first book by this author that I have read, and I am looking forward to reading more of her books. Every Last Breath is the first book in the up-and-coming new series, Final Hour.

Every Last Breath is perfectly balanced with intense nonstop action, a plot thick with intrigue and suspense, woven with deception and betrayal, where loyalties will be tested and of course heart-pounding romance. I was surprisingly delighted that the thriller aspect and the bioterrorist plot is not overrun by the romance but perfectly intertwined in this book.

This book was well written, paid attention to detail, and the main characters and the secondary characters were all well developed. I loved the vast range of dialogue between Maddox and Cole; it is barbed, hurtful, soft and caring and intensely hot and steamy. I loved Maddox, and I found her to be smart, bold, loyal and every bit as kickass as the men that surrounded her without losing her soft feminine side. Cole is the son of a Russian crime boss, and he is the epitome of the alpha male, intelligent, determined and incredibly hot. However, he too is struggling with his demons from the past.

Our two main characters Maddox and Cole have a tangled past, things between them are tainted, broken and complicated. They haven't seen each other in nine years, and then they are thrown together by circumstances that are out of their control, to work together, to bring down a madman who is hell-bent on taking his revenge out on the United States by way of a biological weapon.

I don't want to reveal too much of the storyline; therefore I will stop here. Usually, I don't like to compare authors, but in my humble opinion I feel that Ms.Rushdan has earned her self a top spot in the thriller genre right alongside the “big boys.” This book will keep you reading to the very last page and then dangle you right on the edge of the proverbial book cliff, setting you up for the next book in the series. I for one am looking forward to reading the next book in this series, Nothing to Fear, due to be published late August 2019. I know that if you give this book a chance, it will take you on a wild thrill ride you will not soon forget.

***I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion .***

A villain out for revenge with superskills. A heroine who won't quit, a hero who loves her with every breath, and a tragic past separating them... This book will keep you turning pages all through the night. I cheered wildly every time the hunters moved forward, caught my breath when the clever prey came out with something even worse. This was picture perfect in terms of pacing, emotion, and suspense. The secondary characters will grab your heart and the main characters will stick with you for the long haul. Grab, buy, and read!

A fun, exciting, fast-paced romantic suspense that is a wonderful start to a new series. Juno Rushdan is definitely an author to remember!!!

Maddox works for a special government unit and is just a capable of holding her own as the guys. When her unit gets wind of a plot of a lethal bioweapon, her unit is sent to stop this from happening. When Maddox is sent to meet a man to get help from him preventing this disaster, she had no idea whe would be coming face to face with the love of her life, who was presumed dead, Cole. The story is not only about stoping the bioweapon but it was also about how Maddox and Cole now have a second chance...will they make it work? I couldn't read this fast enough--there was suspense, passionate and redemptive. I'd never heard of this author before but look forward to more books--this was book one of the Final Hour series. I highly recommend!!! Thank you NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hey, book friends! Today's review is of Every Last Breath, the first book of the Final Hour series and debut novel by Juno Rushdan. Get ready, because this debut novelist has just earned herself another fan. As in, "Seriously, is book two out yet?"

Luckily for me, book two is not only in the works but has a set publication date. But we'll get to that.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks Casa for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for my honest review. We are avid James Bonds fans in my household; therefore, any book that is hailed as being Bond-ish (That's James Bond, to differentiate from any E. L. James fans) has my immediate attention and interest. Replace the British sexpot with an American femme fatale secret agent—I’m sorry, femme fatale operations officer—and you have a novel featuring a badass heroine.

Maddox Kinkade is an undercover officer working for a covert CIA subsect, Gray Box. Today’s mission? Stop the madman threatening to unleash a bioweapon in the country’s capital. With a team fit for duty, and friendships of steel to boot—steel-tipped, no less—they are ready to face off against any enemy, foreign or domestic.

What Maddox isn’t prepared for is her presumed-dead fiancé, Nikolai Reznikov, now Cole Mathews, to shock the hell out of her and turn her already upside-down life on its side. His “death” nine years earlier has pained Maddox in ways that will haunt her forever, and his coming back to life reopens the wound she’s not yet healed from. She bites her tongue to keep from asking the questions she desperately needs to hear. Why did you leave me? Why did you let me think you were dead?

Cole Mathews has wanted nothing more than to be rid of Maddox’s memory for almost a decade. Believing her responsible for the death of his father, Cole stepped out of their life—the life they’d once shared as future husband and wife, the architect and the art enthusiast—to seek revenge for those responsible. Her sudden reappearance into his life is the chance he’s needed to finally be rid of her, only it seems his heart isn’t quite finished with Maddox yet.

Forced to join forces and to each learn who the other has become, they work together to bring Aleksander Novak—known as "the Ghost"—down before he destroys the working government. Maddox fights to keep a tight rein on her personal feelings in order to get the job done, while Cole is forced to face a series of truths that make it all but impossible to leave Maddox in the past.

If either of them is to even consider the option of a future together, they not only have to navigate the monstrous threat they face in Aleksander, but they will also need to accept that the people they were are long gone. Maddox is a scum-sucking spook in Cole’s eyes. And Cole became the killer his father the assassin always wanted him to be.

Evading the Bratva—the Red Mafia—and chasing Aleksander across ocean and through the busy D.C. metropolis, and navigating the line between ally and enemy in both their personal and profession lives, Maddox and Cole, along with her team, will need to gear up and focus on the job, or else there won’t be a future to even consider.

This romantic suspense is the whole package for me. Family drama? Check. (Can you say protective-older-brother-who-is-also-her-superior?) Fast-paced, action-packed badassery? Also check. Emotionally laden, sexily scintillating chemistry? Double check, and then some.

I love series like this whose secondary characters support and enhance the plot line, urging you to get to know them through the novel and each subsequent one after. I want to go hang out at a bar with Maddox's team. Director Bruce Sanborn (the Black Ops Whisperer), the mountain of muscle Castle Kinkade (hey, bro!), Gideon "Reaper" Stone, John Reece, Alistair Allen, and Sean "Ares" Whitlock, these are the guys you hope are protecting our country in real life. The more you learn about the Gray Box operators and analysts, the more you want to consider a career in espionage.

Aleksander Novak is sinister, but his backstory makes his character complex and interesting amidst all of his depravity. Overall, I thought him very well developed. There was only one instance that I thought something he did belied the picture I had of him in my head—which jolted me out of the story for a moment—but he's a villain worthy of Ian Fleming.

Juno Rushdan is quick to jump right into the story, which I love. The book is full of fun action puns and entertaining metaphors. One of my favorites was, "He'd been a moth drawn to a blowtorch."

I don't want to give anything away about the ending, but I will say that I appreciate the fact that Maddox didn't need a man to save her. She fights smart, the action scenes feel realistic (and practically tangible, they're written so well), and I love that she exhibits physicality without unrealistic machismo. She uses her strength and grit and intelligence as a woman would, she relies on her team as a great leader would, and she handles her business! Maddox Kinkade is a character I won't soon be forgetting anytime soon.

As far as warnings go, readers should be aware of the adult language and explicit sexual scenes.

The sequel, Nothing to Fear, is set to be published in August of this year, and I cannot wait. Check out Every Last Breath on April 30th to find out why this series (and this debuting author) will soon be gracing my shelf of honor. I mean, 5 stars? Nothing. This baby's gettin' 5 ninja stars! Juno Rushdan has just been added to my list of favorite romantic suspense series writers.

P.S. Does anyone know where I can get a steel prayer bead necklace? Thanks in advance.

I REALLY liked this book! The book covered all the bases in this thrilling story where a man seeking revenge against the United States threatens to unleash a bioweapon that could quickly kill millions. Maddox Kincade is the leader of a highly skilled and trained special ops unit who is tasked with finding this person and eliminating the threat. What starts out as a “routine” assignment Maddox feels more than capable of handling, turns her life upside-down when a man from her past resurfaces. Believing Cole to be dead, she is gobsmacked when the man she is to recruit to help her team, turns out to be Cole.....live and in person. The author slowly gives insight to the back story of these two star-crossed lovers, and keeps the reader wondering if they will be able to find their way back to each other after all the years of broken trust. But within their team, there is another trust that has been broken,..... and they have the additional worry of who can they trust? This book has intrigue, thrilling details of the efforts to catch the villain, as well as the sometimes steamy relationship between Cole and Maddox. I found myself not wanting to put it down....but wanting to read “a few more pages” ! This is the first book in a series, and I will be looking forward to the next one (or more?) and following these two throughout their dangerous assignments and personal love story. I received an ARC of this title from the author, the publishers, and NetGalley in return for an honest review, which this has been. #Everylastbreath #NetGalley

This is a great story with lots of action and romance. Maddox is a top-secret operative working for an agency that isn’t supposed to exist. A bio-weapon is being auctioned off to select criminal arms dealers. She must enlist the aid of the former love of her life whom she had presumed dead for the past nine years. There are a lot of hard feelings between the two of them but they must work together to stop a terrorist. They must find the device before it is detonated, killing masses of people. For the most part, I really enjoyed this book, there is non-stop action and plenty of intrigue. There was clearly a cliffhanger at the end and I am looking forward to the next book in this series. That being said, even though the author is a great storyteller, her addition of too many descriptive metaphors and similes took away from the flow of the story and were often unnecessary.. Some editing would make this a much more enjoyable book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Every Last Breath is kick-***. This ex-military author really knows her covert ops. With some seriously bad men and a worldwide threat and plenty of toys like comms in diamond earrings and flash bang grenades in chunky buckles, it would be a riveting spy thriller all on it's own, but then egads it's also….very sexy. And did I mention the kick-*** female protagonist? She’s stuck with me for days, and I can't wait to read the next book. What a cliffhanger ending!

This action thriller was full of details of how spy things work, something I know nothing about. It was interesting to learn about it, though at times, I wish some of the acronyms had been defined. Most were and didn't really impact the plot. I think the fact that the author worked in the field, it brought a level of credibility that an outsider wouldn't be able to create.

Loved the romance between Cole and Maddox and the fact that they were able to reflect on their past and come to terms with everything that had happened. Neither was completely at fault or without blame, like real life.

I enjoyed the author's writing style and it kept my interest to the (mostly) satisfying ending. There are some dangling questions and some of them were for main plot points, which went unanswered. I don't normally like to read cliff-hangars, but I guess if you like the story, characters, and writing enough, you'll continue with the series.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoy spy stories with high stakes, a hot romance, and cliff-hangars don't bother you.

Oh this one needs to be a movie! Lots of action from page one. Kick ass characters and even a romance. This is a page turner. I thought it was great!