Lethal Nights: A Brute Force Novel (Brute Force, 3)

This is the third book in the Brute Force series and I enjoyed it every bit as much as her other series. It was nice to see some of her other characters make appearances throughout the series. The book included Nick Steele from Renegade. If you liked her Elite Ops series, you'll like this one as well!

This series you just can’t put down. Each time a new book comes out, I grab it! This is a series I enjoy because the Author also has characters from previous books make an appearance. The books are believable. The characters pull you in as if they are real and you know them! That’s an awesome book to me!!

Wife like the writer

Good romantic suspense with hints of paranormal, intentional or not. Big Russian hottie with tattoos protecting his damsel in distress. There is action and plenty of steamy scenes. I was a bit confused in the beginning but that seems to be the theme for me and this series. It's an enjoyable story with danger, suspense, and heat.

I enjoyed this third book in the Brute Force series, about the mysterious Dragon!

Ilya Dragonovich is a man who lives in the shadows. He runs a safe house operation for the Brute Force agency, in addition to his role as right hand man to the former Russian crime boss Ivan Resnova, his best friend. When he gets a call from an old friend to set up a new safe house, and save the woman in question's home in the process, he's intrigued. When the meets the owner, he's utterly enamored of her. But she was in the midst of a divorce, and wasn't emotionally available to start anything, so he walked away. A year later, when there's a breach of her home, and an attempt on her life, he knows he can't walk away again.

Emma Jane Preston has had a rough go. She has an amazing family, but she married the wrong man, and when he turned into a bully, and started down the path towards abuse, she kicked him out. But, the jerk tried to take her family home from her, and the Dragon, and Brute Force, saved it for her. She knew she was agreeing to some level of risk in turning her home into a safe house, but she didn't expect an attempt on her specifically, when no agents have even stayed at her place yet. She let Ilya walk away a year ago, because she wasn't ready. But seeing him again, and riding to her rescue, no less, makes her realize that she'd love to keep him this time. But, can a regular girl like her ever truly tame a Dragon?

Ilya and Emma Jane had MASSIVE chemistry, and they were both fighting it, for various reasons. Their push and pull was extreme, and I loved watching them dance around each other. Ilya knew that EJ would be a target if anyone realized how important she was to him. Unfortunately, it seems like that had already happened, and now he needs to protect her at all costs. There was quite a bit of suspense in this story, which I always love, but I liked how much the story really focused on the two main characters. Their families, both by blood, and by choice, were huge characters too, and that was awesome.

Emma Jane was such a strong woman. I loved that she was confident in herself, and her place in the world. She knew she'd always have her family's love, and the support of her community, even with her ex trying to besmirch her character every chance he got. She knew she loved Ilya, but she never wanted to change him. Or make him stay, if he was determined to go. Even if that meant breaking her own heart. She was a great heroine.

Ilya was quite the brooding hero. He was very agonized about his role in his mysterious family, and what that might mean with regards to any hopes of happily ever after for him. But, the Dragon was finally in love, and once he realized he couldn't live without Emma Jane, he was determined to fight for her. His dragon tattoo was almost another character in the story. There were definitely some mystical elements to it, especially given his Romanian heritage, and the family stories he's been told. It gave the story a bit of a paranormal bent, even though it wasn't a PNR story at all, so that was unexpected, but fun, and enjoyable for me.

I definitely liked this story. The suspense plot was exciting, and the villains were super crazy.
I really enjoyed all the side characters here, both on Ilya's private security team, Brute Force, and Emma Jane's boss, and her cousin's husband, Nik, and his secretive friends. I'm hoping this isn't the last we hear from this crew!

This was a fast paced sexy read that had hints of suspense and a lot of lust. It felt like the actual story line got overshadowed by all the sex scenes. There were so many characters coming and going that it was kind of hard to keep them all straight. The story itself didn’t feel all the way developed, nor did most of the characters. I was halfway through the book before I realized why Emma and her husband even separated and it wasn’t exactly clear why she needed “ Dragon” and the company he worked for, for their protection. Overall an ok read but I would typically want more story in a book I’m reading to go along with all the sexy scenes.

Ilya Dragonovich lives life on the dark side. Whether it is from his Russian family’s seamy connections or for the business his cousin, Ivan, runs providing safe houses, security, and other services to less than upstanding citizens. He grew up a brutalized young boy by the woman who should have protected him most so Ilya sees himself as very damaged. Despite his early years, Ilya knows the difference between good and evil. His gypsy background lends an air of mystery especially concerning his dragon tattoo.

Emma Jane Preston met Ilya a year ago in the process of ditching a very nasty, lying, cheating husband. Though she felt an immediate and strong connection, Emma would not forgo her marriage vows while the divorce was still pending. Now Emma is in danger from someone who seeks to destroy her. Ilya would lay down his life for the woman he has been avoiding knowing in his heart she is his lifemate. He vows to protect Emma whatever the cost and take out those who would harm this innocent woman.

This story has quite a number of steamy scenes and brutal actions. Emma Jane was a bit too much TSTL as heroine for my tastes. I get that she is supposed to be a polar opposite to Ilya, but some of her actions both past and present are rather clueless. LETHAL NIGHTS is book three in the Brute Force series, but it can be read as a standalone.

DNF. It really pains me when this happens, especially since it is from an Author I am a huge fan of and getting the book through NetGalley to boot, but when a book feels like a chore instead of an escape than its time to quit. I was struggling right from the beginning and falling asleep in the middle of some action scenes is never a good sign, especially since I generally read way past my bedtime. The blurb sounded promising but once I started to read it felt to me as if another Author wrote this book. It started out with a confusing bang, since I had no idea who all the people were and the whole aspect of the safe house seemed strange. I just could not get into the book and I felt the interactions of the main characters lacked real heat and the dialog was very repetitive and inappropriate to the situation. You are in danger but wait there is always time for a make-out session? The whole thing just didn't do it for me, clearly I am in the minority, but I still count Lora Leigh as a favorite Author I will just have to be more careful in the future about my picks.