TBR Challenge: Suzanne Brockmann - Do or Die

Navy SEAL Ian Dunn went rogue in a big way when he turned his talents to a lawless life of jewel heists and con jobs. Or so the world has been led to believe. In reality, the former Special Ops warrior is still fighting for good, leading a small band of freelance covert operatives who take care of high-stakes business in highly unofficial ways. That makes Ian the hands-down choice when the U.S. government must breach a heavily guarded embassy and rescue a pair of children kidnapped by their own father, a sinister foreign national willing to turn his own kids into casualties. Shockingly, Ian passes on the mission... for reasons he will not–or cannot–reveal.
But saying no is not an option. Especially not to Phoebe Kruger, Ian’s bespectacled, beautiful, and unexpectedly brash new attorney. Determined to see the abducted children set free, she not only gets Ian on board but insists on riding shotgun on his Mission: Impossible-style operation, whether he likes it or not.
Though Phoebe has a valuable knack for getting out of tight spots, there’s no denying the intensely intimate feelings growing between Ian and Phoebe as the team gears up for combat. But these are feelings they both must fight to control as they face an array of cold-blooded adversaries, including a vindictive mob boss who’s got Ian at the top of his hit list and a wealthy psychopath who loves murder as much as money. As they dodge death squads and play lethal games of deception, Ian and Phoebe will do whatever it takes to save the innocent and vanquish the guilty.

Comment: This is the first book in a new series, the Reluctant Heroes, which works as a spin off of the well known Troubleshooters, the series that made the author also known for more readers. This book was initially published in 2014 but there hasn't been a second installment yet.

The month of October in the TBR Challenge tends to be the month for paranormal or romantic suspense so I decided to pick something more along the lines of adventure...

In this book we meet ex Navy Seal Ian Dunn, someone who seems larger than life and who is in prison when the story begins. Why he is in jail might or might not be directly connected to the prologue where he and some fellow tam members successfully conclude a very specific mission. However, stronger governmental forces get him out of jail so he can help with a delicate situation and for that effect, that same day, he gets to meet his new lawyer Phoebe Kruger, someone he doesn't know and can't trust immediately.

Phoebe thinks Ian might be just one more brash military guy but there's no denying his allure. She insists in being part of the mission the government wants him to do so she can keep an eye on him. As the dangers amount and the secondary characters join the mission, will she and Ian give in to their attraction or not?

When the Troubleshooters series was at its peak among the readers, I was not yet aware of it. I've started reading the books late 2008 or early 2009 and devoured the ones published until then.

There was a two year hiatus and in 2011 there was another release, and then another one only in 2017. These last two weren't as vibrant as I remember the first ones to be. That means this spin off is the opportunity for the author's talent to shine but I can't seem to help thinking this is a (not totally successful) attempt to rekindle her lost momentum...

Two things to consider in this book (and her others): 1) the focus should be divided between the main couple and the plot and 2) the emotional content should glue the reader to what will happen next.

At least these are the elements I would highlight from her books. The stories are full of adventure, full of incredible situations quite difficult for the average person to imagine but the protagonists and their friends are strong and able and trustworthy to try and do their best while often also dealing with personal issues/feelings.

This, I would say, summarizes mrs Brockmann's books for me and I expected it from this one as well.

However, I would say her work has lost some of its appeal and I can't decide if it's one of those cases of "me, not you" or if she simply changed her focus into the wrong/weaker elements...

The plot is quite confusing and has several scenes with fights, with apparently complicated plans related to the saving of two children and the running from a bad guy and the deceit of another bad guy. Since the story is so long and mixes up different threads, at some point I got confused and simply started to read the action scenes int he diagonal. Let it be said the good guys win after a lot of planning and dodging the bad guys' attempts to get them.

For me, what made me read the books the most was the way the author did the character's interactions and how they revealed their personalities in every thing, especially in the personal/emotional situations they faced or dealt with.

I was looking for to have a good romance but also that sense of family and partnership and even camaraderie between Ian, Phoebe and the other good guys who were part of Ian's team. 

It was certainly good to get to know them all a little, Aaron, Sheldon, Martell, Francine, Deb and Yoshi (who had showed up in other books but I no longer remembered them) and even Berto, who seems to have been set to become a hero or a secondary one at some point.

The interactions between these people were all fascinating but in such a long book, they did seem too many, especially because too many things were on going.

Then the main couple's romance. For me it was done a bit abruptly. We have them spending time together, whether in calmer or adrenaline fueled scenes, but their connection for me never went beyond the superficial even when they discussed details to convince us it was not so. With so many pages I think more focus on them and not as much in all the secondary issues would have worked out better. Phoebe is a person not used to military scenarios so some of her behavior felt unlikely. Ian is such a fierce guy, I liked to see his softer side but he was a bit too perfect in some aspects and not as great in others.

I've seen some comments by readers who praise the author and others who have followed her writing for longer and they hint at some reasons why it feels things changed. Of course, everyone sees things in a personal way but thinking of some details, it does feel as if her writing was affected by her personal life. I don't really mind the messages she seems to want to convey but the stories don't have the same feel.

The suspense side of this book was not that difficult to foresee and the romantic element was not as easy to separate from all the other stuff happening.

So long has passed since this was published, I wonder if something else will come out. Some characters still intrigue me so I might try but time does dilute things...

Grade: 6/10

Suzanne Brockmann - Some Kind of Hero

Navy men don’t come tougher than Lieutenant Peter Greene. Every day he whips hotshot SEAL wannabes into elite fighters. So why can’t he handle one fifteen-year-old girl? His ex’s death left him a single dad overnight, and very unprepared. Though he can’t relate to an angsty teen, he can at least keep Maddie safe—until the day she disappears. Though Pete’s lacking in fatherly intuition, his instinct for detecting danger is razor sharp. Maddie’s in trouble. Now he needs the Troubleshooters team at his back, along with an unconventional ally.
Romance writer Shayla Whitman never expected to be drawn into a real-world thriller—or to meet a hero who makes her pulse pound. Action on the page is one thing. Actually living it is another story. Shay’s not as bold as her heroines, but she’s a mother. She sees the panic in her new neighbor’s usually fearless blue eyes—and knows there’s no greater terror for a parent than having a child at risk. It’s an ordeal Shay won’t let Pete face alone. She’s no highly trained operative, but she’s smart, resourceful, and knows what makes teenagers tick.
Still, working alongside Pete has its own perils—like letting the heat between them rise out of control. Intimate emotions could mean dangerous, even deadly, consequences for their mission. No matter what, they must be on top of their game, and playing for keeps . . . or else Pete’s daughter may be gone for good.

Comment: Since 2011 that I haven't read a full length story of the Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann, featuring a team of current and former navy seals. The first reason is that not many full length stories have been published recently (there are novellas, though) and also because the series was much more hyped years ago. Having read the majority of the books years ago, now it feels as if time dilutes the «greatness». Or are the recent books just not in the same page as the others? Food for thought.

In this 17th installment, we have Grunge's story, a.k.a. Peter Greene. 

Grunge has always been a good guy but he is a bit reserved so when this story begins and he can't find his 15 year old daughter, who has recently come to live with him after her mother Lisa, died, not many of his closer friends knew she existed before that happened. Of course, some of those who can are quick to help Peter locating his daughter.

Peter also has the help of his neighbor Shayla Whitman, a writer who gives him a ride when Peter decides to follow a car where he saw his daughter Maddie get into. Using technology, some clues and Maddie's somewhat boyfriend's care for her safety, the group unites efforts to help the girl before something bad happens to her.

Each book is different and I can't remember that well what made the previous books in the series so amazing to me. Yes, I liked some more than others and if I recall, only one wasn't good enough for me, mostly because the heroine was annoying.

Anyway, even thinking about the time passing and the easy distraction that is to focus on other books between reads, I have to say this story didn't move me as much as others have. I think part of it was the story itself, that was centered around a subject I don't particularly like, but perhaps the writing has changed a bit too.

I remember previous books being addictive, usually fast paced but with some slower moments for the couple to connect and such. I don't know if the characterization of the characters here just wasn't the way I remember but I failed to really empathize with them so although the story had its interesting scenes, overall it was just average and I can't tell for certain if the problem for me was on the writing style, which I thought great in some installments, or these characters in specific.

Another issue I found annoying was Maddie. So, basically we have a story about a concerned father ans his helpful neighbor looking for a teenager who, after some heartbreak over the death of her mother and the idea of living with an apparently impersonal father, has skipped classes and found a friend who wasn't really so and even got her into trouble. Now Maddie is running from a man who used to have a business deal with the "friend". This girl stole money and told the bad guy Maddie would give it back, framing her. Now Maddie needs to find the money or the bad guy will hurt or kill her even.

That a teenager with issues decides to do something on her own and her father wants to find her is not such a big surprise but that a whole book is centered on that? I found the plot to be very basic, especially because Maddie annoyed me a lot. I get that is angry and all that but how recklessly she behaved! How good it is to see her father wanting to connect with her, respect her, help her, bond with her emotionally but to go to the extend of allowing her to do this even after what she does made me really irritated.

I think this plot could have worked a little bit different but just as well, had Maddie been a bit more understandable of her situation. It can be examples like these that make me think twice about reading YA.

The romance was quite bland. I got the idea Shayla is just a couple years older or something ( I can't remember how old Peter is) but apart from the fact she is an amazing mother and very helpful in complicated situations, I don't think the couple really matched. We know they work as a team but I didn't feel they really were falling in love. The situation they were in was not conductive to domestic understandings: I mean, people react one way in stressful situations but they might not when nothing happens. This was something the other books exploited well but here I just don't think it worked.

We have an epilogue with them together, a little bit of what happened to all the characters we've seen on the page but the romantic aspect of their relationship felt like mostly physical and hypothetical.

All in all, this book felt like it missed the mark a bit. There are many interesting details, scenes, I liked the cameo appearances of previous characters... but the romance, the way we are supposed to connect with the main couple, their lives... I think this was a miss. Along with the main teenager-behavior, this just didn't sound as good as I hoped for.

Grade: 6/10

Mini - Comments

I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.
That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel.
I never expected to become fixated on someone who'd initially been a rival. And I'd never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn't planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.
But it did. And now I can't stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it's love at first sight.
Except, like most things in my life, it doesn't go as planned.


Tony Vlachic, a ruggedly handsome Navy SEAL, has kept his sexuality a secret for years under the threat of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” That is, until he meets Adam Wyndham, a charismatic yet troubled film star. Tony knows that by approaching Adam in front of his teammates he’s jeopardizing his military career. And Adam, nursing a broken heart, has no interest in a relationship. Still, neither man can deny their instant attraction.
Tony didn’t become a SEAL by accepting rejection, and his pursuit of Adam leads to one unforgettable night. But the next morning, Tony is ordered to ship out to Afghanistan, and he’s forced to leave Adam with too much left unsaid. As Tony enters a dangerous war zone, Adam, back in Los Angeles, struggles with the demons of his past, while dealing with the very real possibility that Tony could be killed in action. Half a world apart, both men must face their feelings for each other—and decide if what they’ve found is worth risking everything in the name of love. 

- > Two more mini comments. What these two stories have in common is that they both feature an m/m couple. One has as protagonists characters from a long ago series I loved and another has a couple who met online.

When Tony Met Adam is a short story featuring two characters from the Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann, a series I've devoured years ago and that still has a special place in my heart. Only recently I came across it and, sadly, I must say it's because after having read the series, the closer I'd still get to it is by re-reading some scenes in my favorite books. I saw this somewhere and it brought it all back but the story itself isn't long enough for the style of the author to be very noticeable. I feel happy Adam, a character not much loved by readers of the series has found happiness, even more so with someone as cute as Tony. It did help bring up memories but it's too far in time for me to feel that weird dedication I felt when I "discovered" the series...

Grade: 7/10

Strong Signal is the first book in a trilogy - apparently - about people who meet or connect online. Told from both main characters' perspectives, it's a story about two people with very different backgrounds but who start talking because of a video game. Their chats change with time into more serious and personal issues and they end up falling for the person on the other side.

I liked this story, it has interesting themes developed like Kai's sort of agoraphobia and Garrett's brave but not usually discussed sense of obligation but not dedication to the army. I think the plot until the guys meet in person was amazing. All the themes explored have meaning. When sex got into the mix, however, I feel the story started to lack in focus and it dragged from then on. I'm still happy to have read it but yes, Id edit some scenes/parts.

Grade: 7/10

Suzanne Brockmann - Breaking the Rules

Izzy Zanella wasn't looking for another reason to butt heads
with his Navy SEAL teammate and nemesis, Danny Gillman.
But then he met Danny’s beautiful younger sister, Eden. When
she needed it most, he offered her a place to stay, a shoulder to
cry on—and more. And when she got pregnant with another
man’s child, he offered her marriage. But Eden’s devastating
miscarriage shattered their life together—and made the intense
bad blood between Izzy and Danny even worse.

Now Eden's back, on a mission to rescue her teen brother, Ben,
from their abusive stepfather. Even if she and Izzy can prove
that their broken marriage is still in one piece, winning legal
custody of Ben is a long shot. But they’re not alone: Danny
and his girlfriend Jenn offer to help, and he and Izzy agree to
bury the past and fight for Ben’s future.

As they plan their strategy, Izzy and Eden grapple with the raw
passion that still crackles between them—while Danny and
Jenn confront new depths in their own rocky relationship. But
events take a terrifying turn after Ben befriends a girl fleeing a
child prostitution ring. When the young runaway seeks refuge
with Eden and Izzy, her pursuers kidnap Ben—and a deadly
standoff begins. Now, they must all pull together like never
before and strike back, swift and hard, to protect their
unconventional little family and everything they hold most
precious.

Comment: I've finally managed to read this book. Since I've started the first book I've been a fan of this series, and most especially of the heroes in it.
Izzy Zanella is a recurrent character from other books, and I must say it's one of the things I love in books, the fact we can see several characters from all the books being in there, being part of all the stories even when not protagonists. We know they exist and we see them, the author doesn't make them go away just because. Obviously we can't have all of them in each book, but there's plenty, which makes me happy.

These books feature navy Seals but the stories have always some deep emotional side and this book didn't disappoint in this. We got to see how Izzy and dan, two characters that usually fight a lot, come to terms they are now part of the same family and how their thoughts processed that and al the things happening around them.

The main couple, Izzy and Eden, had already convinced me in previous books, but right now we could see how real they are and this time, more solid too. Their romance story wasn't easy, but it blossomed and thrived.

Mrs Brockmann always manages to write a sucessful and convincing romance even while describing awful things, things we know are real in the world. I hope she'll continue to write books about troubleshooters because these are characters I'd never want to see gone.