Review copy was received from Publicity team. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Beautiful Vengeance by Kaylea Cross Series: Vengeance #5
Published by Self-Published on March 31, 2020
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 259
Format: eARC
Source: Publicity team
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Kiyomi Tanaka is the final piece needed to unlock the deadly threat stalking the remaining Valkyries. After years of sacrifice as the ultimate femme fatale, she’s prepared to give up everything to find justice. But suddenly that’s not such an easy choice anymore, because now she has more to lose than she ever thought possible: her freedom, the family she’s always longed for…and the wounded warrior who’s stolen her heart.
Now she’s coming after them.
Marcus Laidlaw survived captivity, torture and certain death because of a Valkyrie. Now his solitary existence has been turned upside down by a team of them determined to hunt down the corrupt government officials who stole their lives. He’ll do whatever he can to protect them, but there’s one Valkyrie he’d do anything for—a brave, beautiful survivor who showed him what it means to live again. And when the unknown threat hovering over them is finally revealed, Marcus will be forced to do the unthinkable to save the woman he loves.
This series, Vengeance has an overall story of finding all the Valkyries who have been burned and keeping them from being killed, bringing them into the team. There is also the goal of finding out who is hunting them to extinction, a mole in the covert ops family.
The final book, Beautiful Vengeance is a fitting finale to the series. Marcus has been with it since the beginning. He was saved by the initial Valkyrie Megan, and took her to his family home to hide. Each Valkyrie has ended up here as she was rescued, including Kiyomi. Both Marcus and Kiyomi have physical and mental scars from their time in Syria.
I found Kiyomi harder to connect to than some of the others. She is more directly in therapy and is more selfish in her goals, less involved with the guarding and fighting aspects of their goals. So the fact she was so wanted I thought was more related to her beauty. During this story, her anger turns her from the defensive to the offensive in seeking justice.
Marcus, as with many of the other males who end up with Valkyries, is a military man of extreme talent. He naturally finds her beautiful, admires her and wants to protect her. He is considerate of her past and she is the one who initiates the relationship. Kiyomi has never had a relationship based on her own feelings. She has only faked relationships for her missions to get information or assassinate her targets.
The overall hunt for the Architect, who has been hunting Valkyries, ends up connecting through Rahman who was Kiyomi’s last target. It’s a wild and harrowing fight to the end. I loved the action and all the relationships, seeing all the Valkyries again.
About Kaylea Cross
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylea Cross writes edge-of-your-seat military romantic suspense. Her work has won many awards and has been nominated for both the Daphne du Maurier and the National Readers’ Choice Awards. A Registered Massage Therapist by trade, Kaylea is also an avid gardener, artist, Civil War buff, Special Ops aficionado, belly dance enthusiast and former nationally-carded softball pitcher. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and sons.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- COYER-20
Oh yes it’s an author I really want to try!
Her books are all military romantic suspense and there are multiple series.
I can’t wait to start this series! Thanks for putting it on my radar, Anne. Great review?
Thank you, I have enjoyed this one. 5 books in the series.
valkyries…how cool. it makes me think of charmed…and i am watching a charmed rerun right now. 🙂
These are strong, highly skilled women
This does sound like a good series. I really do need to try this author sometime soon.
Often the first book in her series are free. So I would start there and see if you like them. I like them.
Glad you enjoyed it, even if Kiyomi was initially hard to connect with.
It turned out well in the end and I enjoyed having the whole team there for this last mission.