Rescuing Kassie

Rescuing Kassie (Delta Force Heroes #5)- Susan Stoker
Stoker Aces Production
Publish Date: May 16, 2017

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers!

Synopsis: Graham "Hollywood" Caverly feels the chemistry with Kassie Anderson in the emails they've been exchanging through a dating site. When they finally meet in person, and that online chemistry proves to have real-life sizzle, he knows she's the one. He couldn't be happier when their first date, at an annual Army Ball, goes better than he could have imagined. Until Kassie drops a bomb.

Kassie doesn't want to approach Hollywood on the dating site, but threats to her family leave her no other choice. She definitely doesn't want to fall for the man. But fall she does. Hard. After she admits the ruse--and after some understandable anger on both their parts--Kassie wonders if, in Hollywood's arms, a happy future is within her grasp.

But her past always finds her, and in Kassie's case, that's a dangerous proposition--because she's connected to an old enemy of Hollywood's Delta Force team. Very intimately connected... And it will take Hollywood, his Delta brothers, and even some outside help to do what should have been done the first time--eliminate the threat once and for all.

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Everyone knows online dating is a risky proposition.  You could hit the jackpot, you could meet an axe murderer.  Graham "Hollywood" Caverly thinks he's hit the jackpot: Kassie has a great sense of humor, similar likes/dislikes, and they click perfectly.  The only problem is that Kassie is messaging  Hollywood because her ex Richard and his stalker friend Dean are threatening her little sister if she refuses to spy on him and his Delta Force team.  She's used to abuse and threats from them, but is determined to protect her family.  She's also used to not having anyone in her corner.  Meeting Hollywood for the first time, she thinks maybe she's found someone she can count on to have her back.  She fesses up, he gets mad, fortunately he has his Delta Forces brothers and their girlfriends to show him when he's being dumb and why he shouldn't walk away from a good thing.  Can Kassie and Hollywood work through their differences in time to save the Delta squad, Kassie's family, and what could be a great relationship?

I liked Kassie right away.  She is a down to earth, 'regular' person anyone can relate to: lousy managerial job, lousy ex-boyfriend, just trying to make life work and support her sister.  She is so used to abuse (both physical and mental/emotional) that she no longer expects anyone to help her with anything, that she's always on her own.  Kassie doesn't know why her ex and his friends hate Hollywood's team so much and doesn't want to be a part in hurting anyone, but her sister and family come first and you had to respect that.  Between a rock and a hard place, she was doing the best she could.  Also to her credit, as soon as she figured out Hollywood and his friends aren't evil people, she comes clean and tells him what's going on.  Literally, on their first date.  I certainly wouldn't have blamed her for waiting awhile and not trusting Hollywood right away.  Given her history it was more of a surprise that she did become comfortable with him so quickly.  Hollywood is a good guy, with the normal ultra-protective instincts you'd expect from elite military alphas.  I was super pissed at him for instantly believing the worst of Kassie when she tried to tell him what was going on, and his overreaction seemed a bit out of character for him as we got to know him better.  But it was straight from a sense of betrayal because he was already pretty much in love with Kassie, so I guess that gets him a little leeway too.  Plus he did come around to groveling in record time.

Fast paced was definitely the name of the game for Rescuing Kassie.  Most things happen in record time, some slightly less believable than others: the instal-love from Hollywood for Kassie and the instal-trust from Kassie for Hollywood I would have been ok with going a bit slower, especially Hollywood earning Kassie's trust so fast. Just my opinion but it would have seemed more in character for her to take a little longer.  The problem of Dean and Richard goes on through the whole book, but seems to go pretty fast- which was fine by me.  Believable? Maybe, maybe not.  But it totally worked for me for the book.  While the motive our bad guys have for trying to ruin so many people's lives is pretty thin, it most certainly underscores how crazy they are. Rescuing Kassie was the first of Stoker's Delta Force series I've read, but worked as a stand-alone in a series.  As with Susan Stoker's other series, we see characters that have either already had their own book or will have a book, and while people (and in this case, the bad guy) carried through, it was easy to read as a stand alone, and certainly made me plan to go back and read the rest in this series.

Full of action, adventure, and romance, Rescuing Kassie was a great book that fans of Susan Stoker, or first time readers who are fans of action/contemporary/military romance.  

I received an ARC of this book from Instafreebie in exchange for an honest review.