Defending Chloe

Defending Chloe (Mountain Mercenaries 2)- Susan Stoker
Montlake Romance/Amazon Digital Services
Release Date- December 4, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Gorgeous women don’t just stumble onto Ronan Cross’s remote property. But this one—vulnerable, victimized, and needing the kind of help only Ronan can offer—tells a story that makes his blood boil almost as hot as his need to protect her.

Since her father’s death, Chloe Harris has become a prisoner. Her own brother, a flesh peddler and low-level player in the Denver Mafia, is forcing her to sell her body for an endgame Chloe never saw coming: control over a vast fortune. Her only way out is to run—straight into the arms of the one hard-bodied man she can trust.

Defending Chloe could rain punishment down on the Mountain Mercenaries. Her brother has Mob connections and the local police in his pocket. But Ronan still has an edge—the unshakable loyalty of his deadly teammates. As well as an unquenchable thirst for retribution…and Chloe.

_____________________________________________________________________

Readers can count on Susan Stoker (Claiming Felicity) to give us alpha heroes dedicated to protecting their team and the women they love, strong heroines overcoming incredible odds, and (usually) incredibly disturbing villains (I still regret reading some of the villain's scenes in Defending Allye at night just before turning out the lights).  Defending Chloe is no different.  Ronan "Ro" Cross is a British member of the Mountain Mercenaries with scars in his past that he hasn't shared with anyone.  Chloe not only brings out all his protective instincts, she gets him to share his burdens and see them in a new light.  He's the kind of guy you want at your side: good instincts, a man who treats women with respect, and doesn't play games- but is still fully capable of messing things up while thinking he's doing the "right thing".

Fortunately, even after everything Chloe's been through, she remains strong enough to handle Ro.  After years of abuse from her brother and his girlfriend she should be a broken, terrified, mess.  And she is smart enough to be terrified of her brother's Mafia bosses, and scared of her controlling, amoral brother.  But Chloe is also smart enough to know a good man when she sees one, and she trusts Ro and his friends to help her escape.  Both Chloe and Ro are endearing characters, well-written and three dimensional.  You're cheering for them from beginning to end.

Defending Chloe is a fast-paced thriller, full of edge of your seat action.  As with all of Stoker's books, it is part of a larger series (this is book two in the Mountain Mercenaries series) but it can be read as a stand alone book.  The rest of Ro's team and Allye do show up, but I don't see any new readers getting lost if they start with this book.  I find it fun to reader Stoker's series in order if possible because I find it makes the cameos of other characters more fun for me as a reader but long-time fans of Susan Stoker or those starting with this book will enjoy it and be waiting eagerly for the next one! 

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