Kill Without Mercy

Kill Without Mercy by Alexandra Ivy is a 2015 Kensington publication. I as provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Count me in. This is my kind of romantic suspense. Terrifying, pulse pounding suspense, with red hot romance and a hero that will have you eating out of the palm of your hand.

Alexandra Ivy is mostly known for her kick butt urban fantasy series. So, I was more than a little curious when I saw she was beginning a new romantic suspense series.

Many of you know that romantic suspense is my favorite genre, but these days I'm finding fewer and fewer series to sink my teeth into and have begun to rely on discovering older titles with more traditional outlines.

So, I have to show more say I am doing the happy dance over this one. The author has combined the tough ex-military team with the more traditional romantic suspense themes I enjoy most, making this book a must read for romantic suspense fans of all flavors.

Annie returns to her hometown in Newton, Iowa, after the disturbing visions that have plagued her since childhood begin to increase, leading her to believe she must finally face her worst nightmares.

Annie was the lone survivor of the “Newton Slayer” a serial killer who also happened to be her father. But something about the case is nagging at her, so for her own peace of mind, she needs to make an attempt at finding closure.

Rafe has left Texas and his newly formed security firm to put his grandfather's affairs in order, a task he finds particularly distasteful. But, his chance meeting with Annie sends his protective sensors into overdrive and before long the couple are working together, seeking answers to the old case involving Annie's father and a new crop of missing or murdered women.

Are these killings related to the 'Newton Slayer'? Is it a copycat killer?

Either way, two things have become crystal clear: One- Annie is being watched and could be in danger and Two: Rafe has fallen head over heels for her.

This is a dark story with a super creepy serial killer, some morally bankrupt characters, lots of volatile secrets, and an action packed race against time that had me holding on for dear life.

There were a few times when the story lagged, just a little, mainly due to the necessity of introducing the main characters, which sets us up for future installments. However, any down time was short lived, and the pace stayed balanced, building the suspense little by little, and ending with a spectacular showdown.

Ladies, if you don't find Rafe hotter than fire and if he doesn't have your temperature rising, then you better check your pulse! Whew! This guy has 'book boyfriend' written all over him. He definitely comes down on the Alpha side of the fence, but, he's also super sweet, very loyal, and will put his life on the line for the woman he loves.

Annie, was not one of those women that comes with a sarcastic tongue, a tough as nails attitude, or the ability to hold her own against a guy ten times her size. Her terrifying visions aside, she's an everyday, normal person, with a plain vanilla life, until she gathers the courage to face her past. She's vulnerable and a little fragile, but she rises to the occasion, unlocking a fierce fortitude, and does what she has to survive and bring down a twisted, sick serial killer.

Rafe and Annie make a great team, and a great couple.

I really enjoyed this first book in the Ares Security series and so I am SO stoked for the next installment! show less

Chilling, brutal, complex and alive, Kill Without Mercy has it all. Meeting in a small town, Annie and Rafe are thrown together and become an item quickly and passionately. With a serial killer on the loose, Annie is trying to stop the slayings her visions are showing her, while Rafe is trying to protect Annie and figure out the mystery as well. The twists and revelations in this multifaceted story are unique, and as each unravels, you'll be gasping in surprise. Annie's entire life isn't what she thought it was, and Rafe's entire life is never going to be the same if the killer gets his way. Fabulous and unexpected, thoroughly enjoyable!
*I received an arc for an honest review

ARES Security promises to be a great new romantic suspense series with engaging characters and top notch suspense. The series is going to follow four former military men who have become brothers through shared tragedy. Rafe, Hauk, Teagan and Max were POWs held together in a Taliban prison. Having trouble adjusting to civilian life, the four decided on this joint business venture in Houston as badass security operatives.

So [b:Kill Without Mercy|25304020|Kill Without Mercy (ARES Security, #1)|Alexandra Ivy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428872957s/25304020.jpg|45032634] is Rafe's story. Rafe is described as the glue that holds the group together, and he admits that he has a superman complex and wants to save everyone. Rafe was a great show more hero. While he was a badass, he was also also extremely caring and understanding of our heroine and his brothers.

When Rafe comes across our damsel in distress, Annie, he immediately feels that protective instinct. As the daughter of a serial killer, Annie has her own tortured past and understandably has a hard time trusting people. So when the killing starts up again, Annie knows she has to do something, particularly because she is having visions of the murders. I liked Annie - she didn't tick any of the annoying heroine boxes for me. I sympathized with her past, understood all the actions she took, and couldn't fault any of them. She listened to Rafe when he was trying to keep her safe. I felt like her character was developed more fully than his, and I didn't have trouble connecting with her as a heroine.

The suspense in the story was great. The story focuses a little less on the romance to follow the plot of tracking the serial killer, the Newton Slayer. While the culprit was a bit predictable, that did not detract from the story and there was a good plot twist thrown in to complicate things. Most of all, though, I absolutley loved the bond shared between the four men of ARES. I think I liked the brothers' bond more than the romance! I would have liked to know a little more about their backstory, but that may come out as the series progresses. I know I will enjoy seeing each of the brothers find their HEA, but I think my favorite is going to be Teagan. Something about him just struck a chord with me.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars / 3 flames. show less

I really enjoyed this! Kill Without Mercy starts off a new romantic suspense series about five ex-soldiers who now run a security company together. This first part is Rafe and Annie's story. They meet in Iowa where Rafe is supposed to clear out his grandfather's house. Women are disappearing in the area, and there seems to be a connection to Annie's past. With the help of Rafe's friends, Rafe and Annie start to look into the case of a serial killer from fifteen years ago to establish a link to the current kidnappings.
While the premise wasn't completely new and unique, I really liked the characters and enjoyed their interactions. There was just the right mix of romance and suspense with some good twists. The writing was very good and show more the story fast paced to hold my attention throughout. This was my first book by Alexandra Ivy, and I look forward to following the rest of this series.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. show less

2.5 stars

****Full Review****

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Annie is starting to have visions again, considering these visions have to do with women being murder and her father was the "Newton Slayer", she has reason to be concerned. Going against her foster mother's wishes, she travels back to Newton, the town where her childhood was shattered. Rafe has been putting it off but he eventually decides now is the time to pack up his deceased grandfather's house and get the place sold. While in the small town diner he rescues a pretty woman from a town gossip and ultimately finds himself in the middle of a serial killer mystery. A buried show more past, lies, and corruption besiege Annie and Rafe as they search for the truth of what happened years ago and fight to stay one step in front of the current danger and their feelings for one another.

The first in a new series, Kill Without Mercy, introduces us to Rafe and his four friends. They were all in the military, captured in Afghanistan, and tortured before their eventually escape. All discharged, they now live in the states and are starting up a new security business called ARES. A prologue gives us all the men's names and what their specialties in the military were, while throughout the story we get more snippets of the men through conversations and interactions with Rafe as they all work together to help Rafe find the serial killer. It's easy to think about why they would have a close bond but I missed having at least one scene of their time in Afghanistan to get a better feel for them as a group. There were a couple times where one or two of the friends were focused on a bit much for what is supposed to be Rafe's story and ended up feeling like series baiting but that is typically a problem in firsts in a series.

Annie was one of the more level headed heroines usually found in romantic suspense books. She took Rafe's advice and listened to his expertise but still exhibited strength of character. However, with the murder mystery and introduction of the AREs' men, she became a wallflower in her own story at times. The story arc of her visions also ended up feeling somewhat tagged on as the explanation for them felt puzzling and disjointed. Rafe was a non-arrogant alpha; he was bossy but not misogynistic in his attitude towards Annie. There were times though, that I could feel myself side-eyeing how obliviously controlling he could be. He never sees any other outcome than Annie doing what he wants. For example, he tells his friends she is moving to Texas with him to live on his ranch (they have known each other for about two weeks) without ever even discussing it with her, to him it is a foregone conclusion because that is what he wants. It was little things like this that made me slightly uncomfortable with him and gave me problems with the romance aspect of the story.

I wouldn't say Annie and Rafe's relationship was insta-love or lust but insta-connection; they are just immediately together. With Rafe's surety that Annie would go along with all his plans for them, it eliminated some of the excitement of the two coming together. I know in the romance genre this is a foregone conclusion but the spark of the journey ended up missing here. I found Annie to disappear the most when it came to their relationship part of the story. While I found the romance to be weaker, the murder mystery was the strongest part of the story for me. It was interesting with the author showing you first where the details of the serial murders had landed and then going back and showing you how/why they landed that way, thus connecting the dots and telling the true story. Secondary characters played a big part in this aspect and for the most part, were flushed out enough to create a believable story.

The romance part of this story was simplistic but if you're looking for more of a mystery than suspense, this was a good “figure it out and connect the dots” read. It was well written and overall well paced; keeping the reader wondering just what went on in this small town all those years ago. The hero was a bit pushy but with four other heroes waiting in the wings, one is bound to be a favorite if looking for a new series to try. show less

Five military men who escaped from torture in a Taliban prison star in this new series by Alexandra Ivy. Each one is physically all a woman could dream for and it seems, from this story, they are also quite willing and able to attract and please any woman they might set their sights on. They are also excellent friends that have become family.

Rafe and Annie are the main characters in this first book. Rafe has gone to Newton, Iowa to deal with the house his not so wonderful grandfather left behind when he died. Annie has gone back to the same town due to nightmares she has been having that remind her of a painful time in her past. Wanting to find answers and make peace with her past sees her in Newton again. Rafe and Annie meet in a show more restaurant, are attracted to one another then become involved in trying to find out more about a serial killer that did his work in Newton 15 years before. The other four members of the team show up, help out and are fleshed out a bit for the future books in the series. Hauk is mentioned most often as having something mysterious going on that will probably be dealt with in the next book.

I liked the characters, the tight plot, they excellent writing and the fast paced story. The theme is not new but the characters and their interactions were excellent. I did deduce who one of the bad guys was early in the story but was surprised by the identity of the other one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the copy of this book to read and review. show less

Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book via Netgalley as part of the blog tour for Tasty Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts: Lately I’ve been immersing myself in romances, specifically contemporary romances. When I read the description for Kill Without Mercy, I immediately wanted to read it. I’m definitely a sucker for former or active military book heroes.

The story captivated me right from the start. It took awhile for the characters to grow on me, but the story itself was a doozy. I love the addition of suspense/action to a romance. It makes it more exciting to read, for me anyway. In the case of Kill Without Mercy the action/suspense was necessary in pushing the main characters together. It was a show more crazy story with some twists that I saw coming, but still had me shaking my head when things were revealed.

The chemistry between the main characters, Rafe and Annie, felt a little forced. It was too much too soon, so I didn’t buy it as genuine. If Rafe had said it was lust-induced attraction, I would’ve believed it hook line and sinker. However, since he kept insisting it was more than that my BS meter was going crazy. It was just too close to insta-love for me to really get sucked in.

The chemistry between the 5 guys of ARES Security was awesome. I can’t wait to see more from them because we just scratched the surface of their team dynamic in Kill Without Mercy. The individual relationships within the team were all very different and appealing to read about. I can’t wait to see more of them in future books because I will be continuing this series.

Rafe was not as appealing, to me, as I’m pretty sure he was supposed to be. He was too alpha male. He was protective to the point of smothering, in my opinion. It seems like there is a fine line between the overprotective alpha male that is attractive and the one that is too much and you worry about being in crazy town. Rafe made me think the latter multiple times throughout Kill Without Mercy.

Annie had me waffling on whether or not I liked her. She had moments where I absolutely loved her and then she would turn around and do or say something that had me thinking, “do you have multiple personalities?!” Overall, I thought she was too meek. She should’ve stood up for herself more, but she was a classic damsel in distress. I was utterly disappointed by that because she had a ton of potential to be more. It makes sense with her background, but I wanted more from her character.

There are some sex scenes and comments because it is ultimately a romance. I’m not 100% sold on adding this content warning, but I prefer to live by, “better safe than sorry” when it comes to what people consider needing a warning about. So, there are sexual scenes/comments, but it’s nowhere near erotica.

I actually really enjoyed reading Kill Without Mercy. I flew through it and for the time I couldn’t read at work, I was thinking about the book and counting down to when I could start reading again. If you’re a fan of thriller/suspense romance, then I would definitely recommend giving Kill Without Mercy a chance.

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