Sunday 2 February 2014

✪ Do or die ✪ Suzanne Brockman ✪ REVIEW ✪

© Bianca ✰ 





SUZANNE BROCKMAN
DO OR DIE
• 576 pages
• release date - 04 February - 2014
• Reluctant Heroes #1



★★★★★
5 Stars




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.

Or die trying.






MY THOUGHTS

 The Story...

We start with a Prologue.... several years ago....
Former Navy SEAL Ian Dunn and his little team of 'experts' (including his brother) are on a mission in Istanbul, Turkey.
Ian is just supposed to stay with the Prince until his team-mate can download everything from the royal computer - but it doesn't end the way it was planned. Ian ends up 'stealing' a bag full of World-War 2 jewels from a member of the royal family!!!
Yep - not good. Now Ian is wanted and hunted world-wide.
But all is not really as it seems.... Are the Dunns jewel thiefs? hmm... not telling you ☺

Years later in Florida....
The first chapter has Ian in jail! He's been there for 9 months already and now two people sit in front of him, telling him he'll be out today - because they need him to free two kids from inside an embassy where they're being held by their insane father.
Normally a thing that would be just up this Ex SEAL's alley - but not today unfortunately. Because for reasons unknown to everybody, Ian has to stay in prison. Walking out would put his brother's family in jeopardy!

The two people who want Ian to save those kids are Phoebe - Ian's new lawyer and Martell - an ex-cop - turned lawyer - who's a friend of our old book-friend Ric - who we met in Suzanne's Troubleshooter Series ☺ (Ric's book was Number 11: Force of Nature!)
Martell was tasked by our Troubleshooter-Darling Jules Cassidy to get Ian to help those kids. Because Ric was badly wounded in his rescue-attempt. And because the US government couldn't officially infiltrate a foreign embassy - they need Ian to get those kids back!

But Ian has some requests before accepting the job.
He wants immunity for himself - but especially for his brother and his little family and his brother's sister in law. His team.
But most importantly he needs to know that his people are safe, because as soon as he steps foot outside of jail - the bad guys will be looking for him and his brother - whom they want dead!

In between the real-time story we take a few looks back at how Aaron and Shel met and fell in love 10 years ago ☺ adorable!

I could keep talking about the story for hours - it hasn't really started yet ☺
but I don't want to spoil anything for you....

WILL THERE BE A HAPPY END????

 I'm not telling you, of course ☺



____________________________________________________________

I LOVED THE BOOK


 This book is such a great and HUGE tale - sooo full of ... STORY - you could make a full 24-episode TV-Show Season of it and it still wouldn't be boring!

I should maybe start out by saying that I'm a HUGE Suzanne Brockmann & Navy SEAL Fan ☺
That might have clouded my judgment a little - but I don't think so ☺
It was a wonderful book - a THANK-YOU-JESUS VERRRY long book! (and I'm sooo not religious!)

There's this big story-line - about the kids in the embassy - but there are also many little side stories - about the family members - the growing love-story of Ian and Phoebe and I normally hate side stories in books - I only want to read about the 2 main characters - but here it didn't bother me AT ALL - I WANTED to read about Aaron & Shel and about Francine & Martell and all the others ☺

There are suspensy moments - sad moments - moving moments - lots of funny moments!

It's really the perfect book! 
For me at least it was ☺

Were there some tiny little things I didn't like? Hm ... maybe the way every character talks like a real person - in other books, people often talk like they jumped out of a business letter. Suzanne uses everyday words and slang and it just sounds so much better than what you're used to - BUT - it might be a bit too much, because everybody in this book talks like that ☺ One or two would be ok - but here they all talk the same - you can't really tell them apart.

BUT - I love the way they talk - so it didn't bother me - it might bother some other people though :(

And mayyyybe the love-story between Ian and Phoebe could've been a bit ...hm - more intense???  more? ??? It could've started a bit earlier, or maybe it just felt a bit rushed because we read about so many other people and we go so many places - Ian and Phoebe seem to get a little lost in all of that.

But that's it..

 I LOVED THE BOOK!!!!!

grrrr - I can't wait to read the next one in the series!!!



I really enjoyed DO OR DIE.

GO GET IT! ☺ 





LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR




STALK SUZANNE ON:


SUZANNE BROCKMAN:
 Stolen from her homepage ☺


 Suzanne Brockmann is the New York Times bestselling author of fifty-three novels.  Her favorite is the one where her most popular character, gay FBI agent Jules Cassidy, wins his happily-ever-after and marries the man of his dreams.  Called All Through the Night, this was the first mainstream romance novel with a hero and a hero ever to hit the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list.  In 2007, Suz donated all of her earnings from this bookin perpetuity, to MassEquality, to help win and preserve equal marriage rights in Massachusetts.
Since her explosion onto the publishing scene twenty years ago, Suz is now widely recognized as one of the leading voices in romantic suspense. Her work has earned her repeated appearances on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists, as well as numerous awards, including Romance Writers of America’s #1 Favorite Book of the Year (three years running), two RITA Awards, and many Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards.

Married to author and screenwriter Ed Gaffney, Suz divides her time between Sarasota, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts. She has two grown children, Melanie, who is a personal trainer and a writer, and Jason, who is an actor and tap dancer.  Suz also has two miniature schnauzers, C.K. Dexter-Haven and Little Joe, both of whom (unlike Mel and Jason) still live at home.

Suz has recently co-written a Young Adult paranormal romance called NIGHT SKY with her daughter, Melanie.  It’ll be released in late 2014, from Sourcebooks.

Suz also recently produced her first independent feature-length movie, a romantic comedy called THE PERFECT WEDDING, that she co-wrote with her husband Ed and her son Jason. The film is available now via streaming and on DVD from Wolfe Releasing.  Find out more at www.ThePerfectWeddingMovie.com.

Suz is a proud member of PFLAG — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. She is also a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, and MassEquality. A firm believer in civil rights for all people, she fought hard to bring equal marriage rights to all citizens of her home state, Massachusetts, and is currently working to do the same in Florida.