LOVE IS THE GREATEST RISK OF ALL

After multiple tours of duty, Brandon Forte returns to his hometown on a personal mission: to open a facility for military service dogs like Haydn, a German shepherd who’s seen his share of combat and loss. It also brings him back to Sophie Kim, a beacon of light in his life . . . and the one woman he can’t have. But Forte’s success means he’s made enemies in high places. Enemies who are now after Sophie . . .

When Forte enlisted and left without saying goodbye, Sophie did her best to move on. But with her first love back in town, looking sexier than ever, she’s constantly reminded of what they could have had. Then after he risks himself for her, Sophie realizes she’ll have to put her life in the hands of the man who broke her heart, knowing the danger -and the sparks between them- could consume them both.  

She wasn’t just a childhood friend; she was his reason for breathing.

The third and last installment to the series and with a heavy heart I’m afraid to say my least favourite. This series without a doubt is fantastic and Ms. Drake has done a good job (not that she needs any validation on my part) in creating something so unique with each book. But this one just didn’t work for me.

Brandon & Sophie have been friends for years when they were teenagers they were more but that changed the day Brandon walked away without saying a word. After each tour he always came back to Sophie. But without ever saying anything about his true feelings for her. Years pass and they both still hold onto that friendship without moving forward they are stuck in a comfortable rut.

These two characters have been in the first two books and yet I still couldn’t get a feel for them. It was too fleeting and in this book it wasn’t much better. I didn’t see or really feel a connection between them in the book well to be honest nothing more than friends. Writing a story and getting the MC out of the friend zone can be quite tricky and here this what happened. It was hard to get them out of that zone. There isn’t a lot of chemistry between them but I could be oblivious to it has been known to happen. Blind as a bat and all that nonsense.

The heroine Sophie Kim is reliable, sensible, and responsible. To put it in plain English Sophie Kim is a bit of a dull girl. It improved somewhat throughout the book but I would have liked to have seen more of a change.

The Hero of the book well I really can’t tell you much about him. His feelings were clear but he put up so many roadblocks and so many things were left unsaid. There were obstacles where none where necessary.

The plot of the book is a good storyline to run with Sophie’s job as an accountant nearly gets her killed, yeah I know you would have thought huh? If it hadn’t been for Haydn the German Shephard then she would have been toast. Right place & right time and all that. This leads to several more dangerous incidents that occur that leads to contract being out there on her. Brandon whisks her away to protect her. But if there was such limited contact to the outside how did they find her? That would have been interesting to know. Yeah I get it probably just me and my idiocrasy that I want to know and no one else does.

This is a story of second chance romance reconnecting with the past and coming to terms with it and trying to move forward together. And in a way it is a cute read, mindboggling because I didn’t get some of heroine’s issue. A fear that he will leave again? Some things that I found to be of importance that added to the story or would have helped where briefly mentioned and well it was done and dusted.

Although they work through the hows and the whys of him leaving I still didn’t feel as if the outcome was what it was meant to be. There is such a big problem with the family and then we don’t see him being welcomed into the family I thought what is the reasoning behind the whole story.

Now all in all this is a good and strong read and I enjoyed it very much. Ms. Drake is talented and I enjoy her work and an author to watch out for. Maybe it is the trope of second chance romance or I was just not feeling it. Who knows? I know nothing.

I would recommend the series as it is a pleasure to read.