Hard As It Gets

October 7, 2013
In the first of a new series set in a tattoo parlor, bestseller Kaye (One Night with a Hero) introduces the last remaining members of a disgraced Special Forces unit. When Becca Merritt’s brother, Charlie, goes missing, she begs assistance from Nick Rixey, the sexy but forbidding part-owner of Hard Ink Tattoo, who once reported to her father in the Special Forces. Becca doesn’t know that her father, now deceased, led Nick and his group into a messy battle that left all but five dead. Touched by her courage and dogged by his conscience, Nick reluctantly agrees to help the attractive Becca, and their mutual suspicion soon turns into sizzling romance. Nick summons his former teammates as backup, and future books will clearly follow the fortunes of these men as they try to clear their names. The intriguing tattoo parlor and military background will appeal to fans of Suzanne Brockmann and Lindsay McKenna. Agent: Jennifer Schober, Spencerhill Associates.

November 1, 2013
Becca Merritt's brother has gone missing, leaving behind a cryptic note instructing her to contact Rixey at Hard Ink, which turns out to be tattoo parlor. Nick Rixey, who has many reasons for loathing Becca's father from his Special Forces career, at first refuses to help her but then feels guilty about it. When he checks on her, he finds an intruder in her house, after which she is mugged at work, so Nick relents. While fighting a fierce attraction to Becca, Nick calls in the remaining members of his Special Forces unit, and they're joined by a Baltimore cop and Nick's brother in an effort to protect her and find her brother. Kaye leaves enough loose ends for a sequel in what is obviously the beginning of a series about five Special Forces guys getting their reputations back after their unwillingly forced army discharges, thanks to Becca's father's corruption in Afghanistan. Kaye's depiction of sexual tension and her sex scenes are masterful, and this will appeal to fans of Maya Banks' KGI and Julie Ann Walker's Black Knight series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)