Hard to Come By

A Hard Ink Novel

De: Laura Kaye

Narrado por: Seraphina Valentine

Five dishonored soldiers.
Former Special Forces.
One last mission.
These are the men of Hard Ink.

Derek DiMarzio would do anything for the members of his disgraced Special Forces team—sacrifice his body, help a former teammate with a covert operation to restore their honor, and even go behind enemy lines. He just never expected to want the beautiful woman he found there.

When a sexy stranger asks questions about her brother, Emilie Garza is torn between loyalty to the sibling she once idolized and fear of the war-changed man he's become. Derek's easy smile and quiet strength tempt Emilie to open up, igniting their desire and leading Derek to crave a woman he shouldn't trust.

As the team's investigation reveals how powerful their enemies are, Derek and Emilie must prove where their loyalties lie before hearts are broken and lives are lost. Because love is too hard to come by to let it slip away . . .

Very good addition to the series :D

4 stars

This was a very good story and addition to the series. I liked Derek and Emilie and thought they worked well together once they got past their rough start.

Emilie is a therapist in a small town outside of Baltimore. Emilie was married at one time but her husband cheated on her and now they're divorced. Emilie lives on her own in a house on the lake and is relatively happy in her life. Emilie's main concern right now is that she's been worried about the increasingly erratic and paranoid behavior her brother, Mannie, has been showing and is considering having him forcibly brought in for a mental evaluation before he hurts someone or himself.

Derek is ex-special forces who (along with 4 other team mates) was framed and discharged from service (and not honorably). Derek lost a leg in the ambush that they were framed over but does pretty well with his prosthetic leg. Derek grew up in foster homes all his life and his SF team was the closest to family he had. Losing them was rough on Derek and now he's determined not to lose them again.

Derek and his team have been working on finding evidence to prove that they didn't do anything wrong and clear their names. In this search, they found another ex-SF named Mannie that had something to do with their situation and could answer some questions. After some creative information gathering, Derek is able to find addresses for Mannie's mother and sister. Since the sister lives near, they decide to check her out and see if she's in contact with Mannie. They scope out her house but don't have much luck. During their observation of Emilie, Derek goes to the same restaurant and they strike up a conversation. The situation ends up requiring Derek to use the attraction between them to keep Emilie busy and Derek's not too happy about lying to her since she seems really nice. Derek's even more unhappy about the whole situation when he starts to develop feelings for Emilie and realizes she's developing some for him in return.

The lies between Derek and Emilie make things rough on them...especially when Emilie finds out what's going on and has to figure out if she can trust Derek. It does help that Mannie's crap blew up in her face and so when she finds out about Derek, he had just saved her from a dirty cop working for a gang that wanted to use her against her brother before selling her off in a human trafficking scheme. With a bit of time and some effort on Derek's part, Emilie ends up trusting him again and their relationship progresses. The action storyline (that pretty much spans the series) progresses a lot in this book and there's quite a bit going on and a big surprise as well. While things still need resolved in the action storyline, Derek and Emilie end the story together and working on starting their HEA.

This was a very enjoyable story. I liked Emilie...she was nice and smart and didn't do stupid/annoying things that made me want to tear my hair out. Derek was a good hero...he was a bit injured due to his past and all he'd been through, but it worked for the story and made his bonding so closely with Emilie more believable. Overall, I was very pleased with this addition to the series and I can't wait to see how things end. I'd recommend this story and series. :D

Great story and narration

What made the experience of listening to Hard to Come By the most enjoyable?

The continuation of the series, the author leaves just enough cliff hanger for the next book.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters.

Have you listened to any of Seraphine Valentine’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, the narrator sounded great from the 1st book

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The deaths of the loved ones, it made you feel just like you knew them.

A good continuation

I enjoy Jo’s each of the storylines get their own attention. And not just the love/lust story…the over arching storyline continues solidly as well.

This is absolutely the best I've read in a long ti

If you really love a meaningful story and the wonder of what happens next...with a lot of true meaningful relationships then this is a great choice. Can't wait for the next book!

absolutely a great book

loved it can't wait for the next one they keep getting better an better have listened to each one and fall in love more and more with the crew