Hard to Come By

Hard Ink, Book 3

By: Laura Kaye

Narrated by: Seraphine Valentine

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2014 Laura Kaye (P)2014 Harper Collins Publishers

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

THE ABSOLUTE BEST SO FAR IN THE SERIES!

This is the best one so far! Again, I feel like I'm late to the party on this series and author. I won't make that mistake again, because I'm now a lifetime fan. This installment of Hard Ink was jammed with action, suspense, HOT HOT HOT sex, and I listened in one sitting. I can not wait until June when the next book is out. One thing to note, is that, I think this is ACTUALLY the 4th book as opposed to the 3rd based on a few references throughout the story. Each book could stand alone, but, I enjoy listening in sequence. I don't think I missed much or any major spoilers revealed by the incorrect sequence so I'm not too miffed.

Great 5-star listen, and definitely worth a credit!

I am obsessed with this series

This book especially was super hot and the hero is super sweet and funny. Theoretically they can be a stand alone but they are better when you read them together.

Book hog

Excellent series. They are all different for time frame of a month time frame. Crazy talent writing for that to happen yet all can 98% of each book is stand-a-lone.

MORE EXCITING CLUES/ANSWERS/ACTION & ROMANCE

This is a great series to get into… a band of ex Army Special Forces men who were mysteriously set up while on duty, caught in a deadly ambush and unceremoniously kicked out of the Army with bad records. They're trying to find out the who, what and why's of the day that changed their lives in order to restore their, and their 7 killed comrades, reputation and honor. But along the way there's nail-biting action, mystery, suspense, twists, new characters and a sexy, passionate love story.

Handsome, tattooed and honorable Marz has to get close to Emilie, the Sister of a gang member who they think may be able to give them some more information, but this proves to be easy and hard to do…. easy because as soon as they meet Marz and Emilie 'click' and the attraction's strong and hard because he's always been honest so doesn't like lying to her. But unsuspecting Emilie is worried about her Brother's erratic and more violent behaviour, she's a Psychologist so contacts the Police to get him taken into care because she thinks he's delusional. Once these wheels are set in motion she has unknowingly put everyone's life in great danger - including her own…….. which results in kidnapping, a high speed car chase, murder, a deadly explosion and everyones secrets are found out.

Dual POV's, great narration but this is part of a building storyline so, to get the most from the series, it would be best to start at book 1.

Worth a credit? A well-written, action-packed edge of your seat romance with loveable characters and an emotionally damaged Heroine and a physically and mentally damaged Hero…….. so YUP, very creditworthy.

Wonderful story telling!

The story is riveting from the first line as are all of Laura Kaye's books. I expected no less then to be enthralled and I wasn't disappointed. The performance, timing, voices and emotion were all evident from the beginning. Overall a fantastic read and listen.