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The Specialist  By  cover art

The Specialist

By: Anna Hackett
Narrated by: Stella Bloom,Teddy Hamilton
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Publisher's summary

She’s in danger, and now her personal protector is her too handsome, totally aggravating billionaire boss.

Executive assistant Harlow Carlson is having a very bad week. Firstly, she’s been temporarily reassigned to work for bossy, workaholic tyrant, Easton Norcross. He might be sex in a suit, but mostly she just wants to stab him with her stylus. Secondly, her father’s in trouble and has gone missing. Lastly, when a strange man attacks her on the street, Harlow knows she’s in over her head.

That’s when Easton steps in. Now her boss is her own personal protector, and he isn’t taking no for an answer.

After he left the Army Rangers, Easton Norcross found a purpose in building his company, Norcross Inc. He works hard, likes control, takes care of his family and employees, and thrives on making money. But his new assistant pushes buttons he never knew he had. Harlow’s smart, efficient, and not afraid to speak her mind. And her curvy body makes it very hard to remember that he’s her boss.

But when he sees she’s in danger, Easton is willing to break all the rules to keep her safe.

As danger swirls around Harlow and she’s sucked into her father’s dangerous dealings, Easton knows he’ll need all the specialist skills the Army gave him to protect her, as well as pulling in his brothers at Norcross Security. But the toughest job he’ll have is convincing his beautiful assistant to take the biggest risk of all - falling in love.

Note to listeners: This is a sexy, fast-paced romance with lots of action-packed suspense, a heroine in danger, and a hot billionaire boss, who’ll do anything to protect her.

©2021 Anna Hackett (P)2021 Anna Hackett

What listeners say about The Specialist

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Listener received this title free

So so good! (and even better with the narration)

First this book is action packed! Harlow's father (definitely not father of the year material) has gone into debt and the people are now coming after her. She started as an assistant to Easton Norcross and he just wants to protect her. He's growly, protective, totally alpha and I adored their relationship (Think a lot of banter- she gives as good as she gets and these two made me laugh a lot at their snarkiness). There is a lot of steam and I also loved to see prior and future characters make their appearances. I can't wait to get deeper and deeper into this series because these are really fun characters! While this is the third in a series but can be read as a standalone although this whole series is really great, full of action and intrigue.

So, I read the ebook first and loved it but then I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook and it was amazing. Ok, I have to admit that I love Teddy Hamilton and he's one of my favorite authors. But his ability to play multiple characters, his slightly growly tough voice and his voice modulation really make him one of the best narrators today. He was perfectly cast but so too was Stella Bloom, who also did a fantastic job playing all characters, female or male and I love her voice. Overall, a fantastic narration for an excellent book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

San Francisco- the country’s kidnapping capital

Yes, I know it’s all about the pulpy romance wish-fulfillment. Yes, I know I should just roll with the eyeroll. But, c’mon! After three books, there’s a certain Scooby Doo formula that only works if you stay on the shallow end of the romance pool. In every book:

The guys:
📍A billionaire, tattooed alpha with special (military) skills, who owns the perfect house, and cooks.
📍Rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt (cue drooling)
📍Wears faded jeans at home (cue drooling)
📍Sees red and growls when other men come onto the gals (before they’re an item)

The gals:
📍A lingerie loving, plucky spitfire who needs constant saving
📍Stays at his place for protection
📍Suffers minor injury in 1st kidnapping attempt that leads to smooching when tending to said injury
📍Falls for the bad guy’s obvious ploys
📍Big heart gets her in trouble
📍Can’t defend herself, except to go for the balls or blindly throw herself into danger
(Seriously gals, learn to shoot, punch, and think)

The danger:
📍Moronic villains creepily lust after gals
📍make multiple attempts to kidnap gals
📍succeed in kidnappings only long enough to give the Norcross team their slow-mo action sequence where they gear-up, storm the castle, and save the girl.

The nooky:
📍Hate-flirting. Danger. Kiss. Danger. Groping/fingers/mouths. Danger. Mouthy, detailed mambo, a lot.
📍seriously, danger, naughty, danger, naughty…

Each books tweaks the formula oh, so, slightly. Here, Easton is a “dirty talking Stevedore” and Harlow likes to restore historic homes. There’s double the naughty scenes compared to books one and two and they’re super detailed to where I found it gross (I do NOT need to hear about dripping down legs, eeeww). Everything is so over the top, from the constant kidnapping to the cheesy “yeah baby, take it deep” talk, to the perfect guys whose only “flaws” are how growly possessive they are. And yet, this is a formula that works for me. I get these on sale, and I have to be in the mood, but like Pringles, I can’t seem to listen to just one. And darned if I don’t have a cheesy good time listening.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Another hit

I love this family and their stories. This is no different. I only took off one star because although Harlow didn’t want Easton for his money, the banter constantly included reminders about his wealth. It became annoying

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Why do the women always do something stupid.

I love this series, the one thing I have a problem with is all the women do some stupid things and it messes things up for me. I have trouble dealing with stupid people and I know you can't fix stupid. Maybe it's that they have no common sense. If that was left out of the story then I would even give 10 stars if possible.
Spoiler Alert..
Example , they are living together he has shown over and over how much he loves her then all of a sudden she thinks she should move out because she doesn't want anything to go wrong ! It makes no sense, And knowing how bad butt these men are she decides to sneek out and be kidnapped.. STUPID !

All in all I do love this series and will keep going with all the books and it is worth a credit.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

Great story! Love, suspense, and mystery. These two have chemistry. The heroines dad made a huge financial mistake and the bad guys want his daughter as payment. The hero is not going to have that. Enjoyable story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Recommended

Another excellent story and I am hooked on the series. I have been reading in order. This 3rd story introduces a few new characters & getting to know some repeat characters better.

I like the almost constant action & how naturally Easton & Harlow's relationship changed.

The narration was spot on.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Harlow and Easton's story explodes on the pages

I love this series... and these Norcross brothers.. sigh. Harlow and Easton's story explodes on the pages, with the hint of enemies to lovers...but really it's just the two of them fighting...and losing the battle...against their attraction because once Easton discovers Harlow is in danger it's no holds barred to secure her safety by this swoony protector. And the rest is history... with fast-paced action, danger, and suspense these pages reel you in and Stella Bloom and Teddy Hamilton do an excellent job with the narration, putting you right into the tale. And of course, another Norcross boy falls and gets his HEA

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Guilty pleasure

This series is my guilty pleasure. Ridiculously hot. and skilled protective alpha males falling for women who are not shrinking violets, but still find themselves in need of some help. I am currently re-listening to the series and I would describe it as taking a Hollywood action movie infused with the essence of Cosmo and GQ magazines, add explicit sex scenes, shake like a martini and out comes this romantic suspense series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not your typical office romamce

Easton Norcross is quiet, controlled and protective of those he loves…so why does he let his new executive assistant rile him up? Harlow enjoys her job at Norcross Security, if only her boss wasn’t so annoying! She has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s latest exploits. When the very bad men, whom her father has been dealing with, comes after Harlow, she finally sees the protective side of Easton. Cute story…action and romance!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Another good one

This author writes sexy romantic suspenses like no one. My fave elements? Her heroines aren’t complete damsel in distress; her alpha males are capable of giving up control; pace and action are good. With this book, she adds another good one to her series.

The Norcross family is wealthy, so the fact that Easton is a billionaire isn’t a new element. The little special flavor here is the office romance aspect, as Harlow works for him. It adds a touch of forbidden to the story, which means denial, secrets, and of course office shenanigans. I love that. That also means a shift in the relationship, between boss/employee and victim/protector. Very different dynamics for sure.

It helps defining the characters. Easton is a tyran in the office, but once the woman he’s interested in is in danger, he shows her a completely different side of him. As for Harlow, she’s in charge with her family, but she can follow orders at her job, and she’ll fight before letting anyone help her when she ends up in a dangerous situation. They’re complex characters, and they have to meet somewhat in the middle. A middle they spend the whole book searching for.

The suspense part was just complicated enough to offer a couple of twists without risking plotholes. It may not be the most gripping story–because the Norcross family is powerful enough to be their own deus ex machina–but it does the job. You get Harlow in danger a few times, Easton scared for her, then angry at the people who want to arm her, and that creates the tension that pushes them together.

The whole Norcross clan makes an appearance with their spouse, even the parents. It was nice to see the siblings in a less formal situation.

The narrators from the previous books come back, and they do a good job once again. Sometimes the female narrator brought less energy than the male narrator, but it was overall quite good. I’ll keep listening to the series for sure.

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