Audio Book Review: Last Hope by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick

Last Hope
(Hitman Series, #4)
by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick
Narrators: Kasha Kensington and Iggy Toma

Blurb:
Mendoza: I grew up in the slums and lost everything I loved to poverty, illness, and death. I had only one skill to leverage myself out of my circumstances-violence. Being hired out as a mercenary hitman brought me money and built an empire. My next job: steal secret information that could bring down world governments, find my target, and destroy it. But then, I meet her.

Ava: When my best friend, Rose, is kidnapped, I have no choice but to take a job as a mule for a pair of criminals intent on selling top secret information to the highest bidder. I should have known that bad luck tends to cling, because the plane I'm on goes down. That I survived a crash-landing was a miracle. And so was being rescued by sexy mercenary Rafe Mendoza. The thing is, he wants the information that I need to free Rose. I can't let him have it, but I need his help. Rose is depending on me, and I won't let her down.

Available for purchase at 

           

Viviana's Review: 

I must start this review stating that I have enjoyed this series.  Granted, at times, the heroines could be a tad bit “too naive” for their own good.  However, overall, the series is a good one.  Great alpha males that are determined and know what they want and go after it.  They also happen to be “heroes” in one way or another.  Oh and they are HOT!!!  With Last Hope being the last book in the series, I must say that all good things must come to an end.  Also, it’s good to end things vs. drag the series on and on.

  

However, I was eternally grateful to have been listening to this book instead of reading it.  I think I would have thrown the book across the room if I was reading it instead of listening.  Why?  OMG if Rafe (hero) went googoo gaga over Ava (heroine) one more time…  The problem was that it wasn’t a moment or two… it was overly repetitive and you wanted to yell at the book and Rafe “Alright already, we get it!  She’s gorgeous!  You want her and you think you can’t have her!”  Again, Rafe’s pining over Ava was just way too overly done!  Way too repetitive.  Thank you Iggy for narrating!  I understand the character’s backstory and I could see and know the why but at 35 years old I just couldn’t see it.  His behavior was that more of a 15 year old instead of a 35 year old.  I get that this is a story, but there has to be some sense of realism and his reaction/behavior toward her/for her wasn’t believable.

Speaking of Rafe’s backstory, I had issues believing he believed part of what occurred when he was a teenager.  Again I understand inexperience but at the age of 35 he hadn’t learned the truth?  It was just too unbelievable.

If the story would have been taken down a notch or two, it would have worked so much better!  The story concept was good.  The idea of a hitman saving a woman who is currently being used as a mule for information… it works.  For this series it works.

Overall it was okay.  Again, the concept of the story is a good one.  The writing was over the top unfortunately and there were too many unbelievable moments/parts of the story.  

Narrators: They both made reading this book bearable.  They did a great job with the voices.  Love Iggy!  Could listen to him for hours.

 Rating: 2.5 - It was okay

Disclaimer:

I received a complimentary copy of this book from PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

Book Review: Last Hope by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick

Last Hope
(Hitman Series, #4)
by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick

Blurb:
Mendoza: I grew up in the slums and lost everything I loved to poverty, illness, and death. I had only one skill to leverage myself out of my circumstances—violence. Being hired out as a mercenary hitman brought me money and built an empire. But all that I've fought for is in jeopardy. My next job: Steal secret information that could bring down world governments. Find my target. Destroy it. But then, I meet her.

Ava: Karma hates me. When my best friend Rose is kidnapped, I have no choice but to take a job as a mule for a pair of criminals intent on selling top-secret information to the highest bidder. I should have known that bad luck tends to cling, because the plane I'm on goes down. That I survived a crash-landing was a miracle. And so was being rescued by Rafe Mendoza—hot, sexy, dangerous. The thing is, he wants the information that I need to free Rose. I can't let him have it, but I need his help. And I need to fight this crazy attraction for this mercenary with hungry eyes. Rose is depending on me, and I won't let her down, no matter how appealing Rafe is.

Available for purchase at 

           

 Paul's Review:

This last book in the Hitman series is quite an adventure.  Ava, the female protagonist, is forced to work for some very bad people who have kidnapped her best friend Rose.  These evil people are threatening to kill Rose if Ava does not follow their every command, and Ava will do anything it takes to save her friend’s life.

Ava’s every move is being watched by Rose’s kidnappers, but she is also being surveilled by mercenaries who are former U.S. Army soldiers.  Their leader Rafael “Rafe” Mendoza is instantly smitten by Ava.  Mendoza and his mercenaries are trying to get their hands on the same information that Ava is being forced to try to sell to the highest bidders all around the world.

Mendoza is a severely broken man being the product of the rape of his mother among other issues, and his troubles only multiply (in his eyes) when he has to achieve his goal of obtaining his information and keep safe the woman whose beauty and allure make thinking clearly impossible, much less achieving a very dangerous goal.  Mendoza, while quickly falling in love with Ava, struggles to keep her at arm’s length most of the book.  Rafe Mendoza feels his dark secret makes him unworthy of such a beautiful woman and a threat to her very life at the same time.

It is said that love conquers all things, and once Mendoza saves Ana she shows him just how true this statement is.  Ava helps Rafe fight and destroy his inner demons, and while they lived through some harrowing experiences they each lose their best friend in the process.

The action is awesome in this book; you can’t put it down.  The sex scenes are amazing and plentiful, and you are spared no detail.  Most of the characters are instantly liked - for me, all but Rose (Ava’s kidnapped best friend) as she is portrayed as naive to the point of “you’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

Speaking of characters, Mendoza is the not-so-proud owner of a twelve (yes, twelve) inch penis; he had a very bad experience trying to have sex with a girlfriend 35 years ago when she bled profusely and died two days later.  To make matters worse, the girl’s brothers told Rafe she died because he tried to have sex with her and they beat him within an inch of his life and mutilated his groin.  Add this to the fact that Rafe has been told by his mother since birth that he is evil and his huge penis is proof of it, and well…  Rafe truly believes he is cursed and kills anyone he loves.
Ava is so awed by the size of his penis that she calls it “Godzilla”.  Now, as a man reading this book I can’t help but think the odds of having a penis that big are very low, but it could happen.  Good for him I say.  Must be rough.  We regular, normal, mere mortals deal with slightly less.  And it’s funny, too - you would think he would be so happy to be so endowed, just as many think tall people (like me) must be so happy to be so tall.  Not the case.

I really enjoyed this book, and I hope there will be more to come.  I think it is so cool the way things ended up.

Rating: 4.5 Stars - I REALLY LOVED IT

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.