Against All Odds + Giveaway

Random Retro Re-Read

For FBI Hostage Rescue Team member Evan Cooper and his partner, dignitary protection duty should have been a piece of cake. Unfortunately, Monica Callahan isn’t making it easy. Estranged from her diplomat father–who is involved in a sensitive hostage situation in the Middle East–she refuses to be intimidated by a related terrorist threat back in the States. That is, until a chilling warning convinces her that the danger is very real–and escalating.

As Coop and his partner do their best to keep her safe, Monica’s father triggers an abduction that puts his daughter’s life at risk. And with every second that ticks by, Coop knows that the odds of saving the only woman who has ever breached the walls around his heart are dropping. After all, terrorists aren’t known for their patience–or their mercy.

Book one in the Heroes of Quantico series, this suspense-filled novel will whisk readers along for the thrilling ride.

My Review:

published in 2009

Eeeeppp!!! This was my first Irene Hannon book way back in the day! Read it even before I started posting reviews on Good Reads or started my blog and I don’t believe I’ve missed a single one of her books since then. In fact, I picked Irene Hannon as one of my re-read authors for 2024, so this is the official start.

This time round I listened to the audio book (courtesy of Audible Plus) narrated by Stevie Ray Dallimore. While I usually prefer female narrators, I thought Dallimore did a pretty good job with the female voices and I enjoyed my listening experience….

And discovered that I really like ‘vintage’ romantic suspense. The pacing is very different from current books which leaves room to develop relationships and get to know the characters more. Also time for significant faith threads which is another bonus.

So, while there’s definitely suspense right from the start, it’s drawn out in a different way. As the plot thickens (literally!) readers are drawn in to the high stakes situation that gradually grows more desperate as time progresses.

Meanwhile there’s Monica trying to live her normal life while being guarded by Coop’s FBI team. There’s a certain ominous dread looming over every scene because this is a suspense, after all! But it’s a lot of ‘normal’ too as Monica and Coop clash over safety concerns. Monica can’t quite believe that something to do with her estranged father half way around the world could actually impact her ordinary life. But she’s wrong! Soooooo wrong!!!

Loved the way the romance developed. It didn’t feel rushed and was full of heartfelt conversations, some teasing banter and the delicious tension of two people meeting at the wrong time. He has a job to do and she’s at the centre of it! Definitely no time for romance and yet…happy sigh. Beautifully crafted!

The suspense builds gradually and then bursts into a ‘heart-stopping, gasp-out-louding’ scenario that left me clinging to the edge of my seat. Expertly written, from mega emotions to action scenes. And then — huge bonus — we’re given some wonderful downtime to decompress and wrap things up and head out into our happily ever after. Like I said — impeccable pacing.

A must read for the inspirational romantic suspense connoisseur!

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a print or ebook copy. Winner’s choice.

US – available in print or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada – available in print or ebook or audible (if available) — winner’s choice

International – ebook copy if you have a US Kindle account.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Against All Odds , leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday February 24 2024.

21 thoughts on “Against All Odds + Giveaway”

  3. I rarely reread books, but I like your idea of reading past favorites. I know this was published in 2009 but I didn’t find Irene until 2013, so it’s still been 11 years, long enough for it to be an almost new book to me. My first book by her too.

    I’ve read a majority of her books, 46 according to Goodread. I’ve missed some if her LI’s so I’m going to read a few of those and catchup.

    You are so right about the vintage suspense. They are written more to my liking, with crime solving more the focus and less gruesome violence that’s more common these days. And I do love Hannon’s perfect pacing. Great review.

    I think I’m going to follow suit and reread an old favorite by a different author each month. I’m going to add this to my list of reading goals. This book is a perfect place to start. As a side note, on kindle it has a new cover, but I think this one is better. I like that her first couple of series have the male leads on the covers.

    Happy reading Tuesday!

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    1. I’m thrilled that Irene Hannon is re-releasing her earlier LI novels including in audio format! Might mean I can actually read all of her books. Woohoo!

      It will be interesting to see how the romantic suspense genre evolves over the years as I re-read these books in publication order. I think we went through a stage of terrorist themed suspense and now it seems to be all serial killers which I’m not a fan of.

      Yay for joining in my re-reading journey. It just struck me one day — all these cherished books on my shelves that I’m keeping because they are so good but I’ve only read them once! Plus I got a whole bunch of their audio editions free on Audible Plus last year so I’ll get to listen to most of them this time round.

      Happy Reading, Tracey!

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    1. I’m going to be starting the second one soon. I like the idea of reading them close together (which I couldn’t do as they were being released) because of the secondary characters that are going to get their own stories.

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  6. Gorgeous cover, fabulous sounding story and a “Eeeeppp!!!……..Must Read” review from Kav, means I’m dying to read this book! My desire to do so has only gotten stronger with the passage of time. 

    Thank you so much for the chance to win a copy!

    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  8. I’ve read many Irene Hannon romances and loved them, but I haven’t read any suspense books yet. This one sounds good!

    Sandyavery at comcast dot net

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