Friday, May 12, 2023

"Blind Trust" Natalie Walters

About this book:

  “Lyla Fox knows she has a reputation at the SNAP Agency for impulsivity, but when she receives a threatening letter from a man she helped put in prison, she can't stop herself from going all in to find out why he's coming after her. Unfortunately, she's going to need the help of the one person who questions her reckless choices more than anyone else.
   Explosives and weapons specialist Nicolás Garcia agrees to help Lyla in order to keep her safe, but her recklessness continues to be a major concern, especially when her investigation into a conspiracy puts a target on her back. Dealing with bombs is dangerous. Working with Lyla is proving to be just as treacherous--to both the mission and his heart.”


Series: Book #3 in “The SNAP Agency” series. Review of the prequel novella Here!, Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are said, quoted, & remembered; Prayers & Blessings over food; A few talks about God; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Lyla says that while she doesn’t avoid prayer, she just doesn’t do it often; Mentions of God & Him being in control; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles & those and events in the Bible; Mentions of a men’s Bible study & a person discussed (Elijah); Mentions of blessings; A few mentions of church going, a sermon, & a pastor; A couple mentions of a chaplain;
             *Note: A quote by Corrie ten Boom is repeated; Mentions of evil people; A mention of Kekoa wanting to be called a “Hawaiian cybergod”; A mention of a woman being called “the devil”.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘ever-loving’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘putz’, a ‘screw up’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sucker’, two ‘bah’s, two ‘dumb’s, three forms of ‘ticked off’, and six forms of ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Finding a body & the smell (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing someone shot (up to semi-detailed); Being shot, Being shot at, Being held at gunpoint, Being attacked, Being kidnapped, Being kicked off a horse, Fighting, a Bomb, Pain, Blood/Bleeding, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Lying; A criminal asks to be able to commit suicide (which Lyla says is the “coward’s way out” and won’t let him); A man wants to murder an evil person; Nic goes to the gun range and does all Kill Shots on the target (later, when upset, he wants to go to the range again to kill a paper target); Nic & Lyla go to a rage room & destroy things (Lyla finds it therapeutic); All about many mentions of money laundering, stolen money, counterfeit rings, crimes, criminals, arrests, jails/prisons, & deaths; Many mentions of wars, terrorist groups (including Al-Qaeda), terrorism, terrorist attacks, & deaths; Many mentions of bombs/explosives, bombings/explosions, deaths, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of threats, vandalism, & break-ins; Mentions of deaths, finding bodies, & apparent suicides (or possibly murders, all up to semi-detailed); Mentions of gun smuggling, someone being shot, being held at gunpoint, gunshots/gunfire, hostage situations, & deaths; Mentions of a kidnapping; Mentions of a bad car accident & major injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being knocked out & concussions (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of nightmares (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of drinking, drunks, grabbing a drink with friends, alcohol, & a DUI (a main character got a ticket for DUI a few years prior to the book starting after drinking a couple beers after a break-up); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of hunting & hunters; A few mentions of a mother putting drugs in her baby’s bottle to put her to sleep & the baby having violent withdrawals (the child is no longer with the mother); A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of drugs; A couple mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of tattoos; A mention of someone wishing that he was dead; A mention of criminals locked up for murder, domestic violence, & child abuse; A mention of a gambling problem; A mention of smoking; 
             *Note: Lyla feels insecure about the love from her family & tested the limits while growing up (*Spoiler* It turns out she was adopted, which she a surprise to her and she is hurt by it being kept a secret, but has a few discussions with her parents about her being their daughter no matter what *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of TV shows, movies, fiction characters, actors/actresses, singers, & songs (The Jetsons, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Princess Bride, Shrek, Tomb Raider, Cars, Planes, Charlie’s Angels, Mission: Impossible, Carmen Sandiego, James Dean, Matthew McConaughey, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Rascal Flatts, Don Ho, John Lennon, the Beatles, Zeppelin, John Mellencamp, Justin Timberlake, Elvis, Carrie Underwood, Donny Osmond, & The Carpenters); Mentions of brand names (Carhartt jackets, Ralph Lauren, Vans, Nike, Pop-Tarts, Starbucks, Dove chocolate, M&M’s, Cheetos, & AirPods); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of restaurants (Denny’s & Chick-fil-A); A couple mentions of some male criminals believing that women are too dumb to do anything if they confess; A couple mentions of football teams; A couple mentions of a kid liking the poop emoji; A mention of Botox; A mention of social media (Facebook); A mention of Google; A mention of Uber. 
 
 
Sexual Content- Staring at another’s lips (barely-above-not-detailed); A finger-to-lips kiss, a head kiss, an almost (semi-detailed) kiss, and five semi-detailed kisses (two by a married couple); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (up to semi-detailed); A ‘babe’ and a ‘baby’; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & seeing couples kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of feeling the “va-va-voom” feeling when seeing your spouse or future spouse; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends/girlfriends, exes, & break-ups; A few mentions of desire & longing for someone; A few mentions of women who found out their husbands are cheating; A few mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of teenaged crushes; A mention of criminals locked up for rape; A mention of a regime that oppresses and violates women; A mention of Nic not doing one-night stands as he dates with marriage in mind; A mention of a girl having to avoid her “new daddies” that her mother brings home; A mention of a woman recalling her Spanish boyfriend who would kiss her and say “yummy” in Spanish; A mention of a brothel; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A few mentions of a bachelorette party; A couple mentions of picture of women showing off their enhanced features with scant clothing; A couple mentions of hunky guys; A mention of a loincloth; A mention of a married couple trying for a baby; A mention of the death of a pregnant woman in a terrorist attack. 
 
-Lyla Fox 
-Nicolás Garcia, age 32
                                P.O.V. switches between them, Tom (x3), & Brooks (x2)
                                                        313 pages


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

While the first two books in this trilogy might not have been my favorite cup of tea, I did still have higher hopes for this one because I really liked the Lyla & Nicolás from the prior books and was really looking forward to their story. 

I do wish we could have learned more about Nicolás, as I don’t feel like I really know much about him except for his protectiveness for and also denying his feelings for Lyla. She was a pistol and while I’ll admit to her frustrating me at times, I did like both of them. Especially how well they worked together and got the job done. (Also there was no awkwardly-timed/bad-timing kisses like I’ve seen so many times in suspense books, so props to the author for eliminating that trope!)

When I reviewed my fourth/fifth book (one was a novella) by this author, I had said that this book was going to be the book that would decide if I’ll be continuing on with this author’s books. Well, I did like this one, so I guess I’ll be seeing what the author writes next. 

I will say that the ending felt a little bit rushed and I’m impressed by the fact that I didn’t see a certain twist coming. (If I’m being super honest, I’m also annoyed that I didn’t see it coming.) 

I really like the concept for this trilogy—a special law enforcement agency that doesn’t have to wait for approvals and be held up because of red tape—so while I’m still sad that I didn’t enjoy the prior two books, I did enjoy this one.  

 

 

See y’all on Monday with a new review! 




*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment