I really like Cav, he must be one of the most sensitive heroes I have come across. A great story with lots of growth in the characters ( )

So a lot of my fellow book nerds have been telling me to read a Lindsay McKenna book for a while now, so I decided that Nowhere to Hide was going to be my book of choice and now I am kicking myself that I didn’t listen to them earlier!
Lia Cassidy left the Army after being viciously attacked by two of her fellow service men while working in the motor pool in Afghanistan. Every day she lives with the nightmares of being attacked and feeling helpless to stop it. So instead of just sitting around and allowing the nightmares to control her life, she is working as a manager for a charity based school in a little village called La Fortuna in northern Costa Rica. But her hideaway was destroyed by a vengeful drug lord, who is mad at the staff of the school, for saving one of the drug lord’s sex slaves.
Cav Jordan is a retired Special Forces and is working in private security, when he is called up to protect Lia. Cav takes his job seriously, but he is instantly attracted to Lia, but knows she has built extremely thick walls around her heart. But first he has to concentrate on keeping Lia alive…then maybe they could look to the future.
This story blew my socks off! I honestly didn’t know how I would feel about reading about an almost rape! Whether it’s fictional or not, reading such a storyline can easily inspire nightmares for me, but thankfully it didn’t. Now, I didn’t actually read the novella that came before this, but it doesn’t matter this story is a standalone, that catches you up on anything that you may have missed.
So down to the nitty gritty; the writing is smooth, plot, complete and the characters are easy to fall in love with. The whole book is so very, very moreish, that I honestly couldn’t put it down and now I am desperate for every single book in the series.
I give Nowhere to Hide a well-deserved 10 out of 10
( )

This story would have benefited by a ruthless editor. The story started out fast, and moved along well until the original plot crisis was over, about 2/3rds of the way through. From that point on, the story consisted of dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, and little else. The H/H were better at the beginning, but the heroine's issues dragged on so much, that I gave up on the story at 8:10, with an hour and a half left to go. ( )

This is the first installment of [a:Lindsay McKenna|55481|Lindsay McKenna|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1342045959p2/55481.jpg]'s new Delos series, which will be centered around Artemis Security, a personal security division of the huge Delos charity conglomerate. You will want to know who the players are with the Delos charity and Artemis alike, so I encourage you to at least read the Author's Note, but you can get more background by reading the prequel, [b:Last Chance|25894000|Last Chance (Delos #.5)|Lindsay McKenna|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438335835s/25894000.jpg|45776014].

Lia Cassidy is a tortured heroine, self-conscious about being disfigured after a brutal attack that occurred when she was in the Army. Lia has just been through another harrowing attack ordered by the local drug lord, and Delos arranges for her to have personal security in the form of Cav Jordan. Cav is also a tortured hero, having grown up with an abusive drug-addicted father. This couple is drawn to one another from the first meeting, and there's nothing like danger to bring a couple closer together. Dilara and Robert, founders of Delos, fancy themselves matchmakers and have handpicked Cav to take care of Lia and bring her out of her shell. Their romance was very much a slow burn as both had to get over past hurts and learn to trust another person in a romantic situation.

I thought the suspense in this book (and in [b:Last Chance|25894000|Last Chance (Delos #.5)|Lindsay McKenna|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438335835s/25894000.jpg|45776014]) was done quite well. The situation with the drug lord didn't require you to suspend your belief, and all of the events seemed within the realm of possibility. I would have actually liked for the suspense/action to continue longer than it did because the story became much more slow-paced for the last quarter and I missed the adrenaline spikes.

The book was very dialogue-driven so I felt there was more telling than showing, if that makes sense. I think it would have been a good candidate for an alternating first-person POV instead of the third-person POV that we have. But that is a personal preference for me - I love to get in the characters heads. I did like reading about the spelunking - it has me wanting to go find some caves around me. But being as we are below sea-level here, that might not be the smartest idea.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars / 2 flames. ( )