Review: Exposing the Heiress by Jennifer Apodaca (Once a Marine #3)


Note: This ARC was provided by Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

When heiress Alyssa Brooks is threatened by her ex-fiancé right after she breaks off their engagement, the only person she thinks of approaching to help her is her estranged best friend's older brother and the first guy she ever had feelings for--Hunter Reece. The friendship and trust is still there, even after not having seen each other in years, but soon, the attraction she once thought was one-sided becomes obviously mutual. But Hunt isn't the same guy he once was, and he's now keeping a part of himself hidden from her.

Years spent as a sniper in the Marines has made Hunt the cold and calculated killer he is today. He's seen the kind of horrified reaction he gets when the switch is flipped and he refuses to expose his family and now Lyssie to that part of him. However, Hunt knows that the only way he can truly protect Lyssie from her demented former fiancé is by being the guy ready to kill if necessary. Once she glimpses the killer lurking within him, will Lyssie still be able to love and accept Hunt wholeheartedly or will she walk away?

Exposing the Heiress is the third and latest release in the romantic suspense series Once a Marine from Jennifer Apodaca. The story has a friends-to-lovers and falling-for-one's-best-friend's-brother feel to it as Alyssa Brooks and Hunter Reece reunion is brought about by Lyssie's need for protection from her ex-fiancé and Hunt is the best man to provide it, what with his Marine training and now being in the private sector as a security specialist. There's a lot of sexual tension between the two but it's often tempered by Hunt's PTSD and Lyssie's own worries for the son she gave up for adoption as well as for her own safety and that of her closest and most trusted friends. The son not being Hunt's was quite a nice change of pace.

This book felt a bit different from the first two in the series and it had a lot to do with the author focusing a sufficient amount of attention to showing how Hunt was actually dealing with his PTSD. Hunt was also interesting because he had a dominating presence but had an artistic and creative side to him, one that blended well with Lyssie's own artistic and creative leanings. It's clear that Lyssie's ex is the villain in the story, but his true motivation for going after her was a bit of a surprise so kudos and I appreciated how everything came full circle. The series has been enjoyable so far and I hope Cooper Sims, Griff Rankin, and Sienna Walker get their stories told in the near future. Exposing the Heiress gets four out of five stars. ♥

Release Date: 04 August 2015

Date Read: 03 August 2015

Learn more about Jennifer Apodaca here.

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