Review: The Story of Danny Rose by Cara Dee (The Hillcroft Group #1)

Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author via Eliza Rae Author Services.

It's been almost three years since I last read a Cara Dee-penned book, and the time has come to rectify that misstep! The Story of Danny Rose is the first book in Dee's new The Hillcroft Group series, and now, I think I'm going to need to do a bit of catching up since this appears to be a prequel of sorts that involve two other main characters that appear in her The Game and The Renegades series, twin brothers River and Reese Tenley. But what's great about this new story is that I don't feel like I'm missing important information, so I'm not lost in terms of what's happening. Maybe it has to do with events taking place prior to the ones involving the twins in the previous aforementioned series. However, I've read some of the reviews online and realizing that the Tenley twins are such popular and beloved characters that Dee has created, my curiosity is piqued and I'm going to do a deep dive via Kindle Unlimited sometime soon.

The Story of Danny Rose takes place in 1998, with other events in the story occurring in the months and years after, and it involves a former SAS operator and a recently discharged Green Beret who met and spent time together two years prior to the start of the book. At the age of forty, nothing much surprises Emerson Payne, a Brit who grew up in the US only to return to London from DC after his father's death and then head back to DC to work as an operator for The Hillcroft Group after leaving the SAS. Then Daniel Rose shows up at his cabin uninvited and insisting Em train him to become an operator as well. It's been two years since Em last saw the younger man, but twenty-nine-year-old Danny is still as cocky and headstrong as ever but one of the best soldiers Em had ever met. However, it seems that there's something essential he's about to learn about Danny once he spies the blue plushie in Danny's backpack.

I was sucked into all things Danny and Em from the moment the former left those notes for the latter during a planned getaway with the Tenley twins that Em was training for The Hillcroft Group. Their story plays out over less than two hundred pages, but I had their past, present, and future right there, and I relished every bit of it. The age gap alongside the Daddy Dom/little boy (DD/lb) proclivity aspect was one layer of their relationship, but theirs was more than a sexual connection. Em may have been exactly what Danny needed, but the same goes the other way around. They were sweet and romantic, and yes, they were hot together when it came to the sex. Their bond with River and Reese also highlighted that theirs was a found family, which is why I want to get to know the twins more and see where this new series will take readers next as more characters are highlighted. Five stars for The Story of Danny Rose.

Release Date: 25 October 2024

Date Read: 22 October 2024

Learn more about Cara Dee.

Pre-order The Story of Danny Rose on Author Direct.