Take one gorgeous, world famous supermodel who desperately wants and needs a vacation but has one job to finish first. Add an emotionally tortured, broken, and scarred, wounded warrior, whose best friend and mentor died in his arms two years earlier, a death for which he blames himself. Put him in charge of the photo shoot for the new line of women's active wear for Battle Brothers. Add off-the-charts chemistry between these two characters. Add a nearly successful attempt to kill them both. Add her manipulative and verbally abusive stepfather/manager. Add the fact that someone is not only trying to kill her, but all of the Battleson Brothers, and what do you have? You have Max (Alpha Heroes, #2), the latest steamy, action-packed, romantic suspense novel in Anna del Mar's Alpha Heroes series, and it get 5 stars from this reader.
If you've read the first novel in the Alpha Heroes series, Ajax, (and I recommend that you do) you already know that the Battleson Brothers met each other in juvenile detention at an early age. All had rough starts in life, and were bullied in juvie. Their mutual love of a video game brought them together, and a kindly couple took them in and eventually adopted them all, which is how they became the Battleson Brothers. Eventually, they all joined the military, ending up in various arms of special forces, and when they left the service, they started an uber-successful clothing empire, Battle Brothers, and while that was their public face, it hid their true mission as expert, covert mercenaries who used their military skills to step in and right wrongs when other channels failed, and in doing so, they made enemies, lots of enemies, most notably one they refer to as Zero Tango, who clearly wants to end them and put an end to their covert operations permanently. But who is this elusive enemy? How does he manage to get past their top-notch defenses? And where and who will he attack next? You're going to have to start reading this series because I don't do spoilers.
While this novel is, at its heart, the story of Max and Lexi, the wounded warrior and the ill-treated supermodel, it's also about their coming to terms with their own lives--ferreting out their own secrets and desires, and finding things in each other and in themselves that both characters need to admit to and face head-on. It makes for one heck of an exciting, emotional read, and is a great follow-up to the first novel in this series. I'm already looking forward to Ms. del Mar's next Alpha Heroes novel, and I have a strong suspicion that you'll feel the same way about this novel and this series. I highly recommend it.