Tijuana Nights

Nights Series #1

by Leigh K. Hunt

Getting shot at was never on McKenna Carmichael's bucket list, but then neither was being hunted by a Mexican Cartel.

After missing her flight, and then watching it blow up mid-air, Mack is stuck in Mexico and the only people she can trust are the ones that put her in this position in the first place.

River, Chase, and Gabriel offer Mack protection while they bring the El Diablo Cartel to its knees, and only by assisting them with yet another job will she gain the skills she needs to save her own life.

Her trip to Tijuana began as a simple game of distraction. Now it's a game of survival.

Enter Mack’s world in this action-packed thriller, the first book of Leigh K. Hunt’s new Nights Series.

Genres: Fiction

364 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2014

About the author

Leigh K. Hunt is a reader, writer, mother, and wife from the Land of the Long White Cloud, otherwise known as Aotearoa, New Zealand. She has a weird obsession with books like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pride & Prejudice, and adores Thrillers and Dystopian novels. To say that she lives in her own dreamy wonderland is an understatement.

As a child, her whole world was fantasy-based reality of tree huts, artistic endeavours, musical creations, and story inventions. She would only come back to the 'real world' to do the mundane things like feed the dog her broccoli or brussel-sprouts under the dining table.

If Leigh could have one superpower in the whole wide world, it would be to have the ability to fold space and time, so that she could be anywhere, at any time. Leigh loves travelling with a fiery passion, and exploring foreign countries, delving into different cultures, and immersing herself with the people.

In her adult life, she works full time, is a mother to a gorgeous but very lively two-year-old, and is married to her rock, Michael. She also has numerous mothers, fathers, and a couple of very special siblings who keep her grounded, despite her desire to permanently live inside her head.

To connect to Leigh, please visit her website: www.leighkhunt.com or you can connect with her on the social networks.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ Leigh-K-Hunt-Author/
Twitter: @leighkhunt
Email: leighkhunt.author@gmail.com

You can also subscribe to Leigh K. Hunt's Book Updates Newsletter. You will be the first to know about any book news, new releases and giveaways.
Author Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/XpTuL

Reviews

[Steve Bridger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Rip Roaring Romp of a Read!

Tijuana Nights starts with a bang and crackles and fizzes to the very last page. The action is breathless but Leigh skillfully inserts pauses for the reader to catch their breath.

The book introduces a strong female lead that is believable and engaging. As the book progresses it is easy to envisage Tijuana Nights as a movie or even a TV series. The adventures of her characters could be expanded into completely fresh storylines with twists and turns to keep an audience fully engrossed.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mack is back! After reading London Dusk I was keen to see how Mack and her friends developed as characters... by the end of this fast-paced novel I see them as people not characters :)
Totally absorbed - I love it when a book draws me in, and this one absolutely did. Mack's character is human and believable, she wrestles with her conscience and I can identify with that. She has great friends that get her out of trouble, even though it's mostly them that get her into trouble! After London Dusk I was keen to read Tijuana Nights... Now I'm champing at the bit to get the next one!!
The action scenes are well detailed and give you a very clear picture of what's going on... suitably gruesome and violent to fit the people involved... and yet the thoughtful moments are delicate and finely tuned, and sometimes in such contrast, I think that's why you slip inside this story. Depth but without gruelling epic portions.

(I was given an electronic copy of this to read for my review: This has in no way affected my review. I will only give an honest review to books regardless of the source.)

Follow my other reviews on my blog: http://nightowlproofing.wordpress.com/

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast, action packed story that kept me turning the pages. The reader is taken on a whirl wind adventure and you barely have time to draw breath before the team is drawn into yet another situation that they have to get out of alive. Well formed story line and can't wait until the next release in the series.

[Charles Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel ‘Mack’ White was a simple historian whose husband had cheated on her and then cheated her out of half of everything she owned. She then hooked up with a wacky group of assassins and let herself be talked into going to Mexico on an ‘information gathering’ mission. That mission, unfortunately, put her in the crosshairs of Carmen Amaro, a vicious cartel wife, who decides that she wants Rachel’s head – literally.
Leigh K. Hunt’s Tijuana Nights is an entertaining, spine-tingling mystery-thriller, with enough action to keep your adrenalin pumping for a good weekend. Brilliant characters, credibly described; pithy dialogue; and heart-stopping action scenes, that make you wonder what the author actually does when she’s not writing.
Follow Rachel and her ‘friends’ as they take on a major job – assassinate several cartel members – before the cartel gets them.
I got a free review copy of Tijuana Nights. I strongly recommend you get your own. A thriller you won’t be able to put down.

[Kelly Pinella · Rating 5 out of 5]

McKenna Carmichael (Mack) is a qualified historian, but she has the spice and guts of a covert operative who happens to have assassins as friends: River, Chase, and Gabriel. They start out with a business deal in Tijuana where Mack had agreed to be a distraction to one of the El Diablo Cartel leaders. The next thing she knows, her friends tell her about a huge multi-million dollar assassin job. These interesting characters and their plan to take out eleven Cartel leaders kept me turning the pages. Carmen Amaro and the Mexican Cartel are unpredictable and some of the worse criminals to hunt. In first person narrative, we get to learn Mack's natural ability to think and act like an assassin. Mack jumps head first into the trade.

Leigh K. Hunt rolls out a suspenseful assassin thriller very well.

[Dorcas Rosina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Book One in a burgeoning action series. Tijuana Nights conjures heat, sex and danger from the off-set. The story launches straight into excitement, hammering new gut-wrenching challenges at our hero Mack in a relentless nail-gun of plot explosions. We learn fast of Mack’s new life, not so much chosen as thrust upon her as she struggles to adapt to a way of living that seems utterly alien to her previous milieu. Romance softens the sometimes gruesome action as Mack chalks up another success in her rapid hard-core education. Will she succeed? Will she stay? If you like throttle-busting thrillers that make you thrash though the pages to get to the end then this is a book you will want to read.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a busy, thrilling tale from the first page to the last. The details and setting help you to picture things fairly clearly. There is also plenty of mystery, suspense and drama. Mack finds herself caught up in a much bigger plot than she originally signed up for, but she has no choice other than seeing it all the way through--if she wants to get out of that mess alive. If you're looking for a quick, fast-paced read, pick this up and give it a try. You'll also be pleased to know that it's just book one--there's plenty more to come in this series!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tale about a woman who is drawn into a world of assassins and begins her training to become one of them. Men will find the action and dialogue a little strained from a masculine point of view. Having said that, I think most women who are looking for an action book with a female protagonist will enjoy it. The villains are suitably evil and deserving of their fate. The good guys (assassins!) are people we can root for. And of course, there is the underlying romantic element to hold the reader's attention.

[Richard Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast & Furious

Leigh Hunt has given readers a taste of Sue Grafton on steroids in Tijuana Nights. She writes in a comfortable first-person narrative that is casual and relaxed while taking you to the scene of chaos and confrontations between a team of assassins for hire and a Mexican drug cartel. Its all out war, but Hunt keeps is moving with humor and sexy stimulation. Despite the heavy subject matter, she gives it a lightness rarely found is such novels. Top rate and highly recommended.

[Sammy Petrova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I WON THIS AUTOGRAPHED BOOK ON A COMPLETELY FREE GIVEAWAY ON GOODREADS!!


3 STARS!!!!!


This novel is creepy in some parts, if not splatter, romantic, captivating, well-written, exciting, handling an interesting subject. It is a collection of thousands of different "things".
I mean, not that it is a masterpiece of the thriller genre, but I highly recommend it to those who are fans of the genre!
Happy reading, people!!

[M.W. Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leigh K. Hunt delivers an adventure that moves along at triphammer speed and doesn’t let up. I read this book without knowing anything about it going in, and boy was I pleasantly surprised. Mack leads us on an exhilarating ride that will leave you breathless! The action is blended expertly with sentiment, compelling me to keep telling myself ‘just one more chapter’ until, before I knew it, the sun was coming up.
This is an author, and series, you don’t want to miss!

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Meeting Rachel "Mack" White for the first time made this an amazing read for me! Action-packed and fast-moving, this one may keep you up at night. A female protagonist, also an assassin-in-training, makes for a different twist on traditional "thrillers". I will be sure to look out for more by Leigh K. Hunt. Recommended reading.

[C Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you seek action that has believable twist THIIS is your read! Protagonist doesn't morph into a super badass it is human and surviving the whole book!

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the series within a couple of days - a captivating page turner that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! Mack is a fantastic and relatable character and I thoroughly enjoyed her antics and escapades! I absolutely can't wait for the next book!! 😍

[Carla Terrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel (first in its series) is told in the first person point of view of the main character. Immediately, the reader is sucked in, knowing that something is terribly wrong. Mack was in Tijuana, Mexico at the Little Havana Bar. It’s morning. All the telltale signs of trouble are pronounced. She lights a cigarette…obviously shaken, spilling a few of drops of margarita as she sips. She’s rattled! She was to be on Flight 474 to Los Angeles to take a connecting flight to London England, her home. It didn’t happen.

Was someone trying to kill her?

Mack was a historian by trade. Or was she? One thing was certain, if she didn’t get away she was going to be “history”—a Once upon a time, not long ago, there lived a historian. . .

Make a call to River. Unfortunately, when a bullet finds your iPhone. . . well. . .your phone possibly won’t work. Use the bar phone. Her contact, River, used to work for some covert organization as a train assassin. He was a good-looking man, suave, unruffled, and always impeccably dressed.

Gabe was the tech-guy in the organization—an American “kid-genius hacker”—which Mack and River communicated with and relied on for his tech savviness. They were a team.

The question still remain: Who was trying to kill her?

Was it the neurotic Carmen Amaro?

Perhaps it was her lying, cheatin’ ex, Luke? . . .or her ex best friend he’d cheated with, Nicole?

Possibly Javier Amaro?

The El Diablo Cartel?

Could it be the devastatingly handsome, well-dressed but eerie, Chase, who was also a member of their covert team?

Maybe River himself?

Those eleven members in “middle management” that were marked for a hit. . . Who were they?

Mack often wore a wig and huge sunglasses to disguise herself, and her most necessary accessory was concealed, her trusty dagger. She had to stay alive! Now, she had a job to do on the notorious Regina Navarro while the other members of the team took out Regina’s boss. Why target Regina? Would Mack succeed in the hit?

“Tijuana Nights” is a well-written novel, loaded with engaging plots, suspicious characters, enthralling dialogue that is true to the attention-grabbing, terrifying scenes of murder and mayhem. There is danger lurking with the turn of each page. The narrative voice blends naturally, captivating readers. You will often laugh, and then suddenly gasp, cringe, and even panic.

Leigh K. Hunt has written an exciting read that will keep you spellbound from the start. Oh my!

[Paul Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a prequel to the main story, taking place in London, McKenna’s boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, then demands a whole bunch of money as well as half of the house she was given by her aunt. What’s a poor historian to do? But just when you think she’s wholeheartedly throwing herself into her escort debut, there’s a huge twist that leads into the main story. So rather than becoming a high-priced hooker, she helps out her new buddies in taking out a drug cartel while they train her to become a high-priced assassin. There’s a lot of violence and car chases and even some sex, though possibly at heart this is a love story, even if it takes forever to come out.
This was more enjoyable than I ever would have thought at the beginning, no doubt due to the smart sassy lead. She was so much fun the guys around her didn’t matter all that much. I do give the author credit for making all the bad guys distinct, not just in their jobs in the cartel but also their personalities.
There were a couple of things that annoyed me, though. For one, in between the two stories I would have liked to have seen how she explained her client’s death to the madame. More importantly, I really didn’t need all the brutality so vividly described. But other than that it was a fun ride.

[J.R. O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the title and captivated by the story right from the start. Even though I missed the opening book in this series, I quickly caught on to the characters. Mack… Well I wish I had dreamed her up. The story starts off with a bang (literally) and never lets up. Get lost in the underworld of the drug cartels, murder, mayhem, crosses and double crosses. Our girl Mack keeps her cool (sort of) through it all and in the process finds out just who she really is, and what she is made of. This is a team of misfits and loners who have found one another and manage to click on multiple levels. Chase, the debonair playboy who has met his match in Mack. River, the resourceful Special Forces commando type, who loves peace and tranquil places, and Gabe the computer geek who is just full of surprises. And let’s not forget Mack the reluctant assassin in whose voice this book is narrated. Absolutely will follow this series to the end… I am a fan!

[Gail Harkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desert breezes punctuated by the soft pouf of silenced gunshot. The gentle waves of a pool, serene, before divers rise and strike. These are the images of “Tijuana Nights,” both beguiling and violent. For English historian MacKenna Carmichael, it’s a juxtaposition she struggles to accept. She knows the drug cartel kingpins she helps kill are evil, yet she didn’t exactly sign on for this. For her, learning the tricks of the assassins’ trade is a means of staying alive after a jealous cartel wife puts a price on her head.
Author Leigh J. Hunt grabbed me on the first page and didn’t let go until after I finished the book. The plot is gripping and perfectly paced. Her character development is spot on, as the assassins balance their downtime against their ambitious list of assignments, all the while protecting and training Mack, as they call MacKenna. This is a fast-moving, highly satisfying novel that has me yearning for the next one. It's outstanding!

[James Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tijuana Nights is a breezy, fast-paced thriller about a London historian named Mack, who is trying to get past a collapsed relationship back home, while finding herself being quickly pulled into intrigue and danger in old Mexico. And if you're going to end up on the wrong side of a deadly drug cartel, you at least want to make sure the three people closest to you are trained assassins. At least until they start pulling you deeper and deeper into their operations and plans to take the cartel out. Having money problems--big money problems--doesn't help Mack's situation, but at least she gets a job offer she just can't refuse, even if it means this might be the last job she ever has. If you like your heroines with a bit of spice and verve, and don't mind the occasional bit of gore and potty-mouth, you may like Leigh Hunt's tale of a lady who definitely makes the best of a very bad situation.

[C.A. Pack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tijuana Nights has a drug cartel meets hired assassins plot that is wrapped around a love story. It’s a quick and easy read, but I thought the characters could be better developed. The protagonist is a historian, although the only way we know that is because it’s mentioned a couple of times. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the story. She’s hanging out with a bunch of hired assassins, but that’s explained away as having started as a fun diversion. This book is listed as The Nights Series Book 1, but I wonder if there was a book about the same characters before this, that I missed. I feel like I walked into the middle of a movie. It’s a shame because it’s well written and fast paced. I just wish it had allowed me to experience more of the preamble to what's going on.

[A.A. Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A FUN, FAST READ.

McKenna Carmichael is a happily married historian in London - then her marriage breaks up, she finds herself desperately short of money, and joins a band of assassins to earn it. But you don't get paid big bucks for easy kills...

The nights are hot, the action is swift and appearances are deceptive in this thriller set in the Mexican borderlands. A fun, fast read, requiring a willing suspension of disbelief - but it's worth it.

WARNING: CONTAINS SWEARING AND GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

[Denise Liebig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tijuana Nights is an action-packed account of a woman’s introduction to the world of drug cartels and hired assassins. When McKenna (Mack) Carmichael’s ex cheated on her and demanded half of her assets, she was left with few financial options. In an effort to save her property, Mack soon finds her safe life as a researcher spiraling out of control - This and her unlikely alliance with three hired assassins leads her into a dark world as foreign to her as the land she is occupying. Tijuana Nights is a quick read that will leave you wanting more.

[Randy Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Tijuana Nights. The fast pace and engaging first person point of view pulled me along the gripping story line. As a thriller writer, I particularly appreciated Leigh K Hunt’s vivid multi-dimensional descriptions. Her lead character, McKenna, is far from a stereotypical femme fatale. My only regret...is that I didn’t read London Dusk first. I’ll make sure to correct that soon, and then on to Venice Nights.

[Emily Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to start by saying this isn't my usual genre, so it took me some getting use to the topic of murder for hire. I'm glad I gave it the chance and read it though as it's a great story. Having read London Nights it was great to see how Mack's first venture into a life of an Assassin goes. I can't wait to read the next book and see how her relationship with with her new teammates develop and whether Luke will still be a thorn in her side.

[S. Willett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write What You Know – It appears that may be true with this author. How else could the story shows us such vivid detail and intimate knowledge of the lifelike characters?

Carmen from the El Diablo Cartel has tried to kill the protagonist of the story, Mack, a young historian from England. Mack’s friends/protectors are assassins, but they won’t do the job of killing Carmen for her. They will train her to protect herself. Can she do the job?

[Sylvia Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read by Author Leigh K. Hunt. I was taken in by the first page and never stopped. I really enjoyed following the dangerous adventure that the character of Mack gets caught up. What I particularly liked was how well Leigh K. Hunt described the scenes when she captures the essence of Mexico and the characters that are chasing Mac who are part of the Drug Cartel known as El Diablo. This is one book that never missed a beat!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you like lots of action, lots of violence, characters who are not afraid to match violence with violence? Do you like hardened heroes who sprinkle their conversations with obscenities? Then this story of a “three musketeers” type of assassins who take on the cartel may be just what you are looking for. It was a little too graphic for my taste but may be just what you’re looking for! And if it is, you’ll be happy to know there is a sequel!

[Arlene Lagos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mack rocks! There is nothing I love more than a female lead and a well written one at that! The story is riveting and fast paced, it has great contrast between harsh gruesome details mixed in with sentiment and raw emotion. I feel what Mack is feeling! I'm now very interested in London Dusk which I never had heard of and anything else I can get my hands on written by this brilliant author!