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The Kelley Legacy #5
The Captive
A mercenary just kidnapped the mother of his unborn child in a thrilling romance by New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy, originally published in 2011 as Missing Mother-to-Be!
Lana Kelley never imagined the magical night she shared with a stranger would result in pregnancy. But when she’s kidnapped, Lana is shocked to discover one of her captors is none other than the father of her unborn child.
Mercenary Deacon Holt can’t understand Lana. She should hate him. Instead, she refuses to believe he’s coldhearted. Though Deacon tries to remain detached, he can’t deny he still wants Lana.
And when Lana’s life is threatened, Deacon will risk all to help her escape….
Lana Kelley never imagined the magical night she shared with a stranger would result in pregnancy. But when she’s kidnapped, Lana is shocked to discover one of her captors is none other than the father of her unborn child.
Mercenary Deacon Holt can’t understand Lana. She should hate him. Instead, she refuses to believe he’s coldhearted. Though Deacon tries to remain detached, he can’t deny he still wants Lana.
And when Lana’s life is threatened, Deacon will risk all to help her escape….
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
25 people are currently reading
825 people want to read
About the author
Elle Kennedy
176 books90.6k followersA New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a B.A. in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager.
Elle currently writes for various publishers. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!
Elle currently writes for various publishers. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 17, 2012
I got this one on a Target clearance shelf for 96 cents! You have no idea how exciting that was. I was close to doing a jig right there in the aisle. Especially since I refuse to go to the book section anymore (oh God, I miss it so) due to a rage inducing fan fiction parading itself as a "book".
I'm getting off track. Where was I?
Oh, right. It was 96 cents!
It's a typical Harlequin romantic suspense from beginning to end. The premise of the story is a good one. A young woman studying abroad is kidnapped due to the actions of her senator father. That would be bad enough but it turns out she's pregnant. The bigger problem is that the father of her baby is one of her kidnappers. I didn't really have problems with the way the plot in and of itself played out. While the major problems I had with the story (and some smaller issues) affected the plot I still didn't hate the story.
My first and biggest problem was the case of the irredeemable hero. I can very much see where other people might find Deacon Holt redeemed by the end of the book, but it didn't completely work for me. That right there is hard enough to redeem. It was just a really skeevy move that is damn near impossible for me to get over. Finally, no matter how much the heroine insisted I never got the impression that Deacon really was a completely "good guy". I thought his view of himself was more accurate. Because, really, if Lana had been unattractive to him, if he didn't want to sleep with her again, would he have cared about what she was going through like he did? Would he have risked everything to save her? All we got was his statements that he was never on board to kill anyone at any time. So the whole book was trying to redeem this guy and my mind was thinking of these things and working against it the entire time. That said I did sort of come to like him by the end. It's an odd (and irritating) situation.
At first I really liked Lana Kelly. She was mostly smart and likable. She started off with the appropriate anger at Deacon and she really struggled between her anger at him for what he was helping put her through but also needing him to be a good man because he's her baby's father. But for some reason about halfway through the book she seemed to lose the intelligence she had. She jumped over into TSTL territory and got someone else killed instead of herself. It was so unnecessary. The only good thing I can say about that scene is that at least she was losing her mind over the risk to her and her baby and not Deacon (which would have made me throw the book across the room). After that she kind of flailed around like an idiot and became really exasperating.
Sigh, the sexytimes. It wasn't terrible, but first and foremost FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY STOP CALLING IT "HER SEX". I just can't let that go, I hate it so damn much. My other issue was the timing. Let's maybe get further to safety before getting down, okay?
Be warned: the epilogue is a bit of a cliffhanger. So if you're not interested in continuing (how it continues I'm not sure yet) then I would skip it altogether. You won't be missing much of anything with the main couple.
I'd give this somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars.
I'm getting off track. Where was I?
Oh, right. It was 96 cents!
It's a typical Harlequin romantic suspense from beginning to end. The premise of the story is a good one. A young woman studying abroad is kidnapped due to the actions of her senator father. That would be bad enough but it turns out she's pregnant. The bigger problem is that the father of her baby is one of her kidnappers. I didn't really have problems with the way the plot in and of itself played out. While the major problems I had with the story (and some smaller issues) affected the plot I still didn't hate the story.
My first and biggest problem was the case of the irredeemable hero. I can very much see where other people might find Deacon Holt redeemed by the end of the book, but it didn't completely work for me. That right there is hard enough to redeem. It was just a really skeevy move that is damn near impossible for me to get over. Finally, no matter how much the heroine insisted I never got the impression that Deacon really was a completely "good guy". I thought his view of himself was more accurate. Because, really, if Lana had been unattractive to him, if he didn't want to sleep with her again, would he have cared about what she was going through like he did? Would he have risked everything to save her? All we got was his statements that he was never on board to kill anyone at any time. So the whole book was trying to redeem this guy and my mind was thinking of these things and working against it the entire time. That said I did sort of come to like him by the end. It's an odd (and irritating) situation.
At first I really liked Lana Kelly. She was mostly smart and likable. She started off with the appropriate anger at Deacon and she really struggled between her anger at him for what he was helping put her through but also needing him to be a good man because he's her baby's father. But for some reason about halfway through the book she seemed to lose the intelligence she had. She jumped over into TSTL territory and got someone else killed instead of herself. It was so unnecessary. The only good thing I can say about that scene is that at least she was losing her mind over the risk to her and her baby and not Deacon (which would have made me throw the book across the room). After that she kind of flailed around like an idiot and became really exasperating.
Sigh, the sexytimes. It wasn't terrible, but first and foremost FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY STOP CALLING IT "HER SEX". I just can't let that go, I hate it so damn much. My other issue was the timing. Let's maybe get further to safety before getting down, okay?
Be warned: the epilogue is a bit of a cliffhanger. So if you're not interested in continuing (how it continues I'm not sure yet) then I would skip it altogether. You won't be missing much of anything with the main couple.
I'd give this somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars.
November 26, 2017
In all honesty, I got this book from the library because it had a pregnancy in it and that is a trope I like. As well as the fact that Elle Kennedy wrote the book. I really enjoy her new adult series books and most of her RS books. This one was originally written as a Harlequin/Silhouette Romantic Suspense. After reading this, I kind of know why I don't read too many of those anymore.
This book didn't really wow me very much. It starts out with the prologue where or heroine and hero meet, have a one night stand (that we don't see) and the first chapter it is two weeks later. Two. Weeks. Later. This is one of my big pet peeves about these serial books. The heroine always knows two weeks later she's pregnant. I could maybe buy it if they explained it like they had steady periods or what not. I just find that annoying.
Besides all that the story was just ho-hum for me. The hero is a merc that is working with people he doesn't know to kidnap the heroine, for what he thinks is ransom for money, but of course, it turns out to be something more.
Overall, I wasn't super impressed with the book. I wasn't drawn to the H and h. The whole story just felt off to me. I guess I didn't like that the hero was a merc who was ok with kidnapping the woman he slept with, for money. I mean, he knew when he slept with her that they were going to kidnap her. Yes, he protected her and got her out to save her life, but it just wasn't enough for me.
This book is part of an overall series for the Kelley family that is written by different authors. You don't have to read those books to read this one.
Oh and there was no epilogue to let us know the sex of the baby, probably because they want you to read the other books...
This book didn't really wow me very much. It starts out with the prologue where or heroine and hero meet, have a one night stand (that we don't see) and the first chapter it is two weeks later. Two. Weeks. Later. This is one of my big pet peeves about these serial books. The heroine always knows two weeks later she's pregnant. I could maybe buy it if they explained it like they had steady periods or what not. I just find that annoying.
Besides all that the story was just ho-hum for me. The hero is a merc that is working with people he doesn't know to kidnap the heroine, for what he thinks is ransom for money, but of course, it turns out to be something more.
Overall, I wasn't super impressed with the book. I wasn't drawn to the H and h. The whole story just felt off to me. I guess I didn't like that the hero was a merc who was ok with kidnapping the woman he slept with, for money. I mean, he knew when he slept with her that they were going to kidnap her. Yes, he protected her and got her out to save her life, but it just wasn't enough for me.
This book is part of an overall series for the Kelley family that is written by different authors. You don't have to read those books to read this one.
Oh and there was no epilogue to let us know the sex of the baby, probably because they want you to read the other books...
November 11, 2015
AUTHOR: Kennedy, Elle
TITLE: Missing Mother-To-Be
DATE READ: 11/06/15
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Rp,amce, 2011, Harlequin, 215 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #4 The Kelley Legacy
CHARACTERS AUTHOR: Lana Kelley, youngest daughter of the wealthy Senator ; Deacon Holt, mercernary
TIME/PLACE Europe (Paris & Florence & US (CA, Washington, DC, MT) 2011
FIRST LINES Were there right and wrong ways to pee on a stick?
COMMENTS: Lana Kelley is the daughter of wealthy parents in California. Her father is a US Senator and her mother has inherited money. Lana is the youngest child and only daughter. She is in her early 20's and studying art in Florence, Italy. While in the Louvre in Paris, she strikes up a conversation w/ Deacon Holt. This leads to a night of lovemaking resulting in Lana being pregnant. Deacon has disappeared and no longer around. While taking the train back to Florence, Lana is abducted and one of her captors is Deacon. Lana has always prided herself on her judge of character and is sure Deacon is going to help her escape from this kidnapping…but as the hostage situation continues for an extended period… she wonders.
TITLE: Missing Mother-To-Be
DATE READ: 11/06/15
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Rp,amce, 2011, Harlequin, 215 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #4 The Kelley Legacy
CHARACTERS AUTHOR: Lana Kelley, youngest daughter of the wealthy Senator ; Deacon Holt, mercernary
TIME/PLACE Europe (Paris & Florence & US (CA, Washington, DC, MT) 2011
FIRST LINES Were there right and wrong ways to pee on a stick?
COMMENTS: Lana Kelley is the daughter of wealthy parents in California. Her father is a US Senator and her mother has inherited money. Lana is the youngest child and only daughter. She is in her early 20's and studying art in Florence, Italy. While in the Louvre in Paris, she strikes up a conversation w/ Deacon Holt. This leads to a night of lovemaking resulting in Lana being pregnant. Deacon has disappeared and no longer around. While taking the train back to Florence, Lana is abducted and one of her captors is Deacon. Lana has always prided herself on her judge of character and is sure Deacon is going to help her escape from this kidnapping…but as the hostage situation continues for an extended period… she wonders.
June 8, 2017
I rate this a 3.5. The story is about a woman who is the daughter of a Senator and studying art in Florence and take a vacation in Paris where she meets a stranger at The Louvre and they end up hooking up for a one night stand. Two weeks later she turns up pregnant and get kidnapped by team, one of whom is her one night stand. He is a mercenary who thinks this is just a simple kidnapping for money, but after she is still in captivity after 2 months, he figures out that her life is in danger and he helps her escape. This is one book in a series about the Kelley family, each one written by a different author. I believe there are 6 books in total. I'm intrigued to see how the others write about their member of the Kelley family.
September 16, 2019
Addictive read!
I just loved this book. It was very addicting and I just couldn’t put the book down. I can’t wait to read the next book of this series. A must read!
I just loved this book. It was very addicting and I just couldn’t put the book down. I can’t wait to read the next book of this series. A must read!
December 6, 2019
An ok book.
May 11, 2021
I really love this author and all her books.
October 20, 2011
Good book. The kidnapping was talked about in previous books, but we never got anything from Lana's point of view. This is her story. Lana was a bit of a Pollyanna in this book, always seeing the good in things. The problem was that she didn't see the bad things too. Her hookup with Deacon in the beginning of the book resulted in her pregnancy. When she was kidnapped by him, she tried to believe that he was an undercover cop, until he told her no. Because of his background, Deacon felt that he was a bad person, with no redeeming values. Lana did her best to get him to see that there was good in him, and that he could change. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this series.
May 21, 2012
Omigosh what a good suspense-filled story but the ending was unbelievable and weak. Deacon should have been in jail or killed by those see everything, know everything foes of Hank Kelley but somehow survives and lives happily ever after.
I actually liked Lana. Why, I am not sure.
I actually liked Lana. Why, I am not sure.
August 27, 2013
This installment to The Kelley Legacy was worth every single star I gave it. Lana's story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire book. I loved Deacon Holt alias Delta. The last book in the series is next up on my reading stack.
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December 24, 2014Miniseries: The Kelley Legacy
May 12, 2013
An excellent, quickly read book that I found very hard to put down. The story is compelling and easy to follow. I would love to read more of Elle Kennedy's books in the near future
March 4, 2014
Didn't like the H, the title, the believability factor...could go on but I won't.
September 30, 2015
Enjoyable different sort of romance, with a kidnapping, murder, and intrugue
September 21, 2016
2.5 stars
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September 1, 2019Categories
Contemporary Romance, Crime Thriller, Thriller, Romantic Suspense
Miniseries
The Kelley Legacy (Book #5)
Contemporary Romance, Crime Thriller, Thriller, Romantic Suspense
Miniseries
The Kelley Legacy (Book #5)
August 22, 2016
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews