She’s an Oscar-nominated actress from a British acting dynasty. He’s an Atlantic City MMA fighter who grew up on the streets. Together, they’re each other’s only hope of survival.
When a new and power-hungry cartel nabs Belinda Collins from her sister’s wedding party at an exclusive jungle resort in Peru, John Garcia, a.k.a. Beast, tries to stop the kidnapping—only to be taken himself. The couple are transported deep into the Amazon rain forest and a ransom is demanded. The pair know that as soon as their kidnappers realize Beast isn’t famous, they’ll consider him surplus to requirements and kill him. Their only hope is escape. But with no jungle experience between them, running into the rain forest could be just as deadly as taking their chances with their kidnappers.
With their friends at Benson Security searching for the pair, and the jungle-savvy cartel hunting them down, Beast and Belinda have to work together to get out of the rain forest alive—before someone, or something, ensures they never leave at all.
Janet grew up in Scotland but now lives in New Zealand. Among other things, she’s been an artist, a teacher, a security guard at a castle, a magazine editor, and a cleaner in a drop in center for drug addicts (NOT the best job!). When she isn’t living in her head and writing about the people she finds there, she raises two kids, one husband, and several random animals. She survives on chocolate and caffeine.
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As I have written in reviews of previous parts of the series, those stories are unbelievable (considering the action, mystery, suspense, etc.). I am not going to repeat why.
But when you pick it in order to not think too much, to feel the excitement, to get an alpha hero and some steamy scenes - you will rather be satisfied.
In this case, I did have fun (especially with funny scenes with the bunch of Benson Security team), I also totally appreciated the character of John/Beast (if he had been a real person I would have said: "I had deep respect for him, because of what he had to survive as a child"). Yet, I wasn't much gripped by their escape and romance.
I liked it, but it wasn't one of my favourites. I couldn't connect with Belinda or Beast. Honestly, I was most interested in the scenes that were set ups for Elle/David and Ryan/Esperanza!
I did not enjoy this book as much as I've enjoyed the others from this series. It should have come with some sort of trigger warning. I read these books as a fun form of escapism and this story felt traumatic. There were a few threats of rape and one scene that got perilously close to a rape. There was so much going on and after a while it got exhausting. The main characters, Beast and Belinda, were kidnapped and taken into the jungles of South America. Between the brutal kidnappers and animals of the jungle, it seems like the pair will not make it. Everything that could happen did happen and ... I enjoy the author and her other stories. I just hope that those stories don't go down this path.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Another great romantic suspense with touches of comedy. Belinda and Beast are new to the Benson security world, but they have the same gumption as everyone else on the team. We meet some other new characters that are going to be a lot of fun in future books. The pacing of the book works really well, and the perspectives of the Benson team keep us rooted in the series. The Amazon setting makes for an interesting backdrop and keeps the tension high as the threat from the environment is ever present. I liked that Belinda and Beast have an interest in each other that goes beyond surviving a terrible ordeal - it's easy to see this isn't just the adrenaline talking and that they'll be happy together for the rest of their (hopefully uneventful) lives.
I love any book by Janet Elizabeth Henderson and this is no exception. If you are after some action, and laughs with your romance you can go past this author. The situations her characters find themselves in are often ridiculous (in the best ways) and therefore you can’t help but shake your head or laugh or both. This book was written in a way that made it so easy to read, and my only complaint would be it should have been longer so it didn’t finish so quickly. So if you are a fan of J.E.H then this is exactly the book you would expect and if you haven’t read this author before you should start right now. If you are new to this author while you could start with this book I would suggest you start at the beginning of the Benon Security series at the very least to get a full picture of the characters. But if you are a reader who likes to start at the very beginning you will need to start with the Invertary/aka Scottish Highlands series.
excellent book full of gritty adventure humour and a touch of romance
One of another great books in this series. It was hard to put down. I thought it was going to be an other silly book when they mentioned beauty and the beast but I was so wrong, it was full of adventure and how two people survived using limited knowledge and skills. full of humour and romance. Brilliant story
Least favourite of the series so far but still enjoyable. I think the problem was that both the H & h are new characters. They still have a connection to Benson security thru Julia & Joe - but we hadn't met either of them before and I really want a book about Elle & David. Ryan and Essie will probably be next but I am hanging out for Elle's story.
That sure was something awesome! I felt like I was in the jungle with them and learned of some new jungle animals. I at first wasn’t sure about Belinda and John but they totally grew on me.
Beast has had a hard life in the past, survived, and now protects people in his spare time from MMA fighting.
Belinda is a movie star with a penchant for learning about surviving in the wild and wildlife. He sees her being kidnapped and gets taken with her, literally.
They escape, and end up travelling in the jungle, pursued by the kidnappers, an evil cartel. Benson Security and Beast’s friends all go looking for them, but it’s impossible in the dense jungle of the Amazon.
Their secrets and skills get discovered as John (Beast) and Belinda survive wild animals, poisonous insects, injuries and infections. It all culminates at a mine by the river which the cartel runs, but where the teams come and rescue them.
Great adventure, action, lots of humour, beautiful combining of John and Belinda’s worlds. Love this author’s works, always entertaining.
Holy hoooooot hell! By far one of the best reads this year, total page Turner. Belinda is a superstar who is kidnapped along with John (AKA Beast) by power crazed cartel looking to make the world take notice of them. Even though Belinda and John's first encounter was less than friendly, they quickly from a bond as they need to escape their captors. They must choose between an escape through the dense rain forest or the certain barbaric treatment at their captors hands. I love this writer, she captures the readers interest from page one and delivers a story with, humor, grit, adventure, sizzling hot smolder and characters you just can't help but love. Janet Elizabeth Henderson is an absolute must read author!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
I take it back. The author can actually write a decent, competent female lead. I actually really liked the h because she was positive, pretty realistic, and kept moving forward. Frustratingly, the author instead made the H practically useless for almost the entire book. I guess it at least gave the h the opportunity to shine and be more than a "dumb blond". The author decided to switch things up by going for an emotional "protector" instead of a physical one.
Here's to hoping that the author will someday have the H and the h both be normalish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book was so intense, I felt so scared for the main characters. This book was excellent as are all of Janet Elizabeth Henderson's books. Out of all the Benson Security books I have to say this one was the scariest. I loved the main characters and it was exciting to see all the old characters return in one book with the addition of some new ones that I know we're going to love. JEH outdid herself again and I very much look forward to the next book in this series!!!
I am liking this series, but this one fell a little flat. Perhaps that's because we didn't get as much of the rest of the team. Those interactions seemed to enliven the other books. I also didn't feel like the main characters were as developed. She showed their perceived flaws and interactions and such but it felt flatter. I am looking forward to the next one, but I was trying to be good and read them in order.
Another great addition to the series! While this isn't my favourite (that would be Callum's story), it has all the things that make me love this series so much: Great characters, witty dialogue, some laugh-out-loud moments, plenty of action... *happy sigh* Looking forward to more books in the series!
I’ve never read a Janet Elizabeth Henderson book I didn’t love and this one is another winner. Calamity Jena was my favorite but this book has pushed really close to equaling that. Belinda and Beast are a great couple and starting Ryan’s story has me desperate for the next Benson Security book!
Janet Elizabeth Henderson stretches her talent to the mysteries of the security firm created by Lake Benson in her Invertary series books and has created a series of nail-biting stories I could not put down but infused at the same time with the chuckle-out-loud humour of the first series. You’ll love the characters, some new and some cross-over. A great read, over and over again.
Janet, keep the humorous side of your writing in your novels. I enjoy a good sneaker or laugh out loud storyline. Just makes my day when I read a story with bantering dialog between two characters. It is hard to be witty with words and you have a knack for creating storytelling with humor. Unable to place it down and read it on a rainy Saturday.
Very good ‘escape through the jungle’ adventure, starring Belinda, sister to Julia of Benson Security, and John Garcia, AKA Beast. He’s a MMA fighter and she’s an accomplished actor. He’s a street kid who’s always lived in the city. She’s spent her down time on her movie sets reading and learning about survival and different animals.
I somehow skipped this when I was reading the other books in this series. I’m so glad I finally got to this one as I throughly enjoyed this story. It was very interesting to see the other characters from the previous and post episodes. I definitely recommend this book.
LOVE LOVE LOVE I read this in one day!!! Smart, witty, intense, and different than the others. All of the books in the series could stand alone but together... they are fabulous.