Review: Extreme Honor by Piper J. Drake

Extreme Honor
(True Heroes #1)
by Piper J. Drake
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: Jan. 26, 2016
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:

HONOR, LOYALTY, LOVE

David Cruz is good at two things: war and training dogs. The ex-soldier’s toughest case is Atlas, a Belgian Malinois whose handler died in combat. Nobody at Hope’s Crossing Kennel can break through the animal’s grief. That is, until dog whisperer Evelyn Jones walks into the facility . . . and into Atlas’s heart. David hates to admit that the curvy blonde’s mesmerizing effect isn’t limited to canines. But when Lyn’s work with Atlas puts her in danger, David will do anything to protect her.

Lyn realizes that David’s own battle scars make him uniquely qualified for his job as a trainer. Tough as nails yet gentle when it counts, he’s gotten closer to Atlas than anyone else-and he’s willing to put his hard-wired suspicion aside to let her do the same. But someone desperate enough to kill doesn’t want Lyn working with Atlas. Now only teamwork, trust, and courage can save two troubled hearts and the dog who loves them both . . .

David runs a kennel where he and his team get dogs ready for military work. However, when one of his fellow brother in arms falls in the line of duty, his dog is brought to the kennel to be assessed and reassigned to a new handler. The only problem is, the dog has retreated into himself and won’t respond to anyone. Which is where Lyn comes in. Her goal is to come in, and get Atlas comfortable and bring him back to being responsive. All of that would be fine and dandy except something isn’t right about Atlas’ partners death. There are way too many people interested in him. Pretty soon David and Lyn find themselves in hot water as they stumble across something much bigger than just a simple training session.

Lyn and David were great characters. They were solid, had a good head on their shoulders, and were easily relatable. Lyn loves her job and cares deeply for the animals she treats. Atlas is no exception. She takes her job and responsibility to Atlas very seriously and her connection to him shows throughout the entire book. David is a military man through and through. He cares for his charges, but he doesn’t become overly attached to them and treats them like coworkers instead of children. His no-nonsense approach and Lyn’s motherly love really balanced each other out and they made a great team. Lyn’s able to coax Atlas out of his grieving and David was there to remind him of who he used to be and what he is capable of.

Speaking of Atlas, that dog was great. Watching him go from being detached from it all, to becoming more attentive and interactive with those around him was a slow process that really warms your heart. Between the every day training scenes to the more intense action scenes, you could really see his connection with Lyn and David and you could see him little by little coming back to reality. For me, seeing the progression in Atlas was by far the best part of the whole story.

Now, there is a lot of action in this one. Once David stumbled upon some encrypted videos, he starts to put the pieces together. His buddy reaching out to him with some random message that made no sense. The way everyone, even higher ups are extremely interested in a military dog. The kidnapping of Lyn. All these pieces start to fall into place and you realize that there’s a lot going on that we don’t know about. Still as David is trying to piece it all together, there’s so many car chases, shootouts, kidnappings, and just straight up chaos happening. The author did a great job keeping the readers guessing until almost the end.

This was a great read if you’re in the mood for a military romance with dogs. I mean, who doesn’t love dogs? Between the suspense, action, and romance there was never a dull moment in this story. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.