I typically love Garner's stuff, but I had a hard time following the timeline, which jumps back and forth between the past and present. As a result, I just couldn't connect with the characters. While the premise is disturbing, it's also interesting and makes for a good tale. I appreciate how Angela Reardon fights to move forward with her life after a brutal attack, and I love the idea of assassin Jake Stone falling in love with his mark, but I just couldn't get past the timeline.

I have never been so engrossed in a book, overtaken or completely blown away by an ending. Risky Redemption was an amazing suspense. It was completely unexpected and though I guessed some I had no idea about the whole. That said I feel I should mention if anyone is sensitive to triggers this book may be too much for you. The author thankfully didn't go into great detail about it nor did she dwell on it and luckily it was at the end of the book so the characters and the reader didn't have to relive it throughout the book. So this did make it easier. But it was still hard and disturbing to read. As it is a HUGE part of the story I am not saying what this part of the story was but I felt honor bound to at least give the warning.

Now, this writing was excellent and the only reason I gave it a four star was because I felt the book ended too abruptly. But other than that it was simply amazing. I could NOT put it down. The characters were beautifully fleshed out and extremely complex. The plot was elaborate and intriguing. I enjoyed the Angela and Jake's interactions. Their romance and story is so compelling. I am really looking forward to more! I very highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of Risky Redemption by Marissa Garner that I read and reviewed.
This book was pretty good. It was definitely hot and full of romance. It had a number of twist that made the book enjoyable. I just am not sure a big fan of the format and how it kept jumping from the past to the present. To me that gets a bit confusing and takes a bit away from the story. But, as I said it is a personal thing.
I am giving Risky Redemption three out of five stars.

I've read Marissa Garner before and enjoyed her writing style, so I requested an ARC of this novel from Net Galley. I've got to start by saying that I don't tend to prefer books which jump back and forth in time like this story does, but I stuck with it because I really liked Jake, and the time jumps were only within a few months. Jake was an assassin but had a conscience. He did his job but only by convincing himself that he was getting rid of only people who deserved it. After getting the contract on Angela, he sets out to romance her...and kill her. It doesn't take long for him to realize something is very wrong with his mark. He expects a jaded traitor and finds a completely traumatized woman who is afraid of everything related to men. Jake discovers he wants to help her, so amidst all of the pressure to do his job and fear that someone else will, he decides to embark on a sexual recovery journey with Angela. I've got to say that it was a very frustrating journey. Both Angela and Jake frustrated me many times, but I really needed to get the full story. It ended up being completely sickly twisted but ultimately redemptive. I noticed this is the first in a series, so I'm wondering who gets book two...could it be the rebel redheaded detective?

D.N.F.
At 44%, I have to throw in the towel on this one....
Jake is an ex-SEAL, ex-CIA hitman, and current PI in California. When his handler calls him out of retirement for one last job at triple the rate, Jake can't turn it down. After meeting his target, Angela, Jake realizes that all isn't as it seems. How can this angelic, and very obviously damaged woman, be behind selling state secrets resulting in the death of a man?
The story bounces back and forth between the past and the present. In the past scenes, Jake takes on the job of killing Angela...his specialty is making his kills look like suicide. As he gets to know her though, he sees that she is a beautiful and kind woman with a traumatic past and a no-good family. He looks for anything that would justify him completing his contract on her while romancing Angela to get close to her. I have to say, that there wasn't a single thing that I liked about Jake's character. He ran very hot and cold. Angela was a victim of rape four years ago and experienced event amnesia after the fact so could not even remember who committed this heinous act against her. Jake at times, seems understanding and tries to help Angela overcome her fears because of this. However, he is extremely short-tempered and often times cruel to her about it. During this time in the past, we get small scenes from Angela's point of view and while I am understanding about her hang-ups when it comes to any time of intimacy - Angela acts like she has never had sex before she was raped. Which she did. She constantly accuses Jake of just wanting to either a. Get in her pants, or b. Wanting to break things off with her. It was frustrating. They were both volatile characters.
When not in the past, the story continues in the present. Angela has disappeared...or been murdered...or Jake murdered her? I'm actually very confused as to what happened to Angela. But she is not in the "present" scenes. That being said, Jake is investigating her supposed suicide minus a body, while also trying to find out who was behind the contract to take her life, and who raped her four years ago - trying to connect them all. During this time Jake spends a lot of time drinking Jack Daniels, driving around in his black Corvette, and drowning is self recrimination.
This was as far as I got. I don't know what happened to Angela. I don't know if Jake is the one who made that happen. I thought at first that he staged her suicide and had her disappear to save her life from the contract out on her, but I'm not so sure. It was a very confusing story-line and the characters were undesirable. They didn't hold my interest enough to care about finding out more and answering the many, many....many questions that I had.
If you enjoy a very convoluted mystery with a hero that has a dark past and a sweet but broken heroine, you may want to give Risky Redemption a try for yourself.

Angela Reardon hasn't been able to get over the brutal attack she suffered four years ago, which makes it hard for her to trust a man. Yet, there's something about Jake Stone that has her willing to give him the chance to help her overcome her traumatic memories. But when the truth comes to light on why Jake has come into her life, will Angela give him the chance to help identify her assailant and find out who wants her dead; or will she walk away from the first man that has reignited her desire for love, family and happiness?

What a thrilling and entertaining journey Ms. Garner takes readers on in this first book of her Rogue Security series where I wasn't all that sure whether I could handle how the story went back and forth between the past and the present, but in the end I believed it worked, especially once I discovered how the hero helped the heroine and when he finally uncovered the truth about her assailant and why someone wanted Angela dead. The way this story started had me immediately intrigued, as the hero has an interesting way of getting close to the heroine in order for him to be able to do his job. Will he be able to go through with what he's been assigned to do? Will getting to know the heroine and finding the truth about her past and the contract out on her finally earn him redemption for all that he's done in his past?

As for the dialogue, it was intense due to the main characters back stories; what the hero uncovers that leaves him feeling sorry for the heroine, knowing that the news will leave her devastated; and how horrible the heroine's family are because the heroine doesn't enjoy their rich lifestyle and prefers to live the life she's been living. However, in saying that, I liked how everything the heroine goes through gives her father the chance to finally make things right with Angela. Moreover, I felt sorry for Angela as she's been through so much and I could understand why she found it hard to put her trust in the hero, especially when he's determined to push her into finally doing things that might help her overcome her past and help her to heal. I also liked how strong and brave the heroine was and that she was willing to give the hero a chance, even though it takes her a while to finally be able to give him everything he wants and prove that she's finally ready to move on.

While the hero, he's been through so much in his past. He seems cold, calculating and a man that would do anything to get the job done. However, I liked that he proved differently as he realizes the heroine is innocent of the crime she's been accused of. Will he be able to make things right for the heroine before it's too late? Will he find out who hurt her in the past and why they're so determined to make sure she never discovers the truth? I also liked how determined the hero was to help the heroine and how protective he was of her when it comes to her family and keeping her safe. However, in saying that, I thought the hero was a little pushy when it came to helping the heroine overcome her fear of physical intimacy.

Overall, Ms. Garner has penned a really good read in this book where the chemistry between this couple was strong; the romance special because it shows Angela is finally ready to trust a man again, which helps her to heal; and the ending had me feeling sorry for the heroine because of what she learns about who was behind her brutal attack that left her traumatised until now. However, I really liked how things worked out for the hero and heroine, as Jake helping her helps him find redemption. I would recommend Risky Redemption by Marissa Garner, if you enjoy romantic suspense or books by authors Rhonda Pollero, Laura Griffin, Toni Anderson and Kat Martin.

risky redemption is one of those books that plays with timelines in order to build suspense. by moving back and forth between the present and the past we are slowly piecing together the clues that the lead characters are gathering for themselves.

the problem is that i called the crucial piece of information early on, and i also suspected one of the key twists before they happened. i do like to be right about things, so while i wouldn't say i was in suspense, more like i wondered when jake would ever clue into this one piece of crucial information, i was still engaged enough by the story to read the whole of it.

jake is an interesting character, as a hired assassin he definitely has a skewed moral compass and how he interacts with angela at times varies between sweet and understanding and total jerk. it's no surprise angela isn't quite sure what to think of him at times because he totally blows hot and cold on her. he's also got a contract job that makes her his latest target, so there is that.

the jumping timelines made the romantic aspect of this thriller a challenge to portray. for significant parts of the book one of the characters is not present. and the relationship we see unfolding in the other timeline isn't going very well. and as the timelines converge, you see where everything is going, but you still feel like you somehow missed some very big moments between the characters.

Overall I enjoyed the story. The cat and mouse that Jake and the contractor played was interesting. I enjoyed how Marissa Garner placed clues as to who hired Jack in the story that when separate don’t make sense but when you see them in totality has you go aha...

I enjoyed the suspense and watching Jack figure out what he was feeling and battle with himself over his job and how to redeem himself. He had a moral compass to a point. The story overall was well paced and intriguing. It keeps you on your toes and wanting to find out who was behind this hit.

What was not so great was the seesawing between present and past. You really need to pay attention to where you are in the past and if you are in the present for it does waffle in between. Also when you are in the past when in the past and it jumps sometimes in scenes that are at different times in the past that they are looking at. So it keeps you needing to be on your toes there. Jack also dreams and it brings him in the past while in the present and it can be a bit awkward.

Jack is a good strong character. He growths through a huge emotional growth in this book. He starts as a man who is cold and not wanting anything serious. He has shut down his emotions due to his past job. Now he is about to take on an assignment that has him question himself and the contractor involved. Why? He falls for his target but doesn’t realize he has at the beginning, he only knows that she shouldn’t be a target.

Angela has a past that haunts her. Not only haunts her but has her emotionally in turmoil and she can’t go forward in relationships. It has skewered her view on men as well. She is hired by Jack to do interior design of his house not knowing the real reason is because she is to be killed. She is a strong character who has been through alot and rebuilt her life. when Jack meets her he is bowled over by her. She is smart, fun, caring and attractive. jack feels an instant spark.

But she doesn’t feel the same. He scares her so the first meeting not so good. they slowly get to know one another and he starts to help her get over her fears. They grow close and Jack develops feelings and a conscience. Once this occurs things get risky for both of them. Jack needs to find out the truth behind the contract and this is where it gets dicey and picks up pace.

We get suspense, danger, intrigue and a seriously dysfunctional family. Jack learns about what happened to Angela and starts to unravel the truth about it. While doing this people are dropping like flies and he is evaluating his feelings for Angela. His final stand is crazy good and has you on your toes.

Again overall the story is good. The waffling in time can get confusing and over the top but doesn’t detract from the overall story line. The different characters in the story are fascinating. Some are quirky, some dangerous but all hold your attention as does the mystery that unfolds about who wants Angela dead and why. The romance portion is a slow burn and one that has you smile especially at the end.

3 1\2 stars out of 5
Marissa Garner Covers are always spot on with the contracting colors and will pop off the book shelf.
Marissa Garner has unique way of writing but this time I had a difficult time getting into the book as she bounced between the present and past. Causing the story to feel incomplete at times and almost a puzzles that readers had to put together without all the parts.
Man times the lead man aka the man child would throw around how little sex he had had since meeting was funny at first but soon became a little old as the story moved on. He didn't come off as the cold contract killer more of a man child. It was funny at first but soon grew old as well as the inner monologues that was suppose to drive the story forward instead slowed it down.
I found the characters likable and the story had to man unanswered questions and gaps that will confuse readers.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Forever Yours for the Advance Copy

Risky Redemption is a bit of a unique take on a murder for hire plot. The story is told in alternating present/past time. I'm still not sure how I feel about this approach. Inventive? Sure. Confusing? Little bit.

Jake Stone is the 'hero'. Notice I use that term in an idealistic sense because he is really a whiny man-child jerk who happens to have a gun and take center stage in the plot. He is quite possibly one of my more hated heroes. He feels that his job of assassin for the CIA is so morally righteous. However, he never questions the info given to him. He just is told "X is bad. Kill X". And he gets up on his high, high horse and kills X. Are you freaking kidding me? So, even though the story isn't told in 1st pov, any time the focus is on Jake, I view him as a biased narrator and therefore a bit unreliable. Also, a douchebag.

Angela is his current target. According to Jake's contact, she is selling state secrets. So, he has to eliminate her. But...Angela isn't what he expected. She had something happen recently and her memory has been lost. However, when she is in a bedroom with a man, she blacks out in a pure panic. Now, I wanted Jake to start to put the pieces together...but he is so set in blinding believing his contact.

Now, let me say that the plot is good. Garner weaves a very intriguing, detailed plot. While I am not exactly sure how the past/present alternations will be received overall, it provides a unique way of telling the story. You are never quite sure what actually happened and that keeps you wondering. If romantic suspense is something you enjoy and you are looking for something different and fresh, Risky Redemption is a good pick!
link live on release day

The twist and turns of this plot line will keep you guessing all the way till the end.
Jack Stone is a retired assassin for the CIA.  He keeps his skills honed by taking on select jobs where the target has betrayed his country and is deserving of justice.   Angela Reardon from the get go seems to be a very unlikely target but then who better than Jack knows about the masks that criminals wear.
The first meeting between Jack and Angela is hilarious given that Angela shows up on Jack's doorstep and it's obvious that Jack has been enjoying more than a simple massage. It only gets more interesting as Angela evades all the usual tactics Jack employs to get to earn her trust. Soon the shoe is on the other foot as Jack finds himself falling in love with Angela and questioning her guilt.  It's obvious very early on that Angela has suffered a trauma of a sexual nature. As Jack works hard to break through the wall knows that something is very wrong and Jack is the right person to get to the bottom of this.
The story is told in slices of different time slices that go back and forward as the author does a reverse and forward which keeps the reader on edge trying to make sense of what's going on.  A lot is hidden from the reader even as dark and chilling truths emerge along the way. The finale will blow you away since it is so unexpected.  This is not one book where you start to piece the truth together along the way and are only moderately surprised at the end.

such a good story with a well-rounded plot and romance.

From the blurb, ‘Risky Redemption’ sounds exactly like the type of read that’s up my alley: a woman with amnesia, mistaken for a mark for treasonous activity and is put as a target for a honey trap, until she really disappears when her innocence is proven. Angela Reardon’s secrets however, aren’t the type that should concern the CIA at all and in a case that’s not just about mistaken identity, the rot in the system appears too little too late, until she looks to be the kind of collateral damage swept under a rug unless a valiant, truth-seeking hero uncovers the dirt.

That was as much as I could put together for the first half of the book given the constant and numerous flashbacks interspersed with the present which made it difficult to get the timeline straight in my head. With a time gap that the storytelling struggled to bridge (the number of events that’d led us to this point only unfurl through flashbacks), the hints that were dished out merely left me with an increasing stockpile of questions that weren’t addressed as the pages turned.

With the narrative was constantly broken up between Jake/Angela’s first few meetings and the point where she apparently disappears, I had a hard time grasping the story’s coherence—it felt more like a jigsaw that frustratingly, couldn’t be put together at all—with the constant refrain of Jake’s self-recrimination, the lamenting of his lack of moral compass and generally, the weight of his regrets that seemed to pour off the pages instead of a hard, forward momentum that I’d expected of this genre. Unevenly paced, the middle-half of the book dealt solely with Jake’s investigations and Angela’s absence was starkly felt, except for her appearances in the flashbacks.

But throughout, I couldn’t get over the fact that Jake acted like a man-child who blew hot and cold with his emotions and was generally petty in a manner that I associated more with tantrum-throwing children than a grown adult. Too many lines about how easy he had it with women throwing themselves at him which he took every advantage of cemented my impression of him as a highly-reactive protagonist whose uncontrolled moods swings above all, just didn’t seem to fit the bill of the cold contract killer that Marissa Garner was trying to flesh out. Proudly proclaiming that he hadn’t had sex since he’d met her a mere 2-3 weeks ago, then trying to take on the mantle early on as her sex ‘helper’ to escape her past as a rape victim and get her to enjoy sex again—before getting frustrated because his own sexual needs weren’t satisfied when she hesitated—just upped the creep factor…and pretty much made me stop reading after this.

There were secrets to uncover and too many gaps to fill, without a doubt. But having found the protagonists generally unlikable and having struggled so much with the style of the storytelling, I can only say this just isn’t the book for me when I found I couldn’t pay attention long enough to discover what those secrets were.

For the last four years Angela Reardon has been going through life with her guard up, constantly battling the fear that lingers in the back of her mind, and occasionally makes her wonder if her attacker will show up to finish the job that he started. She has made big strides towards getting her life back, gaining some normalcy, and even starting and maintaining a successful business. But just like a bad penny her attacker shows up in her life again, and decides to reek havoc on her life again... now she must find a way to get over her trust issues with men, and accept help from a very sexy PI that has an agenda of his own.

Jude is a private investigator and former CIA Assassin that has been hired to take care of a loose end, problem is he realizes that this "loose end" is innocent, so there is no way he can do the job he was hired to do. But the people that hired him don't seem to care what he has discovered, so now he either does his job, or becomes part of the loose end himself. When he meets Angela he knows she is isn't capable of doing what she is being accused of, and he can't help but want to keep her safe. She is beyond gorgeous and stirs something in his heart that he didn't know was there. Now he knows the only way to keep her safe is to figure out who the real culprit is... before they catch on to what he has done!

Risky Redemption is a highly suspenseful story that will keep you teetering on the edge of your seat and guessing until the very end! This was my introduction to this author, and I have to say that her creative story line, and well crafted characters left me in awe! The story line was very engaging and full of unexpected twists and turns, it kept me completely enthralled the whole way through. Highly recommend you get your hands on this one, you will not be disappointed with what you find!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.

I’ll be honest it drives me crazy when books go back and forth between time. For example: the present then 14 weeks earlier, back to present, etc. But this story was so good, I couldn’t put it down. Plenty of action, suspense, and heartbreak. A surprise right till the end. This is my first time reading this author but not the last.
Angela has a tragic past that makes her fear men. She has amnesia and doesn’t remember what happened only what police and doctors tell her. But she is trying to move on. She owns an interior design company and has a successful career.

Jude is ex SEAL, ex CIA assassin, and now is a P.I. and security consultant. He comes out of retirement to do a job. A woman has stolen secrets and sold them, causing a fellow agents death. Jude hires Angela to redecorate his enormous house. She’s the contract but the more he gets to know her, he tries to have the contract terminated. But if doesn’t do it someone else will and they’ll kill him too.

He has three months to get close to her and do it but it’s hard when she is so traumatized by what happened. He makes it look like suicide but wants to find out who put the contract on her and why. The more he digs, the more secrets he uncovers.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. Jude can be a butt sometimes but he will not give up on getting justice for Angela.

* Release date is November 7, 2017*

* Voluntarily read and reviewed this for netgalley *