The Endgame elite soldiers return in the second book of the series, Running the Risk. We met Jude and Ella in the last book, Flash of Fury, but we didn’t know their entire story. Prepare yourselves for a fast-paced journey through different continents and intense emotions. Ella died in a mission last year, but all is not what it seems in this series. Ella is found in the evil clutches of Horace Dresden alive but not the same.

Ella has to learn to trust her team, but they also have to determine if she is a traitor. Jude Dagan lost the love of his life, but he has a second chance and will not waste it. Jude will move heaven and earth to save Ella and destroy the man who has held her captive with or without the help of his team. Can Ella and Jude reconnect and reconcile? Read this book to find out.

If you like mercenary type stories with a lot of romance thrown in, this book is for you. Lea Griffith does an amazing job of plot twists that you never see coming. I’m addicted to this series and cannot wait for the next installment! This racy, action-packed book is a must read!

This is the second book in a series and I didn't read the first book.  I felt that lack a little, especially when it came to the "why".  Why did this Dresden character want Ella?  What is the significance of a Piper, exactly?  Or a "Keeper"? Why was it necessary for Ella to give up a year of her life to try to find Dresden? I understand that she was afraid to return to Jude, but he kept showing up all the time, so why not come clean?

There is a lot to like about this story. Griffith uses a fast pace and the action is nonstop. I found myself racing through the story trying to find out what was happening next, and that is always a good sign. The revenge element that is hinted because of Ella's supposed betrayal was a non-starter and could have been used to add a dangerous bent to Jude's actions, but I have to say his loyalty was endearing, especially since he believed she betrayed him and the team.  Loyalty is a strong theme throughout the book; Ella is obsessively loyal to Jude to the exclusion of all else. Jude is loyal to Ella. Ella's actions make sense because of her loyalty to her country. That must make the reader ask how loyal we might be in the face of torture and loss.  Would we hold out for what was right? Hopefully we will never know.

Running the Risk, by Lea Griffith is a contemporary action-suspense romance book.

Jude Dagan is in love with Ella Banning. Sometimes it's difficult for Jude to separate his personal life from his work life, since they both work for Endgame Ops. However, it's never been a problem, until Jude watched Ella die during a mission.

However, Ella didn't die, instead she sacrificed herself to go undercover to take down an evil and dangerous man. Eventually, Jude and Ella are reunited and still in love, but their relationship isn't easily fixed after the lies and ongoing battles.

Even though it's the second book in the Endgame Ops series, it's not necessary to read the books in order, unless readers want to delve deeper into the overarching story line and further meet the secondary characters.

Running the Risk is geared towards contemporary action-suspense romance fans.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I do normally like suspense reads, I even like second chance reads, but I was not crazy about this one..I never connected with the Ella, and really couldn't understand why Jude wanted her back when he thought she had thoroughly betrayed him. We didn't get the reasoning behind her betrayal till around the end. There was just too much going on for me, and this is the second in series and I did not find myself wanting the first or care about what happens next..So yeah not for me.

This is the 2 nd book in the Endgame Ops series but it could be read as a stand alone. A year ago a mission went south and Ella Banning was believed killed in the mission. Jude was on the mission with her and has not recovered from her loss. They were lovers and planned a future together. Now Ella has been spotted with the man the team has been hunting and it appears she is working with him.

I loved the first book in this series. This one didn’t grab me as much. For some reason for a portion of the book I felt like I’d read it before. There is plenty of action to hold your attention and lots of bad guys that keep popping up. There is a huge cliff hanger at the end of the book that I presume will lead to the next book. Even tho I didn’t like this one as much as the first, not every book can be a 5*, I will continue with the series. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I received this book from Net Galley for a voluntary and honest review. I liked the synopsis of the book, so I requested it. This is part of a series but can be read as a standalone and I will be picking up other books in the series.
This book is different than your typical romance novels, because the couple were together when the book started. It's not really a second chance novel, but it's a fight to get back what they had. Jude and Ella are employed by a civilian contractor. One of those companies that have former spec ops, or law enforcement folks who handle things that the military can not for what ever reason.

When an op goes bad, Jude believes he watches Ella killed before his eyes, little did he know the bullet missed. A year later he finds her working for a quintessential bad guy. Confused at first by did she commit treason or was she forced to join Dresden's team, but his heart knew that he wanted Ella back at all costs. I'm not going to divulge what was going on, as one needs to read the book.
A thrilling action adventure movie plot would follow, but I enjoyed it. I especially loved that as the world is blowing up around them Ella is concerned about protecting the stray cat that she found.
Four vs 5 stars, only because everyone that was supposed to be dead apparently isn't. I get how it all fits into the plots but geez :)

Running the Risk is book 2 of the Endgame Ops series; riveting, suspenseful, and above all a heart tugging romantic story of Jake and Ella. Ella, who was presumed dead, was discovered alive working with the team’s adversary. Jake and Ella’s s love for each other had been an all-consuming and powerful love. While Jake could not forgive her betrayal, his love for her overpowered that hate. As the two cross countries one behind the other, unknowingly protecting the other, Ella was forced to tell Jake the truth. With danger only getting closer, will their pledge to save each other be enough to see them both through this alive?
Lea has written a mesmerizing book that grips you from cover to cover and is a definite five star read.

You run the risk of falling off the edge of your seat with all the action, suspense, betrayal, conspiracies and people thought dead in previous books returning.

This has been an exciting series from the first novella that kicked it off and it just keep getting better with each book. There are so many bad guys doing illegal and subversive acts and when you think you know all the players when one goes down there are plenty more to take their place. Other than the Endgame Ops team (a black ops group ran by the Joint Chief of Staff) you really have no idea who the good guys even are.

Quick rundown is there have been two military ops where betrayal has happened to the men and women who were later recruited for Endgame Ops – this included the death of some of the team members. In the last book we found out two thought dead were not.

This is one crazy ride of two soul mates being reunited after one was thought dead and later to have betrayed the team. Action was non stop and more conspiracies and secrets were uncovered.

Each book is a new couple but the arc of the conspiracies continues through each book. With each book you get so wrapped up in the story and hate when it comes to an end.. Looking forward to the next book.

How do you love a woman who has, supposedly, for the greater good, betrayed you? A woman whom you’ve thought dead, coming back from the grave, who’d actually walked away willingly?

‘Running the Risk’ is a hard one to swallow, but then again, books about betrayal, second chances, big-time conspiracies and a high-stakes game are never easy to get through because they demand for sides to be taken and thereafter, leave you there and then bank on your (romantic) capacity to overlook the gravity and/or the cost of betrayal and proclaim that scarred love still conquers all.

Jude Dagan has found himself in a cruel twist of events that brought him back face to face with a one-time love, and the story unfolds with him learning about the depth and the breadth of her deception, even though it has been done for the sake of pursuing the same goal: eliminating a dangerous player in the international-arms dealing arena. Ella Banning on the other hand, is unable to outrun Jude’s crafty determination, torn between duty and mistaken loyalty (perhaps even stupidity)…and for this reason, it was easier to love Jude more than Ella. Without a good reason given for her actions until later, it was difficult to sympathise with her position in the book for the first half at least, but what do you really say about a woman who made this decision mistakenly believing she was protecting him?

Thankfully, that angst isn’t drawn out too much. The second half is relentless action, a consolidation of sorts, a reaffirmation of team effort, along with sex that sometimes happens in places and situations that seem rather inappropriate and unbelievable—that’s where the suspension of disbelief kicks in.

Still, Lea Griffiths’s effortless writing swept me through it all, unravelling the complex network of arms trade, the shady players and the constant jetting from one locale to the next, where nothing is as it seems—this is the type of high-octane romantic suspense I dig. There’re moves and counter-moves on a chessboard and the dangerous game that’s played has a price that’s typically too high for anyone to afford…all of which Griffith manages very well. But the whole largeness of the entire conspiracy that Griffiths has built here means that only a part of it is resolved in this book and there’re still too many things that haven’t yet fallen into place.

‘Running the Risk’ can of course, be read as a standalone. There are however, references to what happened in the previous book in the secretive and high-strung world of covert ops (and some recap for the reader’s sake here) which can be a confounding—I think the secret-keeping and the classified stuff sometimes work against the story—and the epilogue that’s like a trailer for the next book to come is merely a stark reminder that the whole arc is far from over. I’m always itchy for more (particularly when it comes to world-domination-type things), but the wait for the next one looks to be long.

This was my first book by Lea Griffith. It was good, and I will probably read the next book to find out what happens. There are a lot of details that you have to pay attention to in Running the Risk. There is a little romance and a lot of suspense. It was a good way to pass a cold day.