I love Susan Stokers books and cannot wait until a new one is released and this one is no exception. This story follows Arrow and the rest of his buddies heading to the Dominican Republic to rescue a kidnapped child, but stumbles upon another abducted person, Morgan. This book was full of suspense and heartbreak - following the mercenaries escaping and trying to get Morgan to safety, as well as Morgan being reintroduced to society and figuring out who wants her dead.

Another great book from Stoker, and I can't wait to continue the series.

I love the instant connection, and the car Arrow takes w/ Morgan throughout their story. Even when he has a misstep, he's quick to apologize & do anything & everything to make sure Morgan knows he's there for her. ESPECIALLY during the HEA portion of their HEA. LOVE!!!

This is the latest book in the Mountain Mercenaries series - whilst it can be read as a standalone characters do cross over from other books .

Ex-Navy SEAL Archer “Arrow” Kane is part of a team sent to the Dominican Republic to rescue a kidnapped child .
To his surprise he finds Morgan Byrd , abducted on a night out in Atlanta over a year previously - someone wanted her gone , not necessarily dead .
Arrow offers her his protection and a safe place to stay whilst his colleagues try to find out just why she was taken and by whom . Will they come back for more ? Can their romance grow in such dangerous conditions ?

This an entertaining romantic mystery with engaging characters .

I was given an arc of the book by the Publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Archer Kane was simply on a mission trying to rescue a child and encountered a woman that made all the breath halt in his lungs. She captivated him with her strength and resiliency to fight her captors. Morgan was never willing to back down and was desperate to find out who was responsible for her kidnapping. Her strength would pull her closer to finding answers she might not want answered. A great continuation of the series.

Not a bad book!
This was definitely more of a romance on the romantic suspense scale (I would've preferred a bit more action/suspense myself).
This book focused more on the relationship between Arrow and Morgan and the aftermath of what she's been through. I LOVE how kind and understanding Arrow is!

This was my first Mountain Mercenaries book but I'll definitely go back and read the first two!

For me, this author has been like that tantalizing, candy bar flavored coffee creamer I keep circling around at the grocery store thinking of trying because it looks so good but never quite getting around to. Until one day, what the heck, I went for it...It’s the holiday season! Calories be darned! Only to find it lacking and disappointing from what the label/cover promised, despite all the marketing and raving reviews.

I’m not going to waste your time and mine overly elaborating here, folks. Just know the writing felt limp compared to the action going around them. That was my #1 beef. It didn’t help a big mood killer was finding out Morgan had been raped repeatedly during the past year by various men and their friends who were paid to keep her in inhumane captivity. It’s a personal preference, but that just ain’t my bag, baby.

Having the hero swoop in and save her should have sweep me off my feet, right? Instead, I was shaking my head at him in dismay for immediately calling her endearing names, mentally gushing over her with girly feelings, and intimately stroking her cheek while doing so. Despite his mental mantra about how important it was to remain detached/impersonal so the rescuee stayed strong, increasing their chance of a successful extraction.

I just didn’t see how all that mutual crushing/instant falling for each other was realistic at all. Oh, yeah, I was told, but I didn’t feel it, folks. Between the repetitive, limp, even sappy writing at times, the paper thin plot was another nail in the coffin.

Enough said. I’m chalking this up to personal preference and choice, my avid romance book loving friends. Maybe this author’s writing style is just not for me. I wish her continued writing success. You may see me again a time or two, because I have a couple more books to review. Here’s to hoping I’ll feel differently about them. This was the first book I’ve read of hers.

Title: Defending Morgan, Series: Mountain Mercenaries (Book 3), Author: Susan Stoker, Pages: 282, stand-alone but part of a series, alpha rescuer hero, kidnapped/raped repeatedly heroine, writing didn’t work work for me.

Book 1 - Defending Allye
Book 2 - Defending Chloe
Book 3 - Defending Morgan
Book 4 - Defending Harlow
Book 5 - Defending Everly

(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review, nor is there any affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)

Susan Stoker is a master of her craft! And boy is she mean to her heroines! I loved Defending Morgan and hope to see these characters in the future.

Even though this genre of book is not something I typically go for, I really liked it. It was empowering to see Morgan after being held captive for a year and how she did not let it control or define her. She wanted to get better and to wrestle her demons which was amazing! And Arrow was such a lovable character. Despite his whole “alpha male” persona, he remained patient, courteous, and compassionate towards Morgan as she figured out who she was and what she wanted after being abducted. Though their relationship moved a bit faster than what seems realistic, I still enjoyed watching their romance blossom into love. Overall, I give it three stars.

DEFENDING MORGAN (Mountain Mercenaries Book 3) by Susan Stoker is another exciting romantic suspense addition to the Mountain Mercenaries series. All of these books can be read as standalones, but there is character crossover with each book adding another HEA to the group of friends.

Ex-Navy SEAL Archer “Arrow” Kane is part of a team sent by Rex, the leader of the Mountain Mercenaries to the Dominican Republic to rescue a kidnapped child. The team is surprised when they find the child, they also find an American woman who has been missing from Atlanta for over a year.

Morgan Byrd was abducted and disappeared while out with friends. Her father kept her story in the news and never gave up hope of finding her. Arrow recognizes her and has an instant need to protect this strong and brave woman. He wants to know how and why she ended up in Santa Domingo and so does Morgan.

Arrow offers Morgan a safe place to stay until the Mountain Mercenaries can find out who wanted Morgan gone, but not dead.

This book is not what I was expecting, although I should have. While Morgan was abducted, she was sexually abused and tortured. The descriptions are not graphic and mainly handled behind a psychologist’s closed door, but as you can imagine there is a very slow build up to any type of intimacy. I cheered every step forward Morgan made. Arrow is amazing in his respect and patience. The talks the couple shared displayed their intimacy. Their relationship builds at a realistic pace with the inclusion of professional help. I was shocked at the end when the villain of this story was revealed and I had a hard time accepting it. It was a surprise that left me unsatisfied.

I still find this series to be entertaining and I love watching each mercenary meet his perfect match. These books all have strong, alpha male heroes and heroines who have been through terrible circumstances, but remain resilient and loving. I am looking forward to reading many more HEAs in this series!
Thanks very much to Net Galley and Montlake Romance for allowing me to read this ARC.

During a rescue mission in the Dominican Republic, former Marine Archer “Arrow” Kane finds not only the kidnapped child he was looking for but a second hostage as well. Determined to not leave her behind, Arrow changes all plans to save her too. It has been over a year since Morgan Byrd, a very beautiful and known missing person disappeared off the streets of Atlanta. Even after all this time, and all the abuse she suffered since she remains resilient and unbroken. Back in the U.S. Morgan is ready to move on, starting with figuring out who hates her so much that they would pay to have her abducted and abused, but not killed. With Arrow by her side, Morgan knows she can manage anything. That is until the people who took her come back for more. Now it is up to Arrow and his team to keep her safe and protected. Something the Mountain Mercenaries know how to do and do it well...

Defending Morgan is the third book in Susan Stoker's Mountain Mercenaries series, I've read the first two novels in this series and it's not the first series by Ms. Stoker I've read and become addicted to. She seldom fails to feature suspenseful romance reads with strong, protective, intelligent, and sexy heroes, as well as gutsy, feisty, imperiled heroines, and Defending Morgan is one more very good read that meets that standard, and were it not for super-fast insta-love and some repetitious dialogue on the part of the hero, I'd be giving this novel 5 rather than 4.5 stars.

Archer "Arrow" Kane, former Marine, along with several other members of Morgan's Mercenaries, are tasked with tracking down a missing little girl, Nina, who was abducted by her father, who shared custody with his ex-wife. While having his visitation with Nina, her father has fled the country with her, returned to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and he's hidden her away, a perfect mission for the Mountain Mercenaries, whose primary focus is finding and rescuing missing, abused and terrified women and children. When Arrow and his fellow mercs (mercenaries) find Nina, she's in a dark, rundown hovel and she's not alone. Upon entering that hovel, Arrow is met with a filthy, bruised and beaten woman brandishing a crude knife, determined to protect Nina from all danger, and that woman is Morgan Byrd, who was kidnapped a year ago and whose parents and the authorities have been searching for her ever since. Arrow is immediately drawn to Morgan (I did find that a tad too fast hard to believe), and. during their harrowing escape from the clutches of her 10 abusive abductors, she almost immediately comes to trust and rely on Arrow in particular.

After returning to the U.S. with Nina, whose mother is overjoyed to see that Nina came to no physical harm, although traumatized by her experience, the two soon head for home. Morgan is met at the airport by her mother, Ellie, who no longer lives in Atlanta, close to Morgan, but in the year Morgan was missing, her mother has moved on with her life and relocated to Albuqueque, and she can't wait to move Morgan back to New Mexico with her, deeming Atlanta not a safe place to be until her kidnapper(s) are found and dealt with. Then there's Morgan's father to consider, a CFO for a large company, he's kept the case of his missing daughter in the press for a year since her abduction, and he's milking her safe return for all it's worth. The divorce of Morgan's parents years earlier was contentious and bitter, and, years later these two can't stop the bitterness between them from erupting if they have to be in the same room at the same time.

Since Arrow and his teammates need to debrief Morgan to help discover who abducted her and why, she's quick to latch onto Arrow, her rescuer, and although physical closeness is an issue for her after a year of being passed around and repeatedly raped by the men keeping her prisoner, she trusts Arrow to keep her safe, and her strength, her refusal to be cowed or broken by her horrific experiences in captivity impresses the heck out of Arrow, and Arrow will shelter and protect her with his life, and he already realizes that he wants to keep her in his life forever.

As they say, it ain't over till it's over, and the hunt is on for Morgan's kidnappers and whoever hired them. Morgan has no idea why she was abducted from the streets of her home in Atlanta, and she never learned anything from her kidnappers since they always spoke in Spanish, a language she didn't understand. As the story moves forward, there are plenty of possible suspects as the team gets down to the business of weeding through all the people in Morgan's life, a process that is trying and difficult for her, but she's a strong woman, and although she really only shows her weakness to Arrow, she'll do whatever it takes to bring her abductor to justice so that she can finally feel safe and start to recover from her trauma and abuse. In the midst of this are Morgan's parents, her mother wants her in Albuquerque and her father wants his traumatized daughter to give television interviews about her experiences, making it seems as if he alone was responsible for her safe return--and Morgan feels like the rope in a tug of war contest, eventually deciding to stay with Arrow.

While the escape portion of Morgan and Arrow's story is fraught with danger and suspense, there is somewhat of a lull in the forward momentum of this story once Arrow makes clear his intention to keep Morgan in his life, as Morgan gets the psychological and medical attention she needs, and as she meets and bonds with the other members of the team and their wives, the heroines of the two previous novels. Consider this part of the novel the calm before the storm, because Ms. Stoker has come up with a twist of a surprise ending I never saw coming, and it's what kept me reading this novel through to the end until 5:00 a.m. I think it will keep you turning pages late into the wee hours of the morning too, and I highly recommend it. Also, there's a teaser of an epilogue, and it appears that Black, another member of the team, will be the hero of the next novel in this series, and I'm already eager to read it.

While this novel works well as a standalone, I will suggest reading this series in the order in which it was written for a better understanding of how Morgan's Mercenaries came to be, how it operates, the mysterious way it all began, and how all these strong alpha males became a part of the team.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

I just can’t get into this series. I love and adore ALL of Susan Stoker’s other series. (My love for Truck goes super deep.) But for whatever reason, this one isn’t as good.

I am curious about their boss. But that’s about it. I’ll keep reading. But at this point I’m not as exciting about this book as her others.

Just okay. I've really tried to like Ms. Stoker's writing and I keep hoping with each book that I will. The synopsis always draws me in and I continue to be disappointed.

Susan Stoker is fast becoming one of my favorite romantic suspense authors and Mountain Mercenaries, one of my favorite series. Defending Morgan, an action-packed, deeply emotional story of survival and recovery following emotional and physical trauma, is another outstanding addition to the series.

After being kidnapped off the streets of Atlanta a year ago and enduring unspeakable abuse during her time in captivity, Morgan is accidentally rescued when the Mountain Mercenaries are dispatched to the Dominican Republic to find a missing child. Thus begins a perilous journey from victim to survivor and the only person she trusts, the only one with whom she feels safe, is one of her rescuers, Arrow. For his part, Arrow feels an immediate affinity for Morgan and is determined to protect her, help her discover who had her kidnapped, and be there for her every step of the way as she figures out what comes next.

It's always a tenuous line one walks when creating a romance for a rape survivor and, in this case, one who had also been held in captivity for an entire year. Stoker's depiction of Morgan's struggles is thoughtful and sensitive. Her strength and resilience are incredible but she suffered an incalculable emotional trauma and dealing with that is harrowing. I have such incredible respect for this character and was in her corner every step of the way. And Arrow, her alpha hero who treats Morgan with such care, patience, and support is one of my all-time favorites. We should all be so fortunate as to have an Arrow in our corner.

The mystery portion of this story is also well-crafted, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Just when I thought I had it figured out, Stoker would throw in another red herring and send me off in a different direction.

If you enjoy alpha heroes who find their purpose protecting women and children in peril and the strong women to whom they give their hearts, check out Susan Stoker's Mountain Mercenaries. There is a lot of character cross-over among the books in the series but each novel can be read as a standalone.
4.5 stars

Archer and his team find an unexpected hostage and helps Morgan return home. Danger follows and the team steps in again to solve the mystery. Good addition to Mountain Mercenaries series,

Ebook from netgalley and publishers with thanks. Opinions are entirely my own.

I really enjoyed this book, though not quite as much as the first book in the series. The thing that held me back was the instant connection between the two characters. Within hours of knowing each other, they claim to have this "connection." I'm not a fan of insta-love stories and while this wasn't quite there, it was bordering on it.

As the story went on, Archer's feelings were obvious but I struggled with Morgan's. I think they needed more time apart to truly realize their feelings for one another.

** ARC received from Netgalley **

No matter which series of Susan Stoker you read, everyone of her stories is as intense as the previous one and as captivating as the next one! There’s something very addictive and seductive about Susan Stoker’s various series of courageous and brave soldiers, their fight for justice and the fierce protectiveness of their loved ones.

“Defending Morgan”, book three in the Mountain Mercenary Series, is another great write, bringing marine Arrow Kane to the rescue of kidnapped victim Morgan Byrd. An operation that was supposed to be the extraction of a kidnapped child, takes Arrow and his team members into the mysterious kidnapping of Morgan, who is protecting the very child that the Mountain Mercenaries are tasked to rescue. A kidnapping that draws Arrow and Morgan together as they fight against an unknown enemy bent on killing Morgan.

Susan Stoker is one fine writer that I was glad to have come upon and enjoyed reading her stories. From her Badge Of Honor Series, Delta Force Heroes Series to Seal Of Protection Series and now to Ace Security series, I’ve literally enjoyed every single one of her books. Protecting Caroline, Protecting Fiona and Protecting Alabama are my top favorites of her books that I’ve visited innumerable times…chicken soup for the soul!!!

Received an ARC from Montlake Romance via NetGalley for an honest review.

When Arrow and the Mountain Mercenaries go to Dominican Republic to save a kidnapped child they find a surprise...a woman, one who is well known due to the fact she disappeared without a trace a year ago. The guys and Arrow tread lightly to convince The child and woman to go with them by saying their names Nina and Morgan, who have been starved and abused but they have to get them back to the states before the kidnappers realize they are gone. Arrow is not convinced that the danger to Morgan so he keeps her close and as Morgan fights her demons Arrow fights his attraction to her as his respect for her grows. Strange things are happening to Arrow and his friends but they aren’t sure they are tied to Morgan and Morgan thinks she is the cause but Arrow convinces her to let them help her but Arrow may have taken on more than he can chew. Morgan is such a strong woman even if she is breaking inside and Arrow has the patience of a saint and I just loved the dynamics of their relationship.

Wow, i loved this.
It was great to see how other characters have grown Gray and Allye, Ro and Chloe and how those relationships would work with future ones.
The dynamics for Morgan and Arrow were amazing as they struggled with speed, is it going to fast? And unanswered villains shadowing their future.
Morgan's abuse was dealt with in a sensitive and accurate way and i loved that the romance of the story was more emotive than sexual.
One to make you cry especially with the shocking.last chapters!
An addictive read that will have you gasping, and cheering for Morgan and Arrow.

Wow! Such a unique and interesting story. I really enjoyed the overall message that even though bad things happen you can still preserver. I absolutely adore Morgan for her resilience. Archer “Arrow” is the perfect match for Morgan. He may be burly and dangerous, but he is kind and understanding when it counts. I loved watching their relationship develop and the way each changed over time. I loved all the twists and turns this book took and could not put it down!