MCs were likable , but the story wasn’t. There’s so much going on at the same time, and nothing fits the overall story.

May I suggest that no one reads this book if they haven’t read the other 2 because it seems this was a series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wasn't aware at first that this book was part of a series, so I was quite confused at some things even if, as I found out, it was supposed to be a prequel. It would be a good idea to mention that in the summary since it was difficult to understand everything that went on without reading the other books.

Although the characters were pretty okay, there were a lot of them, so it was difficult to keep track of everything. It was especially confusing since many of the main characters were interested in other. And I never quite understood what were they doing to find themselves at the same place at the same time. All in all, it was a messy read where nothing made much sense.

I’ve enjoyed Maji Rios’ exploits so far and I was really looking forward to a third to see where the relationship between Maji and Rose goes. Unfortunately, this is not that book. This is a prequel to “Strictly Need to Know” and I’m not entirely sure what the point of it was. I think this is supposed to fill in the gaps of what happened to Maji in her last operation and the trauma of being held hostage.

On her return from her mission Maji finds herself in Spain where she discovers she bears a remarkable similarity to pop star Erlea. Erlea is being threatened and the local agents work in tandem with Erlea to protect her. Erlea finds herself falling for the venue’s in house doctor, Celeste, but Celeste is struggling with her own relationship baggage.

I had hopes of learning more about Maji, about her relationship with her handler, Hannah and Ava and I would have liked to felt a greater expression of her trauma from the operation that went bad. In the absence of this I would have been okay with this being a romance between Erlea and Celeste but I found it to be a bit lukewarm from that point of view.

I’m still invested in Maji’s journey so I will read the next one in the series, this just didn’t feel necessary to me.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

The description is what drew me to this read. I selected not realizing it was #3 in a series. I tried to keep that in mind while reading. Erlea, entertainer extraordinaire, Celeste, talented doctor, and Maji Rios, tough as nails agent were all interesting in their own way. I was expecting more action and suspense and felt a little let down. According to some of the reviews I read, there was plenty of action in #1 of the series. I believe this was a case of I should have read the books in order, oh well.

This book is … kinda hard to read and much harder to follow through. It's the third book in a series and it's the prequel, which I didn't know before reading. Now I think it might have been smarter to google the book first and read the other two books … BUT this one is the Prequel and in my opinion it should be possible to read it without having read the others … this is - unfortunately - not the case. Well, not for me at last.

The characters are likeable but there a so many of them that I was highly confused from time to time. The story didn't touch me much, I felt a lot overwhelmed by all the different characters and their interest in each other. I would have prefer a bigger focus on one story in order to connect with, instead you get a various cast with various problems. To make this clear, this is not all bad and the writing style is okay but it just didn't worked for me. Maybe I really should have read the other books first, but I did not know about them - maybe it should be mentioned in the blurb that this books belongs to a series.

Maybe I will do it in order to get a better grip at this particular book.

I read a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is part of a series but can be read as a standalone book.

The characters are well written - they have good days, meh days. Not everything is perfect but they live their lives of diversity and wide experiences.

Maji, the catalyst to this story dances in and out of several plot lines. She is a SURVIVOR who feels best helping others.

Politics, relationship struggles, industry scandals, military failures. It's all here.

I will be buying the other books in the series now that I've met Maji.

Wow! I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought this story was a hot mess. I tried to read most the book before I read any of the reviews of it, which I guess was fortunate, because I probably wouldn't have read any of it at all if I'd seen the reviews first.

I wish I could say that this book held my interest, but it didn't. There were so many people in this book, and they were introduced all at one time, so it was hard to keep track. There is an attempt at political suspense, but it falls flat.

At different points in the book, we find out that Dr. Celeste Guillot (the source of whose problems is never explained), is attracted to Maji (who also had another name, but I can't remember it), but she can't maintain romantic relationships, so Celeste goes trawling for someone else, and that Erlea (whose name is also Beatriz, further adding to the confusion) is attracted to Dr. Guillot who seems to, in turns, reject her and attract her. These people all have confusing pasts, but none of the problems are ever explained.

I really tried to like something about this book, but no one in the book seemed to know what - or whom - they wanted, or what they wanted them for. I was not aware that this is a series, but now that I know it is, I'm wondering if all the books in the series are as muddled as this one is. I simply did not get the point of the book.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review of this book.

3.25 Stars. This is the third book in the Maji Rios series. While this is the third book, this is actually a prequel. This takes place before book one. However, while this is a prequel when it comes to timeline, I would still recommend reading the first two books first. Maji’s job and the cast of characters in her life can be a bit confusing at times. All the other early reviewers were people new to the series and they found this book to be confusing. I had no issues with confusion having read the other books, I just wasn’t wowed by the story.

The first book in Maji’s series was exciting, it had its bumps as a debut but the action was the fun part. Book two had the added romance that book one was missing and was better written. This third book was perfectly fine but it lacked any spice. There wasn’t enough action for this action-romance series and the romance was a little dulled. Since this book was in the past before we meet Rose (one of the mains from book 1 and 2) I found myself really missing her character. I hate to say this but I don’t think Austin needed to tell this particular story. Maybe I’m wrong and some of the new characters in this book will pop up in book 4, but I don’t really understand why she choice to take us back in time to this particular spot. I could understand if we went back earlier to live through some of Maji’s actual mission to truly understand what she went though. Instead it was glossed over and besides a few bad dreams her PTSD wasn’t as focused on as I expected.

The action felt toned down and everything was too easily resolved. It was basically let Maji get shot and try to catch the bad guys, rinse and repeat. If you have read book one especially, you will know that Maji is a total badass almost superhero like. Instead of Maji going after danger she was much more passive and that was so unlike her character and made for a less fun and exciting read.

On the good side was the cast of characters. Even missing Rose I still liked the new characters and seeing ones I enjoyed from the other books. Austin has no issue with writing character that are likeable and characters you are supposed to hate.

I’m disappointed to say this was my least favorite of the series. I’m still hopeful there will be a book four and we will get back to Rose and Maji. The two together were really missed for me. I also hope the excitement of the first book and kickass-ness of Maji comes back in full.

Ok I’m confused. And I’m not a stupid person, or I would love to think I’m not! So why am I confused ? .. I remained confused the whole book!

So my view: MCs were likable , but the story wasn’t. There’s so much going on at the same time, and nothing fits the overall story.

May I suggest that no one reads this book if they haven’t read the other 2 because it seems this was a series. I had the feeling that it might be, but thought if it’s that important, maybe the author would highlight this in the blurb ? So to be very fair, I could assume that this would be an enjoyable book if you’re aware of the other 2 books.

As this is my first time to read this author, I have to admit that I didn’t have a major issue with the writing style. So I will actually give her another shot whenever there’s a new book coming out.
P.s: i have a feeling my review might come across as confusing, but i promise it’s because I’m still confused myself :)

My rating is a 2.5 rounded up to 3.
“I received an ARC for an honest review.”

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Ok this book just confuse me to a point that I didn't want to finish it may be because it is the third book in this series in which I didn't know it was. I might get the other two to see if I'll enjoy it more.

You have Maji who is covert operator, Erlea who is spanish pop star, Celeste who in house physician throw them together you have death threats relationship problems because you have Erlea a bit wild who seem to want someone to settle her down Celeste attracted to both Erlea and Maji while she coming out of a bad relationship you have Maji dealing with PSTD while being attract to a woman name Reimi who a dealer at casino she goes to regularly.

I like characters but the story didn't pull me in. I'm giving it 3 stars because I like the chatacters.

his book is one hot mess that had us confused and confounded most of the time.

There is Maji Rios who worked as a covert operator but is now suffering from PTSD and is somehow there, doing something in Majorca. There is Celeste, in-house physician at Gran Balearico a luxury resort cum casino. There is Erlea, a Spanish pop star with a reputation (which seems deserved) of being a wild child. Maji is attracted to Reimi, the dealer in the casino where Maji plays regularly. Erlea is scheduled to stay in the resort for an extended period so finesse her new show. Celeste has just come out of a physically abusive relationship with her last girlfriend and is all kinds of attracted to Maji and Erlea. There are supercilious managers, obnoxious stage managers, laid back choreographers, maverick make-up artists and a host of other characters thrown into the mic. And yeah! Maji and Erlea resemble each other. And there are death threats. And super saves.

Celeste and Erlea are both really likeable which makes it a little depressing that they couldn’t have got a more coherent romance. The author also writes attraction and chemist so well. But…

This is one book that can be given a wide berth.

Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this one as much as I hoped to. It may be partially my fault because I didn't realize until after I was done that it was the 3rd in a series, but this entire read felt disjointed and confusing to me. It's quite possible that I would have understood quite a bit more if I had the background from reading the first 2 books in the series.

There's something about Austin's writing style that bothered me. I would actually compare her writing style to Ali Vali, which I know many people enjoy as an author, but Vali's style just doesn't work for me personally either. Typically I really love the cop / agent / fed going after a criminal theme, but Austin's style made this feel disjointed and confusing in sections.

All in all, I can't say that I would recommend this book, but I also would caution you to maybe read other reviews from those who have read the other 2 books in this series and take mine with a grain of salt. For me, this came in at an even 3 stars.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

Before giving this review, please know that I did not read Books 1 and 2. I am actually thinking that books 1 and 2 would not have helped with understanding all characters except Maji Rios.

So, I must say I was confused for 75% - 80% of of the book. As soon as I thought I gained some clarity at around 45% I became confused again 70%. I was confused with the number of characters and storyline. I can't say this was a terrible book, but it was hard for me to enjoy because I was always trying to figure out what was going on.

If you do decide to read this one, please pay attention.

I will rate it 2.75 stars.