When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect book to snuggle up with on any day.

A quick novella filler in Kat Martin’s high octane Maximum Security series, BEFORE NIGHTFALL is a nice bite of a book with some fun insta-love and pulse-pounding action scenes. I really liked our hero, Colt. His eye patch was sexy and I loved that he treated the heroine, Lissa, with the professional respect she deserves.

When there is a full action plot like in this novella, the romance does tend to suffer a bit. I really didn’t believe Lissa and Colt were willing to uproot their whole lives after a few days of knowing each other, but it’s a fun fantasy! And what’s that famous saying, “adrenaline makes the heart grow fonder”? Overall, this was a nice novella, nothing too special, but I have high hopes for the rest of the series.

**I received a free copy of this book in order to provide an honest review**

First of all that cover is killing me! I've read a few of this authors books enough to by pass it but when reviewing the book I got a good look at it and was dying. Not a fan if I wasn't already familiar with the authors books I probably wouldn't have given this book a second glace.

As for the book in general it was actually pretty good for a novella. It was pretty short so not enough time for a complex backstory which I would've preferred so I can appreciate the characters more. I'll also excuse the fact that the love attraction between the two main characters were very rushed because it was a novella. What I did love was watching the case unfold as the who go out and seek the child from the father who had kidnapped him. The father is unpredictable and anything could be happening and Lissa friend who is the parent of the child is worried sick. There are many factors making this a high risk but Lissa and Colt will do everything they can. Great novella I really enjoyed it.

I am a fan of Kat Martin for a while and this is also a part of a series, so please please read the first too, you will know the characters and I feel that that helps. I read a previous review that they disliked reading all the secondary characters and that it wasted time since they had nothing to do with it. When you read Ms. Martins book, there is always a series, ( i thinks since every book I have read was a part of one.) and at at times they are connected by situation or just a character from her other books, so they really are not a waste of time because if you continue reading her books, which I am pretty sure you will you will find a character which will remind you of when and where, maybe others dont like that but I do and I tend to read and reread books that I like and she is one my go to authors. So in this one we have Julie whose ex whom she had not heard from in years kidnaps her kids and he was a horrible man. Julie contacts her friend Lissa for help and she is distraught when Cole a friend of her deceased husband had stopped by to check up on her, and he promised his friend that he would look in on and assist if necessary. Lissa takes an instant dislike to Colt (but does she really) and these set out to locate those kids which wont be easy since they are now dealing with the Mexican Cartel..So strap on and Enjoy!

I have felt this Series has been progressively getting better so I was a bit disappointed with this novela. While I found the story / plot line interesting the romance aspect felt forced and rushed, which is sometimes the case with novellas. This story is about our main characters, Lissa and Colt, who team up to help a mutual friend whose son has been abducted by his father. Add in Mexican drug cartels, some high tension situations and some hot & heavy intercourse and you have the gist of the book. I was here for the plot and the chapters from the young boy who's been abducted point of view but the conversation and interactions between our heros just felt stunted and didn't flow smoothly. This was definitely a lust at first sight relationship, it felt superficial and I didn't feel that they any real bond.

Lissa teams-up with Colt to help find their friend’s son after he is kidnapped. Quick novel. ARC from NetGalley.

Kat Martin knows how to pack a punch in a short amount of time or I guess word count!

From beginning to end this story will have reads wanting and needing more from the different characters. I wouldn't recommitted reading this as a stand alone novel.

The characters come alive bring readers on adventure readers will not forget.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Kat Martin Before NightFall.

Before Nightfall is a novella by Kat Martin in the Maximum Security series. Lissa gets a call from her best friend in a panic that her abusive ex-husband is back and wants to see the kids. He ends up kidnapping their son Timothy and heading to Mexico.

Lissa and Colt head to Mexico to get Timothy back. Colt was a Ranger with Lissa’s second husband who died in the war. Lissa and Colt have instant chemistry even when she gets the wrong impression of him in the beginning.

Fast paced with lots of action.

Sexual content – 3 a few physical scenes with a couple that just meet
Violence – drug cartel violence,
Language - d*mn 4 times

I received this book from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review.
You can see my full review at More Than a Review dot com where I rate the level of sex, violence, language and drug/alcohol use in books.

Kidnappings are hard but take your heart out and shred to pieces when it involves a child. When Lissa's best friend Julia has just that happen to her she jumps to the aid. Another one of Julia's friend also comes to the aid and he is like skin to a grater for Lissa when his attitude chaps her hide. As they work together though they do learn to see each other and build that trust that will be needed to find Julia's son. The chemistry also can not help but build also which puts a bit of different kind of heat in this. Knowing whom is the kidnapper does help also alot with as I said since a child is involved we will be pulled every which way. Suspense is the pill of the day with this and that romance is the liquid to take it down with.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

One thing I love about novellas is that they generally don't take endless pages setting up the romance or the mystery/suspense. Kat Martin gets right to it and that is just what "Before Nightfall" does. Insta lust and a kidnapping bring two strangers together in an intense story that I just couldn't put down. The romance is hot and the action is fast paced, just how I like it.

When Lissa Blayne receives a call from her best friend, Julie, she is out the door the next instant. Julie's ex, Ray, who she hasn't heard from in eight years, has surfaced and he wants to see his kids. Tim doesn't return from basketball practice and they fear Ray has taken him.

On his way to Denver, Colt Wheeler is stopping in Dallas to see the wife of a fallen friend and her kids. Colt is starting a new phase in his life, having left the Army Special Forces due to an injury. When he finds Julie upset and Tim missing he offers to use his contacts to find and retrieve the boy. Together, Colt and Lissa must find and rescue Tim from his very dangerous father, but there is always time for some insta-love.

Thanks go to the publisher and Net-Galley for the complimentary copy of Before Nightfall by Kat Martin for the purpose of reading and reviewing prior to publication. My opinions are my own and no one has influenced them.

Before Nightfall is an extremely fast-paced novella that whizzes by. The writing is tight, and the characters are typical of romantic suspense. I haven’t read the previous two books in this series, so at times I did feel a bit lost. This novella is definitely supposed to bridge the gap between the second full book to the next in this series.

Lissa Blayne’s character is that of a hardened investigator who has plenty of cynicism towards the dredges of society and is not interested in a long-term relationship. The story moves so quickly, there wasn’t much time to become vested in her character. I did enjoy her loyalty to her best friend and determination to find the friend’s young son.

Colt Wheeler is a great hero who jumps in to help find his late buddy’s missing son. His attraction to Lissa is untimely since he’s on his way to Denver to start a new life. I enjoyed his straight-forward personality.

The romance between the main characters is based on the physical attraction that crackles between the hero and heroine, and it has little time to develop into something deeper. The story ends with a happy for now instead of a happily ever after. I found this appropriate since they didn’t have much time to see whether they can truly develop long lasting affection along with the physical. I like that both characters are willing to compromise to see where their attraction can go.

If you enjoy lightning fast action with characters driven to succeed, and willing to work together to achieve their goals, then you will like Before Nightfall. I do suggest reading the other two books in this series prior to reading this novella. Happy reading!

A novella between book 2 and 3, the Maximum Security series continues with a tangent looking at one of the employees instead of the brothers. This book can be read as a standalone. For better understanding of this world, it is best to read the first two books in the series.

This novella features every divorced parent's nightmare, their ex-spouse kidnapping their child and taking the child away from them. Lissa's friend, Julie made the mistake of not informing her kids about their father. Without this vital piece of information, Julie's son is easily tricked into going with his father. I never understood the appeal of keeping people "in the dark" for their own protection. I have found it to only benefit the person who knows and keeps quiet. Regardless, Lissa immediately dives in to help find Julie's son.

Enter Colt, a former military, he and Lissa go way back. He also conveniently is visiting Julie's son is taken. Colt and Lissa's interaction are a bit awkward at first with mistaken assumptions on Lissa's part. From there, the story turns into seduction over searching for the kid. Ms. Martin does a good job of inserting sex during plausible wait times whilst searching for the kid. Colt and Lissa's sexual chemistry is sweet if a bit fast. This quick hook up possibly induced by stress and fear for the child could possible turn into something more. The story leaves it with romantic possibilities months later. Overall, this is a short little story to tide a reader over until the next full book comes out.

A fast paced story full of action, adventure, and romance. It's non-stop excitement from start to finish in this novella. A great short read perfect for a Day at the beach

I received a free ARC eBook from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinions.

This is not the best of Ms. Martin's stories. The writing often times seemed rushed and because I have had the privilege to read her upcoming book in this series in which Colt is a character I found some inconsistencies between this story and the next.
Colt and Lyssa are great characters with strong chemistry. Lyssa's is looking for her best friend's son Timmy who's kidnapped by his biological father. Colt's friend Liam who is now deceased was the step father to the same boy. It did take some time into the story to figure out the relationship between Colt/Liam and Lyssa's friend Julie and her children.
Thanks to the computer whiz at Maximum Security, Colt and Lyssa are able to track down Timmy into Mexico and then unearth friends who help in the recovery. Of course they have many opportunities between staking out the bad guys and waiting for stuff to indulge in their wild chemistry. This is a novella so things of course occur on an abbreviated timeline but I still found the story quick and without the characteristic writing that I have come to expect from the author.

A fun novella set in the Maximum Security world. A kick ass female private detective and a recently retired special ops man get together to rescue a young boy kidnapped by his drug dealing father. Lots of action and romance. A nice quick read perfect for today.

ARC received for review

Why did Ms. Martin feel the need to name off twenty people Lissa works with in the first chapter, and we never see ninety percent of them. That was just unnecessary unless Ms. Martin needs it for her word count. I haven't read the previous books, but that in no way took away from this one.

Lissa and Colt had definite chemistry. At times it seemed a little too easy in finding Timmy, but overall it wasn't a bad book.

I'm a fairly new fan of Kat Martin's books, and more specifically, her Maximum Security series. As this was book #2.5 in the series, I expected it would be somewhat shorter than books #1 and #2, and I'm really glad I didn't start reading the series here because I would have been clueless about the Maximum Security agency and it's varied operatives/detectives/ex-military/SEALs/etc. As it was, and since I voluntarily requested an advance reader copy, it found it hard to read than most of the other ARCs I've read and reviewed. Some of the chapters started in the middle of some of the sentences of the preceding paragraph, amd in quite a few instances, it was hard to determine which character was speaking. For these and some additional issues I'll get to, the best I can give this short novel is 3 stars.

Early on, Julie, a friend of Max agency private detective Lissa Blayne's, calls her in a panic. She's just been contacted by her abusive ex-husband, Ray Spearman, whom she's not heard from in 8 years. He wants to see his children and when they aren't at her home when he shows up, he breaks a lamp and says they'd better be there the next time he shows up. Instead, he kidnaps his son from his school. While this is happening, Julie receives a surprise visit from Colt, who promised his dying friend and fellow operative, Liam Douglas, to look in on his wife and kids--Julie and her children. At this point I was utterly confused and by the end of this short novel still hadn't made sense of this conflict. If Liam was Julie's husband, and was the father of her children, how did they suddenly become the children of Ray Spearman? No mention was made of the fact that he might be her second husband, or if he's their stepfather, and, in that case, unless he legally adopted them, they aren't his children at all and he has no rights where they are concerned.

Once Ray has Timmy in his clutches, the chase is on with Lissa and Colt on his trail, and that trail leads to Mexico. En route, their intel is that Ray has become a major player in a dangerous drug cartel, and he's holed up with Timmy in quite a fortress in Mexico. With the help of additional connections in both the U.S. and Mexico, Lissa and Colt hatch a plan to kidnap Timmy and return him to his mother without anyone getting killed in the process.

As Lissa and Colt agree to team up and head for the border to retrieve Timmy, their sexual attraction to one another burns up the motel sheets several times, and the planning and rescue operations are exciting, dangerous and complex. To say this short novel is fast-paced is the understatement of the year, but what was sacrificed by it's brevity was any real character development, an explanation of Timmy and his sister's paternity, a better explanation of what Max Security is all about, and who some of the secondary players in the novel fit in, as well as any deep emotional connection between Lissa and Colt. And even when we get to the expected HEA ending, it's given short shrift, and it left this reader rather disappointed.

Quite honestly, I know that Kat Martin is a far better writer than is exhibited in this novel. Her previous novels in this series were gripping reads with characters you got to know and understand fairly well, and the relationships between them developed at a more reasonable pace. If you're a fan of action/suspense romances, I highly recommend starting with the first two novels in this series. This wasn't a bad novel, it simply wasn't enough to really sink my teeth into, and for me to care about it's main characters to any degree. Hopefully, Ms. Martin's nest Maximum Security novel with be more fully fleshed out and a more satisfying read. I'm looking forward to it.

Before Nightfall by Kat Martin is a novella in her Maximum Security series. Lissa Blayne is a private detective for Maximum Security, and when her best friend calls for immediate help, Lissa drops everything to go to her friend. Lissa’s friend Julie is desperate, as her abusive ex-husband, whom she has not seen in 8 years, kidnaps her 11-year-old son. Her ex has no interest in the little girl, but he wants his son to train him to be like him. When Lissa runs into the house, there is another man, whom she mistakes for the ex, only to learn that this man, was a friend of her deceased husband (she remarried.

Colt Wheeler is a former Ranger, who was Liam’s (Julie’s deceased husband) friend, and has always tried to make sure the family was doing well. When he was traveling to a possible job, he stopped in to visit, just after her ex kidnapped the boy. Colt is determined to help find the boy, and Lissa is not thrilled that he plans to go with her. Colt has friends who can help in Mexico, where the ex is heading, since he is part of the cartel. Lissa knows that she will need help trying to get the boy back alive, especially going against a powerful cartel. In a short time, they both will begin to feel the attraction they have for each other.

What follows is an exciting, suspenseful adventure where Colt and Lissa find themselves in intense and dangerous situations as they get closer to finding the boy. Even with the help of powerful friends in Mexico, they must deal with not only the cartel, but with the Mexican police who are threatening Lissa and Colt to not interfere with their plan to bring them down. But Lissa and Colt know they cannot wait any longer, as the boy could be in middle of an attack.

Before Nightfall was an intriguing, action packed, suspenseful, exciting story line that had me on the edge of my seat throughout the book, even though it was a novella. I also loved Colt and Lissa together, as they made a great couple that we rooted for. Once again, Kat Martin gives us another exciting thriller. If you enjoy action, suspense, fast paced thriller, and romance, you should read anything by Kat Martin.

This was the fast-paced read that I’ve come to expect from Kat Martin. Lissa and Colt have their work cut out for them when they team up to bring Lissa’s best friend's son home, but they don’t give up in their hunt. They DO give up on fighting any attraction they feel toward each other, but that attraction only serves to solidify their camaraderie and determination to find the missing boy before anything worse happens.

It felt like this read was nonstop worry and action from the first page, which made it all fly by so fast, I was shocked when I reached the end. But now I can’t wait for the next book in this series, because I’m sure it will deliver in the same manner.

A tight, well-written novella filled with action, adventure and hotness. Just what I’ve come to expect from this series and Kay Martin.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.