This was a great book! I lost over an hour of time, gripped in my reading while people left the room without me even noticing! Yes, I got this book in exchange for a free review, but I wouldn't make that up.

It's the third story in the 'Danger never sleeps' series. You can read it as a stand alone but you will get more layers and texture to the story if you know the backstories of the other characters involved. I've just seen that there's a fourth story and I can't wait.

The story has action, romance, love and a great side story in the character of Ryker. The main theme of the book is trust and that you don't always need to control things. I recommend reading this, and I'll be buying it for my library.

Another fantastic installment filled with suspense, friendship and love. Heather comes back from active duty to find herself stalked. Does it tie back to her service? But it can't. Soon she finds herself racing for her life and under the watchful care of Travis. As they try to solve what is going on, they grow closer. Another compelling read from a master.

Active Defense by Lynette Eason proves once again that she is at the top of her game in Christian romantic suspense. Lethal is the third book in the series and the characters from the previous books are woven throughout.

Heather is a surgeon who has a stalker. I really liked her character. She was smart and prepared. She had issues from being an orphan that she had to work through.

Travis was adorable. He owns his own security firm and is part of their friend group. He has been crushing on her so of course he was the first to volunteer to help her.

In Active Defense, Eason delivers a fast-paced story with a strong, lovable ensemble cast and a sweet, helping of romance and friendship.

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.

The title of this series is Danger Never Sleeps and it is certainly appropriate to this book. I was completely captivated during the reading.

Army field surgeon Heather Fontaine has come home from her deployment after a devastating event. Plagued by nightmares and near constant near nervousness, she never imagined that danger would follow her home in the form of a stalker. But someone is after her and may just be targeting her friends as well.

Travis Walker owns a security agency and begins to work with Heather to figure out who wants her gone from this earth. Travis has long admired Heather and has feelings for her and is determined to keep her safe while they work on this together.

Lynette Eason has a definite winner with Active Defense. I was totally drawn in from the very first paragraph. This series is really good! Tight, taut, and intense, this one will ratchet up the heart-pounding excitement suspense fans crave. Highly recommended. I was given a digital copy of this book by Revell Publishing. I received no compensation and the opinion in this review is expressly my own.

4.5/5 Stars
I like books that start with bangs. Explosions, that is.  Lynette Eason does this in both the figurative and literal sense with the third book of her "Danger Never Sleeps" series.

The first descriptor that came to mind for Active Defense by Lynette Eason--dynamic. It is an action-packed story, one that will leave you feeling like you are on one of those dropping rides at an amusement park. You climb higher and higher into the sky, anticipation making your stomach churn. Because you know the climb ends. There will be a dramatic drop that will suck the air from your lungs. It's just a question of when. As a doctor in Afghanistan, Heather Fontaine thinks her dangerous days are over after she has returned to the States. But the stalker--or "watcher," as she calls him--leads her to believe differently. She's a product of the foster system due to no fault of her own, and her childhood has taught her one thing--independence. Be invisible. Don't ask for anything...not even from your friends.

And she doesn't. Someone disturbs her home and leaves a photograph marked with red dots as though aiming a firearm. Heather flees, but her friends aren't so easily dismissed. Travis Walker, in particular, has an interest in her well-being, and he will not let anything happen to her. He remains by her side every step of the way.

I don't usually read as much this part of the year, but let me tell you, Active Defense by Lynette Eason was a good one. I did not like it quite as much as its predecessor, Acceptable Risk, but it's still wonderfully written. It's like traveling down a dark, gravel road with no streetlights. You know the road curves, but you are not sure where. Or perhaps it's a bit like the perilous drive I had back from a state park in August 2020. Minding my own business, crawling slowly forward in the blackness when all of a sudden...

"DEER!" or "COW!"

Yes, really. A cow. Multiple cows. Active Defense is like that. You're turning the pages one by one, when suddenly--BAM!--Eason hits you with a figurative cow.

A Soap Opera of Epic Proportions
This book is bewitching. I legitimately almost walked straight into an attic access ladder while reading it. I didn't want to leave the story to walk down a hallway; why would I do such a thing?! Although I am quite relieved I didn't actually run into the ladder...what a tale that would have been for work on Monday. No good reasoning for that bruise, at least not one my coworkers would have believed!

The only reason why I did not give the novel 5 stars is because it did read to me a little like a soap opera--or maybe a ramped-up Hallmark movie. Why do all romance novels seem to feature someone with an awful past? Why does the foster system always screw up the kid(s)? I am not a watcher of soap operas, but I know people who are. Soap operas...don't always make sense. Instead, the writers seem to roll dice to determine what's going to happen to the characters.

"Athena....is the lost twin sister...of Fred, who has amnesia, who's also the CEO of a company that's been selling counterfeit hair products!"

While no one has amnesia in Active Defense, certain aspects of the novel had the "soap opera curve ball" quality. Eason, though, does a good job of explaining the snippets that left me with cartoon-like question marks popping up over my head. Even then, at times she did leave me scratching my scalp a few times, asking, "Huh?" A few points in the book disappointed me, which I won't go deeply into since it would spoil the plot. But the "big reveal" of the stalker's identity was, to me, a bit anti-climactic. And had I gone into the novel with the "soap opera" descriptor in mind, I probably could have predicted the main antagonist from the first few pages.

Conclusion
Active Defense by Lynette Eason is a riveting romance, full of character development (at least for the female protagonist) and edge-of-your-seat moments. You won't want to sleep; I didn't. You may not even want to eat; someone else had to practically shove food in my face so I wouldn't starve. Guns and kidnappings and explosions, along with close friendships and humor, Active Defense has it all. If you're a Dee Henderson fan, I guarantee you'll enjoy this story just as much as I did. All of its "COWS!" and soap opera-like instances will leave your heart pumping, your mind captured, and your fingers itching to turn to the next page.

*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.