I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it!

Fabulous!! This was a great story which I could not put down. Would recommend this to everyone who loves this genre.

Love this series of books ….the agent coping with a prosthetic leg is interesting, and thr family dynamics are great and the cases are exciting.

I received this book from the publisher and Net Galley in return for an honest review. I believe that I had asked for a copy of this book based primarily on the fact that I have read and reviewed a number of the books that have been published by Severn Publishing and hadn't been disappointed so far.

Apparently, this novel is the third one in the Lexi Mills series (which I would definitely recommend to anyone who is going to read this to have read prior as it certainly explains a lot of the backstory which I found missing when I read the third book in the series).

That said, the story is about a select joint task force of American justice officials (ATF, FBI, and other alphabet-soup agencies) led by Lexi Mills in continued pursuit of a domestic terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers, led by Tony Belcher, whose goal is to initiate a cull of religious nonbelievers before the coming Rapture. For the uninitiated, this is the second meeting between Lexi Mills and Tony Belcher, with the first meeting resulting in the loss of her leg and the death of her partner.

Personally, I think that this should and could have been sufficient in the build for this story - a desire for revenge for the death of her former partner and vengeance for the loss of her limb (in addition to trying to save the country). Shea and Miller also try to introduce multiple other plots that the reader has to try to follow to justify the pursuit of Belcher by Lexi Mills (which I have to admit tended to distract me as a reader and sometimes make the novel hard to follow). The story moves along quickly in some places and really drags in others.

I see now that this is in a series and may have been easier to follow if I had read others in the series.

For me, I had trouble keeping the timelines and characters straight. I didn't like the fact that the book jumped around in time and going back and repeating what has happened. I was reading in ebook format and thought I had accidentally flipped the pages back.

I loved that there was a strong woman leading this team who had a prosthetic leg. I enjoyed the characters on the team and the way they cared for each other. I enjoyed the non-stop action and how well-developed the characters were.

I definitely think there is a market for this book (and would recommend reading it in order) it just wasn't a good fit for me. With both my critiques and my praise for the novel stated above, I would rate this book a solid three and a half stars out of five (which rounds to four stars in both Netgalley and Goodreads).

As with all my literary ramblings, this is just my five cents worth.

Impact
by Brian Shea and Stacy Lynn Miller
Pub Date 09 Mar 2023 |
Severn River Publishing
3 🌟🌟🌟
Description
A religious zealot has plans to bring the country to its knees.
Lexi Mills is hellbent on taking him down. Brace for Impact!
ATF Agent and resident bomb expert Lexi Mills is on a mission. Commanding a task force of hand-picked specialists, she sets her sights on a terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers. A religious sect with a violent plan to cull the nonbelievers before the coming Rapture, the group is headed by its charismatic leader, Tony Belcher. The first time she crossed paths with Belcher, Lexi lost her leg—and her partner.
Now she’s determined to make him pay.Vowing to end his reign of terror, the team hunts down members of Belcher’s organization. But underestimating him is their first mistake. And by the time they discover the ruthless intellect beneath his fanatical persona, it’s too late. When Lexi becomes the target of Belcher’s rage, she’s forced to make an impossible choice: Prevent a bomb from killing thousands of innocents—or save the love of her life.
In a terror plot destined to be the worst in the nation’s history, Lexi must once again put her own life on the line to do what she does best…and the stakes have never been higher.
🚨MY REVIEW🚨
IMPACT is the third novel in the Lexi Mills series by thriller writer and US Air Force veteran Stacy Lynn Miller and former detective and WSJ Best Selling author Brian Shea. I found The Impact somewhat difficult to get into . The story moves along quickly in some places and really drags in others. It's told from multiple points of view and has several plots going on as well. No matter how much i tried to like this book it just was not for me. I received a e - arc copy from Severn River Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m not given compensation to read and discuss a book and I’m not told how to rate a book. I am given a book in exchange for my opinions on it, and I am truthful in all my reviews whether I loved them or not.

A riviting and compelling read that grabs you and pulls you in - Shea is an author that has me always on the watch for his next book, and he has yet to disappoint

This is the third Lexi Mills book and it was my favorite so far. Lexi is an ATF agent, still in the hunt for terrorist mastermind, Tony Belcher. Lexi’s fiancé Nita has learned how dangerous and important Lexi’s job is after being with her on the scene in book two. This time Belcher sends his men after Lexi’s parents and Nita for revenge and a great deal of violence occurs.

This was action packed and I liked the realism it brought since most sapphic fiction doesn’t include the MCs being in dangerous and life threatening situations. This book used multiple points of view including the MCs and the criminals, letting us into their state of mind. The story moves along quickly, multiple plots to start a revolution are foiled by Lexi and her team of federal agents.

I would recommend reading this series in order to get to know the characters and their backgrounds.

ARC received from Net Galley for an honest a voluntary review.

I found it very hard to get past the first few pages of the book. The writing seemed disjointed and unengaging.

A religious zealot has plans to bring the country to its knees. ATF Agent Lexi Mills is hellbent on taking him down. Commanding a task force of hand-picked specialists, she sets her sights on a terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers. A religious sect with a violent plan.

Impact by Brian Shea and Stacy Lynn Miller is the third book in the series. I did not read the other two books. I don't feel I missed anything by not reading the other two books.

The cover is nice and is what drew my attention to the book. Impact was a kind of drawn-out storyline. Unfortunately, I found myself just wanting to get to the end. I didn't really think about the characters when I wasn't reading the book.

The story was okay, a bit slow in parts. Impact has a good conspiracy plot line, solid characters, and a sad but also nice outcome with some of the characters. Seems there will be more in the series on how it ended. I may read more from these authors.

I would give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars (rounded to 4).

#NetGalley @SvrnRvrPublish