Defending Everly

Mountain Mercenaries, Book 5

By: Susan Stoker

Narrated by: Stella Bloom

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A Wall Street Journal bestseller.

The stakes are personal, hot, and dangerous in New York Times bestselling author Susan Stoker's riveting Mountain Mercenaries novel.

As tough as Everly Adams may be, the Colorado Springs SWAT officer is near a breaking point. Her fifteen-year-old half sister, Elise, has disappeared from Los Angeles without a trace, and the window to find her is closing fast. Committed to the search is Mountain Mercenary Kannon "Ball" Black. He and Everly already have a history - of rubbing each other the wrong way.

Still, Everly has to admit the man is heart-stopping. His brash alpha swagger takes her breath away. And most importantly, as a former Coast Guard first responder, Ball has what it takes to bring Elise home.

Nobody's buying the LAPD's "runaway" theory. And the fear that Elise is the victim of a human trafficking ring is a gut-punch that Everly and Ball can't ignore. If only the trail were that clear cut. Because the one they're following is more insidious and intimately dark than they could have imagined.

Now as the bond between Everly and Ball grows stronger, so does the heat. And as the stakes rise, so does the danger.

©2019 Susan Stoker (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

He's a Keeper

I love this series, and have enjoyed each of the stories so far. This story, though, I really loved because it simply didn't go as I expected it to. But then, Ball and Everly haven't managed to run on smooth roads since they met thanks to Ball's big mouth and his assumptions based on past history. Everly's not going to cut him any slack, either. He screwed up, acted like a jerk, and she's holding him accountable.

But as the mission to find Everly's sister continues, and walls finally begin to erode, we discover the real man behind the gruff words of Kannon "Ball" Black. And this man, isn't too big a jerk to look at himself and realize he might need to recalibrate his views on a few things that happened in his past. Geez. He's a keeper.

This fast paced and well-written novel is another great addition to the Mountain Mercenaries series.

Good read

Loved it| just the right amount of mystery, adventure and romance. I will read more.

So a cop and a web designing solider meet...

Full disclosure I adore Susan Stoker. Her work is an immediate pre-order, so yep I am biased. I love all her series and just enjoy her style of storytelling. The heroines are never doormats and never stupid—they are often as, if not more, badass than the men who love them. Yes the men as alpha and seriously hot, but they are sensitive and flawed too. Everyone seems like they could be real people and they talk/behave in ways that real people do.

Everlyn is awesome, she is a SWAT officer who still worries about her jiggly part when she’s naked. The man helping her to find her 15 year old sister seems like a misogynist a-hole, but she does what she needs to do to find her.

Kannon (Ball) has an enormous chip on his shoulder from past experiences but is self-aware enough -eventually- to see it.

I love that Everylyn’s sister is deaf, this is not a community often represented in romance or action novels. I also love that, yes it was a hinderance at times, but it was also used to their advantage. Because of my stutter, I took sign language as my foreign language requirement in college. The scenes of Ball struggling were very relatable and humorous.

Good story with some really scary moments

A sweet love story, but some really hard things to think about. There was a happy ending for Everly and Ball, but then the next mission happened. Can't wait to read Meat's story.

Defending Everly

In this book in the Mountain Mercenaries Kannon, aka Ball, has been tasked to go to LA to find a missing female teenager. And he is not happy when he has to travel with her sister. Everly has to go with him. Her sister is deaf and no one around can sign. This trip has many eye opening events for both of them. His past actions with women has not been the best. And she has trust issues. Will they find her sister in time? Has she been targeted for sex trafficking Or is something else more sinister in play? The narration had me hooked to the very end. And am looking forward to the next.

Another great story

This was a great read! Pulled me in from beginning to end and held my attention the entire time. I loved getting to see Ball deal with his issues regarding working with strong, capable women and he quickly knew he made a mistake. Everly knows what she is doing and works well with Ball once they start to get over the comments he made and hang ups he had. Everly makes it obvious pretty quickly that she is different than his old female partner and way more capable. It quickly starts pointing out the flaws in his thinking and he quickly starts making adjustments and acknowledging it. I enjoyed watching him build a relationship with Everly and one with her sister Elise as well. This story was great and I loved getting more build up in the middle as well. Can’t wait for the next book!
The narrator did a fantastic job with all of the characters and bringing the story to life.

love this book

this book was a great read there are some sick individuals out there I am glad he is dead

One click Stoker

As soon as Susan Stokes announces a new book to one of her series, I click to order.

That being said, I enjoy some books more than others. This was a 4 because I just kept losing interest in the heroine. I had trouble liking her enough to care about her. And as a retired cop, I was disappointed in her choices she made.

I recommend you read the books in each series in order

Loved this strong woman!

I was happy to read about this very strong woman and heroin Everly and her sister Elise. Everly was a SWAT Team police officer and very good at her job. Ball, (Kannon), was a member of the Mountain Mercenaries. He had a bad experience with his last partner, who was a female, and this made him very prejudice against all female partners. He didn't want to work with her because of this. Her sister, Elise, is kidnapped by an online predator who is mentally unstable. Ball and Every have to work together to save her sister, who by the way is deaf and uses sign - language to communicate. Along the way, both learn to love and trust each other and come to respect their abilities on the job. The story flowed well and I enjoyed it become there was no crying, helpless, heroin to make me want to pull my hair out. Well worth the read!

Big fan of all of the books

looking forward to getting the next book and how that one turns out!! Just wish he had a better nicknames other than "Meat"!