Customer Reviews

Last Man Standing

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the last book in the Black Ops, Inc. series, Joe takes center stage, in a big way. He pulls away from his teammates, the woman he loves, from anyone who means anything to him as he tracks down the killer of his former teammate and Stephanie's brother. He knows he's looking into something that could and probably would ultimately end him, but the guilt of Bryan's death eats at him and he wants justice for his close friend and man he thought of as a brother.

Stephanie and Joe's relationship started back in FEEL THE HEAT and for me, it was one of the highlights of the book. Taking nothing away from the main storyline and leads of that book, I just fell for "Mean" Joe Green, all muscle and little talk, but he turns into a protective, sweet man around Stephanie. Steph knows that her brother's death weighs heavily on Joe and she's not happy when his obsession with finding out the truth continues as everyone believes that it was an accident; there's no proof that it could have been anything else. Joe breaks up with Stephanie and while on leave from his team, he heads to Sierra Leone to get the facts. Once there, he's accused of murder and tossed into prison. For one month, he's beaten, starved and literally half the man he used to be in size and strength and he's losing the battle to stay alive.

Joe and Steph start uncovering all the facts surrounding Bryan's death and before it's all said and done, their lives and Steph's parents will all be in danger. The series, and especially in the case of Joe, has been building to the truth of what really happened on the mission that killed Bryan Tompkins. He was a best friend and brother to all the BOI teammates and his death hit Joe especially hard, reminding him of another painful death in his past. Joe struggles to let himself go with anyone, but can't keep it all in from Stephanie for long. She risks her life for him, after he broke her heart and she knows the kind of man Joe is, even if he isn't able to see it yet. For not being trained in the field or having ever gone on any kind of mission, Steph maybe did a little too well in rescuing Joe, but she had a lot of help from Suah and his friends and they're the real reason Joe gets out of prison.

Joe is a guy who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and his only soft place in the world is with Steph. He's just too stubborn to believe it can actually last and Stephanie doesn't let him get away with that kind of thinking for long. She changed a lot during the short time it took to rescue Joe. She seemed to realize that she was a lot tougher than either she or Joe gave her credit for and she takes care of Joe when he needs her most, much to his alpha-brain horror of not being able to help himself during his recovery. They're a great couple to follow, they had instant chemistry when they first got together in FEEL THE HEAT and seeing them grow and become stronger together made this story.

**********
His hands covered hers. "Steph -"

"Shh." She brushed his hands away, and with gentle care slid the shorts off his legs. "I promise I won't hurt you."

She loved the strangled sound he made. The almost laugh. The inevitable smile of surrender. She leaned down and, careful of his poor split lip, kissed him. Nothing but soft, supple mouths remembering how love tasted, how love felt, how simple love could be when only the moment mattered.
**********

Fans of the series may be a little disappointed that the other men and women of the BOI team don't come on page until the epilogue. This really fits with Joe though. He's the quiet strength of the group, and having the story told fully around him and Steph with very little interaction from the BOI team, fits Joe's character perfectly. The overall action in this one was on the milder side, but this is strictly Joe and Steph's show and with the exception of a few phone calls from Rafe, everyone else is MIA until the wonderful epilogue that ends every book. I look forward to each epilogue and this one had a little extra kick to it, being the series ender. But even without our past favorite heroes and heroines showing up during the story, we get plenty of Mike Brown and his smart ass ways - which I loved. I'm excited for Cindy's new series, and especially getting to know Mike better and maybe even his brother Ty.

This is a very satisfying end to one of my favorite series. I'm glad we got to have Joe's story told and I'm going to miss all our BOI heroes (especially you, Johnny Reed). But Mike Brown made me laugh out loud more than once and while I'm sad to see this series end, I'm looking forward to seeing where Cindy Gerard takes us next and who the next batch of heroes are that we'll all no doubt fall in love with.

Blog rating: 4.5/5 stars

I love this series and was looking forward to Joe's story. I was so disappointed the entire team was not an integral part of this book particularly as the series was ending. For me the group working together and then including the women has been the highlight of the entire series.

I rated this book four stars because the story of Joe and Stephanie was enjoyable and as usual, well written. This book, however, is not a fitting book to end the series. Throughout the entire series the members of BOI considered themselves brothers. The easy banter between team members reinforced the "family" image. Yet, the last book of the series was about one man? Perhaps, Ms. Gerard should have considered an eighth book featuring all the team members. She did better ending the "Bodyguard" series.

Love this series, but gotta say, as with the last bk I was a bit disappointed in this one. We've had snippets of the Stephanie/Joe relationship for a while now in past bks. Not a lot of romantic action in this story. Was it just me or did anyone else do the "you've got to be kidding me" eye roll at that romantic moment on the run in the Sierra Leone hood with a weak, beaten, recovering Joe!?!?!? Just over the top unbelievable. The duo's adventure was fast paced and held my attention and I did have a soft spot for their 15 yr old protector. Was anyone surprised at the villains ending!?!? No suspense there, saw THAT anticlimactic moment coming from the beginning. Huge disappointment that the rest of the BOI boys were absent until the epilogue. And a few phone calls with Rafe did not count. Thank you CG for the brief Johnny D and the gang at the end. Love that Johnny D and will miss him. He's got to be one of my all time favorite H's. Just picturing him in my mind as he's described was half the fun-fantasy. ;-) Hoping the BOI boys will surface here and there in the next series. Did enjoy Primetime and am anxious for his bk. He's cool, snarky, sexy and love the earring, what's not to drool over? His character seems fresh and has that spark that I've missed with these last 2 bks and reminds me more of the beginning of this series. Wondering....was that filler at the end after the epilogue or just reminiscing about our much loved H/h's in this series? It WAS fun to go back and read a few highlights though, just would've liked to see this series go out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Romance - 3 stars
Suspense/Action - 4.5
Overall story - 4.0

I was so excited about this book! I have probably read the whole series at least a dozen times now and I LOVE Cindy Gerard's writing. But, like a lot of the reviews I have seen, the book was a little bit of a let down for me. My favorite part of the Black Ops series is the dialogue and humor between all the guys and it just wasn't there. It's the same complaint that I had with With No Remorse too. Don't get me wrong, the book was still great and was a nice ending to the series, but I was just hoping for a little more of the other guys.

Now we have another spin-off series to look forward to, and I'm excited to see where Mike and Ty's story takes us.

Sorry to say this people! But I was slightly dissapointed. Here is what I loved. Great characters in one of my favorite series. BEAUTIFULLY executed beginning. It was deeply emotional. Okay ending, great epilogue. BUT, the middle of the book was a bit to detail oriented, and it seemed emotions were pushed to the side. I felt the bad guys demise was a bit anti-climactic, hero did not get the revenge he and heroine deserved. Kind of tied up all the books in the series, but not deeply satisfying. SORRY! I still love this author but she pulled me in and then sort of dragged me along.

Cindy Gerard is the author I measure all other romantic suspense by. She's my go-to writer for excellent military romance with strong alpha heroes and admirable heroines, and LAST MAN STANDING is another example of why this is.

Black Ops team member Joe Green has gone off on his own to avenge the death of his team brother, but it is the woman who was his lover - Stephanie Tompkins - who has to come to his rescue. As with other Gerard heroines, Stephanie is tough at the same time as feminine. I am no fan of crazy tough chicks in my books, yet this isn't a heroine who ever crosses that line, despite how far her character comes by the end of the book. She's the kind of woman I admire in suspense stories.

Gerard has a talent many romance writers lack: the ability to make her alpha heroes speak and act like men. Joe is no different to her others, and I love getting the feeling that these are real military-types conversing and doing their jobs, not some girly, womanly ideal of how men should be.

It's sad to see this excellent series end, but I believe there's a spinoff series to follow it!

I have really loved all the black op books, and hate for the end to come on each book. I believe this is the best and most exciting one. I am sorry that I don't have another to read. I hope you write another book very soon.

This book deals with Joe Green's story in the last of the Black Ops Inc series. While I really enjoyed the story I must admit it isn't my favourite of the series and I felt a little let down in the end. I agree with some of the other reviews that what made this series is the 'family' the Black Ops team is and when Joe needed them most they aren't there. I was really hoping to see them all work together to solve the mystery of their former team mates death but it was not to be.

For readers of the series it is a must read to close everything off and I did enjoy it, but if you are new to the Black Ops Inc books start at the beginning as i found the earlier books packed a bit more punch.

How freakin good was this? It was like I'd been on a diet and then with great anticipation sat down and ate the most satisfying, delicious, fulfilling meal I'd had in ages. Of course this meal also came with remorse because now it's over and back to my diet of mediocre romantic suspense again. Not much in this genre comes close to Cindy Gerard's BOI's for me, I have loved each and every book in the series and to then finish with Joe's story... well he definitely is desert.

And anyone with a soft spot for the tortured hero had better sit down because Special Operative Joe Green will grab your heart and squeeze until the very last pages. Ah yes the vigilante hero, is there anything more heartbreaking then a man willing to risk everything?

Yes sadly this is the 7th and last book from Gerard's fantastic Black Op's Inc series. I'd have a tough time picking a favourite among them; Fast paced, super sexy and filled with action, adventure, exotic locations and top notch writing, you really can't go wrong, I would however start at the beginning.(Show No Mercy (Black Ops, Book 1)) Speaking of which, I loved the fact that this book took us back to events started there, in affect creating a story arc and tying up all the loose ends.

I guess my only real disappointment would have to be that we didn't get to see more (any/some) of our BOI'S within this story. LAST MAN STANDING is all about Joe and Stephanie, not that the plot suffers for it or anything but I missed their hilarious banter. With the introduction of Navy pilot Mike "Primetime" Brown I did get some of what I was missing though and I'm sure looking forward to his book from Gerard's as yet unnamed new series.

"Mean" Joe Green has gone vigilante, completely off the grid he's cut himself off from everyone including long time love Stephanie Tompkins, breaking both of their heats (and mine) in the process. Joe is on a mission of vengeance, back in Sierra Leone he's seeking out information on the man responsible for his team mates death in a supposed ambush years ago. He'd meant to protect Stephanie from this hell but when he's falsely imprisoned for the death of a priest, and with his team on blackout status, she's the only one left who has his back.

For a month Joe is beaten starved and tortured, he's half way to dead by the time the last person on earth he wants to see shows up in in Freetown to rescue him. But with no military training how is sweet and gentle Stephanie ever going to break him out of this hellhole?

I want to read this all over again just writing the summery. The opening chapters are so good. Stephanie turned out to be a real surprise, I mean she doesn't suddenly turn into Rambo or anything but she did have me believing she was capable of just about anything and for quite a while wore the pants in this relationship. Men can be so dumb. The romance, sigh. I loved this couple. I loved that Joe and Stephanie were already together so this was a different sort of romance, not all butterflies and new love but a couple working through things and really seeing who the other is.

"She looked not like a woman who needed a man like Joe Green to complete her life, but like a woman who could damn well complete his."

I can't say enough good things about this series, it captured me from book 1 and has never let go. Each instalment is excellent; with hot alpha men falling hard for their lady loves. These BOI's are funny, endearing, good in bed and manage to give us quite a few sigh worthy moments while still packing a big gun and kicking major a$$. The storylines are always exciting, expertly written and with a nice balance between the action and romance. I never find myself going "yeah right" with this series it's just always amazing. Cheers