BULLET TO THE HEART (No Mercy Series #1) by LEA GRIFFITH

Gitte: So wow, this was different….different in the most thrilling, dark, heart-breaking and sexy passionate way. Yeah, this book had EVERYTHING! What a find Jenny!! What a truly addictive fast paced story that takes the reader through every emotion possible, as you slowly break down from what’s unfolding in front of your eyes. I feel like I’ve been on one hell of an exhausting ride that had my heart and pulse racing for so many reasons. I found this to be an extremely visual story which is purely down to excellent writing and fantastic characters.

“I am nothing. No one.” – Bullet

‘Bullet to the Heart’ blew my mind and I loved every single minute spent reading, hating any interruption life threw at me. It’s very dark and disturbing and at times some scenes make for uncomfortable reading but the rawness of emotion is overwhelmingly powerful and I just could not put it down.

The heroine is so kick arse I have a serious girlie crush on her, though her story made me cry, and the hero, well he’s bloody lush. All the other characters played their part and the story was intense, intriguing and passionate. Seriously, I bloody LOVED it!

‘Let not your enemy know you. Let him feel you as you take the breath from his chest.’ – Joseph Bombardier

I know you felt the same Jenny, because we couldn’t stop talking about it!

Jenny:  We’ve certainly burnt up the phone lines discussing Bullet to the Heart that’s for sure! Gitte, I seriously don’t think I skipped one single word in this book. I was enthralled from start to finish and didn’t come up for air and yes…god help anyone who sought to interrupt my reading time! That’s why takeaway menus were invented! No way was I going to miss a minute of the suspense, intrigue, heat and gahhh the emotion. I cried a few times in this book and some scenes brought me to my knees.

‘Seven years he’d waited for this opportunity. Seven fucking years. “It would too easy, wouldn’t it, Bullet?” –  Rand Beckett

I don’t think I exhaled until I read the last word.  My stomach was in knots, my heart was racing (from the suspense and the heat I might add) Wow! And here we were thinking the synopsis knocked our socks off….nothing could have prepared us for what was contained inside!

“Tell me, are you willing to beg?”  – Rand
“I don’t beg…” – Bullet
“You will” – Rand

It had everything that’s for sure. Suspense by the truckload, a hero to die for, a heroine who was kick arse but whose vulnerability made me ache for her and every single character intrigued me.  I absolutely loved Bullet and yes…I admit to have a great big girlie crush on her too.

‘How could a woman who looked so damn vulnerable be so deadly?’

This was such a different read and hands down a real winner!

Gitte: Right, so we have Bullet our female lead. She is a detached and cold killer who has had such a tragic and disturbing life it had me in floods of tears not only for her but also her ‘sisters’. I got chills and at times I felt sick to my stomach as her training/childhood was uncovered. She was taught not to feel, be seen or heard or it would have dire consequences. Bullet does not break. Her strength is immeasurable.

“I was formed long ago out of bone, blood, death, and the tears of a small child. Nothing you do can break me.” – Bullet

Bullet is a weapon, the most prized asset to the criminal organisation ‘The Collective’, belonging to a band of ‘sisters’, the elite assassination team, and her life has been conditioned to kill. The fact that this girl has literally been to hell and back and is still of sound mind and able to feel is just amazing. Without doubt, Bullet is the most kick-arse heroine I have ever come across and I am in awe of her.

“You were my target….But I never kill good men,…You were the beginning for me on this path to redemption.” – Bullet

She now lives for vengeance and the only emotion she lives with is responsibility for those who suffered alongside her under the hand of Joseph Bombardier the leader of The Collective and the definition of pure evil. Yet what this girl goes through, how she survives and what this plan of action puts her up against, the amazing thing is how she starts to truly feel.

“I don’t dream Mr. Beckett, I remember…” – Bullet

The path of the adult Bullet becoming who she was before her tragic life began is quite simply heart-breaking yet breath-taking also. Bullet believes she’s no one, she does not truly exist. She has nothing to offer anyone other than her life when it most counts.

Oh how I cried for Bullet Jenny!!

Jenny:  OMG I was sobbing so many times for this woman.  Her treatment at the hands of such a cruel and viscous man and corporation killed me.

“You wanted me to feel pain. I feel pain.” – Bullet

Some scenes were difficult to read but I was so engrossed, I didn’t want to miss a thing and I felt so much for this woman who was such a contradiction.

“Bodies are tools, easily controlled by strong minds..” Bullet

She was delicate yet strong, pained yet deadly, vulnerable yet cold.  She was absolutely kick arse and my heart ached for this beautiful woman who had certainly lived a devastatingly sad existence.

“Don’t do this to me.” – Bullet

Witnessing Bullet the assassin was heart stopping. Watching Bullet the woman, evolve was sensual, passionate and beautiful.  I loved her. She broke me and she awed me!

Gitte: Now, as for Rand Beckett, our hero; the hunter, well he was just gorgeous, lush actually. He’s a man hell bent on revenge for the death of his loved ones and is placed in the path of our Bullet. Their lives are interwoven but from opposite sides of the spectrum. Beckett is a good man, the leader of Trident which was set up to defeat and dismantle The Collective.  He inadvertently got a ‘free-pass’ and when his path crosses with Bullet’s their lives change in so many ways. Some amazingly beautiful and emotional, some violent and quite horrific.

‘This man would be the one who broke her.’ – Bullet

I loved Rand, he was completely bad arse yet he had a pure heart and a connection with Bullet that was beyond his control which showed his caring and loving side. This man had a way about him that had me swooning one minute and raging the next. He was a brilliant character!

‘How fucking dare she make him feel after seven years of nothing?’ – Rand

Do you agree Jenny?

Jenny:  Do I agree?  YES!!! Where do I start with Rand Beckett.  Wow, wow, wow! I loved this guy.  If you need someone to have your back you’d want this ex military man on your side. Fearless, passionate, easy on the eye, deadly, yet possessing a beautiful heart, this man has lived his fair share of pain and is hell bent on a revenge that is eating him up.  This guy sure had nine lives and had dodged a few bullets.

“I want you to suffer.” – Rand
“I have suffered my entire life Mr Beckett.”  – Bullet

The developing relationship between Rand and Bullet had me alternatively swooning and sitting in the freezer. These two had a pull to each other that was tangible.  I found Rand to be such a thrilling character, even if there were a couple of times I wanted to thwack him on the forehead.

‘Somehow, someway this woman eased that part of him that had hungered for so long.’ – Rand

Bullet To The Heart was one hair raising, spine tingling, heart stopping, adrenaline pumping journey and I swooned, I cried, my heart pumped, my stomach twisted , my heart ached and I put my life on hold until I finished and guess what?  I loved every single minute of it!! This author presented a story so vividly told that I was able to live every minute. I want more!!!!!!

“Tell me, Bullet, who the fuck taught you these things? Who fucking hurt you?” – Rand

Arrgghhh I need book two now! I tell you one thing G, Arrow to the Soul will be up there as one our most anticipated reads for 2014 that’s for sure.  Bring it on! Can’t wait!! The story continues…………

Gitte: I have to say that I loved everything about this story and I can’t wait to get the next book in this series! Without spoiling it, I suppose you could say there is no end as such and I’m going to hazard a guess that the ‘fight’ will continue till the end of the series. However, as far as Bullet and Rand is concerned I was left satisfied. What a ‘fan-bloody-tastic’ read this was!!

‘Women were universally the more vicious gender. Cross a woman and hell had no fury to compare to her rage….’ – Rand