Ruckus by Zoe Dawson
Book #1: SEAL Team Alpha Series
Source: ARC from author and purchase
My Rating: 4½/5 stars
My Review:

Getting out of tight situations, dangerous situations is what Ruckus has done for the better part of his adult life. As leader of SEAL Team Alpha, Ruckus has honed his mind and body to withstand and thrive in conditions most people would buckle under in an instant. His team is his family and their safety his primary concern. Until Cupcake, nothing has ever gotten in his way, clouded his judgement, or compromised a mission. Until Cupcake.

Dana Sorenson has spent her life trying to live up to the example set by her parents. Her mother selflessly gave of herself through Doctors Without Borders and her dad held down the fort at home, always ready for the return of his girls. Dana’s parents loved generously and without condition and often in the service of others. To that end, Dana’s current assignment in the armpit of Hell is the fulfillment of a final request from her mother, tell the story of the people who are suffering. With a small crew and a few “permission slips” that will mean nothing once the shooting begins, Dana finds herself the prisoner of a madman and all her footage and data stolen.

The arrival of Ruckus and his team is a sight for sore eyes and a welcome surprise, but Dana is having none of them sending her home without her footage and materials. She knows where the team can find their “real” target and she’ll be happy to tell them as long as she’s allowed to tag along and recover her property. Thus begins, Operation Cupcake.

Ruckus isn’t pleased with his new “teammate,” especially once they’re separated from the rest of the team, but even he has to admit, she’s scrappy and able to keep up with him. Cupcake, as Ruckus refers to her, has a smart mouth, a quick mind, and a fearlessness he has rarely encountered outside of the SEALS. She’s sexy as hell and one of the few women ever able to break through his prodigious defenses. Thanks to a truly awful childhood and some epically failed relationships, Ruckus doesn’t easily trust, but again and again, Cupcake proves she can be trusted and even liked. Though he doesn’t want to like her or betray her, Ruckus has a job to do and part of that job is seeking her safe return to the US, with or without her property.

The Bottom Line: Quite frankly, Zoe Dawson is just too good to fall into the traps of the typical first in a series book. Ruckus starts out hard and heavy and it doesn’t let up for a single minute until the very end! Ruckus is by far my favorite character in this read and I thoroughly believed in his quiet aggression, his nearly silent strength, and overt sexiness. Ruckus tends to let his actions speak louder than his words and I LOVED what he had to say. Dana is a strong character, but she took time for me to really warm up to. To be completely honest, I am not a fan of reporters so I went in with a bit of a bias against Cupcake. With that being said, Dawson has created a completely atypical reporter character and I completely appreciated that effort. Sure, Dana wants her property back and wants to tell her story, but her mission is more about fulfilling a promise to her beloved mother and not scooping another reporter or trashing people for the sake of a juicy story. Once I recognized the alignment of Cupcake’s priorities, I warmed up to her nicely. Finally, in addition to Ruckus and Cupcake, there is the rest of Team Alpha who don’t play a huge role in this read, but make enough of a splash to let the reader know, this is going to be one slammin’ series! ( )