SPOILERS AHEAD!
God this was so much fun! I had already decided that the second book in this series was going to be an all time favorite, but this book really solidified the whole series as a favorite of mine. Survive The Night felt like when a television show is in their third season and all the characters have settled into their personalities and you start to really appreciate the development, even if in this case it was happening in the background. I think of Theo, I loved the first book but his character didn't really make any mark on me as I read it, but somewhere between the second book and the end of the third I started to really love his character! I wish we could get 100 more additions to this series of women on the run showing up in Monroe just so I can catch up with my favorite people. Actually, it doesn't even have to follow that pattern of Espina sending women there. I would read anything set in Monroe.

I really have to applaud Katie Ruggle on the whole sequence beginning from when the first bomb dropped, all the way through the night, the back and forth POV between Otto and Sarah who were practically on opposite sides of town was riveting. All communications down, the town being silent and empty, I loved how apocalyptic it all felt!

"All Otto's instincts-which had been muttering at him that something was very, very wrong- turned up the volume, shouting at him to get out of the building."

Sometimes in suspense books, the threat is there but nothing really ends up happening that has lasting damage, not in this one, Monroe has a lot of rebuilding to do in the aftermath of Aaron's visit. I couldn't see how the titles of the first two books related to the plot, but this one was truly fitting. There's SO many fun moments between all the characters in this book, I was going to try and add some of my favorites but after checking my e-reader I realized it's a highlighted mess, there's just too many! I was not expecting Otto and Sarah to beat, Theo and Jules, or Hugh and Grace to the alter! It's so cute how Hugh is constantly making comments about Grace moving in with him, I was sure they would get married first but I also like that Grace is firm in her decision to take things slow.

"'We could go, too' Hugh gave Grace a hungry look. 'Have a double wedding.'
She made a big show of pretending to consider it and then shook her head. 'I'm having too much fun dating you.'
'C'mon, then, girlfriend.' Hugh ushered Grace into the house. 'Let's leave the lovebirds alone.'"

Sarah fits in perfectly with the group, I love the dynamic between the three girls'. I can't wait to start the next book. I think I already said this in my review for the second book but, the epilogues in this series are great, they feel like a teaser, almost like a post credits scene of a Marvel movie!
Lastly my obligatory Taylor Swift song that I'm assigning to this book is, Out Of The Woods. For no particular reason.. ( )

3rd book in the Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series.

Light romance with lots of danger, crime and things blowing up. Similar to books 1 and 2, Sarah is on the run from a crime family - the same family featured in the earlier two books. And she encounters a K9 police officer hottie!

Sparks fly - both romance and actual sparks as the crime family comes after Sarah.

I really didn't expect to like this series so much, but I can't seem to put these down. Just the right books for my mood at the moment I guess. ( )

I received a copy of Survive the Night by Jackie May from the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. The following review is reflective of my opinions and mine alone.

Alice Blanchett is the not-at-all beloved sister of crime lord, Aaron Blanchett and she is so used to having nobody on her side that when she receives a note in her dry cleaning telling her to be ready to escape, she doesn't dare to hope because who would be willing to go against her brother. But when her brother promises her to a cruel man to gain favour and form a partnership with an even bigger crime family, she hopes against hope that her unknown saviour will come through. Amidst the bombardment of her home, help comes in the unlikely form of her brother's associate who whisks her away and provides her with a new name and safe passage to a welcoming safe house.

Otto Gunnerson is every animal's best friend, always going out of his way to help an animal in need. When he meets his friend's new housemate, Sarah Clifton, he's speechless. And then awkward, then speechless again, and then awkward again. When Otto comes to Sarah's rescue one day, he offers up his underground bunker to the woman that's captivated him and rendered him tongue-tied.

Otto Gunnerson is really my ideal male gender mate. He's adorably awkward when presented with a woman he finds attractive and he'll bend over backwards to help an animal in need as you can tell the moment you meet him climbing up a dilapidated windmill to rescue a kitten for his friend's little sister. In addition to the rescued kitten, he's also taking care of a frightened horse, a neglected goat, and a litter of orphaned puppies, which turns out to be his 'in' to getting to know Sarah Clifton. Sarah (previously called Alice) is wary of men in general and while she's attracted to the viking-lumberjack LEO, she's also hesitant to get involved with Otto because she knows sooner or later she'll have to disappear again to stay ahead of her brother and pseudo fiance. But Sarah and Otto cannot ignore the heavy attraction building between them and finally decide to make the most of it while things are calm and before Sarah has to leave for parts unknown.

When war comes to Monroe, the ties that bind are tested and lives will be lost. What does the future hold for Sarah and Otto?

Survive the Night was my first approval on Edelweiss and I'm so very glad I was approved for it. I actually finished reading it back in January and was so reluctant to write this review because I didn't want to say 'goodbye' to it. I mean, I kept coming up with excuse after excuse not to finish writing it. I reorganised my books six different times in four weeks, I decided to learn Korean, I bingewatched Dollhouse and some Korean shows on Hulu and Netflix, I made pancakes, pretty much anything I could do to prolong my relationship with Survive the Night. That's why I'm going to warn y'all right now before we go any further. You will get emotionally invested.

From the very beginning readers will become attached to Alice as she endures her abusive life with her older brother, the head of a small crime family. When Alice is manhandled by the twisted creep that her brother chose as her betrothed as a means to attaching himself to a much larger criminal family, I wanted to raze the entire fictional country to the ground. I actually got a bit loud celebrating the explosive entrance her rescuer has at her bedroom window one night and I cheered Alice on as she climbed the roof then rappelled down the other side of the house, and holding my breath and biting a hole in my lip as she passed her brother's office. I chewed my thumbnail down to the quick as Alice struggled up the ravine with her 'bodyguard' and thoughts of what her brother would do if said 'bodyguard' caught her pushing her onward. When Alice, now called Sarah, meets Otto, the awkwardly adorable meeting made me feel embarrassed. With every awkward interaction between Otto and Alice, I was overwhelmed by their adorkable factor. And as the story progressed, I started morphing into one of those really wild ship fangirls that you see on tumblr.

Alice and Otto are both well-developed characters, adding their love story to the series and reintroducing couples from earlier in the series that will worm their way into your hearts and make you want to read their stories as well. You will fall in love with the mischievous twins, Ty and Tio, and want to fight Sam's demons for him. You will cheer Alice/Sarah as she becomes more and more sure of herself. But you'll also find yourself hoping she'll leave Monroe so you can have Otto all to yourself. My favourite part was how detailed Ms Ruggle was in her research for how to care for orphaned puppies. It reminded me of the days when I was bottlefeeding Manatee and Ozymandias' litter, an event that actually saved my life nearly 9 years ago. Let's just say that Otto was made for me.

Survive the Night is an emotional read all-around. I laughed at the kids' antics, I cried at sad animal moments (no animals were harmed or killed so don't worry), I nearly died laughing during the bull elk scene. The buildup of the final act had me looking like a strange cross between a caterpillar (a woolly bear, if you must imagine it) and a blanket burrito gone horribly awry. I'm avoiding telling you the entire plot even though I want to gush and gush and gush, but I won't. You'll need to grab a copy of your own to find out what happens to Alice and Otto.

I cannot properly express how intense the emotions were that I felt reading Survive the Night. Ms Ruggle truly knows how to keep a reader wrapped up in their blanket burrito waiting with bated breath with every turn of the page.

In the end, I'm giving Survive the Night by Katie Ruggle 2 flames for the sexy times and 5 out of 5 stars. That's right. FIVE STARS. I devoured this book in a few hours one night. After I had finished it, I immediately went to the kindle store and bought the first two books of the series and the first book of her other series because I needed more!

This is a copy of my review that can be found on my book blog, www.onceuponatimeireadabook.com ( )

Things I liked about Survive the Night:

1. Otto and Sarah/Alice have some hilariously awkward initial interactions. Both are adorkable!


2. Fun animals throughout the story! Baby puppies, cats, dogs, a horse, and even a goat round out this fun menagerie!


3. Previous characters play important secondary characters in Otto and Sarah's story and I love getting to check back in with all of them.


4. Lots of danger and action!

Now, listen, if you are one of those readers who like realistic fiction, you will struggle with the main events of the story that unfold in the last 70%. Its a bit overly dramatic (helicopters, bombs, mercenaries, etc). However, if, like me, you can overlook that over the top type of action for the pure enjoyment of the story, you will really love this! Otto and Sarah are sweet and so are all their crazy animals!

If you like beta heroes, Otto is perfect! Survive the Night is a delightful story of romance and danger that will have you flipping pages non stop!

 

• POV: 3rd


• Tears: no


• Trope: secret identity, on the run


• Triggers: none


• Series/Standalone: series (while this focuses on a different couple, the larger story arc has been in play for the previous 2 books


• Cliffhanger: not for Otto and Sarah but there is a set up for the next book


• HEA: yes for Otto and Sarah

authors like Julie Ann Walker, Susan Stoker, Janie Crouch, Piper Drake...then you will probably like Survive the Night!

 


Survive the Night






 
See full review on The Book Disciple ( )

Survive the Night is book three in the Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series Katie Ruggle and as soon as my dog loving self saw the awesome cover and read the blurb my attention was peaked.

This third installment starts off with Alice being held captive by her brother who is planning on marrying her off to a man from the Jovanovic family against her will. He is using her as a pawn. A mysterious man helps Alice escape from her brother's highly guarded house and she ends up in small town Monroe, Colorado under a new name, Sarah Clifton. Her escape contact connects her with Jules and Grace along with a couple of police officers from the Monroe P.D. Sarah is to live with them until her brother and his goons are captured and she can consider herself officially safe. Jules and Grace were also on the run at one point and victims of the Jovanovic clan.

Enter canine officer Otto Gunnersen who is a viking type teddy-bear who rescues stray animals and cares for them at home. He has a horse, a goat, a cat and a pit-bull mix among others.

It is love at first sight for Otto, he is rendered speechless when he meets Alice/Sarah. 22-year-old Sarah falls for Otto pretty quickly also. He ends up offering to take her into his home temporarily because her brother and an associate have been arrested but his goons are still out there trying to get to her. As Sarah and Otto start to fall for each other, she knows she will never be able to live a normal life until her brother is in prison for good.

Otto is a sweetheart, he is a police officer, he rescues animals and shows Sarah nothing but respect and care. Sarah moves in with him and she gets a job in town and tries to start to create a life for herself. She has lived under her brother and her father’s rule her whole life and she finally knows what freedom feels like.

Author Katie Ruggle is great at building up suspense and at writing a kind beta hero which I enjoyed. The atmosphere and tension she created during some scenes were great and had me on the edge of my seat.

As far as the romance went, it moved along quickly but it made sense because these two are in the middle of danger and time is of the essence. I like that Sarah wanted to appreciate the time she had with Otto and not waste it. The same went for Otto, they wanted to live in the moment.

I had a few issues with Survive the Night mainly the suspension of disbelief needed while reading as well as the lack of backstory and character depth when it came to the criminals and their motives.

I wondered why were the Jovanovics and Sarah’s brother so evil? I know this is the third installment, but like I mentioned a little back story would have helped greatly as the book moved along. These evil characters were cardboard cutouts of bad guys. There was no depth to them. There wasn’t an explanation as to why Alice was living captive under her brother’s hold or what her brother is exactly into, but I read an uncorrected proof so maybe in the final edited copy they fill in the details. And towards the end of the story I just felt like it was all too over the top, there were helicopters, explosions, a small militia and all kinds of crazy sauce going on at this point.

So while the romance for the most part was sweet, the animal rescue part of the plot was nice and I liked the suspense and buildup, I wish I could have enjoyed this one a little more. I’d have liked to have seen more character development, backstory and a plot that was more realistic.

This one has gotten some great reviews and the series itself looks like a good one. I wouldn’t mind reading the first book to get a little more information as to the whys and hows.

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Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received my free copy of Survive the Night (Rocky Mountain K9 Unit 3) via Netgalley and Sourcebooks.
https://bookwormnai.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/survive-the-night-rocky-mountain-k9... ( )