This was an alright romantic suspense novel, there's nothing particularly new or unique being added to the genre here, but it was a solid plot with action, villains and a ton of romance. Cynthia Eden very rarely writes an unreadable book. And this ticks all the check boxes for what most readers are after.

The plot itself is a well used one, daughter of a politician kidnapped for leverage, childhood sweetheart/first lover/past boyfriend is blackmailed into abandoning them, walks back into life as part of the rescue operation/protection duty/ etc. Honestly, it's not my favourite plot line. I'm pretty anti second chance romances. I didn't really have any strong feelings about the main characters - Julianna was alright and was willing to put up a fight - Logan was kind of an ass - he's just too busy lying and justifying his orders and his decisions and their past and it kind of got old pretty fast. The romance between them wasn't particularly steamy - there were only two sex scenes - so it's pretty tame for the genre.

There were a couple of surprise twists Susan! Not that she was bad - that I guessed early on - but her attack on Gunner - she tricks him into comforting her and letting her close and then bam, knife to the gut. And with the whole is her name Susan or Becky Sue from the other person's life she stole - honestly I wanted to know more about her and how she came to be. but for the most part it was straightforward. I didn't really get enough insight into the EOD (Elite Operations Division - black books operation) to get overly invested. The team mates are mentioned but not enough for me to have feelings just yet.

Overall, basic romantic suspense, perfect for some mindless fluff. 2.5 stars, rounded to 3. ( )

Thrilling book from beginning to end. I am so glad Cynthia is back to writing romantic suspense. From the opening scene of the heroine Juliana James being held captive in Mexico and her ex-lover Logan Quinn who's now part of a Elite Ops covert agent group rescuing her to the final showdown with the man called El Diablo you are on the edge of your seat.

The other Elite force agents were great secondary characters and we got a glimps as to what some of there stories are going to be in future books.

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Reviewed at http://scorchingbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/a-nix-review-alpha-one-by-cyn...

Really 4.5 Stars

I love Cynthia Eden but I have only read her PNR. When this one went up on NetGalley, I wanted to see if I liked her writing in genres as much. In short, I really did enjoy this book so yes, I would try her suspense again!

Logan is a typical Romance Suspense man. He is a member of a black-ops military team and he has skeletons in his closet. It is one of these skeletons that forced him to leave Juliana all those years ago (although she is the only woman he ever loved) but once he receives word that she has been kidnapped by dangerous enemies of her very corrupt Father, he cannot jump to her aid quick enough. Put these two in a room and sparks do start to fly but can he ever believe that he will be good enough for her? And when all his secrets come out, will it all hit the fan anyway?

I liked Logan. I liked that he was upfront about his desire for her but it frustrated the hell out of me that he couldn’t just voice his concerns about the future of their relationship. Yes, I am aware that these things are not so simple in Romance land, but it doesn’t make it grate on me any less. What I did understand is the reason that he ran away. Wow, what a secret! It made me gasp (as did quite a few other plot twists) and it also made me love him just a little bit more!

Juliana is a strong heroine and I always enjoy that! She had a lot of stuff to deal with but she did it with minimum amount of hysterics. She tried to stay out of the way of Logan, tried to keep him from breaking her heart again but it didn’t quite happen. What I really liked was that she didn’t shy away from anything thrown her way. Logan kisses her? She deals with it head on. Someone shoots at her? She picks up the gun and does what she has to. She feels someone is in danger and she can help? She tries to do that. No, not everything goes the way she plans, she doesn’t get everything right but she doesn’t just sit on her laurels and let the man protect her; she attempts to rectify the situation herself. I wasn’t sure what would happen when the secrets all came out but it was obvious that she would face them in the way she had faced everything else.

This book has a suspense plot and it has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. You never really knew who you could trust as everyone seemed to have something to lie about. Even Logan spent a great proportion of the current and back stories lying through his teeth. It was disconcerting to not be able to trust anyone at all as a reader. Not everything was a shock, some things I saw coming a mile off, but boy I enjoyed trying to figure out who the mole was that was helping the mysterious El Diablo. I did enjoy the few red herrings thrown in along the way; not enough to make me annoyed but enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Overall this was a sexy, fast-paced thriller that I enjoyed from start to finish. I will be picking up more suspense from Cynthia Eden and I do hope they are all as gripping as this one!
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As a fan of Cynthia Eden’s paranormal romance books I really wasn’t sure what to expect from one of her romantic suspense books. I actually don’t read a lot of romantic suspense but I think that will change because I just love Alpha One!

Juliana James is on vacation in Mexico when she is kidnapped and tortured. Her father is Senator James and he has been selling arms to people he shouldn’t. He calls in the EOD (Elite Ops Division) to rescue her. The leader is Logan Quinn, a man who has a past with Juliana and he knows how her mother died. Once he saves her will Logan just stay around to keep her safe or is he going to use her to capture the weapon’s dealer known as El Diablo…

This book is nonstop action from cover to cover. There were several plot twists that I did not expect and there was just enough romance to keep me interested ( )

In Eden’s romantic suspense novel, undercover agent Logan Quinn is more than willing to rescue Juliana James and get her out of Mexico. Making the senator’s daughter a priority was worth a second chance with her.

As Juliana finds herself in a dangerous situation, she finds her memory flooded with the past and Logan’s silent departure. Teaming together, they will take a stand against the ruthless weapons dealer who wants her dead and face the emotions threatening to consume them.

A strong start to the Shadow Agents series and a fresh new voice to the Harlequin family. ( )