Vanguard by Karina Halle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
Her kiss may be deadly, but he’s indestructible.
Erasmia "Mia" Baxter is her agency's most lethal operative, genetically engineered to have poisonous saliva. But having the kiss of death is hell on her social life. Her future holds no romance, no family, no intimacy of any kind—only killing for her country.
When her special ops group hears rumors that America's first enhanced soldier—Vanguard—may be more deadly weapon than savior, Mia is tasked with infiltrating his inner circle to investigate. What she finds is a former military asset with a hidden dark side—and the only man she can kiss without consequence.
Intoxicated by the obsessive passion rising between them, Mia falls deeper into lust with each new sensual encounter. But the closer they become, the more she realizes there might be truth to the rumors. Vanguard is changing—becoming more violent, more devious, less…human. And the truth of her identity might push him over the edge entirely.
In a world where heroes and monsters are separated by the thinnest of lines, Mia must Is the man she's falling for worth saving? Or is he the weapon he was created to be—one that will destroy her first?
A dark romance special ops spy thriller with a post-dystopian sci-fi bent—VANGUARD has the gripping twists and turns of BLACK DOVES paired with the seductive intensity of Runyx’s DARK VERSE series.
BUY ON
REVIEW
I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
TW: dub con
Karina Halle strikes again with a post-apocalyptic/dystopian book set in a future not so far away and feeling way too familiar with this reality we all face.
Erasmia, Mia is an elite spy from London, with a mission: learn everything she can about America's new hero, the enhanced human Vanguard, and if her is a threat, terminate him with a kiss. You see, Mia is also an enhanced human whose kiss is deadly, making her the perfect spy but also caging her in loneliness.
When her mission becomes more complicated than she anticipated, both she and Vanguard will face the consequences of their forbidden romance.
What drew me to this world was the world-building. This felt different from what Karina usually writes in a good way. The world the story is set on is not the distant 2040s, where the States come out from the so-called Dark Decade and corporations essentially rule behind the scenes. AI is dangerously incorporated into everyday life, and the surveillance is almost Big Brother-like. Mia and her team face a lot of difficulties, but nothing is more mysterious than Vanguard, or as he was known, Nate.
Nate was a very interesting character one I came to like despite what he faces and some of his very very wrong choices. Not to mention that in true Halle style the book ended in a spectacular cliffhanger with a revelation you do not expect! Definitely recommended!
About the author:
Karina Halle is a screenwriter, former music & travel journalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of Grave Matter, Blood Orange, & The Royals Next Door, as well as 80 other romances across all sub-genres, ranging from spicy rom coms to gothic horror and dark fantasy. Needless to say, whatever you're into, she's probably written an HEA for it.
When she's not traveling, she, her husband, and their pup Perry, split their time between a possibly haunted 120 year-old house in Victoria, BC, and their condo in Los Angeles.
