Welcome to The Fangover Podcast, where we romance all things that go bump in the night and beyond and dive into the heart of romance, one book at a time. In today’s episode, we're embarking on a special journey for our yearly romance reading challenge - Romanceopoly! 🎲💕

About This Episode:

We're navigating the streets of love and danger with the "Soldier Street" prompt, exploring romantic suspense novels that feature military or ex-military characters in thrilling settings outside the U.S. Whether you're a seasoned Romanceopoly veteran or new to the game, this episode will help you find a new book for the challenge, offering you top-tier recommendations to fulfill your reading quest.

Book Recommendations:

*Please note Amazon links are affiliate links and we earn a small commission when you make a purchase through them.

• BREAKING POINT by Pamela Clare [Amazon]
• SEAL OF HONOR by Tonya Burrows [Amazon]
• THE DARKEST HOUR by Maya Banks [Amazon]
• HARD TARGET by Pamela Clare - [Amazon]
• LIE TO ME by Tori St. Claire - [Amazon]

Join the Romanceopoly Challenge:

Ready to roll the dice? Find more about Romanceopoly and how you can join the adventure. Don’t miss out on the fun—become part of a community that shares your passion for romance and adventure!

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• Email us your requests at hello@underthecoversbookblog.com

Wrap-Up:

Thank you for tuning into The Fangover Podcast! We hope these recommendations inspire your Romanceopoly journey on "Soldier Street." Remember, adventure is just a page away. Until next time, keep reading and keep loving. ❤️📚

Welcome to the Fangover podcast, where we romance all things that go bump in the night and beyond. I'm Francesca from under the covers book blog. And today I am actually bringing you some recommendations for our Romanceopoly reading challenge. If you don't know what the Romanceopoly reading challenge is it is a year long challenge to read things that maybe can be a little bit outside of your comfort zone or things you haven't tried before to expand and diversify your reading and clear up your TBR.

So we have a series of challenges and prompts, and the challenge itself is structure like a monopoly board. You can roll the dice and land on different prompts or work your way through the board one spot at a time. And you'll have the option of either reading a particular genre or sub genre or following a reading prompt for the spot that you've landed on.

And today I'm starting our list of recommendations with the soldier street recommendations.

This was one that was requested inside of our, under the covers community. And I know maybe it can feel like there aren't as many books in this category, but I do have some recommendations for you that you should check out. And actually some of these authors have multiple books that you should be looking into as well.

What is the prompt for soldier street?

Well, if you are reading genre only, you would be reading just simply a romantic suspense book.

But if you are following the prompts, the prompt for soldier street is read a book with a military or ex military on a mission in a foreign country.

This will obviously vary depending on where you are located, but for the recommendations that I am going to be sharing today, they are a foreign country to me.

I live in the United States. These are going to be books with the military, or ex-military on a mission outside of the U S.

So I hope that you're excited to dive into these books with me and I have five books to recommend to you today.

The first book that I'm going to be talking about is breaking point by Pamela clare. This is book five in the I-Team series, which is a romantic suspense, military and ex-military type series. It is one of our absolute favorite romantic suspense series here at under the covers. So Pamela Clare, you'll see her again on this list later on, but definitely her I-Team series is at the top of our list and definitely has our seal of approval.

Now onto what this book is about. Zach McBride is the hero. He is a us deputy Marshall and he has been set up and taken prisoner by the Zetas a blood thirsty Mexican drug cartel who enjoys torturing their prisoners and brutalizing women.

As he reaches his last shard of hope. He hears the cries of a terrified woman. The next intended victim of Cardenas. And his protective tendencies rise to the surface.

This woman is none other than a Denver journalist who was in Ciudad Juarez to cover border violence stories and she found herself also taken prisoner.

Both of them working together, they escape their captors grip and they flee to the border for safety.

All of that through desert landscapes. Intense heat battling their attraction to each other. And with the looming threat of being recaptured by the drug cartel.

Another thing that Pamela Clare does really well is complex emotions and relationships. And we see the same in this book, because both Zack and Natalie are dealing with their own internal demons and their own struggles. Which obviously they would have to overcome in order for them to be a good fit to be together or for marriage. Zach is plagued by guilt and memories of his time in Afghanistan. And Natalie feels a lot of grief for her fiance's death. She doesn't believe herself capable of loving again, and he doesn't believe he deserves to be loved at all.

Breaking point is definitely a nail biter. It's a, five-star read for us here at, under the covers. And honestly, calling this book action pack just seems like an understatement.

The next book that we have on our list is seal of honor by Tonya burrows. This was the debut novel by Tonya burrows. And it's the first book in the Hornet series.

The Hornet group is a hostage rescue and negotiation team, and they are ex seals called in to do covert operations and this is their first mission.

Our hero. Gabe is an ex seal who was injured and can no longer really do his job. But he's found a way to do what he enjoys in the Hornet organization.

The first mission is to rescue a wealthy American businessman from Colombian paramilitary rebels.

And the heroine is also in Columbia. determined to help rescue her brother. If you're into stories with realistic, alpha males of our time, full of passion, protective instincts. And to die for life-threatening adventures. This is going to be the book for you.

But at the same time, as much as Gabe, our hero is a true alpha male. He is also very human and you can see his pain, his disability, and all of the possibilities of death that he has to face.

Seal of Honor is definitely the type of book that has you on the edge of your seat as if you were watching a movie. With realistic scenes including sacrifices by our hero, getting really his ass kicked by their abductors.

We also have our heroine who is no pantsy heroine in distress who needs saving. She definitely has balls had the audacity really to go and try to rescue her brother herself. So without a doubt, you are looking at one ballsy heroine.

And plus we get introduced to the whole Hornet members, which will just be a nice band of brothers, kind of feeling with a lot of power camaraderie. And all the skills that these men have. Each of them with their specific personalities, which also makes for one of my favorite things when it comes to these types of series.

The next book is the darkest hour by Maya banks. And this is book one in the KGI series. And I will say that there's quite a few books in this KGI series that would fit this category as well.

In this particular wind we're going to Colombia and Costa Rica, but we're definitely have other books in the series where we are exploring. Locations that are outside of the United States as well.

This is one of my favorite. Romantic suspense series. So I definitely recommend that you take a deep dive into the series.

So in the darkest hour, we have Ethan Kelly, who is one of the only siblings that are not part of the KGI organization. That is the name of the series, of course. And the KGI is the kelly group international. They are a super elite top secret family run business all with military background handling jobs for the us government that shouldn't be known that. The government is doing.

And he really hasn't wanted to join the organization because he is. Our tortured hero of the story.

He has a lot of guilt about his actions, right before his wife is killed in a plane crash. He has shut down. No, one's able to reach him. And a year later after thinking all this time that she is dead. He receives a phone call that his wife is alive. And he turns to his brothers and the KGI organization to help rescue her.

The story, follows them as they go into the Colombian jungle to rescue her from the drug cartel that has had her prisoner. They have her addicted to heroin. She's lost her memories. She's having hallucinations.

And while this book is about that mission in Columbia and her rescuing, it is also a story of healing for both of our main characters. As you can imagine, both the hero and the heroine have gone through a lot. And they have a lot of healing to do a lot of things to work out. So there's a lot of tender moments in this story that sometimes may not fit necessarily with the romantic suspense aspect of the sub genre and later on in the series, there is definitely more of that vibe. While, this one is the more tender one.

And it's certainly not an easy thing for her to reenter into the marriage. But all of that to say it's still pretty hot story. So one thing doesn't have to take away from the other. If you've read To the Brink by Cindy, Gerard or Wildcard by Lora Leigh, these are two types of stories that definitely have the vibe of the darkest hour. So if you've enjoyed those books, You'll definitely enjoy this one.

The next book that I'm going to recommend is hard target by Pamela Clare. And this book takes place in Afghanistan. The hero of this story, Derek is a co-owner. Of the Cobra international security, which is an ex military type of organization as well. And if you have read the I-Team series, you've definitely seen the hero of this story in that series in book six, which is striking distance. He was a bit of a jerk in that one.

So the Cobra organization is pressured basically into a new assignment by an influential us Senator who basically controls the company's destiny. His daughter is working at a women's clinic in Afghanistan, and he basically wants her back. She's a nurse and a midwife and she is just six months into a two year volunteer assignment. She does not want to leave.

So Derek decides that he's going to give it a week. Before he successfully extracts her or just the abandons, the assignment. But then of course, things turn dangerous. This story also addresses the situation that women are facing in Afghanistan. The oppression, they're deprived of education. They're forced to stay in doors isolated from the world.

She's doing outreach work to try and improve these women's conditions and working at a local hospital, of course, under the threat of obviously of the extremists, which are not happy that she's bringing in her Western ideals into the minds of their women.

Now of course, Derek can't just kidnap a us citizen. Bring her back. But she is no simple assignment because she is the sister of a dear friend who basically died, saving his life. So he owes it to him to try and keep her safe. And if possible, bring her back.

This one does have a little bit less of the romance stuff and more of the, I don't do relationships kind of guy. But, like I said before, he's a little bit of a jerk.

And this is another series that has multiple books in the series where you can dive in and read some stories that are set outside of the United States.

The last one that I have for you guys today is lie to me by Tory St Claire. This is book two in the black Opals series. You don't necessarily have to read the series in order. Although I still also really enjoy the first book in the series and I do recommend it just doesn't fit for this challenge.

So in lie to me, we have a CIA elite black Opal team member. He has just helped to break up a Russian human trafficking ring and he has to bring one of those stolen women return her back to her father. She happens to be in Dubai. And when he reaches there, he discovers that she's a woman he actually knows very well. Who has haunted him and she's actually reluctant to leave her sheik.

Tori St Claire is just amazing at writing a story that's full of intrigue and suspense. Plenty of action. Great storyline. It's very plot driven and it packs explosive heat. She really doesn't give you much chance to even catch your breath and just leaves you wanting more.

Now the reunion of Sasha and Alexei is an emotional rollercoaster filled with danger. There is more than one group of people that are after Sasha and he has to protect her at the same time as getting her away from her sheik. He knows that he can't trust anybody. They are just surrounded with all this lying and betrayal.

But if you're into stories with a tortured alpha hero. A damaged, but really strong heroine. And plenty of deep dark skeletons in both of their closets this is definitely a must read book for you.

So, what can you expect? Definitely betrayal, a lot of action in and out of the bed and some menage partners as well.

Out of all the recommendations I've given you here today. This is definitely the one that's on the more erotic side. And I hope that you also dive into the series as a whole as well. It is definitely one of my favorites for some more steamy, romantic suspense.

Hopefully you've picked up some recommendations from today's episode. We will be doing more Romanceopoly mini recommendation episodes coming up. If you have any challenges that you're kind of stuck with and need some recommendations, let us know you can DM us on any of our platforms. Send us an email and we'll be sure to do your recommendations next.

I would also love to hear from you guys, please add to the recommendations. Share with us on social media and we will compile all of those recommendations in a future newsletter.

I hope that you are subscribed to the newsletter. I'll leave a link in the show notes on how you can do that. And if you haven't started playing Romanceopoly with us this year, there is still time. You've only missed a quarter.

As always you can find me on underthecoversbookblog.com and on Instagram at utcbookblog. And all our other social media channels are all going to be linked on our website.

Thank you so much for listening guys, and we'll see you again in the next one. Bye.