REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Origins
SERIES: Gods of War
AUTHORS: T.S. McKinney and Shannon West
PUBLISHER: Painted Hearts Publishing
LENGTH: 200 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2018
BLURB:
Former Army Ranger William Logan is serving hard time in Leavenworth for a crime he didn’t commit. With three months left on his sentence, he’s approached by a recruiter for a private military group. The Red River Group make him an offer he can’t refuse—a get out of jail free card and a chance to continue as a soldier, working as a hired gun. He’s sent to join a team already in training for their first mission. The new soldiers are all former elite military but also misfits, like Logan, and recently sprung from brigs across the country.
At the training facility, he meets company man and trainer, Luke Warren, a former Navy SEAL. Logan begins an intense relationship with the prickly but gorgeous man as they get ready for a top-secret mission against the drug cartels in Mexico. The team has to make sure that MARS, a highly addictive and lethal new drug, along with the factory that produces it, is completely destroyed.
When everything on the mission goes wrong and the factory blows up in their faces, the team wakes up to find they not only survived, but the now have impossible enhanced strength and abilities. Frightened and confused, not knowing who to trust, Logan leads the team in a run for the States to find a safe haven, forcing Luke to come with them.
With violence and intrigue swirling around him, Logan relies on his instincts and his ingenuity to discover who his allies and his enemies really are. As they travel across the country, Logan and Luke begin to realize that they have to stick together and they’ll need all their newfound abilities and a lot of luck to make it out of this alive.
Intriguing new series this is shaping up to be! Men from various seemingly unsavory backgrounds are given the opportunity of joining a team of soldiers to be trained and their specialties utilized in secret missions. All were in one branch of the military or another, and all found themselves in bad situations. It doesn’t take much for them to accept the offer, and their training begins right away. They quickly learn their first mission is to take out a drug lab.
Things are a bit sketchy from the get go, but the team is determined to complete their task. Doesn’t take long for things to take a bad turn and the men realize they were double crossed. Now, they don’t know who to trust. Luke, the man who recruited them is front and center, but as he seemed to be affected as well, there is enough doubt for Logan to not turn his back just yet. Add to that the chemistry they shared, and when Logan is tasked with leading the men, Luke must bow to Logan’s commands if he wants to make it out and find the answers they seek. This was a fun turn of events in that roles are reversed – Luke goes from being Logan’s superior to being a submissive to Logan’s more dominant nature.
It takes some convincing for Luke to not want to run back to the company who sent them on the mission. But, Logan and the team give him little choice. Interestingly, in the betrayal/scuffle, it appears the men have all gained some unique powers. So, needless to say, they have a lot of unanswered questions. Each man as a slightly different type of enhancement and it takes some time for them to believe it isn’t all hallucinating on their parts.
There’s not much in the way of romance here, but Logan and Luke are definitely a good match. Things become a little clearer as the story unfolds, but there is still much to learn. I found it to be quite interesting and am definitely looking forward to finding out more in the next installment.
