Book Review: The Recruit

The Recruit
Published By: Escape Publishing
Publication Date: May 2014
Page Count: 189
Buy it at Amazon
Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher via NetGalley
Audience: Young Adult - Adventure, Romance

Seventeen year old Jaz Thomas is a champion fencer, a more than competent boxer, and pretty good at yoga. She thinks nothing of putting herself in danger to help others, even Minka, the meanest girl in school. Other than that, Jaz is your average school girl, hanging out with her best friends Anna and Taylor (on whom she has a massive crush). That is until Ryan Fletcher walks into her life.  

Ryan Fletcher is a sometimes-bouncer who turns up at the gym, and several other places Jaz finds herself. She’s starting to wonder whether he’s stalking her when he saves her from a sticky situation and she discovers some of his well-kept secrets. Ryan offers Jaz the opportunity to join his organization which will mean a life of excitement and danger, but she won’t be able to share the truth with her friends. Jaz must make a choice, and soon. 

I quite enjoyed this book, which is the first in a series which I assume will follow Jaz’s adventures as a member of the MTG agency. She’s a modern day Nancy Drew, and I’m interested to see how her relationship with her friends, and with Ryan, will develop throughout the series. There’s scope for a lot of stories here, so there is the potential for Jaz’s story to continue through several books. 

 Jaz is a strong heroine, although some of the supporting characters were a little one dimensional. Although this book was clearly setting up sequels, and some questions were left unanswered, it was still complete in itself. Books with unresolved, cliffhanger endings really bug me, so that was a definite plus point for this one. 

 This book didn’t rock my world, but it was definitely a pleasant distraction for a couple of days.



Jasmine Thomas may not be completely normal, but she’s a pretty typical seventeen-year-old girl. She hates the rich mean kids, loves her best friends, and can’t wait to get out of school each day. Her spare time is spent at The Ring — a boxing gym where she practically grew up — learning karate, boxing and street fighting. So, yeah, Jaz can kick some major butt. 

 Life seems pretty normal until the day Ryan Fletcher enters her gym…mysterious and hot with heaps of bad boy charm. Sure, she checks him out. Who wouldn’t? But what doesn’t show on his gorgeous abs are secrets and lies that dominate his very grown-up world. Now Jaz has to figure out just how far she is willing to go to know more. Could Ryan really be offering the life-fulfilling life path she’s always dreamed of?

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