This book was phenomenal! ***** Overall Rating: 5 stars (deserves more IMO) Standalone: Yes, but there will be so much more enjoyment if you have read the Broken Trilogy, Devils Reach Trilogy, and the Blackstone series. It is not necessary, but it will just bring you more joy! Steam: 3 flames ****** This book... this book was everything! Yep, that pretty much sums it up! Like seriously EVERYTHING! What does everything mean? It means this book had it all. Suspense, romance, amazing characters, humor, steam, an original plot, and most of all... it had the mysterious John Black! The strong, silent, mountain climbing, Blackstone team member...with baggage. That is my crack right there folks...give me a strong, silent, protector...who climbs mountains! I am dunzo! Sloane is a strong, intelligent lawyer, that took on the wrong case and now needs to hide out for a bit while things cool down. Frank decides the best place for her to hide out is at Shadow's. See, in Frank's eyes, he can kill two birds with one stone. Sloane can stay safe from her former clients, and because she has a knack for finding the truth...she can help Blackstone get to the bottom of their problem. What problem? It seems the cartel is one step ahead of them. Can Sloane figure out how the cartel is getting their intel before people die? Can she find the answers Blackstone needs to save the team? I am just going to stop there because part of the joy of reading this book was I had no spoilers, had read no reviews, and just went in to it knowing that J.L. Drake would blow me away, and she did! I laughed, I teared up, I held my breath, I cursed, my heart broke, and it got put back together. I went through the entire gamut of emotions with this book. However, the biggest emotion... was simply joy. Joy, because Courage brought me home again, to the Shadow's with the characters that have become family over the years. This book is literally EVERYTHING!! It was exactly what I didn’t know I needed and EVERYTHING that I wanted!! I think this is my favorite J.L. Drake book now, and that is over Devils Reach...and I have been #TeamTrigger for years, but Courage... J.L. Drake up'd her game for this one! This was EVERYTHING!! This book gets all the recommendations from me and I simply cannot praise this book enough! Bravo J.L. Drake... Bravo! And just FYI...I would meet John at the peak anytime!