This a paranormal romance set firmly in the politics of present-day America. I found the political messages, which I understand and fully support, to be very heavy handed in the text, very in your face, overshadowing the paranormal and romantic aspects in the story. Quotes from the news is not is not what I am looking for in PNR. 

It's the first book in what shapes to be multi-book series and I felt the world building was very sketchy and was overshadowed by the thriller aspect. I am sad to say at times it read more like a mafia book than a PNR. 

I did like the diversity of the cast, the fast pace and the whole secret operations/team of super soldiers aspect worked very well for me. There was tension and intrigue and humour, a side romance that I very much liked. 

I have mixed feelings about the main romance though. It was steamy and the sexual attraction was off the charts. At the same time, I was not a fan of the danger banging and felt there is not enough substance in Neha and Joe's relationship. It was a fated mates sort of situation though both Neha and Joe very much insisted in entering the relationship on their own free will. Both Joe and Neha acted on their attraction their own, not just being led by some supernatural forces. 

Yet, I didn't understand fully her attraction to him and they kept having the same argument over and over again of him not being good enough/worthy of her. It was repetitive and didn't really show any growth of their relationship beyond the sexual attraction.

I was not bothered by Joe being  grumpy, surly, mostly unrepentant about his past. Giant surly heroes with the softest heart are my catnip. What I was bothered by was his lack of trust in her, no growth in their relationship. 

On the positive side, I absolutely loved the side characters, all of them, Neha's friends/bosses and relative, the whole third Shift crew, they were all great, full-fledged and I can't wait to read more about them. 

Overall, this book was not what I expected and it had both things that worked great for me and things that I found annoying, making it very hard for me to review it. It's very much a YMMV situation, so I would suggest you give it a try if you like high-stakes, fast-paces, PNR with strong political aspect and diverse cast.