


Books in series

#0.5
Starr's Awakening
2014
From USA Today Bestselling Author Kennedy Layne comes a thrilling hostage rescue series that will lead you down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...
Catori Starr has been lost in a crippling grief since losing her husband, Red. Since learning he went MIA on a rescue mission abroad, she has existed more than lived. She's a shell of who she used to be. Restarting Red Starr HRT is a last-ditch opportunity to overcome her pain—and keep her husband's legacy alive. With a team of cherry-picked men, she must now decide if she's willing to set aside a years-old grief to begin a new life filled with the potential of fated dreams...or deadly peril.
Series Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later, Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#1
Hearths of Fire
2014
Moving forward with his life...
Neal Bauer tried returning home once before and he found that some things aren't meant to be. When Red Starr HRT, a paramilitary hostage rescue team, offered him a position that would use his specialized skillset that had served him well in the military—he jumped at the chance.
The past has a way of returning...
Charlotte Whitefall has made some really bad decisions in her life . . . leaving Neal Bauer standing at the alter tops the list. Growing up in Hearth, Missouri has taught her that when someone leaves their small town, they don't return. She saved Neal from a painful choice by moving on with her life and raising her sister alone.
Coming home...
When a local cult invades the town of Hearth, the citizens do their best to stay clear of the members. Everything changes when Charlotte's little sister is drawn into their way of life. There is only one man who has the connections to eliminate the dangerous threat. Can Charlotte persuade Neal to come home long enough to rescue her sister? More importantly, can she convince him that she made a terrible mistake all those years ago—and possibly rekindle their smoldering passion?

#2
Targets Entangled
2015
Dreams die...
Daegan Murphy lives life the way it's meant to be lived...not a care in the world. With his motorcycle, sniper rifle, and career choice, some might think he has a death wish. But he's got a family who loves him, team members that count on him, and hostages to rescue. He wouldn't purposefully put himself in death's crosshairs because he knows what it's like to be the one left behind.
Faith exists...
Ferrin Hewitt believes everything has order and her years in the military reflected that. She runs her civilian life as disciplined and organized as the Navy taught her. So why is it that she finds herself attracted to a former Marine who lives his life on the edge and completely opposite of what she believes in?
Love endures...
Ferrin's assignment is simple—to keep those saving others safe. When the worst happens and the blame is put on her, Daegan is the only one to come to her defense. She knows help is never given without strings and when their search for the truth leads to a passion she can't control, the one thing she'll need rescued is her heart.
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#3
Igniting Passion
2015
Risking everything…
Aaron “Stick” Scott spent twelve years of his life protecting his country. He diffused well over fifteen hundred bombs during the course of his military career, expecting each one to be his last. Luck had a huge part in his survival but it was fate that had a laugh at his expense by having a woman shatter his heart.
Playing it safe…
Simone Laurent’s career as a cultural attaché wasn’t exciting by any means, but she did love promoting the culture of her homeland. What she hadn’t anticipated was getting caught up in political war where her life would be at risk. Her situation goes from bad to worse when the man she left behind is the only one who can save her.
Igniting Passion…
Stick’s hostage rescue mission becomes sidetracked when he’s ordered to protect the one woman who couldn’t handle his job. Seeing her in the light of day brings back memories they’d both rather soon forget, but it’s the long evenings together that lights a fuse neither one can ignore. Will their reignited passion survive the highly explosive danger that’s coming their way?
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#4
Untold Devotion
2016
Searching for the truth...
Kane "Gunny" Taylor has spent over a year searching for answers in his sister's death. That time has culminated in the form of a land, air, and sea rescue operation conducted to save the lives of abducted schoolchildren in her honor. He thought he would find peace in this mission, but what he found was so much more.
Unlocking secrets...
Jade Amherst knows only too well the meaning of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She's been held captive for over seventeen months and she's counted every day, hour, and minute that passed. The rescue mission seemed surreal, the reason behind it so poignant, and the man who led the operation all too real—only she couldn't move forward without putting her past behind her.
Untold devotion...
Gunny finally returns home after being gone for far too long, another successful mission behind him, and a potential future with a beautiful woman who was so much more. He should have known better than to think things would be easy. Jade's past comes back with a vengeance and another hostage situation ensues. Will they be as fortunate a second time around?
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#5
Fulfilling Promises
2016
John “Trigger” Dixon returned to his small hometown in rural Mississippi as a favor to an old high school friend. It was meant to be a quick trip, with a short visit to his parents and an afternoon spent spoiling his two nephews. He should have known his vacation wouldn’t go as planned. The rebel in him always got in the way.
Devyn Wilde had lived up to her surname according to her friends—at least by reputation. She’d never let it bother her before, but she’d finally had enough after she was arrested for her brother’s murder. How could anyone believe that she would forsake her family? In the south, family comes before anyone or anything.
Trigger had last seen Devyn right before he’d joined the Red Starr Hostage Rescue Team, both of them agreeing to end their casual relationship. After all, it had been a temporary diversion—friends with benefits. He hadn’t expected to find her out on bail, secretly investigating her brother’s mysterious murder. Their sweet passion returns full force, but keeping an old promise might just cost him his life.
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#6
Fated Identity
2016
Grady Kenton has loved and lost—and he doesn’t plan on repeating it. He enjoys his semi-retired life as a consultant with the CIA while only taking the cases he finds interesting. He relishes the long seductive weekends with Brienne Chaylse, the beautiful liaison who understands his boundaries and accepts things the way he needs them to be.
Secretly, Brienne doesn’t understand why Grady can’t move on from his past. What she does know is that he’s more emotionally distant than when they’d first met and she can’t accept the friends-with-benefits play any longer. Something has to change, and fate forces her hand when her identity as a CIA special agent is leaked to the media. She and Grady must race to discover whose betrayal runs deep while their true feelings emerge in this perilous time. Unfortunately, the secrets revealed have the potential to shatter the love they’ve shared while on pursuit of a danger that could change everything.
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#7
Red's Salvation
2017
USA Today Bestselling Author Kennedy Layne concludes the Red Starr series with an extraordinary mission that will keep you riveted to the very last page…
It has taken Catori Starr years to come to terms with the death of her husband during a failed hostage rescue mission. She’d overcome her tragedy better than anyone could expect, but no one could truly understand the crushing black hole left in her grieving heart. She’d moved on to the best of her abilities, even reopening the doors to their business and operating a hostage rescue team she’d personally recruited.
Brendan “Red” O’Neill’s last mission didn’t go as planned. He’d ended up becoming a political prisoner to a fragmented national government in a country that was supposed to be an ally to the United States of America. He lost count of the endless days spent wasting away throughout his years in captivity, but never once had he forgotten the vision of his wife’s beautiful face. She was the only motivation he’d managed to keep for his own sanity as he clung to life.
Breathe. That’s what Starr had to keep telling herself over and over as she discovered the closely held secrets surrounding the facts of that fated mission. Her husband had been captured alive and she would move heaven and earth to bring him home, even if that meant sacrificing everything they had—including her own life.
Series Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...

#0.5-3
Red Starr Box Set Volume 1
2016
From USA Today Bestselling Author Kennedy Layne comes a thrilling hostage rescue series that will lead you down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...
Starr's Awakening (Red Starr, The Prequel)
Catori Starr has been lost in a crippling grief since losing her husband, Red. Since learning he went MIA on a rescue mission abroad, she has existed more than lived. She's a shell of who she used to be. Restarting Red Starr HRT is a last-ditch opportunity to overcome her pain—and keep her husband's legacy alive. With a team of cherry-picked men, she must now decide if she's willing to set aside a years-old grief to begin a new life filled with the potential of fated dreams...or deadly peril.
Hearths of Fire (Red Starr, Book One)
Neal Bauer tried returning home once before and he found that some things aren't meant to be. When a local cult invades the town of Hearth and draws a family friend into their way of life, he has no choice but to try again. He hadn't expected the dormant fires of a past love to resurface, but is it possible to rekindle their smoldering passion when it could all be taken away by a sinister faction who has other plans for their future?
Targets Entangled (Red Starr, Book Two)
Daegan Murphy lives life the way it's meant to be lived...not a care in the world. When an ex-lover is a suspect in a murder she didn't commit, Daegan is the only one to come to her defense. Ferrin knows help is never given without strings and when their search for the truth leads to a passion she can't control, the one thing she'll need rescued is her heart.
Igniting Passion (Red Starr, Book Three)
Aaron "Stick" Scott's hostage rescue mission becomes sidetracked when he's ordered to protect the one woman who couldn't handle his job. Seeing Simone in the light of day brings back memories they'd both rather soon forget, but it's the long evenings together that lights a fuse neither one can ignore. Will their reignited passion survive the highly explosive danger that's coming their way?
Series Description: Red Starr HRT is a paramilitary hostage rescue team that was originally formed years ago by two retired Marine Master Sergeants. Upon the death of Catori Starr's husband, Brendan "Red" O'Neill, she took a much needed hiatus to deal with her guilt and all consuming grief. Two years later Starr is clawing her way back and ready to lead a fresh team of five cherry-picked former Force Recon Marines. Red Starr HRT takes cases the FBI and other agencies won't touch, from domestic assignments bordering on the grey edges to missions abroad against savage terrorist regimes. Follow along as Kennedy Layne conveys each of their stories as they work together on high risk rescues that lead them down perilous paths of passion, intrigue and suspense...
Author

Kennedy Layne
Author · 84 books
Kennedy Layne is a USA Today bestselling author. She draws inspiration for her romantic thrillers in part from her not-so-secret second life as a wife of a retired Marine Master Sergeant. He doubles as her critique partner, beta reader, and military consultant. Kennedy also has a deep love for cozy mysteries, thrillers, and basically any book that can keep her guessing until the very end. They live in the Midwest with their menagerie of pets. The loyal dogs and mischievous cats appreciate her writing days as much as she does, usually curled up in front of the fireplace. Amazon: http://amzn.to/3qrizgV Facebook: http://bit.ly/3qwLzUz Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ceSHQ9