I Am Justice

March 19, 2018
In this gritty launch of the Band of Sisters romantic suspense series, Stewart plays adeptly with the reader’s emotions. As a child, Justice Parish was sold to human traffickers who killed her sister Hope. After being rescued, Justice was adopted by a family of powerful women who train her to take on her abusers. Sandesh Ross has his own demons to slay from his days in Special Forces; he finds salvation in founding a Middle Eastern charity, the International Peace Team, devoted to saving refugee women from human traffickers. When Sandesh meets Justice, their chemistry is immediate and explosive. But, as they join forces to help the vulnerable, they’re faced with the unmistakable fact that someone in the Parish family is feeding information to their enemies. Stewart includes disturbing and graphic descriptions of child abuse and doesn’t shy away from describing the unfettered violence that the traffickers inflict on their victims. Stewart also masterfully drags a series of red herrings into the tale before delivering a most unexpected traitor. This forceful novel isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but those who can handle the violence will find the story powerful and memorable. Agent: Michelle Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary.

May 1, 2018
Debut author Muñoz Stewart introduces a close-knit family of female avengers who love as intensely as they fight for justice.The first book in the Band of Sisters series starts in the middle of the action as Justice Parish turns a reconnaissance mission into a daring rescue at a brothel in rural Pennsylvania. Having barely survived the brutal childhood that killed her sister, Justice is bent on revenge, and she gets it as an assassin for a vigilante group that frees abused women and children and murders their captors. When Justice connects with ex-Special Forces soldier Sandesh Ross, he believes her wealthy family wants to help fund his humanitarian startup. But Justice's organization is using Sandesh's connections to destroy a sex-trafficking ring in the Middle East. Their attraction is intense, and they have no hesitation acting on it during infrequent lulls in the action. But their differing philosophies put them at odds. Justice, impulsive and brash, runs on retribution, while Sandesh wants a more peaceful life: "I'm done walking through each day with my hands balled in fists. I'm done questioning when the violence I did helped, when it hurt...." While it is a bit of a stretch, even for the genre of romantic suspense, to accept that a secret women's warrior league is successfully masquerading as a Philly boarding school for girls, the setup enables an emphasis on recovery and power to balance the disturbing subject matter.Sizzling physical encounters create trust, understanding, and eventually love between an avenger and a humanitarian on opposite paths to justice.

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May 1, 2018
Mu�oz Stewart gives us a high-octane adventure with her new series, Band of Sisters. Justice was sold to human traffickers as a child and saw her sister murdered by them. After the Parish family rescued her, she vowed that no woman would have to go through the humiliation and violence she did. The wealthy Parish family's businesses and private school are covers for their real organization: a secret sisterhood of assassins, hackers, and scientists all rescued by the matriarch, Mukta, and all intent on combating crimes against women. With their resources, Justice finds the men who owned her in Jordan, and she's ready for blood. Pretending to join the refugee work of soldier-turned-humanitarian Sandesh, she enters the country, but her quest isn't the only thing that heats up in Jordan. Mu�oz Stewart discusses such sensitive topics as human trafficking, sexual violence, and sexism, which are rarely examined in romantic suspense, while the diverse members of the Parish family and their mission to protect women everywhere give these topics a little more hope than usual.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)