Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Cynthia Eden "Never Cry Wolf"




Never Cry Wolf is the story of Lucas Simone and Sarah King. Lucas is the Alpha of the Los Angeles wolf pack and Sarah is in desperate need of his protection.

I give this book my highest of high ratings. Not because the love scenes were hot – THEY WERE NUCLEAR. Not because Lucas was the ultimate Alpha bad ass whom did not GAF. And not because Sarah held her own with this legend of wolf shifters. But because CE stuffed, Thanksgiving turkey stuffed, this book with sexy shifters and non-stop action with enough tension to send you into instant cardiac arrest. I loved the fact that espionage was her main plot devices. If you like spy movies and dream of Ethan Hunt you’ll love this book. (I’ll leave it at that so I don’t have to splash Spoiler Alert across this review)
Cynthia Eden did an excellent job with her character development, especially with Lucas. The book starts off with Lucas being a badass, but I personally wanted to know what happened to him to make him this ultimate BA and she gave it to me. If you like having a back story on your main characters – it’s there. I enjoyed the fact that Cynthia Eden wasn’t afraid to pump her characters full of flaws. It was great that there wasn’t the obligatory one main character is perfect while the other isn’t.  In my opinion, it helped me “root for” and support Sarah and Lucas better knowing that they weren’t “fine upstanding citizens.” This is real life and in this reality Sarah was a serial liar and Lucas had no problem with offing someone when there was a need.  The character development is so good that even when secondary and other background characters are introduced I wanted to veer off topic and delve into their stories as well. Way to go building the need to continue reading this series.
Dimension and a road that splits many ways. I say this because there is more than one villain and the driving force behind each is not the same. They are not all out for the same thing. Revenge. Power. Domination. All of these are a part of each villain’s end game, but their motivations are different.  Yes they all want power, but some desire revenge and some just want to show how strong they are.  All of these different motivations make for a multi-dimensional “villain.” It drives the anticipation and tension sky high because you have no clue in which direction each villain is going to go.
One thing that I wish had been changed, even though I know why she did it, was the fact that Lucas’s pack wasn’t larger. I was expecting this semi-large pack led by the ultimate BA, but that was not the case. Maybe it was my own preconceived notion that a shifter’s strength is in how large his pack is. Maybe it’s more along the lines of how strong your pack is and not the size of it.  Revelation. Light bulb. J




Sunday, July 3, 2011

Lori Foster "Savor the Danger"





Lori Foster’s Savor the Danger is the story of Trace’s sister Alani Rivers, introduced in When You Dare, and Jackson Savor. Jackson is a new addition to Trace and Dare’s security team.

I was already invested in the Alani character because I was introduced to her in the first book of this series. If you remember, from my review on When You Dare, Alani was rescued along with Dare’s now-wife Molly. So off the bat the reader knows that any man trying to get close to Alani has not only Alani, but Trace and Dare to contend with.

I’m going to name a few of the things I didn’t like, which aren’t that many, and end with the things that I did. DISCLAIMER : These are my opinions and observations based on a single reading of this book. Eventually, I will go back and reread it so it’s possible my ‘dislikes’ can be understood with ANOTHER read. In my opinion Jackson was kind of a p____ hungry jerk. Yes, he’s yummy and dominant and oh so kick ass, BUT I didn’t like the part of his personality where when Alani tried to get close he turned into a sexual jerk. Case in point, Alani was trying to get to know him and he distracted her with a ‘do you swallow’ kind of question. WTF. That scene bothered the crap out of me. The second thing I was a little on the fence about was Jackson’s about face in regards to pursuing a relationship with Alani. One moment he didn’t want to talk about feelings and the next he was all for pursuing something lasting with her.

I did, however, enjoy the interactions between Jackson, Trace and Dare. They were so much alike it was hard to guess how each would respond to the other’s comments and actions. I also liked how protective Trace and Dare were of Alani. The plotline, I’m glad to say, had nothing to do with Alani’s previous kidnapping. Yes, her abduction shaped her and made her more hesitant about everyday things we take for granted, but the fact that she had family to help her overcome was an important aspect of this book. It would’ve been too obvious if her story centered on her kidnapping and I’m glad the author took a different path. Something other than the obvious most often than not makes for a more interesting story. I appreciated and enjoyed the way each character’s pasts made them much more dynamic characters. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Alani ended up with a man so much like her two older brothers. And of course who doesn’t enjoy the introduction of new characters that will most likely have stories of their own. I cannot wait for the story of Arizona and Spence to be told. Lori Foster definitely has mastered the art of whetting the reader’s appetite for more. When her new characters stepped into the scene I was already imagining how explosive and sensual their story was going to be.

Honestly, I didn’t read Trace of Fever, but from the two books I have read in this series her next releases will no doubt be just as good. 

 Feel free to check out the other books in this series.


When You Dare