Category: 4 Stars

Review: I Own the Dawn by M.L. Buchman

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read:ebook from NetGalley
Number of Pages:416 pages
Release Date:August 1, 2012
Publisher:Sourcebooks Casablanca
Series: The Night Stalkers #2
Genre: Military Romantic Suspense
Formats Available: ebook, Mass Market Paperback
Purchasing Info:Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)  | Author’s Website | Soucebooks 

Book Blurb:

Kee Smith battled through a difficult childhood to work her way up the ranks of the U.S. Army. When she finally makes it into the elite Night Stalkers, she feels thrilled, honored, and vindicated…until she finds out she’s been assigned to the “girlie-chopper” piloted by the only other woman in the regiment.
Kee is determined to show Lt. Archie Stevenson, one of the male co-pilots, that she is just as tough as the guys. Throughout their special mission, Archie doesn’t know whether to make love to her or plant her face-first into the dirt. But he’ll do whatever it takes to break through that shield Kee wears around her heart.

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My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

M.L. Buchman’s military romance series is about the four soldiers who crew one particular chopper in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), famously known as The Night Stalkers. SOAR exists; they operate out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, just as the unit does in Mr. Buchman’s first two books, The Night is Mine, and I Own the Dawn.

What SOAR doesn’t have, at least according to the documents I can find, is female pilots like Emily Beale (heroine of  The Night is Mine), or female soldiers like Kee Smith in I Own the Dawn. To which I say, “Damn!”. I want that to be possible.

The fact that the romances in both books violate the military anti-fraternization regulations to hell and back is a whole other matter. But the romance is so damn good in both cases, I don’t care.

What I enjoy about both stories is that these military women are the equal of their men in every single way, including as soldiers.

“Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality”. Sometimes the old clichés are the best ones.

But in the case of Kee Smith, it’s not her qualities as a soldier that are ever in doubt, it’s whether her background on the very, very wrong side of the tracks that has her doubting herself, and whether she’s good enough for a Boston blueblood like Archibald Jeffrey Stevenson III. The fact that he’s a Lieutenant and she’s a Sergeant is just a matter of Army regulations.

That her mother was a whore and that Kee murdered the gang-banger who shot her best friend in a drive-by shooting, that might be a problem for any real relationship. His people go way back. Her people are the Army. Up ’til now, that’s been fine.

But Archie is not what his world would have made him. Not after following seven years in Emily Beale’s turbulent wake through the Army. Whatever he would have been, now he’s addicted to the danger that SOAR represents. That Kee represents.

Kee’s never let anyone close. Not since her only friend was killed. But when their unit finds a little girl in the Hindu Kush, one lonely survivor of her family, walking across Afghanistan alone, Kee sees herself in the girl, and Dilya finds, not just a protector, but an avenging angel.

Dilya saw the man who murdered her parents. And Kee, the unit’s sniper, promises Dilya that she will kill him for her, if she ever finds him. Little do they know just how many rocks they’ll have to turn over to find the bastard, and how many political plots they’ll uncover along the way.

Archie watches over the girl, Dilya, and finds his way into Kee Smith’s heart–even though she wasn’t planning on letting anyone in–not the girl and certainly not the man.

Verdict: If you love military romance, you’ll love this series. When I read the first book in the series, The Night is Mine (reviewed at Reading Reality), I was up until after 3 am trying to finish (it’s a 400 page book!) I Own the Dawn is a terrific follow-up, and I’m overjoyed that Buchman is planning to write about the rest of the crew! Kee Smith is both tough and tender, and her gradual opening up to Dilya as well as Archie is marvelous. In most military romances, the soldier in the story is the man, and it’s refreshing to have Kee be both all-soldier and all-woman at the same time.

When Kee rescues Archie it’s the icing on a very delicious cake. I so love my tropes reversed.

I salute I Own the Dawn with 4 stars.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Big Sky Mountain by Linda Lael Miller

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: eARC from NetGalley
Number of Pages: 384 p.
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Publisher: HQN Books
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Parable, Montana #2
Formats Available: Mass Market Paperback, ebook, audiobook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)  | Author’s Website 

Book Blurb:

With his rugged good looks, vast wealth and family name, hell-raiser Hutch Carmody is still the golden boy of Parable, Montana. But he’s done some growing up-making peace with his illegitimate half brother and inheriting half of Whisper Creek Ranch, which should have been all his. These days, Hutch knows there are some things money can’t buy: like the heart of loving, ladylike divorcée Kendra Shepherd.

Kendra’s quiet mansion reminds her of what she wants most-a devoted husband and the pitter-patter of little feet. She can’t get Hutch Carmody out of her mind. But a rough-and-tumble cowboy like Hutch, coming home for family dinner? Seems crazy! Then again, crazier dreams have become reality under the vast Montana sky.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

In The Needy Lover’s review of the first Parable, Montana book, Big Sky Country, the review mentioned that the story lit up whenever Hutch and Kendra sashayed through the plot. And that was true for me as well.

Big Sky Mountain finally tells Hutch and Kendra’s story, or at least the grown-up version of it. One of the “big teases” about Hutch and Kendra is that they have some serious history that didn’t end the way everyone thought it would. Kendra’s return to Parable is their second chance. But only if they can start with who they are now, and not who they used to be.

Or who they each think they are.

The problem is that Kendra thinks Hutch is the “love ’em and leave ’em” type. And he seems to be running true to form. It’s all over Facebook and You Tube that he stopped his own wedding, using hand signals to keep the bride from walking up to the altar.

That’s just low.

Really, really funny, but low. (It was the only way Hutch could get the girl’s attention. She never listened. She REALLY never listened)

Kendra has come back to Parable to raise her adopted daughter. Which sounds simple, but it’s definitely not. Something happened, and it was a very big something, back in the past. Kendra and Hutch should have married each other, way back when. Instead, someone else, a rich titled Englishman named Jeffrey Chamberlain, came to Parable on business and struck up a friendship with Kendra.

Hutch seems to have gone all caveman and started delivering ultimatums. Always a bad idea. I say “seems” because the story of what happened back then still isn’t clear. (I’d love to read a prequel novella really telling that story!) But Kendra married Jeffrey while angry at Hutch, expecting a last-minute storybook rescue at the altar. It didn’t happen.

Instead, the marriage failed. Jeffrey is dead. And his dying wish was that Kendra adopt and raise his daughter. His daughter, not her daughter, not their daughter. His daughter. The little girl, Madison, is four years old and an absolute sweetheart. It’s not her fault that daddy was a lying, cheating jerkwad.

This story is much more about re-making your dreams in new circumstances than anything else. There is a love story, very definitely, but the real story is how Kendra and Hutch re-build the bridges they tore down. They both dreamed of a life together, once upon a time. Neither thinks they can have that dream back. Kendra is convinced she doesn’t want it anymore, but she still wants Hutch.

And Hutch has never wanted anyone else.

This story is also pulled along by all of its characters. That’s where the richness is. There’s more of a romance than Big Sky Country, but everyone from the first book makes an appearance, and that’s a good thing. The town feels like an extended family, and they are mostly folks you want to see again (there’s always one bad apple).

I was glad to visit Parable again, and I’m looking forward to my return visit for the third book in the trilogy.

I give Big Sky Mountain 4 stars to shine in its wide Montana sky.

*If you want to win some cowboy swag, there’s a Big Sky Mountain giveaway at BookRiot. Check it out!*

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Blacksmith’s Lover by Heather Massey

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook from author
Number of Pages: 100 p.
Release Date: June 1, 2012
Publisher: Red Sage Publishing
Series: The Clockpunk Trilogy #2
Genre: Steampunk
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Book Blurb:

The year is 1840. On the run after being caught in a scandalous incident, scullery maid Sarah Bailey must find refuge before her vengeful former mistress has her killed. When she stumbles upon a blacksmith’s shop in need of an apprentice in West Boylston, Massachusetts, she applies for the position.

Viktor is a brawny, reclusive blacksmith who creates strange clockwork and steam-powered devices. The gruff man makes it clear that Sarah’s plight is no concern of his, but ghosts from his past dictate otherwise. Viktor agrees to protect the spunky maid, but only until her trail of henchmen runs cold.

Sarah quickly discovers that the fire of this blacksmith’s forge runs volcanic hot. Unable to resist one another, she and Viktor begin a lust-filled affair. But how long will their idyllic arrangement last before Sarah’s former mistress destroys it?

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

There aren’t a lot of romances with working-class heroes. In historic romances, everyone’s a nobleman. In contemporary romances, everyone is either a white-collar worker, military, or police.

That’s a broad generalization, but maybe not too far off.

In an early scene in The Blacksmith’s Lover, the heroine, Sarah, sees Viktor, the Blacksmith, bathing nude, and it does kind of make you wonder why there aren’t more blacksmith-heroes, at least in erotica.

While you’re fanning yourself, think about it.

However, that’s not the point of the story. There’s plenty of steam in this steampunk, but it doesn’t get there until later. There’s also not a lot of steampunk, or clockpunk, in this story at the beginning. It sort of eases its way in, too.

What we have throughout is the subversive story of two people who rescue each other. Viktor and Sarah are really equals. It just takes them a good chunk of the story to figure that out.

It works as a story. Viktor’s no nobleman, although he is very noble in his own way. And Sarah’s no simpering miss, either. They are both strong. Not just strong -willed, but physically strong. He needs her as much as she needs him. And not just for sex, although that turns out to be a big part of what happens.

They also have one heck of a lot of secrets, and they are keeping way too many of those secrets from each other to have a happily ever after. It almost costs them everything.

One big secret involves the steampunk/clockpunk element. Viktor learned some really cool stuff back in Russia. He learned to make mechanical marvels. He wants to train an apprentice, to pass his secrets on. Instead of getting an apprentice blacksmith, he gets Sarah.

She wants a refuge. And finds a protector. Together, they make a formidable team. It’s all a matter of learning to trust.

It made sense that Viktor was keeping the more “outlandish” aspects of his blacksmithing a secret from the general populace. Trust does not come easy to him. Neither does communication. He’s used to working with his hands, not talking. Yet he needs to find someone to train. It’s a very real problem.

This story begins because Sarah is being hounded by her previous employer, Mrs. Reynolds. The issue with Mrs. Reynolds does have to be resolved before this story can come to an end, and it does involve Viktor’s clockworks and steamworks. All does get revealed.

But I’m glad we don’t really see much of Mrs. Reynolds. I found her motivations completely unbelievable, even in fiction.

The Blacksmith’s Lover is a more “traditional” steampunk romance than The Watchmaker’s Lady. Both the lovers are fully human, and the reader doesn’t find themselves wondering if the hero is out of his mind.  Without that challenge, the story is not quite as haunting.

Which makes it very steamy steampunk with a down-to-earth hero and a heroine who is his equal. For that, I give The Blacksmith’s Lover 4 stars.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Cinderella Blues by Obren Bokich

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook from author
Number of Pages: 294 p.
Release Date: April 12, 2012
Publisher: CreateSpace
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Formats Available: paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info: : Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Book Blurb:

The Cinderella Blues (Thuh Sin’-dur-rel’-uh Bluze)
n.
1.
The phenomena whereby otherwise intelligent, capable, successful professional women are convinced they need rescuing by a prince.


My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

The Cinderella Blues starts out in the middle of some of the cheesiest, I swear, the most cliché-ridden, bodice-ripping drivel ever written.

And I could have sworn this was supposed to be a contemporary romance. It said so right there on the label.  A couple of pages later the heroine dropped out of her daydream and into an auto body shop. She was daydreaming this stuff.

That made way more sense. Haven’t you done that? I’ve done that. Drifted off in my head to fanfic-land. My fantasies aren’t half that cliché-full. At least, I hope not.

Kat, on the other hand, has an unfortunate tendency to daydream so deeply, to travel so far into Katland, as her friends fondly call it, that she wrecks her car. Over and over.

On her way out of the body shop, she runs a red light and dings a big red pickup truck. His fender is dented. Her Mini needs a tow. Her insurance company is not amused. The scruffy but yummy guy driving the pickup takes off without so much as a word.

Kat finally admits that her trips to Katland while driving are hazardous to her health as well as her wallet. She puts her car in storage and starts taking the bus. In Los Angeles!

Kat is dreaming of, not just Mr. Right, but Prince Charming. She’s a career woman working her way up the ladder, but she still thinks she wants to be rescued.

The Cinderella Blues is all about the frogs she kisses along the way. And not only are they froggy, but swampy and muddy into the bargain. Ribbit!

But Kat has a fairy godmother. And some terrific friends to help her along the way. Including remind her that she doesn’t need Prince Charming to rescue her. She’s more than capable of rescuing herself.

All Kat needs is to get her head out of the clouds and figure out what it is she really wants. She can make her own dreams come true. And if she rescues herself, she’ll have a chance at a real happy ending, with a real man, not a fairy-tale prince.

But also not a frog.

I give The Cinderella Blues 4 stars for doing a terrific job of lamp shading the Cinderella trope, standing it on its head, dancing a jig with it, and still bringing home the happy ending.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Invitation to Scandal by Bronwen Evans

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook from author
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Number of Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington Brava
Formats Available: Mass market paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, All Romance Ebooks

Book Blurb:

Her secrets are coming undone…

Plagued by scandalous rumors, Rheda Kerrich will stop at nothing to restore her reputation and make an honest living for herself—and she’s determined to do it without a husband. But times are hard, and smuggling is a risky though profitable trade. So when a dashing agent for the English government catches her in the act, she desperately resists his charms and conceals her illicit profession. Until she realizes he may be the key to her ultimate freedom—and unbridled passion…

Rufus Knight, Viscount Strathmore, has never had trouble beguiling the ladies of Kent. When his search for “Dark Shadow,” a cunningly elusive smuggler, leads him to alluring and headstrong Rhe, her objections to his amorous advances merely incite a tantalizing game of cat and mouse. Soon, they’ll find the very secrets driving them apart could ensnare them in a love they can’t escape…

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

It should have been “scandals” plural. The sheer number of the scandals being courted by the hero, the heroine, the heroine’s brother, the entire Kentish town of Deal, and pretty much everyone else in this tale of coastal smuggling and Napoleonic era spy-catching almost beggars the imagination.

Rufus Knight is trying to restore his family’s good name after his father’s death twelve years ago in a scandal. Not that his death was scandalous, but the results were. Death was due to a hunting accident, but a note was found on the late Viscount Strathmore’s body linking his father to treasonous spying for the French.

Rufus himself is now an English agent and searching for answers. He’s almost caught up to them. The smuggler, “Dark Shadow,” has been sending messages to the French, and Dark Shadow operates from the Kentish coast, near Deal.

Rheda Kerrich, older sister to the Baron de Winter, kept her brother’s barony out of debt by leading the village in that time-honored English coastal business, smuggling. She also does it to keep the women and children in the village fed and clothed. Too many men are dead, fled, or deported.

So Rufus is looking for a smuggler to clear his family name. He operates as a government agent. Rheda is a smuggler, needing to avoid government agents at all costs.

Except that she is also part of the local gentry. Of course they meet. And in the worst possible circumstance from Rheda’s perspective. Rufus finds her on the road, dressed as a gypsy, trapped behind a contraband barrel of brandy.

He wants to seduce her in hopes of getting information about “Dark Shadow”. She hopes to tease him in return for escape from the damnable barrel, which she desperately needs to get down to the village. Selling the contents of that barrel will feed a village family over the winter.

The other thing Rheda needs desperately is to keep Rufus from finding out her true identity as a member of the local gentry. Or her even more secret identity.

The best thing about this book were the “cat and mouse” games that Rufus and Rheda play with each other.

There’s no question that they want each other from the minute they meet. There’s also no question that they have plans to use each other. Rufus wants information, Rheda wants Rufus’ stallion Caesar to cover her mares almost as much as she wants his master. Occasionally more.

But the biggest secrets, in a story where nearly every player has a secret, is that they are falling for each other. This is a secret they keep from themselves, because they both have darn good reasons to not get emotionally involved with anyone, but especially with each other.

And in the middle of this stew, there is still one scandal left. There really is a French spy. And everyone has been totally wrong about who it is.

I give Invitation to Scandal 4 stars.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

ARC Review: The Devil of Jedburgh by Claire Robyns

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Guest Review> Marlene> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.

Format read: E-ARC provided courtesy of the author
Release Date: February 6, 2012
Number of Pages: 229 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Formats Available: ebooks
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Carina Press, Barnes & Noble

Blurb:

Raised on rumours of The Devil of Jedburgh, Breghan McAllen doesn’t want an arranged marriage to the beast. The arrogant border laird is not the romantic, sophisticated husband Breghan dreams of—despite the heat he stirs within her.

In need of an heir, Arran has finally agreed to take a wife, but when he sees Breghan’s fragile beauty, he’s furious. He will not risk the life of another maiden by getting her with child. Lust prompts him to offer a compromise: necessary precautions, and handfasting for a year and a day, after which Breghan will be free. For a chance to control her own future, Breghan makes a deal with the Devil.

Passion quickly turns to love, but Arran still has no intention of keeping the lass, or making her a mother. He loves her too much to lose her. But when a treasonous plot threatens queen and country, Breghan has to prove only she is woman enough to stand by his side.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

I picked this up expecting a typical historic romance set in the Scottish borderlands. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy historic romances every so often, and Ms. Robyn’s previous book (Second-Guessing Fate)received a lot of great reviews, so “why not”?

Was I ever surprised! There’s a lot packed into this book. Yes, there is a romance. And it’s hot. But the neat thing about the romance is that both parties go in with eyes wide open. It’s an arrangement. A totally stupid arrangement between very bull-headed people, but the reader can see why it happens. They both think they can have a relationship for a year and then walk away. Like that’s going to work.

I did think the whole “Devil” think might be supernatural, but it’s not. It’s about superstition, and belief in curses, and how they might affect someone’s life. Arran believes he’s been cursed and sometimes he uses the fear of that to his advantage, and sometimes it works to his disadvantage. As Bree learns about the “real” Arran, the curse loses its effect on her. Making it lose its effect on him is what makes the story.

If this had just been about the romance, it would have been a darn good story. But what made it special for me was when Arran took Bree to Court with him. Court, in this case, was Edinburgh, to the court of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1565 or 1566. The Queen was pregnant with her heir, James VI, who later became James I of England. But more importantly, Arran brought Bree to Edinburgh just in time for them to be caught up in the plot to murder the Queen’s hated Secretary, David Rizzio. This was a brutal, messy time in Scottish Court politics, and Ms. Robyns wove her fiction beautifully into the historical narrative.

For me, that was the absolute icing on the four bookie cake.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

 

ARC Review: Banshee Charmer by Tiffany Allee

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 Stars> book reviews> Guest Bloggers> Guest Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.

Format read: ebook provided courtesy of the publisher
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Number of pages: 159
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info:  Goodreads, Author’s Website,  Entangled Publishing, Barnes & Noble, Amazon

Blurb:
When she’s sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera “Mac” McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.

Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department’s back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she’s running this one “hot” as well. But Aidan knows more than he’s letting on—something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer’s growing body count…

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

It was the cop banter that sucked me in. Not just because it was good cop banter, although the author got it just right, the exact kind of dry humor that is chuckle under your breath funny, but because it hit the right tone. One of the cops was a “normal” and the other is a half-banshee, and it didn’t matter. They were both cops, and they sounded like cops. I was a goner. And so was the stiff in their crime scene.

I love urban fantasy, and the closer it is to our world, the better I like it. The worldbuilding in Banshee Charmer was so close to the “real” world, there was just this slight difference, all the paranormal is real, and everyone seems to know about it. There are laws about what paranormals can and can’t do, just like everyone else. I love that kind of stuff.  Treating the paranormal as just different types of evidence it just plain cool. Done as well as it is here, it gets me every time.
But series like these live or die (no pun intended) based on whether we like the characters. If it’s a cop shop book, we need to like the cops in the shop.

It’s all down to Mac. Being only a half-banshee means her scream only stuns, it doesn’t kill. And she’s got some baggage about not being as dangerous as she might be. But she’s much more interesting because she’s not invincible. And because she’s half-banshee, men who might otherwise be attracted stay far, far away.
Mac is on the trail of a serial killer who appears to murder his victims while they are in the throes of ecstatic pleasure.  The killer’s last victim was her partner Amanda. And Mac is supposed to be off the case. But in the tradition of all good cops everywhere, Mac is investigating on her own time, with the help of the extremely handsome Otherworld Enforcement Agent who just happened to show up in her kitchen the evening before her partner became the serial killer’s victim.

Aiden Byrne is another reason this story is so good. On the one hand, it’s obvious that he isn’t who he says he is. And that there is a reason he keeps disappearing at what could best be described as “opportune” moments. But his conflict between what he feels for Mac that he knows he shouldn’t, and whatever it is he has to do with the killer, is utterly delicious.

I enjoyed Mac’s personality and perspective. She was someone I wanted to spend time with, so it was fun. And this world is cool. The paranormal has been integrated into society. What a great place for more stories.  Which means that even though there is a happily ever after, there is plenty of room for more stories. I want to see more of how this place ticks.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.