No. 4 Imperial Lane by Jonathan Weisman

January 12, 2016 By Leave a Comment

LANE
No. 4 Imperial Lane by Jonathan Weisman
Publisher: Twelve
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (352 pgs)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Welcome to Brighton in 1988 and the University of Sussex, where kids sport Mohawks and light up to the otherworldly sounds of the Cocteau Twins, as conversation drifts from structuralism to Thatcher to the bloody Labour Students. Meet David Heller, an American studying abroad who’s left the States to escape his own family still mourning the death of a daughter ten years later. To extend his stay, David has taken a job nursing Hans Bromwell. The son of a former MP, and playboy in his day, Hans was left paralyzed by a mysterious accident. When David moves into the Bromwell house, his life becomes quickly entwined with those of Hans, his alcoholic sister Elizabeth, and her beautiful fatherless daughter, as they navigate their new role as fallen aristocracy. As David befriends the Bromwells, the details behind the family’s staggering fall from grace are exposed: How Elizabeth’s love affair with a Portuguese physician carried the young English girl right into the bloody battlefields of colonial Africa, where an entire continent bellowed for independence, and a single event left a family broken forever.

David has quite enjoyed his year studying abroad in England. More than soaking up the culture and experiencing the world, he’s fallen in love. So, what’s a smitten young man to do when it’s time to return home and leave his dream girl behind? Find a way to stay, of course. Enter Hans Bromwell, the son of a wealthy family paralyzed in a freak accident. In order to stay in England, David agrees to care for Hans and winds up getting more out of the experience than he ever dreamed possible.

No. 4 Imperial Lane wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. It began like any ordinary novel, telling of David’s adventures in Sussex after arriving from the United States for a year abroad. You get to know him a bit and follow his life as he meets and eventually falls in love with Maggie. In a last ditch effort to stay in England and continue his love affair with Maggie, David takes on a job caring for the paralyzed Hans. This is where the novel deviated from the norm and delved into the new and interesting for me.

While caring for Hans, David becomes friendly with his employer’s sister, Elizabeth. Although at first, he only listens out of politeness and to ease the boredom he’s experiencing, before long, David is as engrossed in Elizabeth’s story as the rest of us are. Listening to her tell her tale of adventure and excitement between meeting the love of her life in Portugal and how she wound up in a Portuguese colony in Africa, I not only got to experience a good story, but I also learned something I had forgotten about world history. Even more interesting is watching David move from an uninterested outsider to part of the family, going so far as to befriend Hans and become more than just a disinterested caretaker.

Beautifully written and engaging, No. 4 Imperial Lane is one of the most unique novels I’ve read this year. I loved the weaving of the past into the present and the way the author managed to bring them together into the future. With exotic locations and interesting characters, I was sucked in and held tight all the way until the very end.

Filed Under: Other, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Fishbowl by Bradley Somer

November 20, 2015 By 1 Comment

FISHBOWL
Fishbowl by Bradley Somer
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (304 pgs)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

A goldfish named Ian is falling from the 27th-floor balcony on which his fishbowl sits. He’s longed for adventure, so when the opportunity arises, he escapes from his bowl, clears the balcony railing and finds himself airborne. Plummeting toward the street below, Ian witnesses the lives of the Seville on Roxy residents.

There’s the handsome grad student, his girlfriend, and his mistress; the construction worker who feels trapped by a secret; the building’s super who feels invisible and alone; the pregnant woman on bed rest who craves a forbidden ice cream sandwich; the shut-in for whom dirty talk, and quiche, are a way of life; and home-schooled Herman, a boy who thinks he can travel through time. Though they share time and space, they have something even more important in common: each faces a decision that will affect the course of their lives. Within the walls of the Seville are stories of love, new life, and death, of facing the ugly truth of who one has been and the beautiful truth of who one can become.

Sometimes taking a risk is the only way to move forward with our lives. As Ian the goldfish knows, “An entire life devoted to a fishbowl will make one die an old fish with not one adventure had.”

Ian is a goldfish. A goldfish that is falling from the twenty-seventh floor balcony of the Seville on Roxy apartment complex. Now, Ian is a modern goldfish without any of the hang-ups of his contemporary aquatic friends like, say, Troy the snail. So, as Ian falls from the top floor of the Seville, the things he observes aren’t any shock to him, nor are they of much concern, either. But for the rest of us? It’s a little more intriguing than a passing goldfish could ever dream.

The narrative takes us through the lives of a handful of people living at the Seville on Roxy, although it starts and focuses mainly on Connor and his girlfriend, Katie. These two are probably the most mainstream of the group, especially when compared to Claire who works a phone sex line from her apartment, Herman who is homeschooled, and Garth – the construction worker with a secret. Each apartment holds its own story and each story deals with a bit of reality we’d all like to forget or maybe engage with more – life, death, love, mental illness, you name it, it’s at the Seville on Roxy.

I have never so fully enjoyed an entire cast of characters as much I did these. Major props to the author for giving each character a realistic and complete backstory, one that makes you feel invested in that person, even if you only see them once every handful of chapters. Even though Connor is pretty much a hopeless dog, he’s still likable in an odd sort of way, and he’s not always all that easy to like. The author finds a way to point out something good in each character, even when you think there’s nothing of value. Of them all, Garth and Jimenez are probably my favorites, mostly because they’re two people who get overlooked and ignored a lot in their lives.

The concept of this novel was the thing that hooked me. That and the illustration of Ian’s plummet from the top to his eventual resting spot at the bottom that was drawn along the right-hand margin of the book, but this really has nothing to do with the story, it was just an amusing addition to an already amusing novel. Although it was purported to be in the tradition of two books that I had loved, I found Fishbowl to fall more in line with something more Douglas Adams-like than either Garth Stein or Armistead Maupin. Either way, this was one of the most entertaining novels I’ve read all year.

Filed Under: Other, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Locked, Loaded and Lying by Sarah Andre

November 19, 2015 By 1 Comment

LYING
Locked, Loaded and Lying by Sarah Andre
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (408 pgs)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

He might be innocent.

Or he might be very, very guilty…

Olympic skier Lock Roane was on top of the world: smashing world records, collecting medals, and basking in the love of a nation and his beautiful heiress girlfriend. It all comes crashing down after Lock discovers his girlfriend had an affair – then wakes from a drunken bender to find himself covered in her blood. Disgraced and dethroned, Lock awaits his murder trial with dread, not knowing if his girlfriend died at his own hands.

Journalist Jordan Sinclair is out of options. To satisfy her blackmailer, she must get the inside scoop (and its cash reward) on Lock Roane. An attraction to the arrogant athlete was not part of the plan. Neither is trying to find out what really happened that night. Now Jordan risks everything – including her life – to help the man she’s falling for. A man who just might be a cold-blooded killer…

He only wants to prove his innocence while she’s looking for the story of a lifetime. While Lock Roane is content to hide out until the murder trial of his girlfriend Tiffany begins, Jordan Sinclair, a freelance journalist, has other ideas. She’s running out of time and in order to keep herself and her mother safe, she’s going to have to commit the ultimate betrayal. But can she do it or has Lock and Load already gotten too far under her skin?

I’m not going to lie – I really liked Lock from the beginning, even when he was being a bit of a jerk to his extremely drunk girlfriend. He has this vibe of ‘yes, I’m being a jerk, but it’s for your own good’. As you get to know him better, you come to understand, mostly through Jordan’s eyes, that the cocky, jerky exterior is his ‘Lock and Load’ persona, that of the world-famous skier. The one he needs to survive in that world. His strained relationship with his brother only enhances his softer side, the one he doesn’t want anyone to see.

Jordan I wasn’t as sure about in the beginning. She had her reasons for doing what she planned to do, but I kept expecting her to quit lying and come clean long before she did. If I were in her position, I probably would have stuck it out just as long as she did, but I still held out hope. In the end, she did the right thing, though, so she does have that going for her. Although she’s both troubled and in serious trouble, she really does care for both Lock and his brother, Leo.

Although the mystery of who really killed Tiffany was a little obvious, this isn’t the kind of book you read for the mystery. It’s the kind of book you read for the bonding, the friendship, and the budding love story. I especially enjoyed watching Lock and Leo repair their relationship that had been damaged for too many years. Well written and intense, Locked, Loaded and Lying is a story that kept me engaged until the very end.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , ,

An Imperfect Oath by Stewart Goodwin

November 16, 2015 By Leave a Comment

OATH
An Imperfect Oath by Stewart Goodwin
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (153 pgs)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

Jace Hadley took seriously his oath to protect and serve, most of the time. But there were times when all the trust bestowed upon him by that oath could be used to his advantage. An advantage he seized upon again and again to rid this world of arrogant women. The demons that haunted Nichols drove him to be the best homicide detective in the state. The one homicide that went cold on his watch was now joined by another that would become a cold case for years until a break that brought it to an unexpected close. The paths of the two officers, who had taken the same oath, would cross multiple times as the investigation unfolds. One as the cat. The other as the mouse. But, would the mouse ever be caught?

Each man took the same oath, an oath to uphold the law, to protect and serve the citizens of their fine city. Although both men said the same words, under the same circumstances and for the same reasons, each took a different direction once they placed that badge on their uniforms. What do you do when the bad guy is supposedly one of the good guys?

An Imperfect Oath is the kind of mystery novel that makes you think and keeps you thinking the entire time you’re reading. This is a story that covers the span of many years and sees many changes in not just the officers working the case, but also changes in the way that police work is done and evidence is handled. I was fascinated by watching the story evolve along with the techniques in crime fighting.

The good guy isn’t a perfect officer, but he does his best to do the right thing always. Serving justice is his job and it’s one he takes seriously. He makes his mistakes along the way but never loses sight of what’s most important. On the other hand, the bad guy is just that – a very bad guy. Armed with a badge and the idea that he’s the smartest, sneakiest man on the planet, he commits crime after crime fully believing that he’ll never be caught. Considering how long it takes to finally put all the pieces together, it’s easy to see why his confidence only grew.

I’ve always enjoyed reading stories about cold cases and the many ways forensics are used to solve them. An Imperfect Oath acted almost as a history lesson in how the science of forensics has evolved over the last thirty years from essentially nothing to opening a whole world of evidence you’d never even know was there. An engaging and page-turning story of two police officers, one on each side of the law, fighting against each other for the ultimate win.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Collar Robber by Hilary Bell Locke

September 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment

COLLAR
Collar Robber by Hilary Bell Locke
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (296 pgs)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

How can you make money from a painting that you don’t own, can’t steal, and couldn’t fence even if you succeeded? What if you convince people you already had stolen it?

An assortment of shady and brutal players in Collar Robber think that—leaving a corpse or two along the way—they can use that bright idea to gouge fifty-million dollars from Jay Davidovich’s employer, Transoxana Insurance Company. Davidovich, first met in 2012’s Jail Coach, is a Loss Prevention Specialist. Fifty million would be a good loss to prevent.

Cynthia Jakubek from But Remember Their Names has jumped from the gilded drudgery of lawyering with a big Wall Street firm to the terrifying adventure of starting her own solo practice in Pittsburgh. One of her clients wants to help Davidovich—for a hefty price—and stay alive in the process. Another wants to get married in the Catholic Church to a fiancée who was briefly wed years before to someone who now has an interest in the painting. An annulment is needed.

As Davidovich and Jakubek face brawls on street corners and in court rooms, confrontations in brothels, confessionals, and Yankee Stadium luxury suites, and Tasers, machine guns, and religious vestments used as weapons, they have to remember that “take no prisoners” isn’t always a metaphor…

When an original painting and fifty million dollars hang in the balance, unlikely partnerships are bound to form. What will those pairings be? The insurance company and the Church? Or the lawyer and the criminal? By the time it all works itself out, it could be all of these and more. But who will come out on top and will the painting ever be safe from those who want it? Only time and a lot of intrigue will tell.

Cynthia Jakubek is a woman worth admiring. She had it all – a great job on Wall Street for a major law firm and the insane pay to go with it – and gave it all up to be able to chase the bad guys and have her day in court. For her, it was more about results than the money and she happily took a giant cut in pay in order to get out from under the thumb of the bigger lawyers and be able to do more than grunt work. She’s scrappy, determined, and takes no prisoners. I love a strong, feisty female lead and Jakubek is just that.

Jay Davidovich is pure muscle and knows how to use each and every one. Working loss-prevention for Transoxana Insurance Company, he gets to put it to good use on a regular basis. I’m not entirely sure why, but Jay was my favorite character in this novel. His tough exterior is present right up until he starts thinking about his wife, Rachel, and then he turns into a giant teddy bear. He’d be the idea kind of guy to have on your side. Intelligent and dangerous, he also has a soft side to match it.

This novel left me feeling rather torn. The story itself is well written and intense, yet, I still found myself confused more often than not. I think that, for me, there may have been too many characters, some of which you only get a cursory introduction to, leaving you without any decent way of remembering their purpose. About halfway through the novel, however, I began to figure out who was who and what their jobs were and it became easier to follow. Although, despite my initial confusion and lack of understanding, Collar Robber is an intricate and complex story that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Flax’s Pursuit by Angel Martinez & Bellora Quinn

September 10, 2015 By Leave a Comment

AURA
Flax’s Pursuit by Angel Martinez & Bellora Quinn
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full Length (267 pgs)
Other: M/M, Ménage, Multiple Partners, Anal Play
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

A murderer haunts the city, turning the unwary to stone. Between hunting this evil and corralling new arrivals, Flax struggles to guard both his life and his heart.

Quinn and Valerian have come through the trials of facing an undead lich queen and the perils of falling in love. Now they work to restore AURA to its previous strength and efficiency while navigating their new life with each other. Fortunately, they’re not in this alone.

Kai Hiltas has taken over as the head of the research department at AURA and has become everyone’s favourite workaholic, everyone except his lover Tenzin, who has had enough of his late nights and broken promises. As Kai tries to salvage his relationship, he finds a teacher for Quinn, who also happens to be one of Valerian’s new officers, Flax Wolfheart, a sexy elf with trouble written all over him.

Flax has motives beyond simply teaching Quinn to control his magic. He’s trying to recover from his own losses and failures, but he has a plan. The two newest elvish crossovers, Ash and Sage, are sizzling hot and might even like him. With them as backup as he tracks a deadly stone mage and figures out how to teach Quinn, Flax sees his chance to impress Val and snag a place by his captain’s side. On the hunt for both danger and redemption, Flax’s pursuit leads him ultimately down trails he never expected.

Both recovering from and basking in the glow of the defeat of the lich queen, Val and Quinn are settling into their new life as a couple. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems and a new threat looms on the horizon, threatening to destroy the delicate peace everyone has found. A new event has everyone scrambling to secure the new arrivals before more trouble can form, but will they be fast enough?

Although Quinn and Val both figure prominently in this second novel, the focus is more on Kai and Tenzin, as well as three newcomers elves – Flax, Ash and Sage. Flax is an officer with AURA and has been tasked with teaching Quinn to control his magic by Kai himself. Unable to tell the drow no, Flax finds himself teaching a human to use magic. In the process, his hero-crush on Val becomes nearly unbearable. I spent a lot of time feeling awful for Flax. He comes across as a bit of a jerk at first, but he’s lonely and desperate for companionship. You really just want to give him a big hug and tell him it’ll be okay in the end.

Ash and Sage are a pair of bonded elves who are ripped from their homeland and dropped into Tokyo without warning. Flax is one of the first on scene and is the only one able to get through to the pair, causing them to latch onto him as their only port in this new storm they’re forced to endure. They’re different from the other elves we’ve met to date, and similar at the same time. They make for a nice contrast to the characters we’re already come to know.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed Quinn’s Gambit, this sequel was even better. The mystery surrounding the victims being turned to stone was an interesting one and not something I expected in the end. I did have a slight issue with how quickly the issue with the bad guy was resolved, but at least it was a full resolution. Hopefully in the next installment we get to learn more about all the characters I’ve come to adore, especially the reticent and reluctant Kai Hiltas, who had his own bit of good fortune in this sequel, even if he had to go through heck to get it. With each installment getting better and better, I eagerly look forward to see what we’re getting next.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quinn’s Gambit by Angel Martinez & Bellora Quinn

September 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment

GAMBIT
Quinn’s Gambit by Angel Martinez & Bellora Quinn
Publisher: Totally Bound
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full Length (217 pgs)
Other: M/M, Anal Play
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

An unregistered, human con wizard and a duty-bound, straightlaced elf cop. As New York explodes with dangerous creatures, their passion goes nuclear.

After a terrible magical accident at Berkeley created unpredictable holes between realities—all manner of non-human creatures started popping into our world. These displacements, called RARE—Random Anomalous Reality Events—have taken magic out of fiction and relocated it firmly in reality, resulting in a great deal of chaos and confusion. Displaced elf Valerian works with AURA—the Agency of Unnatural Resettlement and Assimilation—to intercept these beings as they appear in the human world, helping the peaceful ones and subduing the violent, malevolent ones. It’s good, satisfying work, and Val would be happy if he wasn’t so lonely.

Quinten is a young mage just trying to get by, but New York isn’t the easiest city to make a living. If his methods are sometimes morally dubious, his heart is still in the right place. Of course for Quinn, the right place means firmly locked away, protected at all costs. Living by his wits and sometimes magically-induced luck, he works as a ‘free-lance magic user’, or unregistered mage and small time con—according to the authorities. The last thing Quinn wants is to draw the cops’ attention, but when an Event happens right on top of him, he’s forced to turn to AURA for help. Valerian isn’t at all what he’d expected in an AURA cop, and he certainly wasn’t expecting to join forces with the sexy elf, a snarky drow and a bitter incubus when certain individuals in power try to stop the RARE by any means necessary.

Things are not all what they seem at AURA headquarters, and a greater evil lurks at the top than anyone could have imagined.

In the aftermath since the collision of magic and technology, a new breed of cop has been recruited to protect the world. A straight-laced elf named Valerian is one such officer. Resigned to the believe that he’ll spend the entirety of his life on Earth alone, a chance encounter with a rouge mage named Quinn will forever change his outlook on love, his life, and his career. They both know that they’re not good for the other, but when they’re forced to work together to prevent a catastrophe, all bets are off.

Valerian is an elf out of his element. Having been pulled out of his own world and onto Earth many years prior, he’s still out of sorts and unsure of his place in this new, strange world. Even for an elf, he’s exactly what I picture in a detective. Dedicated, serious, and a rule follower. That said, he has a passionate, loving streak that is unrivaled once you manage to uncover it.

Quinten, on the other hand, is one hundred percent untamed human mage. Living on the wrong side of the law hustling tourists, all Quinn wants is enough money to keep a roof over his head fill the belly of his friend Groof – a magical creature living in the lake. Quinn is used to being on his own and he’s a bit emotionally damaged which makes him tend towards flakiness and abrupt changes in temperament. It was annoying at first, but as we begin to understand his past and why he’s so avoidant of law enforcement, you understand better and relegate the annoyance to a personality quirk.

As much as I enjoyed watching Val and Quinn fall for each other, the character that really intrigued me was Kai Hiltas. Ever since I picked up my first Forgotten Realms novel twenty plus years ago, I’ve had a soft spot for drow who have moved past their inherent ‘evil’ side and live life in the light of day. This is Kai to a ‘t’ and I really do hope that we learn more about him – and his yeti lover, Tenzin – in the future.

Fantasy novels are a great love of mine, so when I can find one that mixes into it all the elements I love in a romance novel, I know I’m in for a treat. The one and only thing that bothered me about this book, however, was the references to humanoid creatures (humans, elves, incubi, etc.) involved in sexual relationships with non-humanoid creatures (yetis, fauns, centaurs, etc.). Although none of those relationships are described in detail, the mention of them put me off a bit. Despite that minor bit, Quinn’s Gambit is an intense story filled with twists and turns and unexpected surprises that will leave you guessing. A modern fantasy love story that held my attention and made me crave more of this world. I’m eager to dive into the sequel.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen

August 19, 2015 By Leave a Comment

DIE
Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (352 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

For the second time in his short life, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Two years ago, he barely escaped when his entire family was slaughtered. Now, at fourteen, in a hideous echo of the past, Teddy is the lone survivor of his foster family’s mass murder. Orphaned once more, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn—until the Boston PD puts detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Determined to protect this young man, Jane discovers that what seemed like a coincidence is instead just one horrifying part of a relentless killer’s merciless mission.

Jane spirits Teddy to the exclusive Evensong boarding school, a sanctuary where young victims of violent crime learn the secrets and skills of survival in a dangerous world. But even behind locked gates, and surrounded by acres of sheltering Maine wilderness, Jane fears that Evensong’s mysterious benefactors aren’t the only ones watching. When strange blood-splattered dolls are found dangling from a tree, Jane knows that her instincts are dead on. And when she meets Will Yablonski and Claire Ward, students whose tragic pasts bear a shocking resemblance to Teddy’s, it becomes chillingly clear that a circling predator has more than one victim in mind.

Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate—unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.

For the second time in his fourteen years, Teddy Clock finds himself orphaned. Having survived not one, but two massacres, he wonders what it is about himself that draws such tragedy. Left with nowhere to go and no one to care for him, Detective Jane Rizzoli steps in to both solve his case and get his life back on track. What none of them suspect is that he’s not the only one. Two other children have suffered – and survived – a similar fate. Is it simply tragic coincidence or something more sinister? They might not find out until it’s too late.

I’m going to start off by saying that the mystery portion of this novel is a touch far-fetched. That said, it’s written with the same drive and intensity as all the previous novels, propelling you straight into the story without a chance to take a deep breath first. When you add in the familiar characters with this powerful need to solve the mystery and comfort the children, you forget that the actual plot is a bit over the top. Well-written and engrossing, I found myself quickly caught up in the mystery, forgetting everything else. I was rooting for these kids to get another chance at a normal life with friends and loved ones like everyone else. It was the least they deserved after all they’d been through.

As much as I adored this novel, the lack of actual Rizzoli and Isles points of view was a bit disappointing. While I enjoyed the way the teens bonded together and tried to take things into their own hands, at times I missed Jane’s smart mouth and Barry Frost’s constant damper on Rizzoli’s temper. But overall, it was an enjoyable and engaging story. The author is a master at twists and turns, surprising you even when you think you’ve got it all figured out. I highly recommend this novel and this entire series to anyone who likes a consuming, action-packed thriller of a mystery.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

NYPD Red 3 by James Patterson & Marshall Karp

August 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment

RED
NYPD Red 3 by James Patterson & Marshall Karp
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (354 pgs)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

PROTECT THE RICH. SERVE THE FAMOUS. HUNT THE GUILTY.

NYPD Red is the elite, highly trained task force assigned to protect the rich, the famous, and the connected. And Detective Zach Jordan and his partner Kylie MacDonald-the woman who broke his heart at the police academy-are the best of the best, brilliant and tireless investigators who will stop at nothing to deliver justice.

Zach and Kylie’s New Year’s celebrations are cut short when they’re called to the home of billionaire businessman Hunter Alden, Jr. after he makes a grisly discovery in his townhouse garage. When Alden’s teenage son goes missing soon afterwards, and his father seems oddly reluctant to find him, Zach and Kylie find themselves in the middle of a chilling conspiracy that threatens everyone in its wake-especially their city’s most powerful citizens. NYPD Red 3 is the next sensational novel in James Patterson’s explosive new series, a thriller that goes behind the closed doors of New York high society and into the depths of depravity.

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrations, resolutions, and good times. Everything fades into the background however when billionaire Hunter Alden Jr. finds the decapitated head of his chauffer in his garage. With his son missing and his chauffer dead, Hunter calls on the best of the best – the NYPD’s Red division. But not even New York City’s most elite task force can solve a mystery when the major players are keeping secrets from them. Will Zach and Kylie be able to find Tripp before it’s too late?

Zach Jordan has been one of my favorite characters since the first novel in this series. He’s finally starting to settle into some semblance of a relationship outside of the one with his partner, Kylie MacDonald. This makes me very happy as I really do love the woman he’s started dating. However, poor Zach is intent on beating himself up over every thought, action, or breath he might feel is even the least bit leading or inappropriate in respects to his partner. We’ve long known that he still carries a torch for Kylie – and that she’s moved on – but enough already. Please give this hardworking detective some closure and allow him to move on with his life. He’s too much fun and entirely too intelligent to be stuck in this endless loop of what could have been. All of that aside, he’s the kind of guy I’d be friends with in a heartbeat. He’s honest, he’s open, and on occasion, he’s needy and emotional.

I’ve mentioned in the past that Kylie MacDonald wasn’t exactly my favorite person. Thankfully, she’s finally starting to mellow out somewhat and become more of a real-to-life character for me. She’s not nearly as abrasive as she’s been in the past, and a lot of that comes from what’s happened to her husband over the last couple of novels, I think. Poor Spence, he’s really been the one to take a beating as of late. Hopefully the change in her relationship with Spencer is effecting some character growth for her. On the flip side, no matter whether I like her or not, she and Zach really do work well together, acting as two halves of one whole. He has the detective’s brain, while she has the gut instinct. Putting both together gives you a very powerful team.

Although I think that each installment in this series gets better and better, the added twist to this third installment was a bit too much. The double homicide, the kidnapping, and all of the usual elements in a James Patterson novel worked well. But the surprise of Project Guttenberg left me feeling a bit confused. However, if I put that last bit aside, the intense action and the nose to the ground police work make the story worth reading. The NYPD Red series is still one of my favorite James Patterson series to date.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Held Hostage by Morticia Knight

August 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment

HOSTAGE
Held Hostage by Morticia Knight
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing/Pride Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (154 pgs)
Other: BDSM, M/M, Multiple Partners, Anal Play, Spanking
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Cholla

SWAT officer, Cole, can handle just about anything, until he rescues Brett—a man who makes him question all he’s ever believed about love.

As a member of the Las Vegas Police Department’s SWAT team, Cole has seen his fair share of danger, but he’s never taken a chance on love. He’s willing to have some fun when the mood strikes him, but he’s married to the job. Called in on a hostage situation, Cole is prepared for anything and everything…except for the brave and beautiful Brett.

Brett has been burned before, most recently by Officer Parker McLean. He’s hoping to settle down in Vegas, perhaps find someone he can build a life with. The last thing Brett’s looking for is another man in uniform. But when he meets Cole, there’s an attraction that can’t be denied. Still, he hadn’t expected to fall for the chiseled alpha.

What begins as nothing more than two people experiencing a great night together spirals into something far deeper. But will Brett be able to handle the stress that comes with having a lover who constantly puts his life in jeopardy? And can Cole risk his heart on an everyday hero, or will the job he knows so well remain his top priority?

As a member of the SWAT team for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Cole Silva has seen and done it all. He’s taken chances and risked everything – everything, that is, but his heart. So when he’s called to a hostage situation at the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip, he winds up with more than he bargained for in the form of Brett Langevin. Cole knows he can save Brett, but can he save himself from Brett’s charms?

Having remembered Brett from his brief appearance in Copping an Attitude, I was looking forward to getting to know him better. Parker, from book two, had liked Brett, but not enough to have had a committed relationship with him, and that always intrigues me. As it turns out, he’s probably the most normal, stable heroes in any of the Sin City Uniform books so far. Now, that’s not a bad thing either. I love a good boy-next-door sort of guy, especially when he’s paired with someone as unconventional as Cole. By the end of the book it was official – Brett is my favorite guy out of all the previous books to date. His character moves from indecisive and eager to please (even at the expense of his own happiness) to someone willing to make his own choices and mistakes. It was an experience watching him grow comfortable in his own skin.

Cole, on the other hand, I wasn’t so familiar with. It was mentioned that he appeared in the previous book, Justice Prevails, but I don’t remember him. His role was small, but the author is really good at introducing someone in an earlier book and bringing them around for their own story later, which is really what makes this series so addicting to me. Just when you think you’ve met everyone, there’s always someone else sneaking in the side door. Cole is definitely a harder, more difficult character to get to know. Ex-military as well as a current member of SWAT, he’s intense, focused, and pretty closed off emotionally. Because of this, he ticks me off a few times during the course of the story, but not enough to make me stop reading. His actions are expected to a point, but still ruffled my feathers a bit. Mostly because I was already partial to Brett in a lot of ways.

Held Hostage is, for me, the best book in this series to date. There are a couple of problematic areas, like the lack of actual help for Brett after he was held hostage, but within the confines of a short novella, I know that things do sometimes get left on the cutting board. That said the hostage situation itself is well done and intensely written, really drawing you in and holding your attention. I felt like there were moments where Cole was a jerk for no reason, but in retrospect, those times actually forced Brett to push past his insecurities and have necessary character growth. With each installment getting better and better, I’m anxious to see what Ms. Knight has in store for us with the next in this series.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »