#BookReview: Hunter Squad: North by Anna Hackett

#BookReview: Hunter Squad: North by Anna HackettNorth (Hunter Squad) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, science fiction, science fiction romance
Pages: 210
Published by Anna Hackett on April 3, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazon
Goodreads

We survived the invasion and beat the aliens. But they left something behind…
I was born to protect. I’m a Connors, a soldier like my father before me, and I’m the medic for Hunter Squad. Every time we go out to hunt the mutated monsters the aliens left behind, I’m there to treat anyone who gets hurt.
But sometimes, I can’t always save everyone, and that haunts me.
When Hunter Squad is called out to rescue two missing boys, I’ll do anything to bring them home alive. Even work with our brand-new recruit, Jessica Ramos.
I’m not convinced she’s the right fit for the team, but she’s an expert when it comes to monsters. The creatures are exhibiting dangerous new behaviors, and we have to stop them. Whatever it takes.
Working alongside Jess, everything about her gets under my skin: her confidence, her intelligence, her fit, curvy body, and her damn freckles.
When old memories come back to haunt me, it’s Jess who helps me. Jess who draws me in a way no woman ever has. I can’t afford to let myself care for her.
Falling in love is not on my agenda.

My Review:

The first book in the Hunter Squad  series, Jameson, set up this world as it is 30 years after the Hell Squad series came to its explosive Independence Day style ending. This second book sets up the new BIG BAD, the whoever/whatever that is somehow managing to train bands of formerly dumb and disorganized Gizzida/terran hybrids into teams capable of planning, coordinating and outright luring the human defenders into what someone or something hopes they can turn into a no-win scenario – for the humans.

In other words, the fragile – not exactly peace but not outright war – that has existed since the “pure” Gizzida got knocked back into space is heating up from a simmer back to a boil. The hybrids aren’t merely on the move – they are on the attack. And they are suddenly a whole lot better at that than they used to be – which is absolutely not a good thing for the slowly rebuilding human population.

Hunter Squad, made up of the literal ‘next generation’ of the Hell Squad, has the necessary but unenviable task of hunting down packs of Gizzida/terran hybrids who are attacking human settlements. While that’s been their job for a while, it’s only on this particular hunt that they realize that lone humans have been disappearing on an increasing basis over the past several months – because they find out what happened to a few of them and it isn’t pretty.

It’s more like Shelob in The Two Towers – only worse. Because Shelob’s depredations were mostly – not totally but mostly – about the great spider protecting her own territory and maintaining her own food supply. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but that’s what nature is supposed to be – even if humans still end up on the sharp and pointy end of that cliche a lot more than they’s like.

The unnatural spiderweb-like fuckery that Hunter Squad discovers in this second entry in the series doesn’t seem to be about preserving food – but it might be about preserving specimens for exactly the sort of lab experiments that the Gizzida used to do. The kind of experiments that created the hybrids that Hunter Squad is still fighting 30 years later.

Just as the overall situation is getting darker and more dangerous, a bright, hot light blazes through this story in the burn-the-sheets sex-into-love romance between Hunter Squad’s medic, North Connors, and the squad’s newest member, Jessica Ramos.

She doesn’t want to mess up her just barely started membership in Hunter Squad. It took a lot of time and effort to get from North America to Australia, and she has a lot of important research to do on the hybrids. She can’t afford to get sidetracked by a handsome face and the body to go with it.

Especially when that handsome face seems to scrunch up in distaste every time North lays eyes on her. She’s not remotely interested in a personal relationship with someone who can’t seem to stand her presence.

It’s going to take a crisis – or two or three – for North and Jessica to figure out that they’ve been reading each other’s signals very, very wrong all along.

Escape Rating B: As with Jameson, and with the original Hell Squad series, this story runs along on two distinct tracks that intersect at – ahem – climactic moments. There’s the big, overarching plot of the series, and then there’s the romance in this particular ‘chapter’ of that story.

The romance in this one is between North Connors, son of Ash Connors and Marin Mitchell, and Jessica Ramos, one of Cruz Ramos’ cousins from North America. So they both have history to live up to, which is clearly going to be a theme of this series. North is a medic, and Jessica hunts monsters in order to study them.

This isn’t exactly a relationship made in heaven – at least not at the beginning. He has demons when it comes to not being able to save ALL his patients. He’s afraid to get close to anyone – and he’s a bit of a dick about it because Jessica gets under his skin in ways he’s not comfortable with.

Jessica may be attracted to what he looks like, but his behavior is off-putting, because, well, he’s being a dick in ways that make her believe he doesn’t have any faith in her abilities. That they fall into bed anyway and eventually into love isn’t a surprise, exactly, but damn it happened really fast. I liked the romance in Jameson better because it wasn’t instalove the way this one turned out to be.

Very much on my other hand, I’m every bit as fascinated with the overall plot as I was with the first series. It makes so much sense that, just as the humans are rebuilding, the hybrids are as well. The invading Gizzida were just that, invaders from another world. They wanted to strip Earth of its resources and leave an empty husk behind. They HAD to be fought.

But the hybrids they left behind are entirely other matter. They weren’t Gizzida enough to die when the anti-Gizzida device went off, but they’re sure not acting like they are willing to coexist peacefully either. We don’t yet know what their actual imperative is – but I expect we’re about to find out.

Which is the scary but fun part of this series. The hybrids look like they’re experimenting on humans – both in the sense of how the humans react to threats and campaigns, and quite possibly in the sense of turning some into lab rats for nefarious and/or deadly purposes.

We certainly get hints of an intelligent hybrid watching from the shadows. And I’ll admit to wondering just how hybrid that hybrid is. There are other frightening possibilities which I can’t wait for the author to explore in later books in this series.

Based on hints at the end of this story, it’s clear that the next romance will be between quadcopter pilot Colbie Erickson and her Hunter Squad teammate Marc Jackson. And that their adventure is going to take them into the heart of at least one hybrid base or experimental lab – as well as deep into each other’s hearts. I’m looking forward to getting a glimpse of whoever or whatever is behind the uptick in monster intelligence and capability in the coming books in the series.

But that’s going to be a while, because the author’s next several books look like they will be contemporary romance and romantic suspense. As always, I’m looking forward to whatever romantic reading adventures this author is sending my way in the months to come!

A- #BookReview: Hunter Squad: Jameson by Anna Hackett

A- #BookReview: Hunter Squad: Jameson by Anna HackettJameson (Hunter Squad) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, science fiction, science fiction romance
Series: Hunter Squad #1
Pages: 186
Published by Anna Hackett on March 6, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazon
Goodreads

We survived the invasion and beat the aliens. But they left something behind…
Humanity is rebuilding after a devastating invasion. But the growing towns all have walls to protect them from the monsters. Created in alien labs, the monsters hide in the swamps, rivers, and forests—breeding, mutating. Every now and then, they crawl out of the shadows.
That’s where I come in. I’m Jameson Steele, the leader of Hunter Squad—the toughest group of soldiers in New Sydney. It’s our job to keep people safe and secure.
We’re the monster hunters.
When I get a panicked call from my childhood friend, Greer Baird, my usual cool goes out the window.
Greer’s an engineer working on a huge dam project that’s vital to our water supply. There’s a giant, deadly monster in the lake, it’s killed some of her people, and she’s in danger.
I’ve wanted Greer for a long time, but she’s too good for me: too smart, too driven, and out of my league.
But there is nothing I won’t do to protect her.
No monster I won’t hunt down to keep her safe.

My Review:

It’s been TEN YEARS since we first met Hell Squad, but it’s been THIRTY for them. Time flies when you’re having fun – and when you’re kicking slimy alien ass off our planet!

We first met the Hell Squad at the beginning of their series, just after the rampaging alien Gizzida had invaded Earth and were doing their damndest to strip this world of all of its resources.

Over the course of the 20-book series, the members of the Hell Squad and the survivors that gathered around a hidden military base in Australia’s Blue Mountains fought back against the Gizzida and finally managed to throw them back into space – with the help of hidden survivors at other bases around the world.

But the Gizzida didn’t go down easy – and they left plenty of trouble behind them. Including Gizzida/Terran hybrids that weren’t eliminated by the superweapon that eliminated the ‘pure’ Gizzida from the planet.

The Hunter Squad series opens thirty years after the end of the final book – and battle! – in the Hell Squad series. And that’s plenty of time for the children of those earlier heroes to be born, grow into adulthood, and take up the fight that their parents are still fighting – because the job’s not done until the last Gizzida hybrid burns. Or explodes. Or whatever works.

The books in the previous series were all about the combo of adrenaline chills and hot thrills of picking away at the Gizzida while one pair of heroes in each story finds the Happy For Now that they hoped could turn into a Happy Ever After – and they did. Based on this first entry in the new series, it looks like the Hunter Squad is planning to follow the same pulse-pounding pattern.

Hunter Squad leader Jameson Steele, the son of Marcus and Elle Steele, the protagonists of that very first book in the first series, has been in love with Greer Baird, the daughter of Shaw and Claudia Baird, the happy couple in book 7, quite possibly forever. Or at least the minute he noticed that Greer wasn’t just one of the guys – even if she absolutely can kick ass like one.

But Greer, like Jameson’s mother before her, is one of the brains in this band of survivors, and Jameson is definitely part of the brawn. The leader of it, in fact. But still, her leadership of one of the science/engineering teams that is helping put their civilization back together gives Jameson a really terrible case of the “I’m not worthy’s” – pretty much exactly like his dad felt around his mother.

So he’s been manfully pining from a respectable distance. He doesn’t want to mess up their deep friendship, and he honestly doesn’t want to hear her badass parents – after all, they helped save the whole entire planet – confirm what he’s always believed. That he’s not worthy of their daughter – even if he is. Of course he is, and not just because his parents are ALSO badasses who helped save the planet.

But when the latest generation of Terran-adapted Gizzida hybrid monstrosities come for Greer and her team on a remote project, it’s up to Jameson and the Hunter Squad to save the day, and the future, so he and Greer finally have a chance at their own HEA.

It’s the next-generation for both the Hell Squad AND the monsters they fought, and the rematch is already fantastic!

Escape Rating A-: Very much like that other “Next Generation”, this first book in the Hunter Squad series needs a bit of set up. For those of us who remember the Hell Squad series fondly but read it back when it came out, that setup serves as both a needed and absolutely desired bit of business, because we all loved those people, wanted them to get their collective HEAs and put Earth back on track. It’s fantastic to see how well they’ve done with the chances they created – and not at all surprising that there are still plenty of fields and aliens left to conquer.

For readers who are starting here – and one could (at least until the temptation to start at the beginning got to be too much) – that same setup gets a new reader stuck into this brave new world, hands over an informative scorecard to help a newbie figure out who they players are this time around, and generally introduces everyone, new and old, to the situation the survivors are in thirty years after they celebrated their Independence Day on the Gizzida.

And in the middle of that fantastic (re-)introduction, there’s a sexy friends-into-lovers romance between the two characters who are clearly going to be leading this new round of fighting, along with a forward-thinking technical project that is capable of moving the survivors’ return to civilization a great leap forward. If they can protect it from the undersea monster determined to suck it – and them – back into the depths.

If you’re wondering what the Gizzida were like, and speaking in a roundabout way about that other ‘Original Series’ and ‘Next Generation’, the Gizzida are what you’d get if the Gorn got assimilated by the Borg. Both the Gorn and the Borg were intelligent, space-faring species, so the resultant alien species is too. All the rapacious planet-stripping for resources of the Borg, with a bit more of the individuality – and the reptilian nature and appearance – of the Gorn.

However, the Gizzida/Terran hybrids the Gizzida created to adapt to life on Earth used a lot of Terran fauna in their hybridization, so they’re not as intelligent as their progenitors. Or at least they aren’t YET. As far as the surviving humans know. But I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that they are NOW, or are headed that way. We’ll see sooner or later, and I’d expect sooner.

Perhaps we’ll get a hint of that in the next book in the Hunter Squad series, North, coming early in April to an ereader or bookstore near you. Or at least one near me, because I can’t wait!

A- #BookReview: The Hero She Loves by Anna Hackett

A- #BookReview: The Hero She Loves by Anna HackettThe Hero She Loves (Unbroken Heroes, #5) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense
Series: Unbroken Heroes #5
Pages: 216
Published by Anna Hackett on January 16, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & Noble
Goodreads

The last thing he wants is to hunt a dangerous fugitive in the Alaskan wilderness, especially with a tough, stubborn US marshal.
Parker Conroy moved to Alaska to be alone. His military career in Ghost Ops ended with an explosion and three torturous weeks of captivity. It’s left him scarred, wanting to avoid people, and hating being touched.
When US Marshal Jenna Sheriden knocks on his door, he has no time for the attractive marshal. But she isn’t taking no for an answer.
A dangerous fugitive is on the loose, and he happens to be a rogue Ghost Ops soldier.
Jenna Sheriden lives and breathes being a marshal. Her past has left her with something to prove. She has zero interest in love, relationships, or anything that slows her down.
She needs help hunting a deadly murderer. She needs Parker Conroy.
The gruff, lean loner radiates a dark intensity she can’t ignore, but he has the skills to help her track down her quarry. Thrust together, they’re sharing the same bed, the same tent, and working together every hour of the day.
As they draw closer to catching the killer, Jenna sees under Park’s scarred exterior to the man beneath. A man who tempts her in ways no one ever has before. A man who will do anything to keep her safe.
If they survive this hunt, then Jenna knows she’ll have the biggest challenge of all—convincing her scarred hero to take a chance on love.

My Review:

I was all in on The Hero She Loves from the very first page for two reasons. One, it’s an Alaska story and I always love stories set in “the 907” (Alaska’s Area Code – still) because I used to live in Anchorage. I still tell Alaska stories, so I enjoy it when someone else tells one to me.

Especially when it’s an author I love.

Second, I always love a romance of equals, especially when the female protagonist is every bit as proactive as her male partner. I want heroes who go out and get it done, not wait for someone to do it for them – especially when it comes to their own safety and rescue.

It’s okay to need a little help from a friend or a loved one, as US Marshal Jenna Sheriden certainly does, but it’s her duty to act and not merely react to situations just like the one she needs former Ghost Ops member Parker Conroy’s help WITH and not FOR.

One of Parker’s disgraced and dishonorably discharged former teammates has gone seriously rogue and it looks like he’s come to Alaska to get himself lost between murders. Alaska is a place where people really do go to lose themselves – but it’s a LOT more difficult to lose yourself when you pop out of hiding on a MUCH too regular basis to satisfy your need to rape and murder.

Still, Kyle Olson has the skills to continue his spree for entirely too long of a time. Jenna is excellent at what she does, but this bastard is seriously next level and she needs someone on that level to catch him. While Vander Norcross (his book is The Powerbroker), former head of Ghost Ops and still the badass ‘mother hen’ for all of them, knows that Parker Conroy is doing his damndest to lose himself in Alaska – albeit much more peacefully – and needs a way to expiate his own demons. Preferably on someone who really, really, deserves it.

Jenna needs Parker to help her catch Olson, Parker needs Jenna to bring him back from the wilderness. And Olson seriously needs to get caught. Or dead. Whichever. As long as he ends up somewhere he can’t manage to escape from. Again.

Escape Rating A-: Clearly, I went into The Hero She Loves expecting to enjoy it – and I absolutely did!

First, this does feel like the Alaska I knew through other people’s stories when I lived there. Anchorage is nothing like the Alaskan bush, and Valdez is tiny in comparison, a city of 4,000 compared to Anchorage’s not quite 300,000. (The local joke is that Anchorage is about 45 minutes from the “REAL” Alaska. Valdez is way closer than that.)

But still, it felt like the place I knew enough that nothing took me out of the story.

What made the story work for me is that Jenna was absolutely Parker’s equal, both for good and for bad. Not just that they’re equally badass and kickass in their own ways, but that they are each weighted down by emotional baggage trains filled with equally terrible demons. It’s not that they have the exact same demons, but that their demons are as big and bad as each other’s.

And neither of them believes that they can afford to look for love – let alone find it – no matter how much they both need it. And, of course, each other. Even if it does take a while for them to see it.

I found myself a bit torn, however, when it comes to the villains of this piece. There’s a little villain (and I mean that in any way that you might want to take it) in the person (using that term a bit loosely) of Jenna’s almost, sorta/kinda ex who just so happens to be her current boss in the Marshal service. He doesn’t even rise to the level of asshole. He’s just a little pisser. Repeatedly, often, and I’m surprised Jenna never gave in to at least dreaming about decking him. I want to say his actions and his character don’t ring true, but the problem is that they do – to the point where I’m left questioning her judgement a lot more than I’d like to. I wish he’d slunk away after he caused this entire debacle at the opening and I really wish he’d gotten exactly what he deserved at the end. But in real life, guys like him don’t. Dammit.

Howsomever, the real villain didn’t feel, well, real. While on the one hand that’s a head I’m really grateful not to have ever been in – I’d have hated reading anything from his perspective – at the same time he was so over the top he was mostly a caricature rather than a character.

On my third hand, the one behind my back, I’m not supposed to like him, he’s the villain. And I certainly did have a great time with Jenna and Parker visiting at least the vicinity of one my own old stomping grounds and watching them stomp all over someone who really deserved it even as they snuck into each other’s hearts.

The Hero She Loves marks the wrap of the author’s Unbroken Heroes series, barring any happy ever after all around epilogue – and I’d love to see one. I’m hoping that what comes next from this author is the first book in her NEW science fiction romance series, because those are always my favorites! We’ll certainly see in the months ahead.

A- #BookReview: Wedgetail by M.L. Buchman

A- #BookReview: Wedgetail by M.L. BuchmanWedgetail (Miranda Chase NTSB #15) by M L Buchman
Format: ebook
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure, political thriller, technothriller, thriller
Series: Miranda Chase NTSB #15
Pages: 316
Published by Buchman Bookworks on December 14, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & NobleKoboBookshop.orgBetter World Books
Goodreads


Is an attack on the greatest shipping choke point in the world, the Strait of Malacca, a move for economic control…or something worse?

A Wedgetail, the most powerful surveillance airplane in the skies, goes down—hard. Miranda and her team race to investigate, unwittingly placing themselves in the crosshairs.
From the world’s greatest shipping chokepoint at the Strait of Malacca to the Malaysian wilderness, from the Australian Outback to the halls of power in Southeast Asia, survival becomes the greatest challenge.
Can Miranda and her team unravel the crisis before it destroys global shipping and kills them all?
"Miranda is utterly compelling!" - Booklist, starred review“Escape A. Five Stars! OMG just start with Drone and be prepared for a fantastic binge-read!” -Reading Reality

My Review:

I just re-read my review of the previous book in this awesome series, Gryphon, and re-discovered that this book, Wedgetail, was originally supposed to have been published over the summer. With this series, it’s definitely a case of better a bit late than never, as I’m always up to get caught up in another of Miranda Chase’s edge-of-the-seat thrilling adventures.

This one turned out to be a bit more edge-of-the-seat, at least Miranda’s literal seat, than most, as someone is taking shots at her, her team, and the plane they happen to be flying in. While they are flying over the GAFA (that’s the Great Australian Fuck-All, the Australian Outback, in a very dry indeed dry season. On what was supposed to have been a vacation.

Their previous attempt at a vacation, in Osprey, nearly started World War III and temporarily broke up the team. They’re ALL still recovering from the second part of that equation. Someone really should have known better. Actually, Holly Harper, currently an integral part of Miranda’s team but once upon a time a member of Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment absolutely did know better. Or at least knew that she had zero desire to take her teammates back to the place she left in her rear-view long ago and never intended to return to.

But it’s Holly’s skills, both from her childhood traveling in and around the Bush and the survival skills drummed into her by the SASR, that are going to keep her team alive and off the radar of whoever it is who is literally out to get them.

While it’s Holly’s job to get everyone to safety, it’s up to former teammate Jeremy Trahn back in Washington DC to help a surprisingly high-level group of Miranda’s friends, allies and frenemies – including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of the CIA, and the sitting Vice President – along with a high-level Malaysian official who knows a whole lot more about what’s going on than she really ought to – figure out who’s targeting Miranda and what it might – or might not – have to do with Miranda’s last investigation.

An investigation of the crash of a VERY expensive, extremely high-tech piece of the Australian Air Force’s fleet of airborne early warning and control aircraft, the titular Wedgetail, that was shot down by another extremely high-tech infrared laser in mid-flight over the Straits of Malacca.

Miranda never answers the “why” question, but her analysis of the other “W’s”, what, when, where and above all, how, have put her in the crossfire of someone playing a high-stakes game for the basest motives of all.

Escape Rating A-: The opening of this 15th entry in the Miranda Chase series is utterly heartbreaking in a “you are there and you wish so badly you could help them” kind of way. The story of the last moments of this particular Wedgetail are absorbing and heartbreaking and they are all so heroic and they so deserve a better fate than the book demands for them and I had to stop for a bit and catch my breath as they went down.

It’s impossible not to feel for that crew – and also for Miranda’s crew as they arrive to bear witness to the devastation of the crash. A crash which Miranda figures out relatively easily thanks to the sheer, cussed determination of the Wedgetail’s last pilot as he wrestled the plane down to land ON LAND where everything could be recovered and investigated even as he died of horrific laser burns.

Miranda’s team is still exhibiting plenty of damage of their own after the events of Osprey and Gryphon, and the scar tissue is still pretty raw. Everyone is treating everyone else – but especially their neuroatypical leader Miranda, with gentle kid gloves. The investigation of the crash itself is easy for Miranda, at least, because that brave pilot did such a damn good job in his ending.

But Miranda doesn’t deal with the “why” questions of her investigations – at least not the why questions that go beyond equipment failure and pilot error to more strictly human motivations. She’s not even good at her own human motivations, dealing with those of strangers is simply outside her wheelhouse as well as her purview.

What makes this particular entry in the series interesting, even as it blunts some of its impact, is in those human motivations. On the one hand, the danger that Miranda and her team have been forced into is very real and potentially very deadly. Without Holly’s skills as well as her local knowledge, they’d all have died either because they did something obvious and got caught by their pursuers – or simply because they couldn’t reach water in time.

It’s up to others, in much safer circumstances, to figure out whodunnit and why it was done, and we don’t get as much of that part of the investigation as this reader would have liked. And what is discovered is that, for all of its cost in equipment and above all, human lives, as badly as things could have gone on the political front as fingers started pointing and blame began being apportioned – rightly or wrongly – the motivations were utterly base to the point of what could have been very costly stupidity verging on outright idiocy.

Then again, that’s humans all over. But Miranda’s investigations usually end up having higher political stakes than this one did. This particularly game was far from being worth the candle.

Very much on the other hand, Holly’s takedown of the jackass responsible was utterly righteous. Evil got its just desserts with bells on so loud it could be heard by all the interested parties even without the satellite phone she had in her pocket.

As always, I’m looking forward to the next adventure for Miranda and her team, whenever it crashes into my TBR pile. If this is your first introduction to Miranda Chase, and if you like thrillers, if you love adventures built around great teams, and if you miss Tom Clancy’s world-spanning political thrillers but wish they’d been a bit more tightly edited, start with Drone and be prepared for a wild and compelling ride!

#BookReview: The Hero She Deserves by Anna Hackett

#BookReview: The Hero She Deserves by Anna HackettThe Hero She Deserves (Unbroken Heroes) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, contemporary romance
Series: Unbroken Heroes #4
Pages: 252
Published by Anna Hackett on December 4, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazon
Goodreads

When he goes to investigate a blaring smoke alarm, the last thing he expects to find is Hollywood’s hottest actress…naked.
Deputy Sheriff Sawyer Lane likes the pace of life on Maui. After years as a Navy SEAL and in Ghost Ops, he likes that no one shoots at him. Coming to the island saved him. He still can’t sleep, but he’ll take the sun, sand, and solitude.
Then Oscar-winning actress Hollis Stanton rents the house next to his and torpedoes his solitude. When she sets her coffee machine on fire, he meant to help, not see every glorious inch of her from her russet-red hair to her red-painted toenails.
Soon, they’re running into each other everywhere, and it doesn’t take all of Sawyer’s finely-honed skills to know she’s in trouble and hiding from something. Or someone.
Hollis Stanton usually loves her life—movie roles she enjoys, an Oscar on her mantel, financial security. She’s come a long way from the poor, gangly redhead in hand-me-down clothes. But one stupid party held by a powerful movie producer changes everything.
She accidentally overhears something she shouldn’t have.
Now, someone is following her, breaking into her house, and crashing into her car. Her plan is to lay low in Hawaii. What wasn’t in her plan is the big, muscular, and rugged deputy sheriff next door. Nor is their scorching attraction.
When danger closes in, Hollis realizes Sawyer is the real deal—a hero with scars, who helps those in need.
A hero who will do anything to protect her.

My Review:

And she absolutely does. After all the fake heroes she’s played opposite in all of her movies, Oscar-winning actress Hollis Stanton deserves a real hero of her own just when she needs him the most.

Even if, at first, she’s not willing to admit that she needs anyone to keep her safe, or that Deputy Sheriff Sawyer Lane is the hero she’s been holding out for all along. For more than just the present danger.

(And yes, I invoked that earworm deliberately. If this story doesn’t make Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” ring through your head, here’s the video to fix that. You’re welcome.)

One of the unfortunate things about information and cellphone cameras being available everywhere, all the time, is that a person can run but they literally cannot hide, at least not if they’re a movie star like Hollis Stanton.

Hawaii, like Alaska still is to some extent, used to be a place that was so far out there – far out in the Pacific Ocean – that once upon a time a person could run away from themselves and whatever demons were literally chasing them.

Of course, the demons that were only figuratively chasing them, the demons inside their own heads, came right along with them. After all, no matter where you go, there you are.

Hollis Stanton is being chased by very real demons. She overheard something she shouldn’t have at a party hosted by a shady Hollywood mogul, and then weird shit started happening around her. So she ran, to the house of a friend outside the tiny village of Paia, on Maui. She covered her tracks as best she could, but she’s a hot commodity and anyone who sees her instantly recognizes her.

Sawyer Lane, very much on the other hand, left the SEALs and Vander Norcross’ Ghost Ops team with a whole lot of demons. But Sawyer’s demons are inside him, and he brought them along with him to Paia.

The place, the job, the friends he’s made there are helping him lay those demons to rest, but it’s a long process that still gives him plenty of sleepless nights. Like all of the nights. Still.

At least until the fire alarm goes off in the ‘vacation home’ down the road, and his sometime neighbor calls Sawyer to ask him to go down and check it out. And finds himself checking out Hollis Stanton, ALL of Hollis Stanton, standing on a teetering chair in just a slipping towel trying her damndest to shut the damn thing off.

It’s already too late for her coffee maker. And it’s too late for Sawyer Lane – and Hollis, too – they just don’t know it yet. And might not survive the conflagration to come.

Escape Rating B: Just like the story reminded me of “Holding Out for a Hero”, the hero in the story reminds Hollis Stanton of the hero of the Jack Reacher TV series. The book’s cover does a damn good job of leading the reader in that same direction, although your reading and TV viewing mileage may both vary.

One of the things that I’ve loved about all the entries in the Unbroken Heroes so far, The Hero She Needs, The Hero She Wants and The Hero She Craves (and if you’re sensing a theme here you’re right) is that the heroines get their rescue parties started all by themselves. Not that the heroes don’t help a LOT, but the women of this series have all been active – and effective – participants in everything that happens around them.

Hollis, in spite of her timely escape to Maui, has a bigger set of blinders on than the others. Or she’s a bit more naive or has been just a shade too overprotected and oversheltered as a Hollywood star – in spite of her hard-knock start in life.

She keeps thinking she’s escaped when it’s clear that she hasn’t. To the point where I wanted to hit her with a clue-by-four before the story did it for me.

OTOH, Sawyer fit right in with the rest of Vander Norcross’ former Ghost Ops. Which reminds me, for such a badass, Vander (his book is The Powerbroker) is one hell of a mother hen. And seems to have always been one. It’s a fascinating combination.

The interesting thing about this romance is that both Sawyer AND Hollis have serious cases of the “I’m not worthies” and yet, it works BECAUSE they both do. He has demons from his service – as all the men from the Ghost Ops team have unsurprisingly had so far. Her demons are old and familiar – also familial. Her mother STILL doesn’t appreciate, approve or understand – but is more than willing to make demands and milk her daughter for money at the drop of a hat.

Like the rest of the Unbroken Heroes series, The Hero She Deserves is a story where the hero and the heroine rescue each other from demons that they initially weren’t willing to even admit that they couldn’t handle themselves.

That justice was finally served and evil got its just desserts turned out to be the icing on an excellent reading cake, as have been all the books in this series, and absolutely the author’s work in general.

There’s one more Ghost Ops member left for Vander Norcross to mother hen into his happy ever after, and we’ll get that story early next year. It looks like this last entry in the series, The Hero She Loves,  will be set in Alaska, so I’m especially looking forward to it!

Spotlight + Excerpt: A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes + Giveaway

Spotlight + Excerpt: A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes + GiveawayA Tainted Heart Bleeds: A Gripping Historical Mystery Romance (House of Croft) by Sophie Barnes
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery, historical romance, regency mystery
Series: House of Croft #2
Pages: 440
Published by Sophie Barnes on October 29, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & NobleKobo
Goodreads


He’ll never forgive her deception, or the hold she still has on his heart…

Adrian Croft’s worst fear has been realized. His wife, the sweet woman who swept past his every defense, is a cunning spy working against him. Forced to play a dangerous game where one wrong move could see him destroyed, he must unravel her secrets while hunting a far more sinister threat.
Samantha knew her decision to marry her target would come at a price. Now, having lost her husband’s trust and affection, she’ll do whatever it takes to win it all back – abandon past loyalties, spill her secrets, and catch a killer. But will it be enough to undo the damage?
-One series, one couple, and the brutal challenges they must face-
If you like What Angels Fear, Silent in the Grave, and Murder on Black Swan Lake, you’ll devour Sophie Barnes’ thrilling new series.
Buy A Tainted Heart Bleeds and continue this action-packed adventure today!

Welcome to the second day of the book tour for A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes, the second book in the compelling Regency mystery series, the House of Croft. I’ve already reviewed both the first book in the series, A Vengeful King Rises, as well as this second book – and loved them both. (Check out my reviews here and here to get all the deets of just how much I was captivated by each. (I’m already on tenterhooks for the third book, A Ruthless Angel Weeps, coming in late January.)

But someone else’s opinion might not be enough to tempt you, especially on a day already filled with as many distractions as this one is. I’m hopeful that if I can’t convince you, that this excerpt from the opening chapter will grab your attention – and not let go.

House of Croft, Book 2

Historical Mystery/Thriller/Romance

Date Published: 10-29-2024

 

 

He’ll never forgive her deception, or the hold she still has on his
heart…

Adrian Croft’s worst fear has been realized. His wife, the sweet
woman who swept past his every defense, is a cunning spy working against
him. Forced to play a dangerous game where one wrong move could see him
destroyed, he must unravel her secrets while hunting a far more sinister
threat.

Samantha knew her decision to marry her target would come at a price. Now,
having lost her husband’s trust and affection, she’ll do
whatever it takes to win it all back – abandon past loyalties, spill
her secrets, and catch a killer. But will it be enough to undo the
damage?

Excerpt from  A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes
Chapter One

London, August 15th, 1818
Lady Eleanor dropped onto the stool in front of her vanity table. Exhausted from entertaining dinner guests with her parents, she looked forward to climbing into the soothing comfort of her bed.
Something pushing against her leg made her lower her gaze to Milly, the miniature poodle her parents had gifted her with for her sixteenth birthday. Rising onto her hind legs, Milly shifted her paws to better press her damp nose against Eleanor’s thigh, her stubby tail wagging with eager affection.
Eleanor chuckled and scooped the pup into her lap. She raked her fingers through Milly’s fur, scratched her a few times behind one ear, and allowed her to settle comfortably in her lap.
“Are you ready, my lady?” The question was posed by Audrey, Eleanor’s lady’s maid. A short woman with dark brown hair and eyes to match, the servant was five years Eleanor’s senior and possessed a positive outlook to match her own.
Eleanor glanced at her and smiled in response to the warmth she found in Audrey’s eyes. “Yes. Please begin.”
Audrey raised the comb she’d collected earlier and drew it through Eleanor’s hair. Molly snuggled farther into the circle of her arms, nails scratching a little at Eleanor’s lap as she repositioned her legs.
Eleanor sighed and sent her bed a longing glance. The coverlet had been folded back to display the crisp white sheets that beckoned. It would be good to climb between them and let the weariness seep from her body.
Molly’s curls compressed beneath the weight of her hand as Eleanor stroked the fluffy fur. Glancing up, she caught Audrey’s gaze in the mirror, her thoughts returning to the charity visit she’d planned for tomorrow. “Maybe you’re right about the brown woolen spencer. I never wear it, so I might as well include it in the donation.”
“Are you sure?” Audrey set the comb aside and collected a glass bottle containing Warren & Rosser’s Milk of Roses lotion.
The question was a legitimate one since Eleanor had argued against the suggestion yesterday when she and Audrey had prepared the box that would go to St. Augustine’s Church. The spencer had been a gift from her aunt three Christmases ago. It was undoubtedly lovely, but every time she’d put it on she felt it didn’t quite suit her.
“Yes,” she said, her mind made up. “There’s no sense in it taking up space in the wardrobe when it can keep someone less fortunate warm.”
Audrey dabbed a bit of lotion on Eleanor’s face and began rubbing it in with wonderfully soothing circular motions. “I’m always impressed by your kindness, my lady.”
But was she always kind? Guilt gathered in Eleanor’s stomach, becoming so heavy it felt like a block of lead. The choice she’d made for herself – for her future – had not been easy. She hated how selfish it made her feel.
Yet she managed to smile and pretend Audrey’s comment was welcome. “Thank you.”
Audrey responded with a smile of her own and proceeded to plait Eleanor’s hair. The peaceful activity calmed her mind. She allowed herself to focus on what was to come, instead of worrying over the past.
She’d had her say, and in so doing, she’d paved the way to a new adventure.
A surge of excitement filled her breast at this thought. Everything would be fine. All she needed was rest. The maid finished her ministrations and tidied up. Eleanor set Molly down and climbed into bed. The mattress sagged beneath her weight, the cool sheets inviting her to sink deeper.
“Would you like me to close the window before I go?” Audrey asked.
“No. Leave it open.” The afternoon sun pouring into the room several hours before had made it unbearably warm and stuffy. She couldn’t sleep like that.
“I’ll bid you good night then, my lady.” Audrey called for Molly to join her and the dog complied without question, knowing full well that a walk and a treat awaited.
“Good night,” Eleanor replied, “and thank you for your help.”
The maid left and Eleanor reached for her book. This was her favorite time to read, when all was silent and there was no risk of being disturbed. She opened Pamela and flipped to the spot where she’d left off the previous evening.
A gentle breeze streamed through the window, toying with the curtains. Distant laughter reached her ears. It was followed by a horse’s faint whinny. Eleanor’s eyes grew heavy. The book began sagging between her hands.
She yawned and it felt like only a moment had passed before she was startled by a loud noise. Her eyes snapped open, adjusting and observing. The light by which she’d been reading had burned itself out. Her book had slipped from her grasp. She must have fallen asleep.
Light flashed beyond the window. A resounding boom followed. The curtains flapped with wild abandon while rain poured down from the heavens. She blew out a breath and went to close the window. It was just a storm. No need for alarm.
Barefooted, she padded across the Aubusson rug and noted that parts of it were now damp from the rain. She leaned forward through the window’s opening, her abdomen pressing into the sill, wetting her nightgown as she reached for the handle.
Her hand caught the slick wood and she pulled the window shut. A welcome silence followed, cocooning her from the elements. Pausing briefly, she watched water streak down the smooth window pane, saw lightning flash across the sky.
Intent on returning to bed, she took a step back, prepared to close the curtains, and froze when her toes connected with something unpleasant. Not just water, but a thick and squishy substance of sorts. But how could that be? Confused, she dropped her gaze, but the darkness was blinding. She’d need a candle or an oil lamp in order to see.
She straightened and started to turn, her aim to locate the tinderbox she kept on her nightstand, when a pair of large hands captured her throat. She opened her mouth, attempted to scream, but couldn’t even manage a gasp as the fingers dug deeper and cut off her breath.
Terrified, she stared at the window, at her own blurry figure reflected in the wet glass, and the larger man standing behind her. Tears welled in her eyes. She clawed at the hands that gripped her, kicked her attacker’s shins, and did what she could to wriggle free.
None of it worked.
He was much stronger than she, and her strength waned with each breath she was denied. Her heart fluttered desperately. It begged her to keep on fighting. But it was no use.
She had already lost
#
Chief Constable Peter Kendrick removed his hat as he entered Orendel House. Given the circumstances, a somber atmosphere wasn’t surprising. But the gloom he encountered in the elegant foyer was unparalleled.
Servants stood near the walls, slumped like wilting plants. Maids wept while the male servants stared into nothing, their stricken expressions underscoring the horror they’d woken up to. Even the butler struggled to speak when he offered to take Peter’s hat, his voice cracking before he averted his gaze.
“Where are the earl and countess?” Peter asked.
The butler gave his eyes a quick swipe and straightened his posture. “In the parlor with their…remaining children.” Someone sobbed and the old man’s expression twisted with grief. “As you can no doubt imagine, this is terribly difficult for them. They asked me to show you upstairs.”
“Very well.”
He followed the butler, one step at a time, a couple of Runners at his back. They arrived on the landing, their footfalls muted by the plush carpet lining the hardwood floor. A few more paces and then…
The butler paused and gestured toward a door. “Through there. I realize I ought to come with you, but… Do you mind if I remain here?”
“Not at all.” Peter reached Lady Eleanor’s bedchamber doorway and froze. A sick feeling caught hold of his stomach. Ghastly didn’t come close to describing the scene he beheld. This was the sort of thing that could make men lose all hope in humanity. It was…barbaric.
“Good lord,” murmured Anderson, the Runner standing at Peter’s right shoulder.
Anderson’s colleague, Lewis, only managed a faint, “Excu…” before he bolted for the stairs, no doubt hoping to make it outside before he vomited.
Peter swallowed and took a deep breath, then entered the room. It hadn’t been so long ago since another young woman’s body was found – the last in a series of brutal murders that left him baffled for more than a year. But that killer was dead, so it couldn’t be the same man who’d acted here.
Besides, this was different and shockingly worse.
He clenched his jaw, reminded himself that he had a job to accomplish. There was just…so much blood. It felt like the room was bathed in it. And the victim…
Forcing himself to employ an analytical mindset, he considered her position on the bed and the clean blanket draped over her torso and legs.
“I’ll need the usual sketches,” he said.
“Already working on it,” Anderson told him, his voice gruff.
“You may want to wait a moment.” Peter studied Lady Eleanor’s face and the empty eye sockets that seemed to mock him. “Until I’ve removed the blanket.”
“Sir?”
“It doesn’t belong. Someone placed it here after the fact, no doubt to protect her modesty.” He shot a look over his shoulder. “If you’ll please shut the door.”
A firm click followed and then, “Why would the bastard take her eyes?”
“I don’t know. Could be a trophy of sorts. There’s no telling what goes on in such vile creatures’ heads.”
Slowly, with respect and consideration directed toward the poor young woman whose body lay on the bed before him, Peter folded back the blanket and shuddered. Whatever nightgown she’d worn to bed was gone, her naked body left on display.
Air rushed into Peter’s lungs on a sharp inhalation. She’d been stabbed too many times to count, as though her attacker hadn’t been able to stop. And her neck – the skin there was a bright red shade.
Swallowing, he surveyed the rest of the room while Anderson kept on drawing.
A vase lay on the floor near one of the windows, smashed to pieces. The flowers were strewn across the Aubusson rug. They’d probably ended up there during a struggle. Peter lowered himself to a crouch, his fingertips testing a dark brown stain and feeling the wetness. Mud.
“Take notes too, will you?” Peter retreated until he’d reached the bedchamber door. He grabbed the handle. “And cover her with the blanket once you’re done. I’ll question the servants in the meantime.”
#
The parlor was made available for interviews, each servant introduced to Peter by the butler as he showed them into the room. Peter considered the latest arrival. Audrey was her name. Short in stature, with mousish features and lackluster hair, she’d been Lady Eleanor’s lady’s maid.
“I…I don’t…” Audrey gulped.
She dabbed at her watery eyes again. Her handkerchief looked heavy and wet. Peter handed her a fresh one and gave her a moment to try and collect herself. Not easy, he realized, since she’d been the one who’d discovered her mistress’s body when she’d gone to rouse her.
“Did you always wake her in the mornings?” Peter gently asked.
A nod accompanied trembling lips. “She was always so…active. Liked making the…the most of each day. Today… Oh dear. Please forgive me.”
“It’s quite all right,” Peter told her and waited once more for the woman’s tears to abate. “Take your time.”
She swallowed, licked her lips, and seemed to straighten a bit. “We planned to visit St. Augustine with a few donations. My mistress…she was so very kind I…I don’t understand why anyone might have wanted to hurt her.”
“So you can think of no enemies?”
“None.”
“No hopeful suitors she might have spurned?”
Audrey shook her head. “She’s engaged to Mr. Benjamin Lawrence. They were supposed to marry three months ago, toward the end of April, but his horse-riding accident forced a postponement.”
Peter recalled news of the tragedy. The event had turned the young man into a cripple. He’d lost the use of his legs. “She still meant to go through with it, despite what happened?”
“Of course.” Additional tears slid down Audrey’s cheeks. “My mistress loved Mr. Lawrence and intended to stand by him. That’s the sort of person she was.”
And yet, the nature of her death suggested someone had loathed her beyond all reason. Peter made a few notes in his notebook, his pencil scratching the paper with quick and efficient strokes.
“Thank you, Audrey. That will be all for now.” He accompanied her to the door and called for the next servant.
Again, his thoughts wandered back to the murders that took place earlier in the year. Those women had all seemed like proper young ladies. Friends and family had vouched for them. Yet they’d each had a secret that had gotten them killed.
In all likelihood, Lady Eleanor had secrets too. If he was to figure out who killed her, he’d have to discover which of hers had led to her death.
#
There was no greater nuisance than murder.
It was hard to predict how one would play out. Killing Lady Eleanor had been messier than he’d intended. Perhaps because he’d allowed himself to get carried away.
His lips curled. At least he’d had the foresight to stash a change of clothes for himself at St. George’s burial ground. Returning home covered in blood would not have helped him get away with the crime. As he intended to do.
Hands shoved into the pockets of a clean pair of trousers, he stood by his bedchamber window and watched the London traffic go by.
He had no regrets. She’d deserved every part of what he’d done.
His attention focused on the carriages filling the street and on the people hurrying by. It was the busiest hour of the day, when men of consequence made their way to Parliament while those who belonged to the working class went off to start their jobs.
Bow Street would have its hands full this morning. He casually wondered if they were examining Lady Eleanor’s body right now and where the clues they discovered might lead them.
Spotting a young girl who carried a crate of eggs on her head, he tracked her as she walked along the opposite side of the street. A man coming the other way nudged her shoulder as he pushed past her, but failed to disrupt her stride.
She threw a quick glance toward him then stepped off the pavement and hurried between two carriages, making her way to this side of the street.
A couple of street urchins came from the left at a run, most likely fleeing someone whose pocket they’d picked. Leaping into the street at the same exact time as the girl with the eggs attempted to exit, they crashed into her, tripping before regaining their balance and sprinting onward while she was sent reeling.
Down went the crate and all of her eggs, straight into the gutter.
Not one person stopped to inquire about her wellbeing. She was invisible to the crowd – just another lowly individual doing her best to scrape by. Too much trouble for the middle or upper class to get involved with. Too time consuming for the rest.
And yet, as he watched the poor wretch try to salvage the few eggs that somehow remained intact, there was no doubt she’d prefer her situation to Lady Eleanor’s at the moment.
He watched the girl until she’d gathered whatever she could and continued along the street, vanishing from his view before he turned from the window. His gaze went to his bedside table and he crossed to it, retrieved a small key from his jacket pocket, then dropped into a crouch.
With adroitness, he set the key in the lock of the door beneath the drawer and turned it. The door opened and he reached inside, retrieving a jar that he held up against the bright morning light.
A pair of eyes contained in a clear solution stared back at him while his lips twitched with amusement. The last time they’d talked, Lady Eleanor had insisted she’d no desire to see him again.
It was a wish he’d been more than happy to fulfill.

About the Author

USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes writes historical romance novels
in which the characters break away from social expectations in their quest
for happiness and love. Having written for Avon, an imprint of Harper
Collins, her books have been published internationally in eight languages.
With a fondness for travel, Sophie has lived in six countries, on three
continents, and speaks English, Danish, French, Spanish, and Romanian with
varying degrees of fluency. Ever the romantic, she married the same man
three times—in three different countries and in three different
dresses.

When she’s not busy dreaming up her next swoon worthy romance novel,
Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, baking,
gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Pinterest

Instagram

BookBub

 

Purchase Links

Universal Link

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

RABT Book Tours & PR

A- #BookReview: A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes + Giveaway

A- #BookReview: A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes + GiveawayA Tainted Heart Bleeds: A Gripping Historical Mystery Romance (House of Croft) by Sophie Barnes
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery, historical romance, regency mystery
Series: House of Croft #2
Pages: 440
Published by Sophie Barnes on October 29, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & NobleKobo
Goodreads


He’ll never forgive her deception, or the hold she still has on his heart…

Adrian Croft’s worst fear has been realized. His wife, the sweet woman who swept past his every defense, is a cunning spy working against him. Forced to play a dangerous game where one wrong move could see him destroyed, he must unravel her secrets while hunting a far more sinister threat.
Samantha knew her decision to marry her target would come at a price. Now, having lost her husband’s trust and affection, she’ll do whatever it takes to win it all back – abandon past loyalties, spill her secrets, and catch a killer. But will it be enough to undo the damage?
-One series, one couple, and the brutal challenges they must face-
If you like What Angels Fear, Silent in the Grave, and Murder on Black Swan Lake, you’ll devour Sophie Barnes’ thrilling new series.
Buy A Tainted Heart Bleeds and continue this action-packed adventure today!

My Review:

This second book in the House of Croft series begins as the first book did, with the brutal murder of a young and seemingly innocent woman.

But the circumstances, as similar as they are to the opening of A Vengeful King Rises, are not the same – except that both women, and both murders, are shrouded in secrets. Including the motivation behind them.

The murder of Adrian Croft’s sister Evie was designed to set Adrian on a path that he did not wish to walk, but the motives were concealed in the midst of a serial killer’s spree. It wasn’t personal, although the consequences were very personal to Adrian Croft.

This time, the murder is very personal. Lady Eleanor was stabbed over 50 times, up close and very personal indeed. Her murderer believed that she had betrayed him – and perhaps she had, if only in his own eyes and twisted mind. Of course, he took those too. Her eyes. As a grisly trophy.

Croft brought his sister’s killer to justice – even if no one can prove it. Which leads Lord Orendel, Lady Eleanor’s father, to ask Croft to investigate his daughter’s death and provide him a measure of that same justice – even if it can’t be admitted aloud.

It’s not a commission that Croft wants to take. He has problems of his own to deal with – also a result of the events in the first book. The police are pursuing him for his father’s crimes – and his own. The agent they set on his trail inveigled her way into his heart, his bed and his household.

He married her, and only learned of her betrayal after that fact – just as she vowed to be his in all ways. He can’t forgive, he can’t forget, he can’t trust – but he can’t force himself to set her aside, or off to the country, or into a shallow grave. As she deserves.

He has no idea that she’s about to be the saving of him. Again. It’s only a question of whether that will be enough to finally earn his trust – and to save him from the gallows.

Escape Rating A-: I started this series because it appeared to be what you’d get if C.S. Harris’ Sebastian St. Cyr series and Andrea Penrose’s Wrexford & Sloane series had a book baby. Which is very much true, as all three are set in the same Regency period, all involve solving grisly murders and all have a significant and dark romantic enemies to lovers relationship where the enmity has the potential to turn deadly even as the romance heats to boiling.

(Some reviewers have noted a resemblance to Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series, which I have not read – YET – but clearly need to take a look at.)

Now that I’ve read the first two books in the House of Croft trilogy, at this point I have a really, really, strong feeling that I’m oh-so-glad this is a trilogy and doesn’t go on as long as those other series.

Why, you might ask?

The reason is that the House of Croft doesn’t read like three stories that have some overarching elements. In spite of not being the same genre – AT ALL – the House of Croft reads like The Lord of the Rings in that it is ONE story divided into three parts for publishing purposes. Which, by extension, makes A Tainted Heart Bleeds the long dark night of the soul that is The Two Towers – especially the second half of that heartbreaking middle book.

So that’s all a HUGE hint that readers can’t start with this book. I think that one has to begin at the beginning with A Vengeful King Rises – and will probably join me in the proverbial bated breath waiting for the final book in the trilogy, A Ruthless Angel Weeps, in order to see how Adrian and Samantha Croft manage to get whatever it is they truly deserve – whether that’s heaven or hell or just a quick hanging.

The reason for that anticipation and all of that bated breath is that the individual books in the series are extremely and occasionally excruciating compelling, and while they DO wrap up the murder that opens each story, they DO NOT answer any of the gigantic questions hanging over the series – and our protagonists – like a whole ceiling of Swords of Damocles.

I know there is a puppet master – but I don’t even have a hint as to who that puppet master might be. And it’s driving me crazy. I NEED to know who is responsible for the hell that Adrian Croft has been put through – and more importantly – WHY he’s been put through that hell. I also hope to see someone pay, but I’m certain that Adrian and Samantha will have that well in hand by the end.

A Ruthless Angel Weeps will be coming at the end of January – and for this reader it’s not nearly soon enough!

About the Author

USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes writes historical romance novels
in which the characters break away from social expectations in their quest
for happiness and love. Having written for Avon, an imprint of Harper
Collins, her books have been published internationally in eight languages.
With a fondness for travel, Sophie has lived in six countries, on three
continents, and speaks English, Danish, French, Spanish, and Romanian with
varying degrees of fluency. Ever the romantic, she married the same man
three times—in three different countries and in three different
dresses.

When she’s not busy dreaming up her next swoon worthy romance novel,
Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, baking,
gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Pinterest

Instagram

BookBub

 

Purchase Links

Universal Link

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

RABT Book Tours & PR

#BookReview: Fury Brothers: Claim by Anna Hackett

#BookReview: Fury Brothers: Claim by Anna HackettClaim (Fury Brothers Book 5) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense
Series: Fury Brothers #5
Pages: 240
Published by Anna Hackett on October 17, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazon
Goodreads

It was only supposed to be one night—a hot, nameless encounter with the gruff, gorgeous older stranger.
When you’re on the run from a killer, you can’t afford attachments. For over a year, I’ve been alone, never staying in one place long, fighting to survive.
But when the tall, muscled man with the intriguing ink steps in to help me with an obnoxious admirer, we end up sharing a coffee. Coffee turns into the hottest night of my life.
I never expected to see him again.
But when I walk into Hard Burn—the best gym in New Orleans—desperate to learn how to fight, I discover my stranger is none other than Beauden Fury.
When Beau discovers I’m being hunted, I see the true depth of his protective streak. He gives me a job, and says he’ll train me to protect myself. But he also makes it clear that he thinks I’m too young, too vulnerable, and too nice for him.
Now we’re spending hours together, side by side, and it’s hard to remember that I can’t let myself get too close. It’s even harder to fight our red-hot desire.
But the man hunting me hasn’t given up.
Can I defeat a killer, and prove to Beau that what we have is worth fighting for?

My Review:

Claim is the fifth and most likely the final book in the Fury Brothers series (barring any epilog-type short stories) – because there are five Fury Brothers and as this book opens, Beauden Fury is the only brother left standing alone. Not that THAT lasts long after the woman he knows only as Bell walks into his New Orleans gym and pretty much demands that he train her to fight.

So she can fight back against the literal demon that is chasing her. Not that Beau knows what – or rather who – is driving her. Just that he’s certain that something is. Because the morning after they met in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere – and spent one glorious night together – she fled without a trace, leaving nothing but a sweet memory he can’t get out of his head and a name that isn’t nearly enough to track her down with – if it’s even hers at all.

He thought it was for the best. He’s convinced that he’s too old, too rough and too broken for her.

As much as her night with Beau was the best, safest, ANYTHING she’d had since she went on the run, Bell thought it was best to leave because it’s too dangerous for anyone she gets close to. Chandler Carr, the serial killer chasing her down and tormenting her every step is toying with her, his prey, as he runs her down – the only one who ever got away.

Bell comes to New Orleans because she always wanted to see the city – and because her would-be killer found her in Pensacola. She’s in Beau’s gym because she needs the best to train her to fight back – because if she can’t fight back and fight hard the next time Carr catches up with her it will be her death. The notes he’s left her – no matter how far or how fast she runs – make that frighteningly clear.

No matter how much Beau and Bell each tell themselves that the other would be better off without them – they can’t keep their hands off each other and can’t resist falling hard for each other. Even though they each believe that their relationship is best if it’s only temporary – until Carr is out of the picture.

Of course, they are both wrong, Wrong, WRONG! The question is just how big of an idiot one or both of them will have to be before they figure out that they belong together.

If Carr lets them live that long.

Escape Rating B: Readers of the Fury Brothers series will see echoes from the first book, Fury, in this final book. Mila Clifton was being chased by the mob in that first book after witnessing a murder. Bell is being chased by a serial killer after she witnessed him leaving her apartment and discovered that he’d murdered her roommate.

Neither woman was responsible for the mess that they found themselves in – and both of them were on the run because anyone they got close to got dead. Both of them get involved with the Fury Brothers because they’ve moved into the Fury orbit and have each met someone who can’t resist protecting them. And because they can’t resist their protector no matter how much they think they should.

The ‘heroine in jeopardy reacting by running’ trope is not one of my favorites. But it works for the Fury Brothers, in both cases, because in spite of it being a cliché it doesn’t descend into one. Bell is not TSTL. She doesn’t do anything stupid – although there’s a point where the reader thinks she might have that turns out MUCH better.

Neither is remotely responsible for the fix they’re in – not by any standard of guilt except possibly their own. And in neither case is their pursuer an EvilEx(™). I personally hate those stories.

Claim does run straight into another trope that can go pear-shaped, but in this case fits well within the setup of the series as a whole AND gets its comeuppance in very short order once Carr is out of the picture, and that’s the “I’m not worthy” trope. At first they’re both suffering from it as Bell’s presence does paint a target on anyone she gets close to, while Beau thinks he’s not worthy of anyone’s love because of the addict parents he ran away from. (The Fury Brothers have all had a bit of an issue with the “I’m not worthy” thing for reasons that are clear in their stories, so this isn’t out of left field. Also, Bell does a great job of separating Beau’s head from his ass as soon as their situation is resolved.

Very much like my reaction to that first book, I liked this one in spite of myself. The description had me worried that it was going to dive into a whole bunch of tropes that I’m not all that fond of, but it didn’t and the blend of if not going to any of the places I worried about while wrapping up this marvelous series of found family stories AND telling a hot romance set in a fascinating city absolutely did work for this reader.

Grade A #BookReview: Chasing New Suns by Lance Robinson

Grade A #BookReview: Chasing New Suns by Lance RobinsonChasing New Suns: Collected Stories by Lance Robinson
Format: ebook
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: science fiction, short stories
Pages: 202
Published by Lance Robinson on September 12, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & NobleKoboBookshop.orgBetter World Books
Goodreads

Seven tales of mind, heart, and spirit from award winning science fiction author Lance Robinson.
From Apartheid era South Africa to humanity's first foray beyond the solar system, from precarious ecosystems in northern Alberta to the shiny glam of time-adept neocolonialists between the stars, these are stories of possibility.

This thought-provoking collection includes: the Writers of the Future Award first place winning story "Five Days Until Sunset"; "Communion", a haunting story of guilt, empathy, and human connection; "Money, Wealth, and Soil", which explores the relationship between greed and nobler human motivations, as a collective humanity attempts to incentivize the restoration of the world's ecosystems; "Problem Solving", a witty satire on neocolonialism and post-modern blahs; "The Thursday Plan", a story of an alternate history in which Apartheid never ended in South Africa; "The Gig of the Magi", a satirical take on finding love while grinding it out day to day in the gig economy; and "Chasing the Sun", which continues the spiritual quest begun in "Five Days Until Sunset".
Chasing New Suns is science fiction with heart.

My Review: 

I first read this author’s short story, “Five Days Until Sunset”, in Writers of the Future, Volume 40, and as you will see from my review of that story below, I loved it. It turned out to be one of my favorites in a collection of mostly excellent stories.

So when the author contacted me about reviewing this new collection of stories, a collection that included a sorta/kinda followup to “Five Days”, I was all in. And as you will also see from my reviews of the rest of the stories in the book, I’m very glad I said “YES!” to the whole thing.

“Five Days Until Sunset” (originally published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 40)
In spite of what a whole lot of SF would have one believe, the likelihood is that early colony ships will be a fairly iffy proposition. Which means that this reminds me a bit of Mickey7 but definitely without the humorous bits. Although in this case, it’s not that the planet is barely habitable, but rather that it’s not habitable in the way that the colonists dreamed of. It’s a story about adapting your dreams to your circumstances instead of attempting to force the circumstances to match your dreams. Grade A because the story is good and so complete in its very short length and it even manages to deal well with religion in the future which is really, really hard even in the present.

“The Thursday Plan”
What if? What if history went down a different leg of the trousers of time? What if you could see what is, what was, what might be, and what might have been, all at the same time? What if you could jump between them? That is the dilemma and the opportunity faced by James Mfaxa in a timeline where Apartheid did not end in 1994, but instead continued and became even more repressive with the help of invasive technology that bears a much too sharp resemblance to slave collars – or to an enforcement mechanism of thought police. But that technology – and the jammers used to combat it – give Mfaxa a chance to envision a different world. Not a perfect one – in fact far from it – but a world better than the one he has. If he is willing to take a chance of making his world, perhaps not right but at least right-ER.

I found this to be an A- story in ways that I think are a “me” problem rather than an actual issue with the story. I just didn’t know enough about the history involved for the story to have as big of an impact as it would have for someone who did. And even then it still landed with a thought-provoking bang.

“Problem Solving”
This turned out to be a surprisingly funny story with more than a bit of a sting in its tail. From one perspective, it’s all a bit of a farce, as D.K. discovers that his lifelong run of bad luck isn’t so much bad luck as terrible timing. D.K.’s discovery of this, accompanied as it is by the presence of alien representatives of an intergalactic alliance that give off the whiff of being serious scam artists adds to the fun of the whole thing. The way that D.K. finally manages to take advantage of his combination gift and curse pays off the whole story beautifully. This one isn’t deep – unlike the rest of the collection, and offers a nice change of pace.  Grade B

“Communion”
As I read this one, it reminded me of another story, which I eventually figured out was the story “Nonzero” by Tom Vandermolen in that same Writers of the Future collection that included “Five Days Until Sunset”. Both are stories about humans who have become ‘lost in space’, untethered from whatever ship or habitat they were originally living in. The difference between the two stories is the difference between hope – however tiny – and resignation. Personally, I enjoyed “Nonzero” a bit more because it had that hint of hope – and because the protagonist’s relationship with her AI was considerably more supportive than the one between Matt, Barb, Ismail and Liem in “Communion” as the four honestly don’t like each other much and they are each more alone at their end than the unnamed protagonist of “Nonzero” is with her AI companion.

Pessimists – or perhaps realists – will probably enjoy “Communion” more than “Nonzero”. Readers who do not believe in no-win scenarios will prefer “Nonzero”. This one is a Grade B for me because I prefer that glimmer of hope.

“The Gig of the Magi”
This story is an homage to the O.Henry classic, “The Gift of the Magi”. A story which, in spite of being over a century old at this point, still lands with a beautiful punch – especially during the holiday season. (If you have never had the pleasure of reading the original work, it is still worth a read, and is out of copyright and available free in ebook from multiple sources, while public libraries are certain to have it in their collections.) The story here, “The Gig of the Magi”, updates all of the settings and circumstances, while still delivering the same lovely message as the original. Grade A-.

“Money, Wealth, and Soil”
This is a terrific climate fiction story that manages to both showcase the pervasiveness of human greed and make it the engine of a possibly better tomorrow – even as agents of that greek do their damndest to game a very complicated system. Because that’s what people do. It’s also a story about payback without that payback actually being a bloody revenge, but rather something righteously delivered that hurts absolutely no one who doesn’t deserve it.

This was my favorite in the collection. I loved the way that it made the forces that normally break a system become part of the system, that it counted on human greed rather than pretending it doesn’t exist, and that it created something good out of it instead. And that the right people finally got what they deserved for all the different ways that can be parsed. Grade A+

“Chasing the Sun”
This story is a bit of a quasi-sequel to “Five Days Until Sunset”, and it’s the story I originally picked up this collection FOR. And I was not disappointed. You don’t have to read the earlier story first – although if you read the collection in the order in which it’s presented, of course you will anyway.

By the nature of the worldbuilding, while the people of this world seem to be the descendants of the surprised colonists in “Five Days”, they don’t have much in the way of even ancestral memory of those long ago – by their standards – events. And as a result of the ways their planet interacts with its sun, they can’t put down permanent roots and maintain archives. They MUST carry all their possessions on their backs nearly every single day.

But one of the things that made that original story interesting, and that continue into this later one, is that the original did an excellent job of presenting the multiplicity of possibilities of human religious beliefs in a way that actually worked – and its the descendants of those belief systems that fuel the interaction in this later story – even if some of those beliefs work less well for them in their present circumstances.

At the same time, it’s also a story about pride going before a very big fall, and of the way that clinging to the beliefs and methods of the past prevents people, even an entire people, from adapting to a changed present. And that even the stubbornest of people can learn with the right incentive.

As with the original story, this was also a Grade A story – even though, or perhaps especially because – it is a vastly different kind of story than the one that came before.

Escape Rating A: Overall, as should be obvious from my ratings of the individual stories, I really enjoyed this collection. I will be looking forward to whatever this author comes up with next AND I’ll be looking forward to next year’s Writers of the Future collection in the hope that it will be as good as the one this sprang from.

#BookReview: Fury Brothers: Take by Anna Hackett

#BookReview: Fury Brothers: Take by Anna HackettTake (Fury Brothers #4) by Anna Hackett
Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: action adventure romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense
Series: Fury Brothers #4
Pages: 251
Published by Anna Hackett on September 5, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsiteAmazon
Goodreads

I share a perfect kiss with a handsome stranger…only to find out that he’s my brother’s best friend.

New Orleans is an exciting new start for me. When I’m not in my lab working on my project, I’m determined to enjoy all the city has to offer. That’s how I ended up at a party hosted by the Fury Brothers.

That’s how I ended up kissing Reath Fury. Six-feet something of dark, handsome, and gorgeous.

When Reath finds out I’m the little sister of his best buddy from the military, he’s not happy.

But then I get attacked in my lab. Someone is after my project. Did I mention I have top-secret military funding? Turns out some very bad people plan to auction my work to the highest bidder.

Now Reath vows to keep me safe. The former CIA agent gives new meaning to the words overprotective and bossy. But spending every hour of the day together makes it impossible to keep our hands off each other.

We agree to keep it our little secret—all sex, no emotions allowed.

But the criminal after my project has a history with Reath, and he’s out for revenge. My brother’s best friend, the man who tells me he doesn’t do love, is the only one who can protect me.

And the only one who can break my heart.

My Review:

They chose to call themselves Fury because that’s what they were when they bonded. All five – at that point VERY young men were in foster care. They were all, individually and collectively, furious at their treatment in the foster home when they met and bonded.

Because their so-called carer was a man who liked to take young male foster kids and break them. He enjoyed beating them to a pulp – because he could. Reath was his special target, because Reath was the youngest and smallest of the quintet – and because he was black and pretty.

But a man who can beat up and beat down one kid can’t necessarily take on five absolutely furious young men who have no one and nothing but each other. Together, Dante, Colton, Kavner, Beauden and Reath got back a whole lot of their own and left – bonded together and filled with fury.

Fast forward a whole lot of years. Those boys are now very successful men – not in spite of what they came from but because of it – and because of each other.

As the saga of the Fury Brothers and the piece of New Orleans they claim as their own has shown, Dante (Fury), Colt (Keep), Kavner (Burn) and now Reath have each been chased down and pretty much ambushed by love – in spite of every single one of them so far proclaiming to all and sundry that love is the last thing they need or deserve. Ever.

Reath Fury is not going to be the exception – no matter how much he thinks he is. He’s not going to be exempted from his brothers’ ribbing him about it, either.

Or, as it turns out, her brother’s – even though the “bro code” is one of the biggest things Reath thinks is standing in the way of any possible relationship between himself and his best friend’s all-too-grown-up little sister.

But Frankie Parker isn’t going to let the ‘bro code’, her overprotective brother, or even a whole gang of mercenaries led by Reath’s literal worst enemy keep her from what she has set her sights on.

Her first goal is to keep her genius biochemistry project out of the hands of anyone who would turn it to terrible ends. Her second goal is to get a reluctant Reath Fury to admit that not only does he have a heart – but that it is already all hers.

Escape Rating B: Take returns to what seems to be the standard pattern for the Fury Brothers series. There is nothing wrong with patterns, they can work very well. Tropes exist for a reason, after all.

The pattern in this series is that the female protagonists start the story out already in trouble – even if, as is the case of Frankie Parker in this story – she doesn’t know it yet. And she should have – or at least have considered the possibility.

It is possible that Frankie simply hasn’t read nearly enough science fiction, or seen enough of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because she’s had her nose to the grindstone concentrating on her work. Her genius project – and it absolutely is a genius project – screams “super soldier serum” at high decibel volume with a whole phalanx of flying bullets to go with it.

Which is where Reath comes in. Frankie is in trouble. There really are some very bad people out to get her, to take her research – AND her – and sell both to the highest bidder. Because every villain in every world wants to make super soldiers and her project is a shortcut to that particular hellish road.

Reath and Frankie both have reasons for not wanting to get involved. Both have done their damndest to put their hearts on ice and both have succeeded at that terrible ambition entirely too well – except where their respective siblings are concerned.

But as has happened in the rest of this series, Frankie needs protection and Reath can’t seem to resist providing that protection. Then again, he can’t resist Frankie, either, and the feeling is very, very mutual.

They just have to get the villains out of the way first. Which turns out to be a bit more of a challenge than Reath and the rest of his brothers imagined. But they still get the job done.

As much as I liked the characters, and I adore the New Orleans setting, there were a couple of things in this story that tripped me up a bit. As I said, I found it a bit difficult to believe that Frankie didn’t know that her project was obviously capable of being weaponized even if that was not her intention. Likewise, the replacement lab where the climactic kidnapping took place was a screamingly obvious set up.

(Maybe I’ve read too much science fiction. Nah…)

So, a couple of things in this one didn’t quite work for me, but I had a good reading time and I still very much enjoy the series as a whole. Which is a good thing, as there’s one Fury brother – and therefore one book – left in the series. Claim, presumably Beauden Fury’s story, is coming in October. And then the author is on to the book I’ve been waiting for all year, the (still untitled) start of her next Sci-fi Romance series. I can’t wait!