Review: Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare

Author: Pamela Clare

Title: Unlawful Contact

Series: I-Team #3

About the Book: When a young woman disappears, journalist Sophie Alton investigates and is led to the woman's brother, a convicted killer who is running from the law. Together, they follow a dangerous path toward the truth-and unforgettable passion.

My Thoughts:

Definitely the best of the I-Team series so far. I really don't know why I put off reading it for so long, despite all the assurances from my friends that I would love it. Go figure.

Shy, bookish, orphaned Sophie Alton lost her virginity to her high school secret crush one starry night at a school party(?) the first time he deigned to speak to her. The next day he was off to military school. They lost touch until twelve years later. By this time, Sophie is an investigative journalist who's covering/interested in the story of a drug addicted young mother who suddenly vanished with her baby during a supervision. she gets an anonymous to that leads her to question a prison inmate, who happens to be Hunt, the high school secret crush/cherry picker and also the brother of the young lady who pulled the vanishing act. He uses her to orchestrate his jailbreak, and what follows is a race against time to find the sister before the bad guys can get to her, and also avoid the cops, to keep Hunt from being sent back to jail.

I loved Sophie!! I didn't like Tessa from book 2, but really liked Kara from book 1. Well Sophie has none of the annoying traits of Tessa and had all the good bits of Kara magnified. She was a good balance of all girly (hot pink vibrators), slightly silly (not wearing boots in winter because they didn't look good), sensible, and smart. Marc Hunter was....awesome. Move over Reece, I think I just found a new favorite I-Team guy! I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one.

As stories go, this one was a teensy bit syrupy, with none of the over-the-top cheese from the previous books. Ms. Clare erred on the side of cute with this one. Me likey.

Hmm... I wonder if we're ever going to have an I-Team Peep's Children Grew Up and Are Having the Hots for Each Other series, what with all the kids these people are popping about. I for one am gunning for Kara's son with Julian's daughter and Kara's daughter playing older woman to Hunt's son, LOL!!!

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Extreme Exposure - 4/5
2. Hard Evidence - 3/5

 

Review: Play Dirty by Sandra Brown

Author: Sandra Brown

Title: Play Dirty

Series: N/A

About the Book: The seven deadly sins help propel this provocative, sex-fueled thriller from bestseller Brown (Ricochet). Foster Speakman, an eccentric Texas paraplegic millionaire, offers $500,000 to Griff Burkett, a disgraced former NFL quarterback fresh out of prison after serving a five-year sentence for racketeering, to impregnate Foster's wife, Laura. Foster insists the child be conceived naturally (The way God intended). Broke with no prospects, Griff takes the job. Meanwhile, Stanley Rodarte, the crooked detective behind Griff's arrest, is bent on pinning an unsolved murder on him and takes to terrorizing Griff and those close to him in the hopes of nailing him when he self-destructs. After Griff's stint as stud takes a bad turn, the ex-footballer must track down the one man who can secure his freedom. The tension builds as lust, greed, pride, wrath and envy threaten to undo everyone in this tightly told tale of modern temptation.

 

My Thoughts:

*This book came as a bonus gift in a Goodreads giveaway that I won, so much thanks to Sandra Brown and Goodreads for that.*

I most definitely enjoyed the book. I picked it up this morning and didn't stop until I was done. I thought the main character was drawn especially well. Griff is a former pro-NFLer who cheated, by intentionally throwing a SuperBowl game. His team lost, he got found out, he went to jail, and earned the undying hatred of NFL fans everywhere, but especially in his home state of Texas. Griff is released from jail with nothing to his name and is trying to make his way. Then he gets an offer he can't refuse from the very wealthy Foster Speakman. A hundred thousand dollars to impregnate his wife, five hundred thousand once a baby was conceived, and a million dollars a year for the rest of his life if he'd keep the whole deal secret.

The blurb on the back of the book says something about a "web of deceit and lies....", but really, there was not much suspense or intrigue or web of anything. It just didn't read like that to me. What caught me was the main character himself. Watching Griff try to pick himself up after such a spectacular fall from grace was quite gut-wrenching. Several times I think I wanted to cry. Just the sheer magnitude of what he'd lost - everything - and the vitriol people harbored towards him, how his "friends" behaved....all of that was not easy to watch, and Ms. Brown did a fantastic job showcasing that. I was wholly in Griff's corner, and that is what made this book for me.

I also quite liked the romantic aspects of the novel - it's another one of the things Ms. Brown does well. It's only a small part of the whole entire story, but she manages to make it integral.

So although this book is classified under suspense, it was not so for me. It read more like a character study with a nice romantic element and some drama. The revelation at the end COMPLETELY blindsided me! Completely, and I thought it was brilliant.

Well anyway, I really enjoyed myself and would most definitely recommend this one. Just be ready for not-suspense :D

Quickie Review: Hard Evidence by Pamela Clare

Author: Pamela Clare

Title: Hard Evidence

Series: I-Team #2

About the Book: After the murder of a teenage girl, a mysterious man in a black leather jacket was seen lurking near the crime scene. Investigative reporter Tessa Novak has him in her sights as the culprit…  That man was Julian Darcangelo, an undercover FBI agent working with the Denver police. He’s closing in on the trail of a human trafficker and killer. Tessa’s accusations could blow his cover, and he wants her off the investigation. But just as Tessa has made Julian a target of interest, she is now a target of the killer. And as they are forced to trust each other, their physical attraction escalates as intensely as the threat from a ruthless murderer who wants to see both of them dead…

 

My Thoughts:

I'm in the minority here. I enjoyed its predecessor way more than this book.

It's a great story, but I feel like it dragged out too long. And I didn't like Tessa too much. The things I'd found cute about Kara I found annoying in Tessa. And I am not too sure I buy that her reasons for wanting to publish the stories are more sound than the reasons Julian and the police wanted the information under wraps. So it was iffy for me. I really liked the hero, though.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Extreme Exposure - Excellent

 

Review: Tough Customer by Sandra Brown

Author: Sandra Brown

Title: Tough Customer

Series: Mitchell and Associates #2

From acclaimed bestselling author Sandra Brown, "Tough Customer" is a heart-pounding tale about obsession and murder, the fragile nature of relationships, and, possibly, second chances.
Colleagues, friends, and lovers know Dodge Hanley as a private investigator who doesn't let rules get in his way -- in his private life as well as his professional one. If he breaks a heart, or bends the law in order to catch a criminal, he does so without hesitation or apology.That's why he's the first person Caroline King asks for help when a deranged stalker attempts to murder their daughter . . . the daughter Dodge has never met. He has a whole bagful of grudging excuses for wishing to ignore Caroline's call, and one compelling reason to drop everything and fly down to Texas: guilt.
Dodge joins forces with local deputy sheriff Ski Nyland, but the alarming situation goes from bad to worse when the stalker begins to claim other victims and leaves an ominous trail of clues as he lethally works his way toward Berry. Sensing the killer drawing nearer, Dodge, who's survived vicious criminals and his own self-destructive impulses, realizes that this time he's in for the fight of his life.

My Thoughts:

Rating: Somewhere between "Good" and "Excellent."

I won this book from a GoodReads Giveaway - my first time ever to win any book! - and I really enjoyed it. Berry Malone's coworker is stalking her and now he's escalated to violence.

Caroline King, Berry's mother, calls in Dodge Hanley, a private investigator to ask him to help. she's been estranged from dodge for thirty years. Beery is their daughter, but Dodge has never met her.

Although I didn't feel it was very suspenseful, I will say that this novel is more of a suspense novel than most of the suspense novels I've been reading lately. Those were more romances with suspensful elements; this one was more of a suspense with romantic elements. I liked the change. I think it was a solid mystery and a solid chase to find the killer before he got to Berry.

The reason why I didn't find it too suspenseful was because I was totally focused on the relationship dynamics between Caroline and Dodge. Even though it occupied only a minor space in the book, their history was so rich and fraught with - everything: joy, sadness, love, anger, pain, hurt, hope... it was wonderful to read about. I thought it was genius that Ms. Brown managed to weave the flashbacks of the days when Caroline and Dodge were young seamlessly intot the main storyline of the present-day issues: Berry and her stalker. I liked the scruffy irreverent Dodge, and was glad he and Caroline got an HEA after 30 years, can you imagine!!

What I didn't like was the twist. I didn't see that coming, but when it happened, my reaction was more "What the heck?" as opposed to "oh wow, what a cool twist!" But anyway, by then, I was more interested in Dodge and Caroline than I was in the whole stalker issue.

In her acknowledgements at the end, Ms. Brown stated that Dodge was a compelling character and she hoped she did him justice. In my eyes, at least, she did him justice and did it very well.

*My thanks to Sandra Brown and GoodReads.*

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Smash Cut

 

Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare

I-Team #1
Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare
★★★★

For some reason, the series name, I-Team, had me expecting an Elite Ops/SEAL/mercenary sort of romantic suspense. So I was confused for a moment there when I realized we were dealing with the Investigative team of a newspaper and not hot men who are trained killers, heh. But once that was cleared cleared up, I started noticing a few things.

The book is a lot more romance than suspense, so much so that you could take the suspense part out, and you still pretty much had a solid romance going on. Speaking of romance, this one was as steamy as you could get without making it erotica.

I liked Kara and Senator Reece. They were solid characters who behaved their age - both in their thirties, not too much angst, hiding information leading to big misunderstanding, no TSTL moments...it felt age appropriate.

It was a very quick read. It didn't feel like 300+ pages at all, which is a very good thing, right?

The epilogue was HELLA cheesy! But it was all good.

Overall, it was a nice evening's escapism, and a good introduction to romantic suspense for someone used to reading romance. I am adding this series and Ms. Clare to my TBR list.

View all my reviews

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Storm Front by Jim Butcher
My rating:★★★★

This is the first book in the Dresden Files and our introduction to Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, a modern-day wizard living in Chicago. Somebody has been using very dark, dangerous magic to brutally kill people, and Harry must figure out who it is, because the wizard council thinks he did it.

I enjoyed it. I did find it a bit hard to concentrate for, like, the first 20% or so, but then things really picked up as the story, well...picked up... and I had myself a fun time.

I will definitely be reading more of this. It seems like a nice addition to the UF genre. No unique, per se, but it has an interesting twist on things. I like the Chicago Jim Butcher has created so like our own world, and yet not. This means you don't have to do a lot of thinking to figure out the rules of the world - you already know it because it's like ours. And the rules he's added on are also fairly straightforward that you don't need a whole lot of info to get right into the thick of things. They are interesting rules too - for example the part about potions needing eight components.

And the world is interesting enough to set it apart from the many worlds in UF.

And I like the author's voice. Male (fantasy) authors have a starker voice than female (fantasy) authors, for me. And it either works very well or it doesn't. Mr. Butcher's storytelling is shaping up to work very well for me.

View all my reviews

Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent

Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent
My rating: ★★★

It should be 2.5 stars, really.

Ms. Vincent can write some wonderfully nuanced characters. Unfortunately, she failed in this attempt. Sophie is still the self-centered jerk she has always been. Sure, she's resourceful and assertive, but that is to be expected. Most girls don't get to be one of the most popular girls in their cliques by being just a mean girl.

Luca is a new character that was introduced in this novella, and it seems he'll play some sort of role in Before I Wake. But I am glad for Sophie's little adventure in the underworld. It's about time she got introduced into the family business.

I also had to laugh when she thought Kaylee could never have handled the underworld! if only you knew, Ms. Sophia, if only you knew!

All in all, I think you can skip this novella and not be the worse off for it.

View all my reviews

If You Hear Her by Shiloh Walker

If You Hear Her by Shiloh Walker
My rating: ★★★★

My first Shiloh Walker, and it certainly won't be my last. I only realized that this wasn't a stand-alone novel after I'd begun reading it, and I was initially worried the whole suspense bit was going to be too thin to stretch over three books.

Well, it wasn't stretch out at all in this book.

I liked the story, and the mystery. Lena is a very unusual heroine in that she is blind, and it was fun to spend time with her. I liked Ezra too. And Law; and Hope; and Remy. Enough to look for the other books in this trilogy.

View all my reviews

Killing Floor by Lee Child

Jack Reacher #1
Killing Floor by Lee Child
My rating: ★★★★
This is my first novel by Lee Child and my first thriller in a very long while.

The overarching impression that I get from this book is that a lot of people die, and very violently too. It really is something I can't quite understand.

That being said, I enjoyed my first Jack Reacher novel quite a bit. I like Jack. And I like the writing. The humor and POV is not so much snarky as it is dry... and wry. So that was great.

As for the mystery bit, I am one of those people who can't see what's coming even if it hits them in the face, so I was kept fascinated by how Reacher came to his conclusions/made his deductions.

It was a good novel. I enjoyed it.

View all my reviews