BITTEN UNDER FIRE by Heather Long

Bravo Team WOLF 2
Entangled Publishing, May 2018
E-Book

Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN13: 9781640633414
Paranormal Romance
*** 1/2


Heather Long’s BITTEN UNDER FIRE is the second book in her Bravo Team WOLF series of paranormal romances and is full of danger, secrets and romance.

Bianca Devlin is an aid worker who has been forced by her boss to take an extended vacation from her work.  Of course, the resort she chooses for that forced vacation just so happens to be hit by guerillas there to kidnap a diplomat’s son.  Bianca does what comes naturally, jumps in to save the boy and ends up a prisoner as well.  Luckily for her, Brave Team WOLF is sent in and they are rescued.  But not before it appears that Bianca may have been bitten by something in the melee.

Back home in Texas, Bianca is shocked to find her new next door neighbor is Sergeant Carlos “Cage” Castillo, the very member of Bravo Team WOLF that rescued her only days before.  The coincidence is beyond odd, but not unwanted.  Yet something about Cage just doesn’t ring true.

Heather Long’s BITTEN UNDER FIRE is fast paced and filled with mystery and romance.  Bianca is a very normal, albeit overworked aid worker who is constantly going from one high stress situation to the next helping others.  Cage is strong, capable and sexy.  The storyline moves along nicely from rescue to consequences with some getting-to-know-you time in the middle.  Yet, when the unbelievable becomes real and Cage turns into a wolf right in front of her, Bianca must face the very real possibility that her life will never be the same.

This reader enjoyed BITTEN UNDER FIRE but it never really lit a fire under me.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the book; it just wasn’t one of those books that you can’t seem to put down.  The characters were interesting, but not as multifaceted as this reader would have hoped.  The storyline was less rescue and more waiting to see if Bianca was going to join the furry folk and then once it was obvious she was going to turn, the rest of the book simply seemed anticlimactic.

Still, for romance readers interested in a little easy to read paranormal romance, Heather Long’s BITTEN UNDER FIRE is a nice enjoyable read.

Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."

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LOVE ME NEVER by Sara Wolf

Lovely Vicious #1
Entangled Teen Books, April 2016
paperback
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN:  1633752291
ISBN13: 9781633752290
Young Adult
*****

 

Sara Wolf’s LOVE ME NEVER is a young adult story full of angst, discovery and personal growth that will surprise, intrigue and leave readers yearning.

After surviving an emotionally crippling teenage dating experience, seventeen year-old Isis Blake is is starting her life over in Ohio.  She is now almost ninety pounds lighter with dyed purple streaks in her hair and now she has put her supposed first love behind her, she is ready to get on with her life in her new school when she meets the Ice Prince of East Summit High School, Jack Hunter.  Despite his incredible popularity with the female population of the school, Jack has no interest in high school girls, until Isis winds up and punches him straight in the face.  Now his attention is squarely fixated on Isis.

This reader chose this book initially because the blurb described it as a light romantic coming of age comedy that seemed like a nice alternative to all the more mature books in my to be read pile.  It turns out that Sara Wolf’s LOVE ME NEVER was definitely not light or funny.  This was a serious story of a teenager’s journey through a terrible time in her life and how she recovers with the help of a boy she fully expects to despise but ultimately comes to love.  As expected, LOVE ME NEVER was full of teen angst, heartache and emotional highs and lows.  The main characters are definitely multifaceted and the storyline emotional.  Isis is an angry, socially awkward teenager full of sarcasm and a dislike for the male sex.  Jack is standoffish and cold.  He is the perfect foil for Isis.  If he wasn’t off doing good deeds so often, he would sure be easy to hate.  Although the blurb describing the book was really quite misleading, the story turned out to be so much more than expected.  But it was the ending that made this story so interesting.  Though now that it appears to be the first in a series, this reader can only hope the next book isn’t a huge letdown.  Of course, I will have to read it to find out.  And I will.

For those readers who enjoy some solid teen angst, Sara Wolf’s LOVE ME NEVER is sure to be a pleasant and intriguing surprise.

Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."

MIRROR X by Karri Thompson

The Van Winkle Project, #1
Entangled Publishing, July 2014
EBook
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN:  978-1-62266-058-2 (ISBN13: 9781622660582)
Young Adult/Dystopia
***



Karri Thompson’s MIRROR X is a young adult romance set in a post-apocalyptic world.

Cassie Dannacher has spent the last 1,000 years in a cryogenic state after a helicopter accident leaves her near death.  She awakens to find that 600 years ago a plague struck the earth, killing more than half the world’s population and leaving its women infertile.  In order to survive, cloning of humans from buried DNA has been perfected, but there is a finite supply and it is slowly running out.  Cassie finds that she has been awakened to repopulate the planet.

Karri Thompson’s imaginative future world populated by clones dying out for lack of fertile women was extremely clever and fresh.  Cassie wakes up in a world where everyone she knew has died hundreds of years earlier and she is being told that she is earth’s last hope for continuing.  For a teenager, or anyone really, these revelations are mindboggling.  And the surprises just keep coming, while poor Cassie just wants her freedom back.  The setup for this story is excellent.  However, for this reader, things start to unravel after that.

This reader felt the story pace was uneven, moving fairly slowly until the end of the story nears and then it picks up before simply ending, leaving readers in a state of confusion and disappointment.  Then there is the romance that just simply doesn’t work.  While Cassie is trying to get her feet under her in this new world where she has such incredible responsibilities foisted upon her, she finds a kindred spirit in the cloned young geneticist that is leading her project, Michael Bennett.  Their instant romantic relationship came out of nowhere and really seemed out of place and inappropriate.

Lastly, Cassie was simply difficult to like.  She was more concerned with getting free than saving the planet and it came off just plain whiney.  And while it was understandable to some degree as more and more shocking news arises and Cassie realizes she is a pawn to politics, just as the story started getting interesting and this reader was looking forward to how her situation was going to be resolved, the story just up and ended.

If you are looking for some terrific world building, MIRROR X may be just what you are looking for.


Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."

OBSIDIAN by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

A Lux Novel #1
Entangled Publishing, May 2012
EBook
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN:  978-1-62061-007-7 (ePub:  978-1-62061-006-0)

Young Adult

*****

The first book in Jennifer Armentrout’s new Young Adult Lux series, OBSIDIAN, is full of terrific teen angst, mystery, magic and little green men.  Okay, maybe not little green men per se.  But it is excellent reading, regardless of your age.

Kat and her mother have moved to West Virginia for her senior year of high school to start a new life as they both try to get over Kat’s father’s death.  The only people she has met prior to school starting are her neighbors, twins Daemon & Dee Black.  Dee quickly becomes her new best friend, but it is Daemon who really captures her attention.  He is extremely aggravating, arrogant, annoying and absolutely gorgeous.  Turns out he is also an alien, yes alien, with special powers and all, and so is his sister.  When Kat is targeted by an alien hunter, Daemon ends up saving her, but in doing so he leaves a mark on her aura that hunters can see for miles, putting a big ole target on her.

OBSIDIAN is a terrific young adult romance.  It is fast paced, intriguing, mysterious, dangerous, full on angst and just a really good story that readers of all ages are sure to enjoy.  This middle-aged reader could not put it down.  The main characters are constantly bickering while sexual sparks fly around them.  Kat is young and naïve and just wants to be accepted and liked.  Daemon just wants to keep his sister safe and will do whatever it takes to make ensure that safety.  Dee just wants to have a real friend.  The character development builds throughout the story.  And then school starts and the real insanity begins.  This reader is beyond looking forward to the next book in this series.  Jennifer Armentrout rarely disappoints and her new Lux series just goes to prove that point.  If you have not yet tried OBSIDIAN, the time is now.  Don’t miss out on this spectacular supernatural experience.


Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."

THE DESCARTES LEGACY by Nina Croft

Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date published: September 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-106-0
Science Fiction Romance
Ee-book
Reviewed by Helen
Weblink: http://www.entangledpublishing.com/the-descartes-legacy/.
Obtained via publisher.
Rating: 4

When Jenna Young’s doctor father dies, all she wants is to find a new medical practitioner who will give her the drugs she needs to deal with her incurable disease. She finds herself in situations far different from what she’s always known, and surrounded by cold, violent people. Luke Grafton appears from nowhere to help her, but it’s almost impossible to know who are the real good guys now, despite her attraction to him.

The beginning of this novel is very engrossing and it pulls the reader right in. It’s quite some time before the reader can draw breath and realize they’ve been hooked. Kudos to Ms. Croft for her excellent writing skills in achieving this. Almost 300 pages later I was still hooked, and found the book enjoyable and fulfilling. The characters covered many shades from black to white and often shimmer through a range of grays in a single chapter. Again, kudos to the author for doing this. Ms. Croft’s skills are undeniable.

So with good writing, a clever plot and fascinating characters why isn’t this book worth five stars?

1. There’s an annoying number of stupid typos and missed words. 2. Every single character “stands to his/her feet” over and over again. I started to wish that just once they’d jump to their feet, or stand to their hands, or even simply get out of their chair. 3. It’s a tad embarrassing when the publisher’s blurb has the hero’s name wrong. But mostly, 4. Why is it that far too many heroes and heroines firmly believe the only solution is to offer themselves in exchange for their loved one? They always “know” the villain, the multiple murderer with no honor, will happily release their loved one more or less unharmed and that they will then take out the villain during the exchange. I fail to see how any thinking person could ever believe this. Yet authors persist in writing it. As I reader, I’m totally over that plot technique.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.