SEDUCTION GAME by Pamela Clare

I-Team #7
InterMix Books, October 2015
ebook
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN:  9781101622278
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
****


 

Pamela Clare is back with her final full length I-Team book, SEDUCTION GAME, a contemporary romantic suspense that brings many of the characters her fans have come to love back while highlighting one of her characters readers will be most surprised to find out holds deep secret depths.

CIA officer Nick Andris has been simply surviving since his last mission with a Georgian arms smuggler ended with the death of his lover.  Nick has been shadowing Holly Bradshaw for a month now in hopes of her leading him to his target, but it appears that his intelligence was flawed as Holly seems to be nothing more than an entertainment writer with expensive taste.  But when Holly finds herself in trouble, Nick is there for her when he is forced to realize that things are not always what they appear.

Pamela Clare’s SEDUCTION GAME is packed with espionage, suspense, twists and turns and love, love, love.  This reader especially enjoyed finding out there was a whole lot more to Holly than we had learned about in prior books.  Though she appeared to be a vapid blond with little depth, she turned out to be hiding a very important secret life.  Nick was also a surprise.  He began the book an angry man filled with a need for revenge and ended up one of Ms. Clare’s most intriguing I-Team members yet.  This story had incredible character development and their chemistry was explosive.  The lesser characters that appeared in other I-Team stories also put in an appearance here and it was interesting to see that these characters weren’t relegated to just walk-in filler in the story, but added real importance to the story flow.  Pamela Clare has written so many action packed romantic suspense stories that this reader has come to expect something wonderful every time she picks up a Clare book.  It is good to know that my trust in this writer has proven true yet again in Holly and Nick’s story, SEDUCTION GAME.


Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

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

STRIKING DISTANCE by Pamela Clare

I-Team #6
Berkley Sensation, November 2012
paperback from publisher
ISBN:  042525495X (ISBN13: 9780425254950)
Romantic Suspense
****


Pamela Clare’s STRIKING DISTANCE is a page turning tale of survival, healing, passion and military pride.

After a whirlwind affair with handsome Navy SEAL Javier Corbray, TV reporter Laura Nilsson spent eighteen months in an Al Qaeda compound after being kidnapped on live television.  The world, including Javier, thinks she is dead.  But when a burqa-clad woman runs toward the helo and safety of the SEALS at the end of a deadly mission, Javier discovers what really happened to Laura.

Pamela Clare’s STRIKING DISTANCE is a contemporary military romantic suspense that highlights the horrible atrocities committed in the name of Al Qaeda.  Laura has been beaten, raped, and brainwashed to the point where she barely knows her name anymore.  When she ran toward that helo and help, she didn’t even remember giving birth to a baby girl while held captive.  And then when she finally begins healing, she testifies against her kidnapper and ends up with a terrorist hit put on her.  Thankfully, the handsome SEAL she could never forget shows up back in her life, determined to keep her safe and give her a reason for hope.

Pamela Clare’s STRIKING DISTANCE has it all.  It has action, suspense, high speed drama, mystery, romance, healing, terrorist threats and handsome Navy SEALS.  Is there anything more a fan of military romance can ask for?  This reader thinks not.

Laura is a strong but deeply emotionally scarred woman who is doing her best to heal, but her past refuses to let her go.  Javier is the one who got away, came back to save the day and win Laura’s heart.  He is strong, capable, and not afraid to tangle with tangos.  And he is in love with Laura.  Lucky girl.

The story pace ramps as Laura heals and her romance with Javier begins to unfold.  Their chemistry is explosive.  The twists and turns that lead to the emotional ending will have readers riveted to the book.  Sensual and addicting, STRIKING DISTANCE and its characters stay with you long after the last page is read.  Go Navy!  This reader can’t wait to read the other books in this enthralling series.


Review by Tammy (TammyLRM@gmail.com)
*This is an objective review and not an endorsement*

RIDE THE FIRE by Pamela Clare

Blackwell/Kenleigh Family Series, Book Three

Berkley Sensation
February 5^th, 2013
978-0-425-25730-2
Historical Romance
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Publisher
3.5 Hearts

 

Elspeth Stewart will do whatever she can to survive the wilderness and have her baby in a safe place. She just never anticipates a mysterious stranger to stir her passions and make her feel safe in the world she lives in. Nicholas Kenleigh wakes up to find himself tied to a bed, wounded and wondering where his gun is. But when Bethie walks in, he finds himself intrigued by the beauty even as she tries to keep him at an arm’s length, slowly Nicholas breaks down her walls and soon both are drawn to the flame their passion stirs between them. Can both Elspeth ‘Bethie’ and Nicholas deal with their past in order to have a future together?

This was the first book from Pamela Clare I read that had me enthralled for hours. The story is fast paced, delivers loads of action and though the torture scene is a bit cringe-worthy, keep reading…you will find that the story really picks up after that scene. The author does a marvelous job in keeping her readers on the edge of the seat with RIDE THE FIRE and lets the characters shine in this latest story in the Blakewell/Kenleigh Family Series. This is a masterful storyteller at her finest and I fell in love with Nicholas and Elspeth immediately. This story can be a bit brutal but if you keep at it, you are treated to a story that weaves a spell around you and you are left, after the last page is read, wondering where the time went.

Meet Elspeth Stewart. Abused by her step-father and step-brother, she is a woman who finds herself looking for a safe harbor to go to so she can have her baby in relative peace. The scenes of the torture, abuse, etc are brutal to read much less imagine but the reader finds themselves rooting for Elspeth to persevere and her safe harbor comes in the form of Nicholas Kenleigh, a man whose past left physical scars as well as mentally. These are two scarred characters that literally make your heart melt when they come onto the pages. The reader cannot help but root for these two to get their own happily ever after. The characters are well written, multi-dimensional and very enjoyable. The secondary characters are just as well written and you cannot help but feel sympathy for Bethie and Nicholas even as they resist falling in love with one another.

RIDE THE FIRE is a fast paced historical romance that will steal your hearts by chapter three. The author does a great job in keeping the reader entertained as well with a story that tears at your heart. I can’t wait to check out the other books in this series and see what adventures this author gives the Blackwell/Kenleigh families.

If you enjoy an action packed story that is an emotional journey for the main characters, then try RIDE THE FIRE and settle in for a heart pounding ride from start to finish. I can’t wait to see what else this author has to offer in the future.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement

 

UNTAMED: MacKinnon's Rangers Series, Book 2 by Pamela Clare

Publisher: Dorchester
Date published: December 2008
ISBN 978-0-8439-5489-0
Historical Romance
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Gina


Her mother dead when she was but a little girl, Amalie Chauvenet ventured from her convent home to Fort Carillon to be with her father, a Major with the French army under Bourlamaque. Despite her gentle and sheltered upbringing in the convent, she is determined to remain with her father at the Fort. When he is killed, she becomes Bourlamaque’s ward. In keeping with the Major’s wishes, Bourlamaque gives Amalie the choice of returning to the convent to take her vows or marrying the man of her choice. One man pursues her, relentlessly—Lt. Rillieux. Rillieux will stop at nothing to have Amalie and she turns more and more to the choice of taking holy vows.

With Iain MacKinnon being permitted to retire to his farm with his wife, Annie and their child, middle brother Morgan MacKinnon has taken charge of the feared MacKinnon’s Rangers. Stories of their deeds grow with each telling until the Highlanders are indeed larger than life. When Morgan is taken prisoner by Bourlamaque’s men, he is threatened, beaten and taunted with tales of how he will die in the Abenaki fires. Determined not to betray his brothers and his men, Morgan takes a pragmatic and practical approach to his death until he meets Amalie.

At first unwillingly attending to his wounds, Amalie begins to have feelings for the fearsome Highlander. She is torn between her desire for the revenge of her father’s death and the compassion she feels for the man, handsome despite the dirt, grime and blood that covers him. As her feelings grow she seeks a way to save Morgan’s life. It is at Amalie’s suggestion to Bourlamaque that Morgan be made a spy for the French that Morgan sees a way to freedom and a return to his men. Playing a dangerous game, Morgan gives Bourlamaque bits of information while spying on the French, all the while planning to take the information he has found back to the English. When he is caught by Bourlamaque compromising Amalie he is forced to wed the winsome French woman. The marriage puts him in the untenable position of choosing between his men and his wife. At the same time, the stakes of the game close in when he makes his move to escape.

I thought SURRENDER, the first book in Pamela Clare’s MacKinnon’s Rangers series was one of the best books I have read in a long time. UNTAMED rivals SURRENDER on all levels. Middle brother Morgan is the stuff of dreams. Handsome, loyal, fearless, caring and intelligent. Along with elder brother Iain and younger brother Connor he came to the New World to live when their family lost all in Scotland. Through his words, descriptions of his actions and the words of other characters, Ms. Clare introduces her readers to Morgan. She draws a man who is brave beyond compare and will not hesitate to do whatever is necessary to protect his own, including brutally killing an enemy. Ms. Clare builds multiple layers into her characters, endearing them to her readers. For instance, one of the most poignantly telling scenes is when the head of one of his men, Charlie, who died in battle is found. With great risk to himself, Morgan strikes Rillieux and then makes to bury the skull. When he is joined by Amalie and Bourlamaque and Bourlamaque bringing his priest to say the prayers, the moment is heart wrenching. Conversely, she pulls her reader’s heart strings when Morgan battles with himself not to make love to Amalie. He wants her with every fiber of his being and yet, because he is a man of honor, he holds himself back. When Amalie tells Morgan for the first time she loves him you feel the joy pounding in his heart. Ms. Clare tells a story that is emotionally satisfying and memorable.

SURRENDER and UNTAMED are stand alone stories and while they could be read out of order, you will want to read them in order. I am impatient for Connor’s tale and at the same time want to wait for it because I do not want this emotionally fulfilling series to end.

Backlists

I recently read a book from 2005 that I found on my shelf. It was an anthology with one author I'd read (Toni Blake) and two others that were new to me. I don't usually read anthologies or shorts because of the types of projects I do at LR&M, but every once in awhile I take time out for some pleasure reading and an anthology fits the bill. They are the perfect reads for just before bed when you want to read, but can't stay up all night with the latest and greatest. They are also a favorite on my Palm when I'm standing in line at the store, bank or whatever -- so I DO read them. Just not often. But I digress.

Backlists. Normally we only post reviews for books released within the past two years. Those are the books in stores, the ones being discussed, the ones we sometimes line up the night of a release to buy. When an author is new to us, for instance Pamela Clare for me with her MacKinnon's Rangers series, I got hooked and immediately began looking for her backlist. I know I'm not the only one who does that. If I was, backlists wouldn't exist to the extent they do.

With our economy lately I've seen more and more stories about people going to the library for books. Readers are looking for something to carry them to a better time and place, forget their problems for awhile and relax. The thing is for as good as the libraries can be, for the hottest books there is almost always a waiting list (try 112 at my local library for Twilight this week) and for new releases there is, at least where I live, a $.50 to $1.00 fee to borrow the book.

So you've found an author who is new for you. You sat there through the whole weekend reading his or her book (like I did recently when I read Ms. Clare's Untamed) and want more. Since I read both Surrender and Untamed and Connor (the third brother's story) isn't out for awhile, if I need a "Clare-fix" there is her backlist! The books may not be the latest buzz on discussion lists or among your reader friends, but if you like an author's writing it more than fills that need. It was actually through a backlist book that I stumbled on to Kelley Armstrong, that would be Bitten, and I was hooked. Ended up reading all of her books released to date and looking forward to the Summoning.

There are any number of authors out there with new releases and if you are going the library route right now, maybe they have them and maybe they don't, consider their backlists. You may need to go to their publisher sites to find them -- and many of the small presses have sales going at any given time. With an ebook you have instant gratification -- it's going right to your reader and you don't have to wait a few weeks to get them into your hands.

Or as in my case, where I picked up the Taking Care of Business anthology because I had read and enjoyed Toni Blake, I stumbled on to LuAnn McLane and am now digging around for more by her. (What a hoot to read! Dang she's funny!).

So, when you find an author new to you, do you dig into their backlist? Who have you read that you've done this?

SURRENDER by Pamela Clare

Publisher Dorchester
Date published November 2008
ISBN 08439-5488-4
Genre Historical Romance
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Gina




Trapped by her unsavory uncle’s machinations, accused of a crime she didn't commit, Lady Anne Campbell is branded and sent as a criminal from her home in Scotland to the American frontier as an indentured servant. Only a short time after being bought by the Hawes she wonders how she will live out fourteen years of beatings by the odious couple.

Iain MacKinnon has journeyed with his brothers, Morgan and Connor, to Albany planning to have their mother’s wedding ring sized for his bride to be. Before the deed can be done, however, the MacKinnon brothers come upon a prostitute and the customer who is not only bent on denying her the price of her favors, but beating her as well. A man of honor, Iain rushes to her rescue and falls under the eye of Lord William Wentworth, commander of Fort Elizabeth. Wentworth offers Iain a bargain—become a Ranger and fight on the side of England or hang for killing the man who was beating the prostitute. Iain chooses life and his brothers join him in the fight against the French.

Returning from a patrol Iain comes upon Anne as she fleas a band of attacking Abenaki. His sense of honor prevents him from following his orders and he rushes to her rescue. Unable to explain his feelings, Iain risks all to save her and finds himself falling in love with Anne. Anne as well finds she cannot resist her growing feelings for Iain, but the shadow of her secrets haunts her. More than being falsely accused of being a thief, Anne is an Argyle Campbell, the clan that cost the MacKinnons to lose all at Culloden. A bigger fly in the ointment is Lord Wentworth—he covets Anne as he has wanted no other. Torn between his own sense of duty and desire for Anne, he jeopardizes the lives of not only Iain, but his Rangers and Anne as well.

SURRENDER is one of the best books I have read this year. Ms. Clare vividly captures the emotional highs and lows of life, love and the choices we make. Ms. Clare brings together two people with so much in common, yet they are worlds apart. The relationship between Iain and Anne is intense and that alone makes the story unforgettable. The specter of Culloden looms over both of their heads despite the fact they are fighting their own battles to survive an ocean away. Lord Wentworth is the icing on the cake as a perpetual fly in their ointment. Every scene he appeared in I cringed, waiting for him to do something so utterly despicable that Iain would cleave him in two with his claymore. Wentworth is the slimiest of villains. You feel the tendrils of fear even when he lays in his bed, pleasuring himself with thoughts of Anne. I cheered each time Iain outsmarted him.

More than giving readers a collections of villains—the French the Abenaki, Wentworth and Anne’s uncle, she takes readers into Wentworth’s mind and we watch his own conflicts play out on the pages.

With meticulous attention to detail, Ms. Clare takes her readers into the forests of upstate New York, takes them into the frozen lake of winter and behind the walls of Fort Elizabeth. Each character is unique and carries their own unique voice. While this is intended to be a three book series featuring the MacKinnon brothers, I’d be thrilled to also see Lt. Cooke end up with his own story. In contrast to Iain’s potent masculinity, Cooke is appealing in his own way. I eagerly look forward to Connor and Morgan’s stories.