Category Archives: Action

2 star reads, Action, Erotic Sex Scenes, Military Romance, Paranormal, Review, Shifters

Ranger’s Justice – Delta James

Leave a comment

Ranger’s Justice
Lone Star Wolf Rangers: Book 1
Delta James

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Wolf-shifter action romance marred by too many story inconsistences

Blurb:

They told me to stay out of it… I should have listened.

I was raised to believe in justice. To hunt down the truth no matter the cost. But when that truth led me straight into the sights of the Del Toro cartel, I realized too late, I might have bitten off more than I could chew.

I was tracking a shipment I thought would lead me to my corrupt stepfather. Instead, I ended up in the middle of a bloodbath, staring down the barrel of a gun. And then he showed up. Zane “Rush” Rushton, Lone Star Ranger, all raw power and barely restrained fury. He dragged me out of that hellhole, kicking and cursing, warning me that I was in way over my head.

I don’t like taking orders, least of all from a man who thinks he can control me. But Rush isn’t just any man. There’s something different about him, something dangerous simmering beneath the surface. When he shifted, right in front of me, I realized just how deep this danger runs.

Now I’m entangled in something far bigger than I ever imagined; cartel secrets, human trafficking, and the undeniable truth that my own bloodline is tied to it all. I should run. But Rush won’t let me. He says he’s the only one who can protect me. That he won’t let me go.

The scariest part?

I don’t want him to.

A pulse-pounding, western paranormal, romantic suspense, for fans of fated mates, fierce heroines, and ruthless alpha protectors.

The good: Most of the action scenes are suspenseful and well written. The writing itself is good, and the pace is fast. This is a quick read. I also liked that Cassidy isn’t weak. She knows some self defense and how to shoot.

But then there’s the bad:

Far too many inconsistences in the story!

  • How the hell were they tracked? Are they tracking a phone? If so, they will track them to the next location. – But that doesn’t happen, and we never find out.
  • Why did he shift to show her the truth and then immediately try to lie about it?
  • And then Cassidy is shocked by seeing Rush transform into a wolf two more times as if she hadn’t seen it already.
  • How would he know what’s in shifter romance novels?
  • A character studies a laptop and turns fully around in his seat while he’s driving. Pay attention to the road!
  • The sequence of things is rewritten in places and timings change.
  • Other things happen with no explanation. For example: Rush and Cassidy get out of the SUV, he pushes her up against the back of it, and then suddenly the back hatch is open, but no one opened it.

There are some graphic sex scenes, but they are over far too quickly. There is hardly any foreplay and no dialogue, which is usually the hottest part for me.

There are some interesting differences from the most common werewolf lore, but they aren’t explored in detail. The world-building and lore-building is lacking, as is the character-building. I don’t feel like I really got to know the characters. This has fated mates, so the instalove is expected but not fleshed out.

The climax action is over far too quickly and leaves questions unanswered. We don’t get an epilogue, which leaves me with more questions about the overall story arc. I’d really like to know what Cassidy’s mother has to say for herself.

So overall, I was disappointed. It’s the start of a good novel. The inconsistences could be fixed easily, which makes it feel like the author didn’t care enough to critically re-read through it.

Contains graphic sex scenes.

Occasional foul language.

1st person present tense from Rush and Cassidy.

Errors: 5 – 1 missing ending quotation mark, 1 misspelled word, 1 wrong name, 1 missing verb, 1 dialogue formatting error. So not bad.

I received a review copy for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

211 Pages

$5.99 at Amazon and part of Kindle Unlimited.

5 star reads, Action, Erotic Sex Scenes, Paranormal, Review

No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 3) – Kresley Cole

Leave a comment
  • 2006
  • 2011
2015

Rating: 5 out of 5.

No Rest for the Wicked
(Immortals After Dark Book 3)
Kresley Cole

Fast-paced adventure peppered with wit and steam and not dark

Blurb:

Centuries ago, Sebastian Wroth was turned into a vampire against his will. Burdened with hatred and alone for ages, he sees little reason to live. Until an exquisite, fey creature comes to kill him, inadvertently saving him instead.

When Kaderin the Cold Hearted lost her two beloved sisters to a vampire attack long ago, a benevolent force deadened her sorrow—accidentally extinguishing all of her emotions. Yet whenever Kaderin encounters Sebastian, her feelings—particularly lust—emerge multiplied. For the first time, she’s unable to complete a kill.

And when the prize of a legendary month-long contest is powerful enough to change history, Kaderin will do anything to win it for her sisters. Wanting only to win her, forever, Sebastian competes as well, taking every opportunity—as they travel to ancient tombs and through catacombs, seeking relics around the world—to use her new feelings to seduce her. But when Kaderin is forced to choose between the vampire she’s falling for and reuniting her family, how can she live without either?

Woosh! This is a fast-paced adventure peppered with wit and steam. It isn’t dark like many of the others in this series. There are no triggers, no non-consent, no captivity. Sebastian is shy and inexperienced with women. He grows in confidence as he is able to arouse Kaderin’s passion again and again. He is hot, strong, and a skilled warrior. But he doesn’t have the alpha male attitude of our previous heroes, Nikolai and Lachlain. Sebastian quickly realizes that Kaderin is not like the women he knew in the 1700’s, and he likes it.

Kaderin had been in Scotland with other Valkyrie when they’d received the call about a “vampire haunting a castle and terrorizing a village in Russia.” She had gladly volunteered to destroy the leech. She was her Valkyrie coven’s most prolific killer, her life given over to ridding the earth of vampires.

Kaderin finds Sebastian in a crumbling castle in Russia, and she can’t kill him. This baffles her.

As if this were a matter of conscience! It wasn’t. It couldn’t be. She had no conscience. No real feelings, no raw emotions. She was coldhearted. After the tragedy, she’d prayed for oblivion, prayed for the sorrow and guilt to be numbed.

Some mysterious entity had answered her and made her heart like ash. Kaderin didn’t suffer from sorrow, from lust, from anger, or from joy. Nothing got in the way of her killing.

She was a perfect killer. She had been for one thousand years, half of her interminable life.

Emotions strike Kaderin in rapid succession as she remembers incidents from her past. Pain, sorrow, joy, humor, and lust hit like bombshells. The lust consumes her, and she has an indiscretion with Sebastian. Afterwards, she comes to her senses.

“Not a Bride to one of your kind. Never—”

“But you’ve made my heart beat.”

She hissed back, “You’ve made me feel.”

Kaderin is in danger of losing her hard-won reputation among the Lore.

When Myst had been in a Horde prison, the Forbearer rebels took the castle, and one of their generals had freed her to make love to her. Before the Valkyrie could rescue her, things had gotten out of hand in a dank cell. Myst’s status among the Lore—which she’d built over lifetimes—was ruined. She was shunned, an outcast. Even the nymphs ridiculed her. There was no ignominy worse than that—

Kaderin runs away from Sebastian and starts the Talisman’s Hie, a contest held every 250 years. Competitors travel the world searching for mystical objects, gaining points towards a final race to the last object. So there is some tomb raider action, which is written very well.

I love these characters. They both deal with issues from their past that have stunted their emotional growth. They feed off each other, evolving together as they get to know each other and themselves. They are always equal in this process. And the sex scenes are scorching hot.

Contains graphic sex scenes, several more than in the first book.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Sebastian and Kaderin.

I found no errors in this. Fabulous!

384 pages.

$7.99 at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MGATUI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000MGATUI&linkCode=as2&tag=vblawnola-20&linkId=646891844af2a94b05322003a3c13907″>No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 3)
2 star reads, Action, Erotic Sex Scenes, Horrible Grammar, Paranormal, Review, Shifters

The Bear’s Runaway Bride – Amy Star

Leave a comment

The Bear’s Runaway Bride
Amy Star

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Paranormal bear shifter romance with much more action than romance, horrible writing, and loads of errors

Blurb:

WereBear Alex always enjoyed living the solitary life in the Alaskan wilderness. It is not easy being accepted as a bear shifter so he was happy to keep himself to himself and avoid unnecessary human contact.

However, Alex’s life was turned on it’s head the day that he heard the shouting and screaming.

He followed the noise to see a woman in a wedding dress running through the forest and being chased by a bunch of mysterious men in black.

He did not think twice and he did what he could to save her from these men.

Now she is ever grateful to Alex for saving her life and it is clear that the two of them are about to fall for each other.

But just who is the bear’s runaway bride and who were the men in black she was running from? And most importantly, what will happen when they return??

If you read the blurb, you immediately get that the bride isn’t running away from the bear shifter but from someone else. So this is not the runaway bride trope.

There is much more action than romance in this novel. It’s the story of a few rescue missions. And it’s a good story. I like action. But I expect more romance, as in the evolution of a romantic relationship, when a novel is categorized as a romance. There just wasn’t a lot of relationship building. I’m giving this two stars because the story was good, and the writing was good in parts. There were just too many errors, which I will get into shortly.

Niomie is a Canada’s First Nation Indian. I like novels that have characters with unique heritage or disabilities. It makes them more interesting. I liked that she was strong, smart, and insisted on being seen as an equal with Alex. I also liked Alex, how his story came out, and how he grew emotionally.

There is unique shifter lore here, but it’s almost like there just is no lore. Shifters exist, but they are normal humans if you exclude their ability to shift and heal somewhat faster. Nothing happens when a shifter has sex, as in becoming lifelong mates. There is no biting, no fated mates, and no shifter culture/spirituality.

SPOILER: There is a HEA, sort of. I really don’t like that it just ends. There is no talk of staying together and where they would live if so, no marriage proposal, no epilogue showing a snippet of their future together. I get that they say they will face whatever comes together, but I would like more specifics!

Graphic sex scenes. Words like labia and vulva are used. These words seem clinical and take away some of the hotness for me. Some of it was really horrible. For example, “His penis deflated and pulled out of her, slick and wet like an insect fresh from its cocoon, and she cringed over top of him.” This description made me cringe too! The language used is so not hot. I feel like the author is trying to say, “They say this book won’t sell without sex in it? Then I’ll punish the readers with my descriptions of sex. They’ll never ask me for sex scenes again!”

Occasional foul language.

This is narrated (3rd person omniscient) instead of 3rd person close. We get some thoughts and feelings from both Alex and Niomie. This is unusual for a romance novel, and many people were put off by it in other reviews. Past tense.

Errors: 59, which is terrible! Wrong words, missing words, misspelled names, phrases that make no sense, and things that should be plural missing the s. “By the time…” is missing “the” – just “By time” – 12 times. But it is written correctly once, proving the author does know the correct form of the phrase. Formatting issues like the first paragraph of some chapters being centered text, a page break after a chapter title, extra spaces, and lines of text in italics that shouldn’t be. The author or editor also doesn’t know how to break dialogue into multiple paragraphs. To have the dialogue continue in the next paragraph, you must leave off the ending quotation mark. But you must have the beginning quotation mark at the start of the next paragraph to indicate it is still dialogue to the reader.

Some reviewers complained about the obscure language used. I’m absolutely fine with the lesser used words in the English language. But if they are used, they need to be used correctly! They are often used incorrectly here. It feels like the author is trying too hard to find good words and isn’t fully understanding them herself. Two examples:

“flat expanse of torn up moss and sphagnum”

…moss and sphagnum… but sphagnum is peat moss. So this basically says “moss and moss”. It makes no sense.

“…to survive so much physical apoplexy but have nothing, in the end, to remind him of it.”

The author is talking about the physical wounds that Alex received. Apoplexy is a specific ailment of stroke victims, generally not being able to speak. It can also be used to mean someone can’t speak – suffering a bout of apoplexy. But it certainly does not refer to generally having been wounded as Alex was.

240 pages. $2.99 on Amazon.