Sexy, breathtaking, not-to-be-missed paranormal romance.
Two vampires with a common enemy reluctantly join forces to vanquish him, then become true partners—which both strengthens them as they face their metaphorical demons and makes them more vulnerable in confronting their demonic foe.
Veritas is a Law Guardian for the vampire council, but secretly she is a mixed-race being, half-human, half-demigod—the daughter of a powerful lord of the underworld—who uses her special powers for her own secret agenda. Law Guardians enforce laws she and many others feel have been distorted over the centuries and are currently used to deem mixed-species children illegal, sentenced to execution. Quietly thwarting those laws allows her to bring “hope to all who suffered when the powerful took advantage of the vulnerable.” Veritas approaches Ian, a vampire with a reckless, maverick reputation, to help her destroy Dagon, a powerful, villainous demon. Ian despises her but agrees to help since Dagon tricked him into bargaining his soul; the demon’s death will free him. As they create events to draw Dagon out, Ian sees a different side of her, but when she risks everything to save a helpless creature from a brutal existence, he realizes she is truly noble. After they wind up married to protect Ian from the law, their pretend devotion becomes more real as they vanquish enemies together and defend each other to distrustful friends and allies, but when their showdown with Dagon goes awry, Veritas may have to sacrifice their love to keep Ian safe. Frost’s Night Huntress spinoff is a flawless blend of high-stakes romance and action-packed paranormal adventure that subtly explores race, justice, honor, and power with creativity and sensitivity while never getting in the way of a superbly crafted and entertaining plot.
Sexy, breathtaking, not-to-be-missed paranormal romance.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-269561-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Like a popcorn action flick: fun but lacking in substance.
Two wolf shifters must catch a criminal in the midst of hazardous winter weather: Action, adventure, and romance kick off a new series by Spear (Falling for the Cougar, 2019, etc.).
Private Investigator Nicole Grayson has an edge that some of her colleagues don’t. She’s a gray wolf shifter, and her heightened sense of smell makes for excellent tracking abilities. When her latest assignment, investigating a fraudulent life insurance claim, leads her to an isolated ski lodge inhabited by a group of shifter brothers, Nicole realizes that this particular mission is different. Blake Wolff has finally found peace and quiet, as he and his brothers have turned their land into a sanctuary for wolf shifters like themselves. When Nicole turns up at the lodge, sniffing around and looking for answers, Blake volunteers to help. The sooner she wraps up her investigation, the sooner Blake can return to maintaining the calm community the Wolff siblings have built. The suspense never fully delivers despite the setup of dangerous situations and the characters’ ability to shift into wolves. Of course, the bad guys get caught and the good guys prevail, but the stakes never seem terribly high. With corny, on-the-nose details such as having Wolff and Grayson as surnames for gray wolf shifters, it's hard to tell if Spear is in on the joke or if some things sounded better in theory than reality. The brightest spot here, as in most of Spears’ books, is her dedication to writing strong heroines with interesting professions, and Nicole fits perfectly into that box. She’s capable, competent, and a force to be reckoned with in a difficult situation. Blake is happy to let her take the lead without any egos getting in the way, which is something all readers will appreciate.
Like a popcorn action flick: fun but lacking in substance.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9775-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Starts out promising but never quite gets out of first gear.
A laconic auto-body shop owner hopes to woo a longtime crush, but he has to overcome his past trauma to convince her they belong together.
Rena Jackson has started her own hair salon in Seattle and wants her personal life to rev up, too, but she has almost given up on Axel Heller’s making a move. Though she finds the German transplant attractive, she worries that he is commitment-phobic and not ready for true intimacy. With both their upbringings shadowing them (his involves domestic violence and hers a single mother who has looked for love too often), can two strong, wary people become vulnerable to love? Harte (Delivered With a Kiss, 2019, etc.) provides readers with passages about Axel’s painful memories and his fear of being a physical threat to a woman. This is a useful counter to some novels’ tendency to romanticize the threat of male power. But the limited, alternating perspective leaves Rena in the dark for much longer than the reader, with the result that her complaints about Axel’s attachment style edge her into unlikable territory. The novel is threaded together by Axel's awkward (albeit funny) attempts to court Rena with gifts and other gestures but doesn't allow her similar space to show her personality and get us to root for the couple. The quick references to, and scenes with, numerous peripheral characters bog down the romance arc further. The handling of the white supremacists who have been threatening Rena, who's African American, is a broad-stroke attempt to acknowledge racism but lacks nuance, as does a scene involving homophobia. While the novel’s title and cover allude to recent successes like The Kiss Quotient and The Hating Game, it lacks the former’s thematic firm-footedness and the latter’s tonal mastery of comedy and emotion.
Starts out promising but never quite gets out of first gear.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9698-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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