Tag: Signet Eclipse

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: Darkfire Kiss by Deborah Cooke

Posted April 29, 2021 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: Darkfire Kiss by Deborah CookeReviewer: Tracy
Darkfire Kiss by Deborah Cooke
Series: Dragonfire #6
Also in this series: Kiss of Fate
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Publication Date: April 29, 2011
Format: eBook
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 419
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

For one woman, he will risk more than his life...

Rafferty Powell has exchanged challenge coins with his arch-nemesis Magnus Montmorency, and their next battle will be their last. But Rafferty never expected to meet a woman whose desire for Magnus’ downfall matches his own—and whose presence sparks Rafferty’s long-awaited firestorm.

Since facing her own mortality, investigative reporter Melissa Smith has resolved to live without fear. She’s determined to make the seemingly untouchable Magnus pay for his role in ending her friend’s life – no matter the price to herself.

When her quest entwines with Rafferty’s, Melissa finds herself risking more than she ever thought possible. Because the heat between them unleashes the darkfire—an awesome force of Pyr legend, one that won’t be sated until everything they know has been tested and remade.

This review was originally posted on April 28, 2011.

Rafferty is outside the home of his enemy, Magnus, when he spies a thief. She is trying to get into the house and doing a surprisingly easy job of it. He follows her and ends up saving her from Magnus’s fury. Rafferty eventually tracks the woman down while in his dragon form with the intent of getting information from her. Not only does he not get the info he needs but the woman, an out of work journalist, takes pictures of Rafferty fighting another dragon and posts them on her blog.

Needless to say this is horrifying for the Pyr who pride themselves on secrecy but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the shit hitting the fan. You see, Rafferty and the woman, Melissa, are mates and during the eclipse their firestorm begins. But their firestorm contains darkfire and because of extenuating circumstances the firestorm cannot be sated. Darkfire means that life is changing for the Pyr and not everyone is happy about it – especially Erik who is the leader of the Pyr. While Erik deals with his thoughts on the discovery of the Pyr and what that will mean for their kind, Rafferty and Melissa work together to find a solution to not only deal with the discovery but how to deal with Magnus as well as the legacy that was left to Rafferty by his grandfather.

This was a really great book in the Dragonfire series. I was very much looking forward to Rafferty’s firestorm after reading the first five books but wasn’t sure what to expect. I loved that Cooke gave us another view into not only the Pyr but to Rafferty himself. With the firestorm not being able to be sated in the usual way – via conception – Rafferty and Melissa worked together to find a solution. Working so closely with each other and not depending strictly on sex to further their relationship really worked for me. I think showing the reader the intellectual side of the couple during the firestorm was a great idea and was done very well.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next with the Pyr. We’ve been set up with some stories and I think they’ll be great. There was also an excerpt in the back of the book for Cooke’s spin off series of the kids of the Pyr that were, in this book, toddlers, that was quite good. I’m not sure how that will work with the kids being teens so my curiosity is definitely piqued.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Dragonfire

four-stars

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Review: Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy

Posted March 2, 2017 by Casee in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Midnight Rescue by Elle KennedyReviewer: Casee
Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy
Series: Killer Instincts #1
Also in this series: Midnight Revenge, Midnight Alias, Midnight Games, Midnight Pursuits, Midnight Action, Midnight Revenge, Midnight Captive, Midnight Target, Midnight Target
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Publication Date: May 1st 2012
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 354
Add It: Goodreads
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Dangerous. Ruthless. Savage. And she's the good guy.
Abby Sinclair had a desperate childhood until she was rescued and adopted by a retired army ranger who molded her into a master of self-defense. Now, she's a cunning and fearless assassin thrust into assignment after dangerous assignment, using everything she has-nerve, resilience, strength, sex-to come out on top. Her only rule: trust no one.
Abby's latest assignment is in Columbia: go undercover and snuff out a dangerous arms dealer active in the underground sex trade. But when Abby purposely blows her cover in a last-ditch attempt to free the helpless victims, deadly mercenary Kane Woodland is recruited as back-up. His mission: get Abby out of that hell hole.
The last thing Kane expects is to feel a primal attraction for Abby. But when she convinces him to join her on her perilous mission, their newfound passion could put the lives of their whole team at risk.

I’ve been meaning to read the Killer Instincts series for awhile now. I wish I wouldn’t have put it off, because this series seriously rocks it.

Abby Sinclair is a heartless assassin. Or so she thinks. Deep undercover, her job is to bring down an arms dealer that dabbles in sex trafficking. Until she blows her cover to try to save a handful of girls that are about to be sold into the black market. Abby thinks she has everything under control, but her boss disagrees. When the Queen of Assassins thinks you’re in trouble, nothing stops her from doing what needs to be done.

Jim Morgan and his mercenaries are called in to go to Columbia to rescue Abby. That doesn’t happen a moment too soon. What they don’t expect is after they get her to safety, she wants to go right back. No one can talk her out of it, not even Kane Woodland. Her rescuer and the man she is reluctantly attracted to is someone she can’t trust even though he seems to be on her side. Abby learned a long time ago that men aren’t to be trusted. The only man she ever trusted was her adoptive father and he went and died on her.

Kane thinks Abby is crazy, but he knows there is no way to stop her from going back to Columbia. He’s all in. He doesn’t even try to fight the attraction he feels for Abby. He knows that she’s not the the person for him. She doesn’t trust at all. She’s completely closed off emotionally. Or so he thinks. It doesn’t take Kane long to see Abby for who she truly is and that’s not the heartless assassin everyone thinks she is.

Still, Abby’s secrets might drive Kane away and ruin the fragile connection they have. While I liked Abby, she wasn’t my favorite heroine. I appreciated what she went through as a child and how she became strong. I even understood how she couldn’t get over it. I wouldn’t have gotten over it. It was just that Kane was so open and honest and she couldn’t return it even to him. It got annoying. Still, the supporting characters and the storyline were good enough for me to move forward with the series and I’m glad that I did.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: The Duke Can Go to the Devil by Erin Knightley

Posted July 13, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: The Duke Can Go to the Devil by Erin KnightleyReviewer: Tracy
The Duke Can Go to the Devil by Erin Knightley
Series: Prelude to a Kiss #3
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: July 7th 2015
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

In the new novel from the bestselling author of The Earl I Adore, May Bradford isn’t afraid to play devil’s advocate when it comes to a duke.…
After her mother’s death, May’s sea captain father sends her halfway around the world to live with his stodgy sister in England. The summer festival in Bath made for a lovely distraction, but now she can’t wait for her father’s return so she can leave this country, its suffocating rules, and one infuriatingly proper nobleman in particular behind.
Because he is the Duke of Radcliffe, William Spencer’s whole life revolves around his duties. He never steps foot outside the bounds of proper behavior, and he expects the same of those around him. With her devil-may-care ways, May vexes him nearly as much as she tempts him, but there’s something about her that he just can’t resist. He knows he’s falling hard for her, but with lives that are worlds apart, will they ever be able to find any common ground?

Tracy’s review of The Duke Can Go to the Devil (Prelude to a Kiss #3) by Erin Knightley

Meli-li Bradford aka May has spent her life on the high seas and travelling from one country to another. She’s love every moment of it. Now, however, she’s stuck in England with her aunt who is not a fan of May’s and she wants nothing more than her father to come home from his voyage and take her away from it all.

May meets some good friends that make the time in England much more bearable. Then she meets the Duke of Radcliffe and she’s disgusted with the man. She feels he is a pompous ass and isn’t afraid to tell him exactly that. William isn’t pleased with May either and feels that she’s an uncouth and improper woman. Of course despite their irritation at each other they seem to become friends. It’s a strange friendship filled with arguments, but laughter as well.

William decides to invite May and her mother to his estate and tells himself that it’s because he doesn’t want her to be bored and he can show her more of the England that he is so proud of. He really just wants to spend more time with her as she lights up his dreary life a little bit. The pair end up falling in love but when May finds out some bad news about her father’s work and William’s part in all of it the two may have to part forever.

TDCGttD was a sweet novel in some instances and not so sweet in others. The not so sweet parts were mostly when I was reading about May. She pretty much spoke her mind no matter what and I really loved that about her. Did she jump to some strong conclusions without having all of the facts? Yeah, she did but she always apologized if she did so.

William was such a stick in the mud. He was so worried about scandal and proper behavior that he’d never allowed himself to live. He started doing that because of May and he found that he couldn’t help but love her. I really enjoyed seeing him loosen up, that’s for sure.

There were some slow parts in the book were not a lot was happening that I found tedious. Unfortunately that happened a couple of times and it almost seemed like filler to make the book longer. I just wanted the story to move along. Luckily those parts weren’t too long and I as saved from the tedium.

Overall it was a good story. The story had no sex in it – only a few heated kisses but that was perfect for the story. I’m happy that the author didn’t try to add that in as it just wouldn’t have fit.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

This title is available from Signet Eclipse. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

three-half-stars

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Review: Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy

Posted May 12, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense

midnight rescue
Rowena’s review of Midnight Rescue (Killer Instincts #1) by Elle Kennedy.

Dangerous. Ruthless. Savage. And she’s the good guy.

Abby Sinclair had a desperate childhood until she was rescued and adopted by a retired army ranger who molded her into a master of self-defense. Now, she’s a cunning and fearless assassin thrust into assignment after dangerous assignment, using everything she has-nerve, resilience, strength, sex-to come out on top. Her only rule: trust no one.

Abby’s latest assignment is in Columbia: go undercover and snuff out a dangerous arms dealer active in the underground sex trade. But when Abby purposely blows her cover in a last-ditch attempt to free the helpless victims, deadly mercenary Kane Woodland is recruited as back-up. His mission: get Abby out of that hell hole.

The last thing Kane expects is to feel a primal attraction for Abby. But when she convinces him to join her on her perilous mission, their newfound passion could put the lives of their whole team at risk.

This series came highly recommended to me and because I was anxiously awaiting The Mistake by Elle Kennedy, I jumped into this series to keep me busy until I could get my hands on John Logan’s book. I’m not at all mad that I did because I quickly became addicted to everything that was going on this series.

Abby Sinclair is an assassin who has been undercover for a while. When she misses a couple of check in times, Abby’s boss wants to know what happened to her. Reaching out to a team of mercenaries for help in extracting Abby from the prison she’s been in, Noelle (Abby’s boss) is not at all happy that she’s going to Jim Morgan of all people for help. But Abby’s life is in danger and she needs Jim’s help.

Jim gives Kane Woodland the lead on Abby’s extraction since he’s expert. They’re extracting Abby from a very dangerous arms dealer’s compound. It won’t be easy getting Abby out but when they do? All hell is going to break loose…Kane just wasn’t expecting the explosion to come from Abby herself. Abby is hurt and down but she is not going to leave the girls she found behind. She’s going to go back and save them before they can be auctioned off as sex slaves but she needs Kane’s help.

Abby doesn’t trust anyone and it takes her a long time to let Kane in. Kane has no idea why he wants Abby to trust him, but he does. When the team decides to help Abby save those young girls, there’s a lot of tension. There are team members who don’t trust Abby and some team members that are only taking on the mission because it’s a suicide mission and a lot is at stake but Kennedy does a really great job of weaving this story. There was so much going on but not once was I confused or bored. I couldn’t read this book fast enough.

I really came to love everyone on Morgan’s team. Even D. Sure, D pissed me off with how mean he is and the things that he said to Abby before she begrudging wins him over but overall, the characters were really what won me over. I am so anxious to continue this series because I’ve grown very fond of all of the boys, Trevor especially. I’m mighty curious to see what happens between him and Isabel, how they’ll come together because I know they do. I’m also curious about Morgan and Noelle’s past. Lots and lots of sexual tension going on and not just with Abby and Kane.

Kane and Abby were a great couple and I liked seeing them come together but there were times when I was more interested in what was happening between the other characters in the story. Overall, this was an action packed story with a great cast of characters and a steamy romance between two very headstrong people. I think my one gripe outside of Abby’s stubbornness was the cover. The heroine on the cover can’t be Abby because Abby’s hair was red in the book. She was a redhead when she with Blanco and she was redhead after she left the compound so who the heck is the blonde?

I’m definitely in for the remainder of this series. I can’t wait to continue so of course I recommend this book.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Signet Eclipse. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Guest Review: Hunter Reborn by Katie Reus

Posted January 30, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Hunter Reborn by Katie ReusReviewer: Tracy
Hunter Reborn by Katie Reus
Series: Moon Shifter #5
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: February 3rd 2015
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Losing her was the hardest thing he’d ever endured....
Warrior shifter Aiden’s investigation of the trafficking of vampire blood leads to a startling discovery: the beautiful vampire bondmate he thought was dead. Decades ago, they’d defied their powerful families to be together, but then Larissa disappeared without a trace. When their mating link broke, it nearly destroyed Aiden. Now she’s back with no memory of where she’s been. Even more shattering—Larissa claims she has no idea who Aiden is.
Now she’s back....
It’s a race against time to bring down an operation more evil than his pack ever suspected, and Aiden finds himself working side by side with a mate who no longer trusts him—and she wants out. But he lost her once, and he won’t let her go again. Unfortunately, Larissa’s blood is the key to a powerful monster’s dangerous plan—and he’ll stop at nothing to destroy her, sparking off a war between the supernaturals and humans that no one will win.

Tracy’s review of Hunter Reborn (Moon Shifter #5) by Katie Reus

It’s been 60 years that Aiden has been mourning the death of his bondmate, Larissa. He’s never gotten over her death and even after all of the years that have passed thinks of her daily. When he and his packmates are at a club looking into vamp blood dealing he sees a woman that looks like Larissa. Even though he knows it’s not her he follows her and the closer he gets the more stunned he is to see his mate alive.

Larissa isn’t so thrilled to see Aiden as she can’t remember much about her life and was told that her parents were killed by a shifter named Aiden. She tries to flee but Aiden soon makes Larissa see that they were meant to be together and he’s not letting her go again. Dealing with the new technology in the world and all other new and strange things, Larissa has a bit of a hard time adjusting. That doesn’t stop her from being by Aiden’s side while they look for the witch who told her about Aiden and then the master that the witch was working for. Together the mates will find the ones that are after Larissa (along with his packmates) and then they can be together forever.

This was a really great addition to the Moon Shifter series. I loved that there really wasn’t a whole lot of angst between Aiden and Larissa and she pretty much, after her initial belief about Aiden, just went with the flow. She was open to him and his packmates and fit in quite well. The majority of the story was taken with finding the person who was after Larissa and bringing them down.

There is a bit of side story between Teresa and Ryan as well as with Natalia and another new character that comes on the scene. It was good to see Teresa and Ryan finally working out their issues, that’s for sure. With Natalia and the new guy it was a bit odd. Not much is said about him and I found that odd that his part in the story was skimmed over. I have no doubt we’ll get more in future books but I would have liked just a little bit more info on him in this story.

Overall it was a good story about fated mates finding each other after an incredibly long absence. Reus made the reunion exciting as well as heart warming and emotional. Good job.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

This title is available from Signet Eclipse. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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