Reviewer: Holly Thane's Redemption by Nina Crespo
Series: The Song #1
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: March 3rd 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 70
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Series Rating:
The one night she'll want to remember, she'll be forced to forget. It's been almost a year since Celine's fiancé's death and she's still struggling to move on. But when she meets Thane, the super hot lead singer of Thane’s Redemption, she finds her desire reawakening, and her heart opening. Soon one kiss leads them straight into a night of heated passion… Thane’s unexpected connection with Celine only leaves him wanting more of her—but his life makes it impossible. For Thane's Redemption is just a cover for a deeper secret: A former Army Ranger presumed dead, Thane is really a time-traveling, covert operative charged with saving the world from disaster. Each jump through time forces those around him to forget he ever existed—and Celine would be no exception. But can time work in their favor to give them a second chance at love? Or will a choice Thane makes in the future put Celine in mortal danger?...
25,000 Words
When Army Ranger Thane’s helicopter starts going down, he knows he and his whole team are going to die. He isn’t wrong. But it turns out death is just the beginning. The entire team is offered a deal they can’t refuse; Die now or live forever as immortal time-jumpers who are sent out on missions to stop bad guys. They won’t be able to make lasting connections, but they’ll be saving the world. None of them thought very hard before accepting.
5 years later Thane meets Celine at a show they’re playing. He’s immediately drawn to her and decides he has to have her. But Celine isn’t the usual groupie. She’s been hurt, badly, by the death of her fiance a year before and still isn’t recovered. He wants her, but he also wants to heal her. They end up spending a night together and connect deeper than Thane ever expected…but the side effect of his time-jumping is that no one remembers him as soon as he moves forward in time. When he gets called out on a new mission the next morning, Celine’s memories of him disappear.
I’m not going to lie, the premise intrigued me and scared me at the same time. With a time – jumping rock star solider it could have been terrible, but the author made it work. I bought into the premise behind it and got caught up in the story. Unfortunately it felt half-formed. There was a lot going on and too much wasn’t explained. This may be the introduction to a series, but at 80 pages it frustrated more than intrigued.
Thane’s background – including a fiance that may? have broken up with him – was eluded to, but not explored. The plot they have to foil to stop a chemical bioagent from being released onto the world – which was the mission he got called away from her for – could have been interesting, but it was just kind of brushed aside in favor of a resolution between Celine and Thane. Which really wasn’t much of a resolution at all.
I would be interested in reading a full-length story about the same couple, but I’m on the fence about starting a book set in the same world featuring a new couple. I liked the author’s voice, but there were too many threads left unraveled for this to truly satisfy. I couldn’t find any information about future releases, so I have no idea what the author has in mind. I’m reserving judgement until I see what comes next.
3 out of 5