Steel Trap (The Wyverns #5) L.M. Somerton

?Reviewed by Kiwi?

TITLE: Steel Trap

SERIES: The Wyverns # 5

AUTHOR: L.M. Somerton

PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing

RELEASE DATE: October 17, 2017

BLURB: Secrets don’t stay hidden forever.

Hatchet has a thing for the enigmatic Mr Smith, Horatio Trap’s spokesman. He’d love to get his hands on the pretty man and show him how good it feels to take orders for once rather than hand them out. He’s had his eye on Smith for years and he’s running out of patience.

The Wyverns’ involvement in the drug trade is limited to stealing money from the cartels, they don’t want junk peddled on their turf. When Trap orders them to destroy a crack cocaine factory in Phoenix, they are happy to oblige. But Smith throws a spanner in the works by posing as a potential buyer, putting himself in mortal danger.

Hatchet and The Wyverns come up with a plan to fake Smith’s death, muscle in on the deal and convince the cartel to do business with them instead. But when Hatchet’s cover is blown he’s left to save a bunch of illegals, destroy the drugs and wipe the factory from the face of the planet. It’s all in a night’s work for The Wyverns—but there are still secrets to uncover and the mysterious Horatio Trap, and his mind games, can’t stay hidden forever.

 

REVIEW: Oh, my! I’ve been waiting for this installment of this series feels like forever. I know that’s not the case; I was just anxious. Well, the author certainly didn’t disappoint me. This in addition to Adrian and Teddy’s story, are my favorites in the series.

Hatchet and Mr. Smith are as different as night and day but you know they say that opposites attract. Mr. Smith aka Montgomery Smith, is indeed enigmatic but underneath that cool, collected and cultured façade is a man that is attracted to Hatchet’s rough exterior. Monty (yes, I gave Smith’s character my own nickname) is kind of tired of being lonely and acting as the go-between the Wyverns and the mysterious Mr. Trap.

Hatchet and Monty seems like an unlikely couple at first but it works. The action, the dialogue, characters and storyline of this book, of all of the books in this series is absolutely fantastic. The books are short (under 100 pages) but it reads like a full length novel. There are no plot holes or cliff hangers in any of these stories which I really love.

There are a couple of plot twists in this book. Secrets you will not see coming as it pertains to the mysterious Mr. Trap and Monty are finally revealed.

I truly enjoyed this book and really looking forward to reading more. I’m waiting for Artie and Bull to have their HEA.

Please note: The general release date is October 17, 2017. However, you can pre-order from Pride Publishing or Amazon. 

RATING: ????

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Pride Publishing

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Wicked Ride (Realm Enforcers book 1) by Rebecca Zanetti

Lyrical Press Presents  http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Ride-Realm-Enforcers-Book-ebook/dp/B00ONTR7I2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435302319&sr=1-1&keywords=rebecca+zanetti+realm&pebp=1435302320824&perid=1YE47ZG3XRPB916NTSVP

wicked rideBlurb

Alexandra Monzelle is a hard-fighting, heat-packing Seattle vice cop, and she’s not much interested in being protected. Her short skirt and sex-kitten heels are tools to lure her suspects into talking about the deadly new drug hitting the streets. She can take care of herself and then some. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to get that through to Kellach Dunne.

Kellach is a fresh import from Dublin, and he’s landed at the heart of a vicious motorcycle club that deals in guns, narcotics, and mayhem. He’s all male, all rough power—and all interference in her damn investigation. Maybe he’s one of the good guys. Maybe not. Lex knows an affair with an immortal like him would risk everything. No matter how delicious he looks…

Review

Another departure (for me) from m/m. Rebecca Zanetti has been another of my favorite romantic paranormal writers for a long time. I love her “Dark Protector Series” and this is a spin-off, but the same universe and still some of the same characters.

In this case: Alexandra is a vice cop in Seattle and Kellach is a witch and an enforcer in Seattle. Both are trying to get the drug Apollo off the street, but for different reasons.
At first it is the simple misunderstanding keeping them on opposing sides: she thinks he’s a bad guy, he thinks she’s hot.

Then, she thinks he might be a good guy, he’s pretty sure she’s hot.

Then she knows he’s a good guy, but he’s still keeping secrets from her; he know’s she hot, and he’s keeping secrets from her.

Finally, they get together and BAM – he accidentally … uh – well now that’d be tellin’ – but something happens and now she knows he’s keeping things from her and that he’s a good guy and he has hell to pay; he can’t believe what he did – thank god she’s hot.

After a bit more waffling about they finally manage to defeat the bad guy, give in to true love and chemistry and with a slight little twist at the end, all’s well that ends well.

**

As far as this series goes: it was great seeing the other folks from the Dark Protectors. I wasn’t too impressed with either the hero or the heroine, though the Grizzlies – Bear, etc; seem very intriguing.

I got frustrated with Alex’s repeated trust issues and wonder why in the world Kell would put up with all that. On the one hand she seemed to swallow the paranormal stuff super easy, but at any hint that Kell may have a different agenda then what he’s told her – she’d jump off the deep end into distrust.

I also would have liked to see more of her special powers… that’s the fun part of paranormal romance – the cool crap you can do!

All in all it was good, but not great. I’ll still read the next book because it was definitely good enough.

3.75 of 5 hearts

4

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Ride Steady (Chaos #3) by Kristen Ashley

Forever Books Presents http://www.amazon.com/Ride-Steady-Chaos-Kristen-Ashley-ebook/dp/B00S5A6HWC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1434041885&sr=1-1&keywords=ride+steady+kristen+ashley&pebp=1434041886958&perid=45335FCAB7A44992A3E2

 

Coming June 30th

ride steadyBlurb

The ride of her life . . .
Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy—until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa’s pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower.

Climb on and hold tight . . .
In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he’s the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa’s acting, it’s clear she’s falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker’s secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa—or ride away forever . . .

Review

As you know I almost exclusively read/review m/m. But – there are a few authors who I still read because they are so amazing. Kristin Ashley is one of them. Her characters are gritty and raw. The men are ridiculously hot. They have almost super-powers without being over the top. The sex is deliciously raunchy and so is the language. The women are mostly very strong even if they do need rescuing –BUT they rescue the hero right back so it isn’t annoying.

This is the third book in a series, and is probably ok as a standalone, but really, this is best read as part of the entire series, and even better read having read the entire group of Kristin Ashley’s books, the Rock Chicks, her Hero series and now the Chaos series. It contains characters from all those and knowing them adds a bit of flavor to the story that just makes it so much better!

In this, we find Joker (previously known as Carson), a new recruit to the Chaos MC. He’s had a bad childhood (nothing new there) and carries a chip on his shoulder. While he was in high school he had a crush on the “good girl” Carrisa and she was nothing but nice to him. But- she was involved with the “good boy” Aaron, and it looked like that was it – forever – for them, so he stayed away.

7 years later we find Carissa alone, with a newborn baby, nearly broke, fighting with Aaron for even the barest of necessities. She has a flat tire and who but Joker (whom she doesn’t recognize as her childhood crush, Carson) rolls up to rescue her.

From here, the Chaos band unofficially/officially adopts Carissa and her son Travis. The boys in the club know a bad situation when they see it, and Carissa is living it.

In typical Kristin Ashley fashion, Joker and his crew rush in to save the day and slowly but surely Joker and Carissa fall in love.

**

I just love Kristin Ashley’s work. I love how REAL the situations are. Sure, there are times when the men are a little too “manly” and the women a little too “helpless”, but the situations they find themselves in feel authentic and the responses are just enough of that perfect rescue fantasy to hit all my buttons.

I love the raunchiness of the sex, the language, the grittiness, the juxtaposition of the “good girl” and the “bad boy” and in the end the mutual rescue that saves them both.

The Chao series started with Motorcycle Man and was my first Kristin Ashley book ever. It set me on FIRE! I literally devoured her entire library after that and greedily look for more as they come out. This extends that book but also includes characters from her other series as well. Those of you who’ve read them all will be delighted to see Lee and Indy, TyTy and Tab, Elvira and the delicious Malik and even a bit of Gwen and Hawk.

This is a bit quieter in terms of the danger from the previous books. There is still trouble lurking – Aaron is an ass and has a boatload of legal support to help him get his way. Valenzuela is still causing trouble, trying to encroach on Chaos turf. But, mostly, this is Joker healing from an abusive childhood and Carissa finding her way as an independent woman.

I know it’s not likely to ever happen, but MAN oh MAN would I love to read a m/m book Kristin would write. It would be HOT with a capital HOT! But – these are wonderful just as they are and I adore the feeling of extended family I get when I dive back into her world. (It helps that I’m from Denver, so I can picture each and every place she describes, just like home ☺ )

One aspect really stands out in this book and that is : family. Family is absolutely what you make of it and it has nothing to do with DNA. Chaos is family and family sticks together through thick and thin. I loved that Carissa didn’t fight that one bit and just seamlessly absorbed the wonderfulness of it for what it is.

I highly recommend this book and this author.

5 of 5 hearts

5

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Running Wild (Havoc #1) by SE Jakes

Riptide Presents http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/running-wild

running wildBlurb
Embrace the danger.
Sean Rush is an adrenaline junkie. That’s why he was in the Army, why he steals and races classic muscle cars . . . and why he can’t stay away from bad boy Ryker, a Havoc Motorcycle Club lieutenant. Fortunately, Ryker can’t seem to stay away from Sean—he’s spent the last eight months breaking into Sean’s apartment and stealing into his bed, leaving Sean physically satisfied but increasingly restless.
Sean has always avoided relationships. He likes to come and go without being controlled. And Ryker is possibly the most controlling man he’s ever known. Still, he finds that he wants more from Ryker than their silent nighttime encounters.
Then one of Sean’s thefts goes bad, and Ryker’s protective instincts kick into overdrive. He takes Sean to the Havoc compound, determined to keep him safe. But Sean’s past threatens the safety of Havoc—and everything Ryker holds dear. Worse, Ryker’s hiding secrets of his own. Soon it’s obvious that the adrenaline rush can’t keep them together anymore. But maybe love can.

Review
(from previous site)

SE Jakes has done it AGAIN. This series may even top/tie with the Hell or High Water series for me. Ryker is absolutely on par with Prophet for hot, bad ass, awesomeness… but maybe I should compare him to Mal… or Cillian… he is so bad ass that he always knows what to say and when to say it and what he does is ALMOST always right. Almost. Ryker is a SEX GOD and yet so amazingly sweet that you just want to take him home with you. He. Sends. Flowers. (Insert swoon)

Sean is another great character. He is funny, and caring, and a little crazy and vulnerable, and tough… just like a good SE Jakes character should be. He is a great friend, a neurotic lover, an adrenaline junkie and an ex-soldier who suffers from PTSD. He also is Bad. Ass. He has ninja car skills and can steal a car with one hand tied behind his back. His relationship with Ryker is sweet and funny and very, very hot, and sometimes frustrating.

The story is completely amazing. It grabbed me, threw me on the back of the bike and told me to hang on! There was literally never a slow moment or place I felt I wanted (or even could) skim. It was all vital, wonderful and riveting.

The love story is so completely satisfying and … hot. Enough said.

Jakes has added some vaguely paranormal stuff to this story that added a distinct charm and mystique to Havoc and its compound. I hope for future stories from Casey, maybe Sweet, maybe Noah – you never know right?

I totally recommend this book (and all SE Jakes books) and give this book 6 out of 5 hearts – it was that good. Really.

amazing

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