Blood and Roses

Shadow Stalkers #3

by Sylvia Day

When insurance investigator Anastasia Miller sets out to retrieve the rose-hued pink diamonds stolen in a recent heist, she finds herself working alongside former flame, deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Monroe—the man she loved enough to leave behind.

Genres: Romance, Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Fiction, Contemporary, Novella

58 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 21, 2012

About the author

Acclaimed for her signature emotionally charged storytelling and the psychological complexity of her characters, Sylvia Day is a number one bestselling author in twenty-nine countries, with translations in forty-one languages and over twenty million copies of her books in print. Day is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, #1 Sunday Times, #1 Globe and Mail, #1 Der Spiegel, and #1 international bestselling author of over twenty award-winning novels, including six Sunday Times, ten New York Times and thirteen USA Today bestsellers. Visit the author at sylviaday.com

Reviews

[☾ Dαɴιyα ☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blood and Roses is supposedly book three in this series, but it really is a standalone. All of these stories are, actually. And while the characters from the first two appear in both of them, everything in Blood and Roses is completely new. Well, there is one familiar character being mentioned several times: Gideon Cross, you might remember him. ;) He never made an actual appearance, unfortunately, but did play a part in the plot off the pages. A valuable crown was stolen, and a guard shot in the robbery of a jewelry store that's Cross Industries property, and Anastasia Miller was called to investigate. So it happened what she found made her believe her family was involved, which brought her back to her hometown, and to her first and only love, Jake Monroe.

I'm all for second chances, and I've said in my review of Taking the Heat how much I love that type of romance novels, but with Anastasia and Jake it's ten years that they were pining after each other, when, of course, they could have made it work. It's too much even for me. I suppose they were lucky that heist happened even if it did put their families in danger.

I don't have much more to say about this story. It's super short, so everything happened super quickly: Ana & Jake falling into each other's arms, getting their family members out of life threatening situation, finding the diamonds... all of it, really. But since I was looking for something like this: short, hot, that doesn't cause anxiety, or tears, I was mostly fine with it. By now I pretty much know what I'll find in any story penned by Sylvia Day, and sometimes that's a good thing, I guess...


***This review is also posted on Way Too Hot Books blog.***

[Aly is so frigging bored · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a friends-to-lovers short story, with them reconnecting after 10 years. Unfortunately the mystery-action part was treated very well, but the love part left me wanting for more. I understand that they've been lovers in the past and they both still loved each other, but I wanted to see proof of this.

This is how the story goes: Ana and Jake just met after 10 years, with her on the job, in their home town(which he hasn't left), they say hi, he asks her if she's passing through, she answers in the affirmative, he asks her where she's staying and doesn't even wait for her to respond before he orders her to stay with him! If that wasn't weird I don't know what was. The author does mention that they had an master-submissive relationship before, but come on! ordering her about after 5 minutes after re-connecting is just wrong!

After that weird chapter everything smoothed out and it's more plausible to me at least till the last paragraphs, at the end, where she doesn't even argues or discusses about their staying together and agrees to move back with him.

All in all everything was too rushed, though enjoyable.

Now the important part: It has a mention of the Crossfire building and some jewelry stolen from Gideon and of Gideon(we don't see him though) :D

*Ignore the obsessive, crazy female behavior :D*
Rating: 3.5*

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved

Awesome read loved it wanted to keep reading lol thank you Sylvia for your amazing writing words characters please don't stop

[Sarah Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a short fun filled read,loved the intensity between Jake and Ana and how she wanted to change her ways so Jake and her could have. Future together.After so many years of being apart but still having a passionate and burning desire for one another...He was so her Romeo :-).
Well written and the action wuss fun to read :-)

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story of this book but it was not worth the $3. I spent on it. It was such a short book, that I finished it under 30 minutes.

[Ketta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short story but a good one. Would love to read more about Ana and Jake!!

[MandyMarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as good as the others

I love this shadow stalker series! Day did a great job with these novella style books. They're all quick reads but also very engaging.

[Nishtha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew it was a short read when I started it, so I definitely loved it..:)

[Whit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short! Spicy! Suspenseful!
Anastasia Miller & Jake Monroe
Read this novella as part of the "LOVE AFFAIRS" 322 page collection.
I absolutely loved this couple who have reconnected after 10 years, unfortunately, not for love but for business. Jake is a deputy and Ana is an insurance recovery investigator. She is back in town to rescue her brother and mother from a diamond heist gone bad. Let's not forget she is really supposed to be recovering the stolen diamonds, not her criminal family members.
But Jake loves Ana and is not about to let her walk away a second time, even if it costs him his career.

P.S. Gideon Cross is simply mentioned in this story and I am all set to reread "BARED TO YOU". lol!!!!!
Too bad my TBR list is in the stratosphere!!!! So No!!!!!

[Víctoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very short, very fast read and I feel like the story happened so quickly. Although so much was explained, so much wasn't. And then I learned that it's third in a series. So that could be why I have a small grasp in the storyline.
I won't lie, Sylvia does a great job of building the story, in a rapid fire sort of way. I dint quite understand how Ana agrees to stay with Jake.... Or how all of a sudden the straight and arrow cop is fine with ending up with someone like ana. But overall it was a quick burn with some added spice.

Was a random find, for the time it took me to read it, I'm not mad at it.

[Magdalena Wawrzyniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Blood & Roses” is a novella by Sylvia Day and the third installment in the Shadow Stalkers series but can be read as a standalone story. The narrative follows insurance investigator Anastasia Miller, who is tasked with recovering stolen diamonds. Her investigation leads her to collaborate with her former lover, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Monroe, reigniting past emotions and tensions.

“Blood & Roses” offers a quick, engaging read for fans of romantic suspense, though some may find it lacking in depth due to its short length.

[TinaMarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

2012, Publ by Sylvia Day, I need to preface with I walked away from this story several times because the beginning just didn't appeal to me, by the end I was wanting more of their story. She's from a grifter family and he's a cop, she walked away from him in the past because she couldn't see how to reconcile her family with his nature. When he sees her again he's not going to take no for an answer.

[Jess Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was silly. A really quick read but not very interesting. Seems silly that a man waited years for a women to come back and fall in love. And if they loved each other that much and so easily why didn’t they just share what she did years ago. He didn’t seem to care. The whole story was silly with no point really.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super short, decently entertaining story, heavier on tbe action than on romance; A few more pages dedicated to the relationship would have complimented the well written action, but was good enough for a such a short stort.

[May Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short, too fast paced for this story. Their characters, their back stories have a lot of potential for a novel. And I would.have loved to read it. But in all fairness, I love how this author writes and creates her stories. This will definitely not be my last from her.

[Thea™]

[Jacki Marchelletta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sylvia Day knows how to write em! A short & spicy read about a second chance romance between Jake and Ana (Anastasia). I enjoyed this one and loved the mention of Gideon Cross from her AMAZING Crossfire series.

[Kay Phoenix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, entertaining read. Got enough of a backstory that I rooted for them to find their happily ever after. Wished it was longer though. Felt like there was a bigger story there.

[Amee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the tie-in to Crossfire.
Story really felt like it was missing big chunks though. Didn't like the jump at the end.

[Teresa Alesi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cross aced it

Another great story line. Adding Gideon in was great. Good to see him in New print again. Fantastic plot. Sylvia Day you are brilliant!!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Robyn Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

good romance

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little taste. Wish this was a full length book!

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella started off with a bit more story and a lot less descriptive sex than the others in this series. However I then felt it ended much too quickly all perfectly wrapped up in a bow.

[April Robertson-Ring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun short read. Not sure how it ties into a book series. I'll be looking at what the other "Shadow Stalkers" books are. I enjoyed this quick little adventure.

[JonaLee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little novella. Loved the Gideon reference!

[LH Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was underwhelming as there was too much plot which I wasn’t expecting nor wanting from a romance short story.

[Brittney R · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book club pick just wasn't for me. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my smut with a little build up, and this one jumped straight to "you're sleeping over tonight and I'm going to plow you" in the first few pages - was there previous build up to this in Books 1 & 2? The crime family plot never quite came together and was just confusing, and there were sentences that literally had me laugh out loud at how cringey they were. Also, where did the title for this come from?