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Security Specialists International #1
Eye of the Storm
Keely Walsh has three doctorates, five older brothers and has never met a situation she couldn't handle. While consulting with the NSA, she discovers sensitive government information indicating her brother, a private security operative, is in danger. Keely travels to the dangerous Triple Frontier in South America to warn him and his colleagues and finds the last thing she expects--a man who sends icy shivers down her spine even as he lights every one of her fires.
Ren Maddox, co-owner of Security Specialists International, a security firm that works for large corporations and governments, is on an intelligence-gathering mission for the US government when a petite strawberry blonde armed with a Bren Ten and an attitude ten feet tall pops out of the Argentine jungle with a warning of imminent danger. The fact she is one hundred percent correct shocks him to his socks. The fact she is Tweeter Walsh's baby sister and can fight like the fiercest Marine is beside the point. No one who looks like Keely should ever be in danger. And once he gets her out of the current situation, he'll make it his life's work to protect the feisty, sexy, little woman from any and all danger.
One alpha male. One determined and independent female. One hot, tumultuous relationship.
Ren Maddox, co-owner of Security Specialists International, a security firm that works for large corporations and governments, is on an intelligence-gathering mission for the US government when a petite strawberry blonde armed with a Bren Ten and an attitude ten feet tall pops out of the Argentine jungle with a warning of imminent danger. The fact she is one hundred percent correct shocks him to his socks. The fact she is Tweeter Walsh's baby sister and can fight like the fiercest Marine is beside the point. No one who looks like Keely should ever be in danger. And once he gets her out of the current situation, he'll make it his life's work to protect the feisty, sexy, little woman from any and all danger.
One alpha male. One determined and independent female. One hot, tumultuous relationship.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2010
168 people are currently reading
1298 people want to read
About the author
Monette Michaels
43 books339 followersMonette Michaels is a multi-published author of romantic suspense, paranormal, and scifi romance novels. She also writes sexier paranormal and romantic suspense novels under the pen name, Rae Morgan.
She is a native Hoosier and still lives in Central Indiana with her husband, son, and cat. The cat is the boss.
She is a native Hoosier and still lives in Central Indiana with her husband, son, and cat. The cat is the boss.
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October 14, 2012
Book Dish at Novel Thoughts with mad4rombks.
Book Dish is a new feature at Novel Thoughts. This isn't a review. It's Mad and Lillie honestly discussing a recent book. Book Dish will be full of SPOILERS. And possibly bad words. Except in this one, we will use "fudge ripple" instead of the f bomb because that's what our heroine does :D
Lillie: So we have Keely, our heroine. She has 5 brothers, all badass SEALs, Marines, etc. Her dad is a marine. She went to MIT at 13, got 3 doctorates, spent 5 days in BUDs before she was caught, then went to sniper school, all while working with the DOD and other alphabet agencies through MIT. Through that work, she discoveres her brother Tweetie (yes Tweetie) and his band of badass mercs are walking into a trap and goes to South America to save them. That's where the story begins. Did I forget anything about her background?
Mad: Don't think so, isn't that enough?
Lillie: Obviously not, since we got a full book about her awesomeness.
Mad: Oh oh! Her Spider sense, don't forget her spider sense.
Lillie: Yes! Her spider sense that always lets her know about bad stuff. And her flaming hair that attracts all men by the droves. And her perfect tiny body.
Mad: Yes because it's a burden to her but *sigh* It is what it is.
Lillie: Such a burden. Poor tiny perfect heroine
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I guess all the butt kicking in South America?
Mad: Yes. Because you know when you're in the middle of a butt kicking, you pause long enough to make googley eyes at hero and flirt with him.
Lillie: Yep, all his boners and butt patting were so romantic when done in front of her brother while people were shooting at them and THROWING LIVES GRENADES!
Mad: And that's all after she took out 2 bad mercs and then killed a third before getting to her brother.
Don't hate, they were very romantic, where else did you expect them to do that? Haha
But did you truly believe the hero got so possessive so quickly? I kept wanting to say "slow down, man, breathe."
Lillie: Yeah, that was really fast. Within seconds of her showing her face, he was beating his chest and growling mine.
Mad: Give me a sec, I have to grab my Kindle. I made so many highlights reading this. Close to 100. Did you?
Lillie: I don't have as many. I knew you did so I zipped through and let you take the time to highlight the crazy.
Mad: That first scene when she took out those 2 mercs and told them that it was "Too bad you had to run across me on one of my mean days." I knew it was just beginning of the WTFery to happen in the book.
Lillie: And that attitude sticks through the whole book. Let the wtfery begin!
Mad: I think I said "Girl, shut up." a billion times (not really but it sure felt like it!)
Lillie: But if she didn't tell us how awesome she is, how would we know? Not when she killed a dozen baddies after she found her brother, not when she dived and threw the before-mentioned grenade back at the baddies, not when she was dizzy with a fever and killed 2 more bad guys. She has to tell us so we know!
Mad: That was such a stupid scene. She's got a fever, feeling weak and dizzy yet she's like the Energizer Bunny that won't quit and keeps on killing.
Before she passes out and needs to be carried and fed through a straw because she is so weak and out of it.
Lillie: Wait! We must discuss my favorite (not really) scene.
Mad: And that is?
Lillie: After the guys discover the bruises and bite marks from her kidnapping and torture pre-rescue and she takes out 2 of the baddies while sick, the hero gets back to her to find her delirious. He scoops her up, and after knowing her for 30 minutes, a tear runs down the ultimate badass's manly cheek because he was afraid for her. *sigh* So romantic!(we really need a sarcasm font)
Mad: That scene, it made me roll my eyes so hard while saying "you big ass crybaby, you don't even KNOW her yet!"
Lillie: But it did lead up to the scene that should never be in any book outside of Flowers in the Attic.
I'm not even going to try to describe the next part. We'll just put the actual quote. Ren (hero) has Keely in a cool tub to bring down her fever. Her brother is in the bathroom with her and they are examining her wounds.
Mad: Yes, that was a little too creepy for my tastes. I have brothers and never would I think there would ever be any situation for something like that to happen. No. Just no.
Lillie: Tweeter is looking at her privates. Hero is looking at them. Then the other team member is too. And they see nothing wrong with this! Toooo much for me.
Mad: YES. I seriously had issues with that scene like it was NORMAL for such a scene to occur.
Lillie: And that's not the last time we see siblings talking about each others pink parts or dangley bits but that part comes later.
Mad: Then when she woke up after 3 days of being unconscious and she's all "oh, I need a Pepsi but oh wait, I'm also hungry, the guys aren't here so I'll go downstairs BY MYSELF and get something to eat knowing the villain was STILL out there waiting for them.
Dumb
Dumb
Dumb
Lillie: Yes! Soooo damn dumb. But she's super heroine so what do you really expect?
Mad: Yes, I know, her Spider sense and all. I had NO IDEA Spiderman had a sister.
Lillie: One of the things I did like about this book and is one of my favorite parts in many romances, is that the hero takes care of her. Loved seeing that soft side of him, even if it was way over the top.
Mad: Her over the top-ness just blinded me to him for the most part, to be honest.
And so, she's downstairs in a private cabana, waiting for her food when two mercs come in and want to take her to their boss. But, not only are they there to take her to their boss, she's noticed they both have an erection by just talking to her.
Lillie: Because she's awesome, of course. But she still kicks their asses after she was unconscious for three days.
Mad: I'm just glad I knew going in from the Amazon forums this book was first mentioned on, that it was very over the top. I guess knowing that before I went in kept me from having this end up as a DNF for me plus, the whole WTFery business of it all kept me glued to it and kept me turning pages.
And the mom. I just can't even...I have no words for that scene she was in. I kept thinking "Seriously? Are you fudge ripple kidding me?!" lol
Lillie: When her parents show up to help kick butt (because that's what all super families do) for the very first part I got what I would have expected. Her family being over protective of the 21 year old virgin. Then her mom notices the hero's erection and they all have a convo about his boner. Really?! REALLY?! How is this normal?
Mad: I know. That was beyond strange AND THEN!!
That scene where the heroine announces to the whole room that she's not wearing any panties. Why? For the love of God, WHY would you do that? Yes, they're your family but there were guys in there that YOU DID NOT KNOW and you nonchalantly say this then walk out of the room?
That's something you take your Mom aside for...the mom that was already in the room too when you announced that. You don't bring that up like a "oh, by the way, I lost my keys" bit. This was personal business no one else needed to know.
Lillie: Then it says that all males eyes were glued to her ass as she walked away. That made me shudder since 5 sets of those eyes were her brothers' and one was her dad's. Why would the author do that to us? *gag*
Mad: Yes. I just....mercy, I have no words.
Lillie: I had that problem often in this book.
So hero puts Keely, her mom, and bro on a plane back to base. He stays in SA to find the bad guy and she becomes all super woman by fitting his base with top notch security programs.
They are apart for 7 days and only talk on the phone every evening. Then he comes back...
Mad: Yes. This is a week later. She's spent what? a day/ a day and a half with him before that? 3 of them she was unconscious with a fever so I'm NOT counting those.
And all of a sudden she's thinking to herself that she can't sleep without the hero in bed with her.
Lillie: They were together and conscious a total of maybe 6 hours.
Mad: Exactly! Not even a day and she's gotten so used to him that she now can't sleep without him because he keeps the nightmares away?
Major major eye rolling on my part.
Lillie: Well, he was crying over her within an hour of their meet. *shrugs*
Mad: Not even an hour, that wuss.
Lillie: Don't hate on the manly tears. They were MANLY!
Mad: They were NOT needed at that point. That was just so silly. Manly tears or not. Haha.
Lillie: So he gets back just as the bad guys arrive at base. And of course super woman and Tweetie (god help me) are out in a blizzard. Hero loses his shit, Keely is uber badass sniper and eliminates all the bad guys but becomes sick from being out in a blizzard.
Once again, hero takes care of her.
And then I get my favorite scene (no, no sarcasm) where hero confides his feelings about her to his brother.
Mad: That seemed the theme though, right? She's all badass. She kicks ass, kills the baddies and when it's all said and done, she's all faint and weak and can't keep her eyes open anymore.
Needs to be carried, needs to be coddled and let's not forget that she needs to eat through a straw because OMG she's so weak.
Lillie: Yes, that is every action scene and there are tons of those.
Mad: But then, she bounces back and she's all Rambina again.
Lillie: She's weak and has a needle phobia. And a blood phobia. And a killing phobia. And...yeah. All that and then some.
Mad: I was exhausted just reading about all her kickass then weakness scenes.
Oh oh!
Lillie: Oh?
Mad: Let's not forget that whenever the hero was around her he had an erection that would not go away and her womb clenched every time she thought of him. *snickering*
Lillie: Damn clenching wombs.
Mad: I'm dying, stop! lol
Lillie: During all this, she's using her uber genius ability to sniff out the traitor. But, wait! Still no sexy times and the heroine has waited long enough! (you know, all big whopping 10 conscious hours.)
Keely wants sex. Ren is afraid her wee little vagina can't handle his massive manliness. She explains that her mom is smaller than her (eww) and her dad is his size (double eww) and they will be fine. Hero is not convinced. Then there is this scene....
Mad: Where I shared on Twitter with comments of "Moron" "Idiot" and "Dumbass" if I remember correctly.
That was sooo dumb! So dumb!
Lillie: I didn't even have words. Still don't. Just a lot of blinking and "whaaaa?"
Mad: And then the vegetables! She goes looking for vegetables to get rid of her virginity since hero won't do it.
That was another "ARE YOU SERIOUS, STOP IT, YOU DUMB WOMAN!"
Lillie: Not just goes looking but announces to all the mercs (including her brother) that's she's looking for veggies to stretch her wee little vagina. Then tells hero, still in front of everyone, that the zucchinis were too small!
Mad: Yes. That had WTF all over.
Lillie: This is when I started drinking...
Mad: *giggling* But then wait....
They finally get down to the sexytimes business.
Lillie: Hero decides that nothing, not even veggies, are stealing what belongs to him and drags her back to the cabin. Sexy times occur that really weren't all that sexy.
Mad: He doesn't wear a condom. She tells him she's on the Pill. They have sex. THEN he decides after they have unprotected sex that he's going to go down on her to lap up her creamy juice...which is also his since he had no condom on.
Ew. Just ew.
Lillie: Blech!
Mad: And tells her that's how he's going to do it with her from then on. Unprotected sex, then he'll go down on her. *covers eyes*
Lillie: Then it's 3 weeks later. Hero is on another mission and Kelly tells her brother she needs to go to town for clothes and to get a refill on her birth control. She actually ran out BEFORE they had sex but she should be safe right? You see where this is going...
Mad: It's taken another turn in cray-cray town.
Lillie: Off we go to town. She's pregnant of course and is feeling weak and sick on their way back. Then the bad guys show. Again.
Mad: And she turns into Rambina. Again.
Lillie: Of course. Saves the day, then hero shows for clean up. But she's sick! And wounded. Oh noes!
Mad: And so exhausted. Needs her man.
Lillie: She faints (again), is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells the hero she is knocked up. Hero is ecstatic. And terrified because Rambina is a kickass warrior sprite who can't be contained.
Mad: Yep but oh my god, she's pregnant with his baby so all is right in the world.
Lillie: Except....(dum dum dum) the bad guys make it onto base and grab the pregnant Rambina!
Mad: Completely off topic but now I wonder if Quinn and Lacey (secondary characters) have a book of their own.
Lillie: No idea but I'd probably read it.
Mad: Have no fear, Lillie! Rambina can handle herself.
Lillie: Of course she does! But the hero ultimately gets to save the day and shoot the bad guy for the first time in the book.
Mad: He's no longer a wuss. Rejoice with me.
*snickering*
Lillie: *much rejoicing occurs*
And that's basically the end.
Mad: NO!
Lillie: Oh no...
Mad: You forgot the part where she's horny and calls her MOTHER for tip on how to get raunchy sexytimes with hero again.
Because she's tired of vanilla sexytimes.
Not only does SHE call her mother but HERO calls her father for advice too.
Lillie: Yes, he called her dad to see if he could bang the man's daughter doggy style.
I think I forgot that out on purpose.
Mad: ROFL Yes.
Lillie: The answer was yes, by the way. The parents said it was just fine to have dirty, energetic sex with their pregnant daughter. So they do.
I hate to even ask this but what's your final grade on this one?
Mad: I gave it a 2.5/3 star. The whole WTFery kept it from being a DNF & I did have fun with the over the top-ness of it all. I think I've finally read my first cracktastic book!
But...in all the shootings, the villain was still not caught so that was kind of lame.
What about you?
Lillie: It would have been a 4 star for me if the family part hadn't happened. But with Tweetie staring at her vag, her talking about sibling penis size, the parents, etc, it was bumped down to 2.5 stars. I love the over protective hero and all his care of her so that kept it from being a DNF for me. But yes, this is pure crack.
I was disappointed that she had a 30+ body count but the bad guy was still around at the end. Lame.
Mad: After this WTFery read, you won't be surprised at all that I bought book 2 in the series today. I plan to see if that is as over the top as this one is although, kind up upset that the hero is not one of her brothers nor one of the hero's brother. Just one of the dudes the hero works with who got a 1 page phone call with hero towards the very end of the book.
Will keep you posted on this read. :D
You can read all of Mad's Kindle highlights and notes here and Lillie's here.
Book Dish is a new feature at Novel Thoughts. This isn't a review. It's Mad and Lillie honestly discussing a recent book. Book Dish will be full of SPOILERS. And possibly bad words. Except in this one, we will use "fudge ripple" instead of the f bomb because that's what our heroine does :D
Lillie: So we have Keely, our heroine. She has 5 brothers, all badass SEALs, Marines, etc. Her dad is a marine. She went to MIT at 13, got 3 doctorates, spent 5 days in BUDs before she was caught, then went to sniper school, all while working with the DOD and other alphabet agencies through MIT. Through that work, she discoveres her brother Tweetie (yes Tweetie) and his band of badass mercs are walking into a trap and goes to South America to save them. That's where the story begins. Did I forget anything about her background?
Mad: Don't think so, isn't that enough?
Lillie: Obviously not, since we got a full book about her awesomeness.
Mad: Oh oh! Her Spider sense, don't forget her spider sense.
Lillie: Yes! Her spider sense that always lets her know about bad stuff. And her flaming hair that attracts all men by the droves. And her perfect tiny body.
Mad: Yes because it's a burden to her but *sigh* It is what it is.
Lillie: Such a burden. Poor tiny perfect heroine
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I guess all the butt kicking in South America?
Mad: Yes. Because you know when you're in the middle of a butt kicking, you pause long enough to make googley eyes at hero and flirt with him.
Lillie: Yep, all his boners and butt patting were so romantic when done in front of her brother while people were shooting at them and THROWING LIVES GRENADES!
Mad: And that's all after she took out 2 bad mercs and then killed a third before getting to her brother.
Don't hate, they were very romantic, where else did you expect them to do that? Haha
But did you truly believe the hero got so possessive so quickly? I kept wanting to say "slow down, man, breathe."
Lillie: Yeah, that was really fast. Within seconds of her showing her face, he was beating his chest and growling mine.
Mad: Give me a sec, I have to grab my Kindle. I made so many highlights reading this. Close to 100. Did you?
Lillie: I don't have as many. I knew you did so I zipped through and let you take the time to highlight the crazy.
Mad: That first scene when she took out those 2 mercs and told them that it was "Too bad you had to run across me on one of my mean days." I knew it was just beginning of the WTFery to happen in the book.
Lillie: And that attitude sticks through the whole book. Let the wtfery begin!
Mad: I think I said "Girl, shut up." a billion times (not really but it sure felt like it!)
Lillie: But if she didn't tell us how awesome she is, how would we know? Not when she killed a dozen baddies after she found her brother, not when she dived and threw the before-mentioned grenade back at the baddies, not when she was dizzy with a fever and killed 2 more bad guys. She has to tell us so we know!
Mad: That was such a stupid scene. She's got a fever, feeling weak and dizzy yet she's like the Energizer Bunny that won't quit and keeps on killing.
Before she passes out and needs to be carried and fed through a straw because she is so weak and out of it.
Lillie: Wait! We must discuss my favorite (not really) scene.
Mad: And that is?
Lillie: After the guys discover the bruises and bite marks from her kidnapping and torture pre-rescue and she takes out 2 of the baddies while sick, the hero gets back to her to find her delirious. He scoops her up, and after knowing her for 30 minutes, a tear runs down the ultimate badass's manly cheek because he was afraid for her. *sigh* So romantic!(we really need a sarcasm font)
Mad: That scene, it made me roll my eyes so hard while saying "you big ass crybaby, you don't even KNOW her yet!"
Lillie: But it did lead up to the scene that should never be in any book outside of Flowers in the Attic.
I'm not even going to try to describe the next part. We'll just put the actual quote. Ren (hero) has Keely in a cool tub to bring down her fever. Her brother is in the bathroom with her and they are examining her wounds.
Keely's brother knelt by the tub and efficiently gave her a shot in the upper arm. "A dead one. But first, my brothers and I will want a little 'talk' with the fucker." He took another cloth and began to bathe his sister's legs. His hand halted almost immediately. "Aww, fuck, just fuck."At the look on Tweeter's face, at the tone in his voice, Ren stiffened. Icy fear traveled his spine. "What?""You can't see from there--" Tweeter choked back what sounded suspiciously like a sob. "Between her legs ... on her inner thigh.""No!" He howled the word. Had she been raped? The bathroom door banged open and Vanko rushed in.
"What's wrong with the little one?" Ren was so upset he didn't even think to order Vanko to leave the room. He just pulled Keely into his arms, laying her across his lap, then gently spread her legs. Bruising on her inner thighs looked like finger marks. He traced the ugly evidence of her legs being forcibly held apart. He scanned every millimeter of her skin up to the red-curl-covered mound. There was a multitude of bruises.
Mad: Yes, that was a little too creepy for my tastes. I have brothers and never would I think there would ever be any situation for something like that to happen. No. Just no.
Lillie: Tweeter is looking at her privates. Hero is looking at them. Then the other team member is too. And they see nothing wrong with this! Toooo much for me.
Mad: YES. I seriously had issues with that scene like it was NORMAL for such a scene to occur.
Lillie: And that's not the last time we see siblings talking about each others pink parts or dangley bits but that part comes later.
Mad: Then when she woke up after 3 days of being unconscious and she's all "oh, I need a Pepsi but oh wait, I'm also hungry, the guys aren't here so I'll go downstairs BY MYSELF and get something to eat knowing the villain was STILL out there waiting for them.
Dumb
Dumb
Dumb
Lillie: Yes! Soooo damn dumb. But she's super heroine so what do you really expect?
Mad: Yes, I know, her Spider sense and all. I had NO IDEA Spiderman had a sister.
Lillie: One of the things I did like about this book and is one of my favorite parts in many romances, is that the hero takes care of her. Loved seeing that soft side of him, even if it was way over the top.
Mad: Her over the top-ness just blinded me to him for the most part, to be honest.
And so, she's downstairs in a private cabana, waiting for her food when two mercs come in and want to take her to their boss. But, not only are they there to take her to their boss, she's noticed they both have an erection by just talking to her.
Lillie: Because she's awesome, of course. But she still kicks their asses after she was unconscious for three days.
Mad: I'm just glad I knew going in from the Amazon forums this book was first mentioned on, that it was very over the top. I guess knowing that before I went in kept me from having this end up as a DNF for me plus, the whole WTFery business of it all kept me glued to it and kept me turning pages.
And the mom. I just can't even...I have no words for that scene she was in. I kept thinking "Seriously? Are you fudge ripple kidding me?!" lol
Lillie: When her parents show up to help kick butt (because that's what all super families do) for the very first part I got what I would have expected. Her family being over protective of the 21 year old virgin. Then her mom notices the hero's erection and they all have a convo about his boner. Really?! REALLY?! How is this normal?
Mad: I know. That was beyond strange AND THEN!!
That scene where the heroine announces to the whole room that she's not wearing any panties. Why? For the love of God, WHY would you do that? Yes, they're your family but there were guys in there that YOU DID NOT KNOW and you nonchalantly say this then walk out of the room?
That's something you take your Mom aside for...the mom that was already in the room too when you announced that. You don't bring that up like a "oh, by the way, I lost my keys" bit. This was personal business no one else needed to know.
Lillie: Then it says that all males eyes were glued to her ass as she walked away. That made me shudder since 5 sets of those eyes were her brothers' and one was her dad's. Why would the author do that to us? *gag*
Mad: Yes. I just....mercy, I have no words.
Lillie: I had that problem often in this book.
So hero puts Keely, her mom, and bro on a plane back to base. He stays in SA to find the bad guy and she becomes all super woman by fitting his base with top notch security programs.
They are apart for 7 days and only talk on the phone every evening. Then he comes back...
Mad: Yes. This is a week later. She's spent what? a day/ a day and a half with him before that? 3 of them she was unconscious with a fever so I'm NOT counting those.
And all of a sudden she's thinking to herself that she can't sleep without the hero in bed with her.
Lillie: They were together and conscious a total of maybe 6 hours.
Mad: Exactly! Not even a day and she's gotten so used to him that she now can't sleep without him because he keeps the nightmares away?
Major major eye rolling on my part.
Lillie: Well, he was crying over her within an hour of their meet. *shrugs*
Mad: Not even an hour, that wuss.
Lillie: Don't hate on the manly tears. They were MANLY!
Mad: They were NOT needed at that point. That was just so silly. Manly tears or not. Haha.
Lillie: So he gets back just as the bad guys arrive at base. And of course super woman and Tweetie (god help me) are out in a blizzard. Hero loses his shit, Keely is uber badass sniper and eliminates all the bad guys but becomes sick from being out in a blizzard.
Once again, hero takes care of her.
And then I get my favorite scene (no, no sarcasm) where hero confides his feelings about her to his brother.
Mad: That seemed the theme though, right? She's all badass. She kicks ass, kills the baddies and when it's all said and done, she's all faint and weak and can't keep her eyes open anymore.
Needs to be carried, needs to be coddled and let's not forget that she needs to eat through a straw because OMG she's so weak.
Lillie: Yes, that is every action scene and there are tons of those.
Mad: But then, she bounces back and she's all Rambina again.
Lillie: She's weak and has a needle phobia. And a blood phobia. And a killing phobia. And...yeah. All that and then some.
Mad: I was exhausted just reading about all her kickass then weakness scenes.
Oh oh!
Lillie: Oh?
Mad: Let's not forget that whenever the hero was around her he had an erection that would not go away and her womb clenched every time she thought of him. *snickering*
Lillie: Damn clenching wombs.
Mad: I'm dying, stop! lol
Lillie: During all this, she's using her uber genius ability to sniff out the traitor. But, wait! Still no sexy times and the heroine has waited long enough! (you know, all big whopping 10 conscious hours.)
Keely wants sex. Ren is afraid her wee little vagina can't handle his massive manliness. She explains that her mom is smaller than her (eww) and her dad is his size (double eww) and they will be fine. Hero is not convinced. Then there is this scene....
She changed her caress, tighter and rougher on his shaft, then a light swipe over the head with her palm before moving more firmly down the shaft. "Better, big guy? And I do mean big. You are larger than all my brothers."
Mad: Where I shared on Twitter with comments of "Moron" "Idiot" and "Dumbass" if I remember correctly.
That was sooo dumb! So dumb!
Lillie: I didn't even have words. Still don't. Just a lot of blinking and "whaaaa?"
Mad: And then the vegetables! She goes looking for vegetables to get rid of her virginity since hero won't do it.
That was another "ARE YOU SERIOUS, STOP IT, YOU DUMB WOMAN!"
Lillie: Not just goes looking but announces to all the mercs (including her brother) that's she's looking for veggies to stretch her wee little vagina. Then tells hero, still in front of everyone, that the zucchinis were too small!
Mad: Yes. That had WTF all over.
Lillie: This is when I started drinking...
Mad: *giggling* But then wait....
They finally get down to the sexytimes business.
Lillie: Hero decides that nothing, not even veggies, are stealing what belongs to him and drags her back to the cabin. Sexy times occur that really weren't all that sexy.
Mad: He doesn't wear a condom. She tells him she's on the Pill. They have sex. THEN he decides after they have unprotected sex that he's going to go down on her to lap up her creamy juice...which is also his since he had no condom on.
Ew. Just ew.
Lillie: Blech!
Mad: And tells her that's how he's going to do it with her from then on. Unprotected sex, then he'll go down on her. *covers eyes*
Lillie: Then it's 3 weeks later. Hero is on another mission and Kelly tells her brother she needs to go to town for clothes and to get a refill on her birth control. She actually ran out BEFORE they had sex but she should be safe right? You see where this is going...
Mad: It's taken another turn in cray-cray town.
Lillie: Off we go to town. She's pregnant of course and is feeling weak and sick on their way back. Then the bad guys show. Again.
Mad: And she turns into Rambina. Again.
Lillie: Of course. Saves the day, then hero shows for clean up. But she's sick! And wounded. Oh noes!
Mad: And so exhausted. Needs her man.
Lillie: She faints (again), is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells the hero she is knocked up. Hero is ecstatic. And terrified because Rambina is a kickass warrior sprite who can't be contained.
Mad: Yep but oh my god, she's pregnant with his baby so all is right in the world.
Lillie: Except....(dum dum dum) the bad guys make it onto base and grab the pregnant Rambina!
Mad: Completely off topic but now I wonder if Quinn and Lacey (secondary characters) have a book of their own.
Lillie: No idea but I'd probably read it.
Mad: Have no fear, Lillie! Rambina can handle herself.
Lillie: Of course she does! But the hero ultimately gets to save the day and shoot the bad guy for the first time in the book.
Mad: He's no longer a wuss. Rejoice with me.
*snickering*
Lillie: *much rejoicing occurs*
And that's basically the end.
Mad: NO!
Lillie: Oh no...
Mad: You forgot the part where she's horny and calls her MOTHER for tip on how to get raunchy sexytimes with hero again.
Because she's tired of vanilla sexytimes.
Not only does SHE call her mother but HERO calls her father for advice too.
Lillie: Yes, he called her dad to see if he could bang the man's daughter doggy style.
I think I forgot that out on purpose.
Mad: ROFL Yes.
Lillie: The answer was yes, by the way. The parents said it was just fine to have dirty, energetic sex with their pregnant daughter. So they do.
I hate to even ask this but what's your final grade on this one?
Mad: I gave it a 2.5/3 star. The whole WTFery kept it from being a DNF & I did have fun with the over the top-ness of it all. I think I've finally read my first cracktastic book!
But...in all the shootings, the villain was still not caught so that was kind of lame.
What about you?
Lillie: It would have been a 4 star for me if the family part hadn't happened. But with Tweetie staring at her vag, her talking about sibling penis size, the parents, etc, it was bumped down to 2.5 stars. I love the over protective hero and all his care of her so that kept it from being a DNF for me. But yes, this is pure crack.
I was disappointed that she had a 30+ body count but the bad guy was still around at the end. Lame.
Mad: After this WTFery read, you won't be surprised at all that I bought book 2 in the series today. I plan to see if that is as over the top as this one is although, kind up upset that the hero is not one of her brothers nor one of the hero's brother. Just one of the dudes the hero works with who got a 1 page phone call with hero towards the very end of the book.
Will keep you posted on this read. :D
You can read all of Mad's Kindle highlights and notes here and Lillie's here.
March 3, 2016
Re-read March 2016 just because I was in the mood.
I forgot how OTT crazy this story is and totally unbelievable lol. But still an enjoyable read. I probably would rate it closer to 3.5 now.
Original review Oct 2015
Love an over-the-top alpha male who only has eyes for the heroine. Keely was kick ass even if she was young. Ren was uber-alpha who couldn't get enough of Keely. Throw in some suspense and action and it was a near perfect story.
I forgot how OTT crazy this story is and totally unbelievable lol. But still an enjoyable read. I probably would rate it closer to 3.5 now.
Original review Oct 2015
Love an over-the-top alpha male who only has eyes for the heroine. Keely was kick ass even if she was young. Ren was uber-alpha who couldn't get enough of Keely. Throw in some suspense and action and it was a near perfect story.
June 20, 2013
Full disclosure: I haven't finished the book yet. I'm not sure I can. I was literally cringing as I was reading it last night as the writing is just that bad. Just. That. Bad.
I love a good romance, especially one with a kick-ass heroine, but Keely is so utterly and completely unbelievable, and Ren is so one-dimensional that I'd honestly much rather read pretty much anything else than have to finish this book.
The "chemistry" between Keely and Ren (what kind of name is Ren anyway??) is ridiculous in its unbelievability. I come from a military family and there is NO way I'd swap spit with some guy, as hot as he may be, in front of my over-protective brother, especially if (a) that hot guy was my brother's boss and (b) I'd known him for all of 10 minutes, let alone comment on his, er, endowments, in front of him.
Come on. Seriously.
This book is more in the fantasy realm than romance fiction.
Come to think of it, fantasy may be a bit of a stretch too.
Sorry Monette. It just isn't good.
I love a good romance, especially one with a kick-ass heroine, but Keely is so utterly and completely unbelievable, and Ren is so one-dimensional that I'd honestly much rather read pretty much anything else than have to finish this book.
The "chemistry" between Keely and Ren (what kind of name is Ren anyway??) is ridiculous in its unbelievability. I come from a military family and there is NO way I'd swap spit with some guy, as hot as he may be, in front of my over-protective brother, especially if (a) that hot guy was my brother's boss and (b) I'd known him for all of 10 minutes, let alone comment on his, er, endowments, in front of him.
Come on. Seriously.
This book is more in the fantasy realm than romance fiction.
Come to think of it, fantasy may be a bit of a stretch too.
Sorry Monette. It just isn't good.
December 13, 2011
I never complain about a book, generally because I feel that whether I like it or not, a person's story is their own and should be told. Having said that, I have just finished Eye of The Storm by Monette Michaels and I am shocked that it ever made it passed an editor. The premise of the story had merit and from the sample I read from Amazon I was quiet intrigued. After purchasing the book I was quickly shown the error of my ways...again.
The author worked so hard to build up a strong female protagonist in this story and she was successful, for a time. The character flipped back and forth between being a bold, independent woman to a needy snivelling female, to being aggravated at being babied. I understand the importance of showing that the male protagonist is in fact needed, but the way it was carried out in this particular novel was rife with contradictions. The reader is constantly forced to change their view on the characters polar opposite behaviour, that in the beginning was well established.
There are parts of this book that literally made my skin crawl.
Nowhere, EVER, in the history of time itself has talking about the size of your siblings appendages and how your mother and father have sex been considered appropriate sexual conversation.
Which leads me to another point. For this to be considered an "erotic novel", or even to have under currents of eroticism surely the reader should feel the heat between the characters from the words the writer has lovingly laid out and not have to be told that what they had just read was "hot". The sex scenes in this book were nothing short of clinical and again the consistency of the characters came into question when the "tiny, virgin" protagonist literally jumps on a large, well endowed man and rides like it's her profession.
This book is filled with awkward similes and misused metaphors leaving the reader in doubt as to whether the author actually read any of what she had put down on paper or just verbally spewed for our literary displeasure.
I liked the general plot and the basis for the story but as a whole this book has been a waste of my time and money.
Not only do I want to give this minus 5 stars, but I also want to find the author and demand she give me my money back. The fact this book is in print makes my physically angry.
The author worked so hard to build up a strong female protagonist in this story and she was successful, for a time. The character flipped back and forth between being a bold, independent woman to a needy snivelling female, to being aggravated at being babied. I understand the importance of showing that the male protagonist is in fact needed, but the way it was carried out in this particular novel was rife with contradictions. The reader is constantly forced to change their view on the characters polar opposite behaviour, that in the beginning was well established.
There are parts of this book that literally made my skin crawl.
Nowhere, EVER, in the history of time itself has talking about the size of your siblings appendages and how your mother and father have sex been considered appropriate sexual conversation.
Which leads me to another point. For this to be considered an "erotic novel", or even to have under currents of eroticism surely the reader should feel the heat between the characters from the words the writer has lovingly laid out and not have to be told that what they had just read was "hot". The sex scenes in this book were nothing short of clinical and again the consistency of the characters came into question when the "tiny, virgin" protagonist literally jumps on a large, well endowed man and rides like it's her profession.
This book is filled with awkward similes and misused metaphors leaving the reader in doubt as to whether the author actually read any of what she had put down on paper or just verbally spewed for our literary displeasure.
I liked the general plot and the basis for the story but as a whole this book has been a waste of my time and money.
Not only do I want to give this minus 5 stars, but I also want to find the author and demand she give me my money back. The fact this book is in print makes my physically angry.
October 30, 2015
This book was great! Keely the h was so capable and feisty! I loved her. And Ren the H was a total badass and tall, dark and hunky! It was insta-love which was fine by me- maybe more insta-lust, but feelings followed quickly. There was a lot of action in this due to a suspense storyline on the side. I thought the action was a little over the top, but very enjoyable. Keely and Ren were perfectly matched and both had crazy awesome military skills. Ren had 2 relationships in the past- neither lasted beyond a year. He did not come across as a manwhore at all- I think his file mentioned him being monk like.And we got no details of his sexual past- yippee! Keely was a virgin, but I totally understood why. Their steamy scenes were hot! I loved the way they were at the end of the book. The suspense story was not solved at the end. Safety gang safe
October 14, 2012
Dear God, I don't even know where to begin with this book. Total WTFery read. Review to come.
Book Dish is a new feature at Novel Thoughts. This isn't a review. It's Mad and Lillie honestly discussing a recent book. Book Dish will be full of SPOILERS. And possibly bad words. Except in this one, we will use "fudge ripple" instead of the f bomb because that's what our heroine does :D
EYE OF THE STORM
Lillie: So we have Keely, our heroine. She has 5 brothers, all badass SEALs, Marines, etc. Her dad is a marine. She went to MIT at 13, got 3 doctorates, spent 5 days in BUDs before she was caught, then went to sniper school, all while working with the DOD and other alphabet agencies through MIT. Through that work, she discoveres her brother Tweetie (yes Tweetie) and his band of badass mercs are walking into a trap and goes to South America to save them. That's where the story begins. Did I forget anything about her background?
Mad: Don't think so, isn't that enough?
Lillie: Obviously not, since we got a full book about her awesomeness.
Mad: Oh oh! Her Spider sense, don't forget her spider sense.
Lillie: Yes! Her spider sense that always lets her know about bad stuff. And her flaming hair that attracts all men by the droves. And her perfect tiny body.
Mad: Yes because it's a burden to her but *sigh* It is what it is.
Lillie: Such a burden. Poor tiny perfect heroine
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I guess all the butt kicking in South America?
Mad: Yes. Because you know when you're in the middle of a butt kicking, you pause long enough to make googley eyes at hero and flirt with him.
Lillie: Yep, all his boners and butt patting were so romantic when done in front of her brother while people were shooting at them and THROWING LIVES GRENADES!
Mad: And that's all after she took out 2 bad mercs and then killed a third before getting to her brother.
Don't hate, they were very romantic, where else did you expect them to do that? Haha
But did you truly believe the hero got so possessive so quickly? I kept wanting to say "slow down, man, breathe."
Lillie: Yeah, that was really fast. Within seconds of her showing her face, he was beating his chest and growling mine.
Mad: Give me a sec, I have to grab my Kindle. I made so many highlights reading this. Close to 100. Did you?
Lillie: I don't have as many. I knew you did so I zipped through and let you take the time to highlight the crazy.
Mad: That first scene when she took out those 2 mercs and told them that it was "Too bad you had to run across me on one of my mean days." I knew it was just beginning of the WTFery to happen in the book.
Lillie: And that attitude sticks through the whole book. Let the wtfery begin!
Mad: I think I said "Girl, shut up." a billion times (not really but it sure felt like it!)
Lillie: But if she didn't tell us how awesome she is, how would we know? Not when she killed a dozen baddies after she found her brother, not when she dived and threw the before-mentioned grenade back at the baddies, not when she was dizzy with a fever and killed 2 more bad guys. She has to tell us so we know!
Mad: That was such a stupid scene. She's got a fever, feeling weak and dizzy yet she's like the Energizer Bunny that won't quit and keeps on killing.
Before she passes out and needs to be carried and fed through a straw because she is so weak and out of it.
Lillie: Wait! We must discuss my favorite (not really) scene.
Mad: And that is?
Lillie: After the guys discover the bruises and bite marks from her kidnapping and torture pre-rescue and she takes out 2 of the baddies while sick, the hero gets back to her to find her delirious. He scoops her up, and after knowing her for 30 minutes, a tear runs down the ultimate badass's manly cheek because he was afraid for her. *sigh* So romantic!(we really need a sarcasm font)
Mad: That scene, it made me roll my eyes so hard while saying "you big ass crybaby, you don't even KNOW her yet!"
Lillie: But it did lead up to the scene that should never be in any book outside of Flowers in the Attic.
I'm not even going to try to describe the next part. We'll just put the actual quote. Ren (hero) has Keely in a cool tub to bring down her fever. Her brother is in the bathroom with her and they are examining her wounds.
Mad: Yes, that was a little too creepy for my tastes. I have brothers and never would I think there would ever be any situation for something like that to happen. No. Just no.
Lillie: Tweeter is looking at her privates. Hero is looking at them. Then the other team member is too. And they see nothing wrong with this! Toooo much for me.
Mad: YES. I seriously had issues with that scene like it was NORMAL for such a scene to occur.
Lillie: And that's not the last time we see siblings talking about each others pink parts or dangley bits but that part comes later.
Mad: Then when she woke up after 3 days of being unconscious and she's all "oh, I need a Pepsi but oh wait, I'm also hungry, the guys aren't here so I'll go downstairs BY MYSELF and get something to eat knowing the villain was STILL out there waiting for them.
Dumb
Dumb
Dumb
Lillie: Yes! Soooo damn dumb. But she's super heroine so what do you really expect?
Mad: Yes, I know, her Spider sense and all. I had NO IDEA Spiderman had a sister.
Lillie: One of the things I did like about this book and is one of my favorite parts in many romances, is that the hero takes care of her. Loved seeing that soft side of him, even if it was way over the top.
Mad: Her over the top-ness just blinded me to him for the most part, to be honest.
And so, she's downstairs in a private cabana, waiting for her food when two mercs come in and want to take her to their boss. But, not only are they there to take her to their boss, she's noticed they both have an erection by just talking to her.
Lillie: Because she's awesome, of course. But she still kicks their asses after she was unconscious for three days.
Mad: I'm just glad I knew going in from the Amazon forums this book was first mentioned on, that it was very over the top. I guess knowing that before I went in kept me from having this end up as a DNF for me plus, the whole WTFery business of it all kept me glued to it and kept me turning pages.
And the mom. I just can't even...I have no words for that scene she was in. I kept thinking "Seriously? Are you fudge ripple kidding me?!" lol
Lillie: When her parents show up to help kick butt (because that's what all super families do) for the very first part I got what I would have expected. Her family being over protective of the 21 year old virgin. Then her mom notices the hero's erection and they all have a convo about his boner. Really?! REALLY?! How is this normal?
Mad: I know. That was beyond strange AND THEN!!
That scene where the heroine announces to the whole room that she's not wearing any panties. Why? For the love of God, WHY would you do that? Yes, they're your family but there were guys in there that YOU DID NOT KNOW and you nonchalantly say this then walk out of the room?
That's something you take your Mom aside for...the mom that was already in the room too when you announced that. You don't bring that up like a "oh, by the way, I lost my keys" bit. This was personal business no one else needed to know.
Lillie: Then it says that all males eyes were glued to her ass as she walked away. That made me shudder since 5 sets of those eyes were her brothers' and one was her dad's. Why would the author do that to us? *gag*
Mad: Yes. I just....mercy, I have no words.
Lillie: I had that problem often in this book.
So hero puts Keely, her mom, and bro on a plane back to base. He stays in SA to find the bad guy and she becomes all super woman by fitting his base with top notch security programs.
They are apart for 7 days and only talk on the phone every evening. Then he comes back...
Mad: Yes. This is a week later. She's spent what? a day/ a day and a half with him before that? 3 of them she was unconscious with a fever so I'm NOT counting those.
And all of a sudden she's thinking to herself that she can't sleep without the hero in bed with her.
Lillie: They were together and conscious a total of maybe 6 hours.
Mad: Exactly! Not even a day and she's gotten so used to him that she now can't sleep without him because he keeps the nightmares away?
Major major eye rolling on my part.
Lillie: Well, he was crying over her within an hour of their meet. *shrugs*
Mad: Not even an hour, that wuss.
Lillie: Don't hate on the manly tears. They were MANLY!
Mad: They were NOT needed at that point. That was just so silly. Manly tears or not. Haha.
Lillie: So he gets back just as the bad guys arrive at base. And of course super woman and Tweetie (god help me) are out in a blizzard. Hero loses his shit, Keely is uber badass sniper and eliminates all the bad guys but becomes sick from being out in a blizzard.
Once again, hero takes care of her.
And then I get my favorite scene (no, no sarcasm) where hero confides his feelings about her to his brother.
Mad: That seemed the theme though, right? She's all badass. She kicks ass, kills the baddies and when it's all said and done, she's all faint and weak and can't keep her eyes open anymore.
Needs to be carried, needs to be coddled and let's not forget that she needs to eat through a straw because OMG she's so weak.
Lillie: Yes, that is every action scene and there are tons of those.
Mad: But then, she bounces back and she's all Rambina again.
Lillie: She's weak and has a needle phobia. And a blood phobia. And a killing phobia. And...yeah. All that and then some.
Mad: I was exhausted just reading about all her kickass then weakness scenes.
Oh oh!
Lillie: Oh?
Mad: Let's not forget that whenever the hero was around her he had an erection that would not go away and her womb clenched every time she thought of him. *snickering*
Lillie: Damn clenching wombs.
Mad: I'm dying, stop! lol
Lillie: During all this, she's using her uber genius ability to sniff out the traitor. But, wait! Still no sexy times and the heroine has waited long enough! (you know, all big whopping 10 conscious hours.)
Keely wants sex. Ren is afraid her wee little vagina can't handle his massive manliness. She explains that her mom is smaller than her (eww) and her dad is his size (double eww) and they will be fine. Hero is not convinced. Then there is this scene....
Mad: Where I shared on Twitter with comments of "Moron" "Idiot" and "Dumbass" if I remember correctly.
That was sooo dumb! So dumb!
Lillie: I didn't even have words. Still don't. Just a lot of blinking and "whaaaa?"
Mad: And then the vegetables! She goes looking for vegetables to get rid of her virginity since hero won't do it.
That was another "ARE YOU SERIOUS, STOP IT, YOU DUMB WOMAN!"
Lillie: Not just goes looking but announces to all the mercs (including her brother) that's she's looking for veggies to stretch her wee little vagina. Then tells hero, still in front of everyone, that the zucchinis were too small!
Mad: Yes. That had WTF all over.
Lillie: This is when I started drinking...
Mad: *giggling* But then wait....
They finally get down to the sexytimes business.
Lillie: Hero decides that nothing, not even veggies, are stealing what belongs to him and drags her back to the cabin. Sexy times occur that really weren't all that sexy.
Mad: He doesn't wear a condom. She tells him she's on the Pill. They have sex. THEN he decides after they have unprotected sex that he's going to go down on her to lap up her creamy juice...which is also his since he had no condom on.
Ew. Just ew.
Lillie: Blech!
Mad: And tells her that's how he's going to do it with her from then on. Unprotected sex, then he'll go down on her. *covers eyes*
Lillie: Then it's 3 weeks later. Hero is on another mission and Kelly tells her brother she needs to go to town for clothes and to get a refill on her birth control. She actually ran out BEFORE they had sex but she should be safe right? You see where this is going...
Mad: It's taken another turn in cray-cray town.
Lillie: Off we go to town. She's pregnant of course and is feeling weak and sick on their way back. Then the bad guys show. Again.
Mad: And she turns into Rambina. Again.
Lillie: Of course. Saves the day, then hero shows for clean up. But she's sick! And wounded. Oh noes!
Mad: And so exhausted. Needs her man.
Lillie: She faints (again), is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells the hero she is knocked up. Hero is ecstatic. And terrified because Rambina is a kickass warrior sprite who can't be contained.
Mad: Yep but oh my god, she's pregnant with his baby so all is right in the world.
Lillie: Except....(dum dum dum) the bad guys make it onto base and grab the pregnant Rambina!
Mad: Completely off topic but now I wonder if Quinn and Lacey (secondary characters) have a book of their own.
Lillie: No idea but I'd probably read it.
Mad: Have no fear, Lillie! Rambina can handle herself.
Lillie: Of course she does! But the hero ultimately gets to save the day and shoot the bad guy for the first time in the book.
Mad: He's no longer a wuss. Rejoice with me.
*snickering*
Lillie: *much rejoicing occurs*
And that's basically the end.
Mad: NO!
Lillie: Oh no...
Mad: You forgot the part where she's horny and calls her MOTHER for tips on how to get raunchy sexytimes with hero again.
Because she's tired of vanilla sexytimes.
Not only does SHE call her mother but HERO calls her father for advice too.
Lillie: Yes, he called her dad to see if he could bang the man's daughter doggy style.
I think I forgot that on purpose.
Mad: ROFL Yes.
Lillie: The answer was yes, by the way. The parents said it was just fine to have dirty, energetic sex with their pregnant daughter. So they do.
I hate to even ask this but what's your final grade on this one?
Mad: I gave it a 2.5/3 star. The whole WTFery kept it from being a DNF & I did have fun with the over the top-ness of it all. I think I've finally read my first cracktastic book!
But...in all the shootings, the villain was still not caught so that was kind of lame.
What about you?
Lillie: It would have been a 4 star for me if the family part hadn't happened. But with Tweetie staring at her vag, her talking about sibling penis size, the parents, etc, it was bumped down to 2.5 stars. I love the over protective hero and all his care of her so that kept it from being a DNF for me. But yes, this is pure crack.
I was disappointed that she had a 30+ body count but the bad guy was still around at the end. Lame.
Mad: After this WTFery read, you won't be surprised at all that I bought book 2 in the series today. I plan to see if that is as over the top as this one is although, kind up upset that the hero is not one of her brothers nor one of the hero's brother. Just one of the dudes the hero works with who got a 1 page phone call with hero towards the very end of the book.
Will keep you posted on this read. :D
You can read all of Mad's Kindle highlights and notes here and Lillie's here.
Book Dish is a new feature at Novel Thoughts. This isn't a review. It's Mad and Lillie honestly discussing a recent book. Book Dish will be full of SPOILERS. And possibly bad words. Except in this one, we will use "fudge ripple" instead of the f bomb because that's what our heroine does :D
EYE OF THE STORM
by Monette Michaels
Security Specialists International, book 1
Lillie: So we have Keely, our heroine. She has 5 brothers, all badass SEALs, Marines, etc. Her dad is a marine. She went to MIT at 13, got 3 doctorates, spent 5 days in BUDs before she was caught, then went to sniper school, all while working with the DOD and other alphabet agencies through MIT. Through that work, she discoveres her brother Tweetie (yes Tweetie) and his band of badass mercs are walking into a trap and goes to South America to save them. That's where the story begins. Did I forget anything about her background?
Mad: Don't think so, isn't that enough?
Lillie: Obviously not, since we got a full book about her awesomeness.
Mad: Oh oh! Her Spider sense, don't forget her spider sense.
Lillie: Yes! Her spider sense that always lets her know about bad stuff. And her flaming hair that attracts all men by the droves. And her perfect tiny body.
Mad: Yes because it's a burden to her but *sigh* It is what it is.
Lillie: Such a burden. Poor tiny perfect heroine
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I guess all the butt kicking in South America?
Mad: Yes. Because you know when you're in the middle of a butt kicking, you pause long enough to make googley eyes at hero and flirt with him.
Lillie: Yep, all his boners and butt patting were so romantic when done in front of her brother while people were shooting at them and THROWING LIVES GRENADES!
Mad: And that's all after she took out 2 bad mercs and then killed a third before getting to her brother.
Don't hate, they were very romantic, where else did you expect them to do that? Haha
But did you truly believe the hero got so possessive so quickly? I kept wanting to say "slow down, man, breathe."
Lillie: Yeah, that was really fast. Within seconds of her showing her face, he was beating his chest and growling mine.
Mad: Give me a sec, I have to grab my Kindle. I made so many highlights reading this. Close to 100. Did you?
Lillie: I don't have as many. I knew you did so I zipped through and let you take the time to highlight the crazy.
Mad: That first scene when she took out those 2 mercs and told them that it was "Too bad you had to run across me on one of my mean days." I knew it was just beginning of the WTFery to happen in the book.
Lillie: And that attitude sticks through the whole book. Let the wtfery begin!
Mad: I think I said "Girl, shut up." a billion times (not really but it sure felt like it!)
Lillie: But if she didn't tell us how awesome she is, how would we know? Not when she killed a dozen baddies after she found her brother, not when she dived and threw the before-mentioned grenade back at the baddies, not when she was dizzy with a fever and killed 2 more bad guys. She has to tell us so we know!
Mad: That was such a stupid scene. She's got a fever, feeling weak and dizzy yet she's like the Energizer Bunny that won't quit and keeps on killing.
Before she passes out and needs to be carried and fed through a straw because she is so weak and out of it.
Lillie: Wait! We must discuss my favorite (not really) scene.
Mad: And that is?
Lillie: After the guys discover the bruises and bite marks from her kidnapping and torture pre-rescue and she takes out 2 of the baddies while sick, the hero gets back to her to find her delirious. He scoops her up, and after knowing her for 30 minutes, a tear runs down the ultimate badass's manly cheek because he was afraid for her. *sigh* So romantic!(we really need a sarcasm font)
Mad: That scene, it made me roll my eyes so hard while saying "you big ass crybaby, you don't even KNOW her yet!"
Lillie: But it did lead up to the scene that should never be in any book outside of Flowers in the Attic.
I'm not even going to try to describe the next part. We'll just put the actual quote. Ren (hero) has Keely in a cool tub to bring down her fever. Her brother is in the bathroom with her and they are examining her wounds.
Keely's brother knelt by the tub and efficiently gave her a shot in the upper arm. "A dead one. But first, my brothers and I will want a little 'talk' with the fucker." He took another cloth and began to bathe his sister's legs. His hand halted almost immediately. "Aww, fuck, just fuck."At the look on Tweeter's face, at the tone in his voice, Ren stiffened. Icy fear traveled his spine. "What?"
"You can't see from there--" Tweeter choked back what sounded suspiciously like a sob. "Between her legs ... on her inner thigh."
"No!" He howled the word. Had she been raped? The bathroom door banged open and Vanko rushed in.
"What's wrong with the little one?" Ren was so upset he didn't even think to order Vanko to leave the room. He just pulled Keely into his arms, laying her across his lap, then gently spread her legs. Bruising on her inner thighs looked like finger marks. He traced the ugly evidence of her legs being forcibly held apart. He scanned every millimeter of her skin up to the red-curl-covered mound. There was a multitude of bruises.
Mad: Yes, that was a little too creepy for my tastes. I have brothers and never would I think there would ever be any situation for something like that to happen. No. Just no.
Lillie: Tweeter is looking at her privates. Hero is looking at them. Then the other team member is too. And they see nothing wrong with this! Toooo much for me.
Mad: YES. I seriously had issues with that scene like it was NORMAL for such a scene to occur.
Lillie: And that's not the last time we see siblings talking about each others pink parts or dangley bits but that part comes later.
Mad: Then when she woke up after 3 days of being unconscious and she's all "oh, I need a Pepsi but oh wait, I'm also hungry, the guys aren't here so I'll go downstairs BY MYSELF and get something to eat knowing the villain was STILL out there waiting for them.
Dumb
Dumb
Dumb
Lillie: Yes! Soooo damn dumb. But she's super heroine so what do you really expect?
Mad: Yes, I know, her Spider sense and all. I had NO IDEA Spiderman had a sister.
Lillie: One of the things I did like about this book and is one of my favorite parts in many romances, is that the hero takes care of her. Loved seeing that soft side of him, even if it was way over the top.
Mad: Her over the top-ness just blinded me to him for the most part, to be honest.
And so, she's downstairs in a private cabana, waiting for her food when two mercs come in and want to take her to their boss. But, not only are they there to take her to their boss, she's noticed they both have an erection by just talking to her.
Lillie: Because she's awesome, of course. But she still kicks their asses after she was unconscious for three days.
Mad: I'm just glad I knew going in from the Amazon forums this book was first mentioned on, that it was very over the top. I guess knowing that before I went in kept me from having this end up as a DNF for me plus, the whole WTFery business of it all kept me glued to it and kept me turning pages.
And the mom. I just can't even...I have no words for that scene she was in. I kept thinking "Seriously? Are you fudge ripple kidding me?!" lol
Lillie: When her parents show up to help kick butt (because that's what all super families do) for the very first part I got what I would have expected. Her family being over protective of the 21 year old virgin. Then her mom notices the hero's erection and they all have a convo about his boner. Really?! REALLY?! How is this normal?
Mad: I know. That was beyond strange AND THEN!!
That scene where the heroine announces to the whole room that she's not wearing any panties. Why? For the love of God, WHY would you do that? Yes, they're your family but there were guys in there that YOU DID NOT KNOW and you nonchalantly say this then walk out of the room?
That's something you take your Mom aside for...the mom that was already in the room too when you announced that. You don't bring that up like a "oh, by the way, I lost my keys" bit. This was personal business no one else needed to know.
Lillie: Then it says that all males eyes were glued to her ass as she walked away. That made me shudder since 5 sets of those eyes were her brothers' and one was her dad's. Why would the author do that to us? *gag*
Mad: Yes. I just....mercy, I have no words.
Lillie: I had that problem often in this book.
So hero puts Keely, her mom, and bro on a plane back to base. He stays in SA to find the bad guy and she becomes all super woman by fitting his base with top notch security programs.
They are apart for 7 days and only talk on the phone every evening. Then he comes back...
Mad: Yes. This is a week later. She's spent what? a day/ a day and a half with him before that? 3 of them she was unconscious with a fever so I'm NOT counting those.
And all of a sudden she's thinking to herself that she can't sleep without the hero in bed with her.
Lillie: They were together and conscious a total of maybe 6 hours.
Mad: Exactly! Not even a day and she's gotten so used to him that she now can't sleep without him because he keeps the nightmares away?
Major major eye rolling on my part.
Lillie: Well, he was crying over her within an hour of their meet. *shrugs*
Mad: Not even an hour, that wuss.
Lillie: Don't hate on the manly tears. They were MANLY!
Mad: They were NOT needed at that point. That was just so silly. Manly tears or not. Haha.
Lillie: So he gets back just as the bad guys arrive at base. And of course super woman and Tweetie (god help me) are out in a blizzard. Hero loses his shit, Keely is uber badass sniper and eliminates all the bad guys but becomes sick from being out in a blizzard.
Once again, hero takes care of her.
And then I get my favorite scene (no, no sarcasm) where hero confides his feelings about her to his brother.
Mad: That seemed the theme though, right? She's all badass. She kicks ass, kills the baddies and when it's all said and done, she's all faint and weak and can't keep her eyes open anymore.
Needs to be carried, needs to be coddled and let's not forget that she needs to eat through a straw because OMG she's so weak.
Lillie: Yes, that is every action scene and there are tons of those.
Mad: But then, she bounces back and she's all Rambina again.
Lillie: She's weak and has a needle phobia. And a blood phobia. And a killing phobia. And...yeah. All that and then some.
Mad: I was exhausted just reading about all her kickass then weakness scenes.
Oh oh!
Lillie: Oh?
Mad: Let's not forget that whenever the hero was around her he had an erection that would not go away and her womb clenched every time she thought of him. *snickering*
Lillie: Damn clenching wombs.
Mad: I'm dying, stop! lol
Lillie: During all this, she's using her uber genius ability to sniff out the traitor. But, wait! Still no sexy times and the heroine has waited long enough! (you know, all big whopping 10 conscious hours.)
Keely wants sex. Ren is afraid her wee little vagina can't handle his massive manliness. She explains that her mom is smaller than her (eww) and her dad is his size (double eww) and they will be fine. Hero is not convinced. Then there is this scene....
She changed her caress, tighter and rougher on his shaft, then a light swipe over the head with her palm before moving more firmly down the shaft. "Better, big guy? And I do mean big. You are larger than all my brothers."
Mad: Where I shared on Twitter with comments of "Moron" "Idiot" and "Dumbass" if I remember correctly.
That was sooo dumb! So dumb!
Lillie: I didn't even have words. Still don't. Just a lot of blinking and "whaaaa?"
Mad: And then the vegetables! She goes looking for vegetables to get rid of her virginity since hero won't do it.
That was another "ARE YOU SERIOUS, STOP IT, YOU DUMB WOMAN!"
Lillie: Not just goes looking but announces to all the mercs (including her brother) that's she's looking for veggies to stretch her wee little vagina. Then tells hero, still in front of everyone, that the zucchinis were too small!
Mad: Yes. That had WTF all over.
Lillie: This is when I started drinking...
Mad: *giggling* But then wait....
They finally get down to the sexytimes business.
Lillie: Hero decides that nothing, not even veggies, are stealing what belongs to him and drags her back to the cabin. Sexy times occur that really weren't all that sexy.
Mad: He doesn't wear a condom. She tells him she's on the Pill. They have sex. THEN he decides after they have unprotected sex that he's going to go down on her to lap up her creamy juice...which is also his since he had no condom on.
Ew. Just ew.
Lillie: Blech!
Mad: And tells her that's how he's going to do it with her from then on. Unprotected sex, then he'll go down on her. *covers eyes*
Lillie: Then it's 3 weeks later. Hero is on another mission and Kelly tells her brother she needs to go to town for clothes and to get a refill on her birth control. She actually ran out BEFORE they had sex but she should be safe right? You see where this is going...
Mad: It's taken another turn in cray-cray town.
Lillie: Off we go to town. She's pregnant of course and is feeling weak and sick on their way back. Then the bad guys show. Again.
Mad: And she turns into Rambina. Again.
Lillie: Of course. Saves the day, then hero shows for clean up. But she's sick! And wounded. Oh noes!
Mad: And so exhausted. Needs her man.
Lillie: She faints (again), is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells the hero she is knocked up. Hero is ecstatic. And terrified because Rambina is a kickass warrior sprite who can't be contained.
Mad: Yep but oh my god, she's pregnant with his baby so all is right in the world.
Lillie: Except....(dum dum dum) the bad guys make it onto base and grab the pregnant Rambina!
Mad: Completely off topic but now I wonder if Quinn and Lacey (secondary characters) have a book of their own.
Lillie: No idea but I'd probably read it.
Mad: Have no fear, Lillie! Rambina can handle herself.
Lillie: Of course she does! But the hero ultimately gets to save the day and shoot the bad guy for the first time in the book.
Mad: He's no longer a wuss. Rejoice with me.
*snickering*
Lillie: *much rejoicing occurs*
And that's basically the end.
Mad: NO!
Lillie: Oh no...
Mad: You forgot the part where she's horny and calls her MOTHER for tips on how to get raunchy sexytimes with hero again.
Because she's tired of vanilla sexytimes.
Not only does SHE call her mother but HERO calls her father for advice too.
Lillie: Yes, he called her dad to see if he could bang the man's daughter doggy style.
I think I forgot that on purpose.
Mad: ROFL Yes.
Lillie: The answer was yes, by the way. The parents said it was just fine to have dirty, energetic sex with their pregnant daughter. So they do.
I hate to even ask this but what's your final grade on this one?
Mad: I gave it a 2.5/3 star. The whole WTFery kept it from being a DNF & I did have fun with the over the top-ness of it all. I think I've finally read my first cracktastic book!
But...in all the shootings, the villain was still not caught so that was kind of lame.
What about you?
Lillie: It would have been a 4 star for me if the family part hadn't happened. But with Tweetie staring at her vag, her talking about sibling penis size, the parents, etc, it was bumped down to 2.5 stars. I love the over protective hero and all his care of her so that kept it from being a DNF for me. But yes, this is pure crack.
I was disappointed that she had a 30+ body count but the bad guy was still around at the end. Lame.
Mad: After this WTFery read, you won't be surprised at all that I bought book 2 in the series today. I plan to see if that is as over the top as this one is although, kind up upset that the hero is not one of her brothers nor one of the hero's brother. Just one of the dudes the hero works with who got a 1 page phone call with hero towards the very end of the book.
Will keep you posted on this read. :D
You can read all of Mad's Kindle highlights and notes here and Lillie's here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2012
Although I totally LOVED Ren and really liked Keely, this book was really outside the realm of belief for me.
I love a kick-ass heroine as much as the next girl, but come on, she aced sniper school, went through 5 days of SEALs Hell Week without anyone noticing (including two of her brothers that were INSTRUCTORS! How would no one notice a small woman participating in this!!! WTF?), black belts aplenty in Krav Maga (and did I mention she has no military background, only brothers and a father that should train everyone in the military because they can turn anyone into a killing machine apparently), she can take down a man twice her size while suffering from a fever and various injuries, has 3 doctorates (btw, she's 21), and started MIT when she was 13. On top of all that, she is apparently the hottest chick in the world, and men can't help but try to prey upon her so therefore she cannot be let out of the house without a brother to protect her honor - although why bother when she can take on anyone, anywhere? The whole book was really a platform to Michaels to make quite possibly the most skilled, beautiful, smart (yet naive) heroine in the world.
I would have liked for Keely to be a little, well, less of everything. Maybe only one doctorate, or a little older (again, 21!). I did totally fall for Ren though - I want me a piece of that! All in all, this was entertaining, and I might read the next book in the series.
I love a kick-ass heroine as much as the next girl, but come on, she aced sniper school, went through 5 days of SEALs Hell Week without anyone noticing (including two of her brothers that were INSTRUCTORS! How would no one notice a small woman participating in this!!! WTF?), black belts aplenty in Krav Maga (and did I mention she has no military background, only brothers and a father that should train everyone in the military because they can turn anyone into a killing machine apparently), she can take down a man twice her size while suffering from a fever and various injuries, has 3 doctorates (btw, she's 21), and started MIT when she was 13. On top of all that, she is apparently the hottest chick in the world, and men can't help but try to prey upon her so therefore she cannot be let out of the house without a brother to protect her honor - although why bother when she can take on anyone, anywhere? The whole book was really a platform to Michaels to make quite possibly the most skilled, beautiful, smart (yet naive) heroine in the world.
I would have liked for Keely to be a little, well, less of everything. Maybe only one doctorate, or a little older (again, 21!). I did totally fall for Ren though - I want me a piece of that! All in all, this was entertaining, and I might read the next book in the series.
February 23, 2013
I'd hoped I'd want to read more of her books, but that isn't going to happen. The plot elements were just not believable to me. At points the story dragged. Just not for me.
There are two things that pop up constantly in the book that are very annoying:
Blood sugar. This heroine has an obsession with keeping her blood sugar in proper balance. It is mentioned a number of times in the book. Too many times. Compulsively.
More disturbing is the heroine's hyper awareness of wang sizes and wang hardness. Another constant. I blame inappropriate behavior in her childhood. She knows the hero's wang his of a larger size because a)she has access to records of that sort of thing from the government and b)she can compare them in size to those of her brothers as they apparently walked around the house naked - frequently.
uhhhh...No. Creepy with an ick factor of 5000 icks.
Totally turned off by this book.
There are two things that pop up constantly in the book that are very annoying:
Blood sugar. This heroine has an obsession with keeping her blood sugar in proper balance. It is mentioned a number of times in the book. Too many times. Compulsively.
More disturbing is the heroine's hyper awareness of wang sizes and wang hardness. Another constant. I blame inappropriate behavior in her childhood. She knows the hero's wang his of a larger size because a)she has access to records of that sort of thing from the government and b)she can compare them in size to those of her brothers as they apparently walked around the house naked - frequently.
uhhhh...No. Creepy with an ick factor of 5000 icks.
Totally turned off by this book.
November 30, 2015
3.5 stars. good enjoyable story:) The h is awesome but really some things were unbelievable lol but I loved it. H was a great possessive alpha yum! I just wanted more romance but it was still a good read.
h is a virgin and H wasnt but I dont think he was a big manwhore and it's been a while for him. so this worked fine for me.
safety gang safe!
Thank you Erika:)
h is a virgin and H wasnt but I dont think he was a big manwhore and it's been a while for him. so this worked fine for me.
safety gang safe!
Thank you Erika:)
November 26, 2015
You really can't take this book too seriously or you will find it too unbelievable to enjoy. For me, I love kick-ass heroines so Keely's over the top badassery was great. I could have done with one or two less times the bad guys came after her though. It was just one after the other. Ren was a great hero! I also wished Keely wasn't a virgin so their sexual experience was similar but I'm just glad he wasn't a manwhore. Oh and I was just a little uncomfortable with how open Keely was sexually with her brothers.
October 23, 2014
Entertaining read.At first,I thought,Wow!this chick is a total badass,then as I read futher along,I said,this has got to be a parody of an RS book.The heroine can do anything and kick ass like no one else,and after,just has a nice ole cry!She was a mini Rambette.
Loved the hero,he is everything Alpha and a possessive son of a gun,he is all " my woman" from the get go.
Final thoughts,yes,I enjoyed this book,and read it with a grain of salt.Non stop action till the end.Sexy times were written nicely and I was glad the author did not throw them into bed right away,the build up fitting.Def will read the series .
45***
Loved the hero,he is everything Alpha and a possessive son of a gun,he is all " my woman" from the get go.
Final thoughts,yes,I enjoyed this book,and read it with a grain of salt.Non stop action till the end.Sexy times were written nicely and I was glad the author did not throw them into bed right away,the build up fitting.Def will read the series .
45***
August 22, 2015
Realised I already read this years back!
July 22, 2015
*WARNING*
(Iv quoted a few lines from the book to make a point!)
Then again if you read this review then you probably won't want to dedicate your time to reading this story.
The plot to this story got me interested, and thus I read the sample chapters for free on iBooks.
To say I was impressed at first would be a understatement. The heroine showed spunk and fire that was rather refreshing (as apposed to the damsel in distress.) The fact that Keely was the one saving her brother and the alpha male was a nice twist.
I initially liked the authors writing style and the introduction to the characters was perfect. The author got me loving Keely and her fire almost instantly. The same could be said for Ren, Tweety and the rest of the team.
However after I paid for the book and continued reading (around chap 2/3) suddenly the entire story took a nose dive for the worst.
Soon after the immediate initial action dies down the so called 'badass' Keely vibe is replaced with a... Well to be honest I don't know how to describe it.
Yes sure she could wield a knife and shoot a gun, but (now I'm speaking from my personal feelings here) soon I started getting a bit confused with her bi-polar changes in personality. One minute she is a badass lady who can take down guys three times her size and the next she's crying and asking to be held? The changes were far to extreme and fast. She would literally be a crying child a couple of seconds after taking down a thug.
Furthermore some of the things she said (and the other characters too..) shocked me. It was completely unbelievable and dare I say inappropriate... I mean seriously, who the heck talks about the size of your Father and brothers 'privates' with your lover? And then just to put the nail in the coffin, Ren gets sex advice from his fiancés father, and what does her father say?
"I called your Dad—at your brother's suggestion." He threw her a sexy, but cheeky, grin. Your Dad told me to stop being a candy-assed wuss and take you like the dominant male I am"
WHAT THE FUDGE!?!
Even the most open minded father would never say that!! But we're talking about a hardcore military father here, and he said that to his only daughters fiancé?
Additionally this is just a personal preference, I found that the entire story felt a bit unstructured. As though the team are just fighting pointless battles after battles.
Don't get me wrong, I read the story till the end. Why? Because I hate starting something and not finishing it. But if I'm truthful it was rather hard to finish.
Nearing the end of the book I got the feeling as though I was reading a poorly written story of a alpha male and a bipolar girl from Wattpad. I'm a fan of Wattpad but you can sometimes get stories that are just ridiculously fake. But I can deal with that kind of results with Wattpad because it's a free service and these books aren't published. (However I have read quite a few genius written stories!)
But the reason I'm complaining about this story is that I actually paid money for it. I am completely let down (for the first time!) I'm usually a very easily pleased reader.
Just to balance out my criticisms I just want to point out that despite some major flaws the book did have some good points.
• I though Ren was badass albeit slightly generic, but still badass.
• the first two-three chapters were amazing.
• I thought sometimes Keely could be rather cute and adorable. (Even if she was suppose to be a badass!)
• The author did know a lot about military weapons and a good knowledge on war background.
•I really liked some of the supporting characters (Tweety in particular!)
Thanks for reading. :)
(Iv quoted a few lines from the book to make a point!)
Then again if you read this review then you probably won't want to dedicate your time to reading this story.
The plot to this story got me interested, and thus I read the sample chapters for free on iBooks.
To say I was impressed at first would be a understatement. The heroine showed spunk and fire that was rather refreshing (as apposed to the damsel in distress.) The fact that Keely was the one saving her brother and the alpha male was a nice twist.
I initially liked the authors writing style and the introduction to the characters was perfect. The author got me loving Keely and her fire almost instantly. The same could be said for Ren, Tweety and the rest of the team.
However after I paid for the book and continued reading (around chap 2/3) suddenly the entire story took a nose dive for the worst.
Soon after the immediate initial action dies down the so called 'badass' Keely vibe is replaced with a... Well to be honest I don't know how to describe it.
Yes sure she could wield a knife and shoot a gun, but (now I'm speaking from my personal feelings here) soon I started getting a bit confused with her bi-polar changes in personality. One minute she is a badass lady who can take down guys three times her size and the next she's crying and asking to be held? The changes were far to extreme and fast. She would literally be a crying child a couple of seconds after taking down a thug.
Furthermore some of the things she said (and the other characters too..) shocked me. It was completely unbelievable and dare I say inappropriate... I mean seriously, who the heck talks about the size of your Father and brothers 'privates' with your lover? And then just to put the nail in the coffin, Ren gets sex advice from his fiancés father, and what does her father say?
"I called your Dad—at your brother's suggestion." He threw her a sexy, but cheeky, grin. Your Dad told me to stop being a candy-assed wuss and take you like the dominant male I am"
WHAT THE FUDGE!?!
Even the most open minded father would never say that!! But we're talking about a hardcore military father here, and he said that to his only daughters fiancé?
Additionally this is just a personal preference, I found that the entire story felt a bit unstructured. As though the team are just fighting pointless battles after battles.
Don't get me wrong, I read the story till the end. Why? Because I hate starting something and not finishing it. But if I'm truthful it was rather hard to finish.
Nearing the end of the book I got the feeling as though I was reading a poorly written story of a alpha male and a bipolar girl from Wattpad. I'm a fan of Wattpad but you can sometimes get stories that are just ridiculously fake. But I can deal with that kind of results with Wattpad because it's a free service and these books aren't published. (However I have read quite a few genius written stories!)
But the reason I'm complaining about this story is that I actually paid money for it. I am completely let down (for the first time!) I'm usually a very easily pleased reader.
Just to balance out my criticisms I just want to point out that despite some major flaws the book did have some good points.
• I though Ren was badass albeit slightly generic, but still badass.
• the first two-three chapters were amazing.
• I thought sometimes Keely could be rather cute and adorable. (Even if she was suppose to be a badass!)
• The author did know a lot about military weapons and a good knowledge on war background.
•I really liked some of the supporting characters (Tweety in particular!)
Thanks for reading. :)
November 11, 2011
Probably the all time best alpha male book I've ever read. I mean these guys are alpha, alpha male. The heroine is also the most kick butt heroine I've ever read. Keely can definitely keep up with the macho big boys here, while maintaining her feminine side. Nice match, huh? This book was just WOW!!! Watching Keely tame Ren is extremely entertaining. Ren and Keely's story is nicely paced, intelligent, with a bit of humor, lots of action, good suspenseful storyline, and awesome romance with steamy sex scenes. Loved the side characters as well, especially Keely's family of big alpha males. Plenty of sexy choices here for a hero in future books. Definitely a series I'll follow. Ms. Michaels is a first time author for me so I'm definitely going to be checking out some of her other books while waiting on SSI book 2. Hopefully the wait is not too long.
January 24, 2025
Oh man talk about one kick ass heroine. This book starts off with the heroine kickin butt and saving the day and doesnt really stop. Has so many hot alpha men in it you want them all.. It also has some laugh outloud moments and a very funny scene about vegetables. I cannot wait for what I hope is a long series.
June 3, 2012
This would be a very tentative 3 stars.
Keely Walsh
Ren Maddox
This is definitely a place for these kinds of books. The kind of books where the reader is required to suspend all sorts of reality (or stretch it really far) in order to get to the story. Keely Walsh is a 21 year old, double Ph.D., working for MIT. She is the only girl in her family, with 5 older brothers, all of whom are uber alpha males (father is Colonel, brothers are Navy Seals and Marines). Growing up in this household, Keely was trained to defend herself. Furthermore if it is to be believed, she shadowed Navy Seals candidates during their BUDS training making it until the final days (and would have finished if she hadn't had to rescue one of the trainees at the end) AND has attended the Army Sniper School. Okay.
Her work with MIT includes a contract with the DOD and she discovers that her brother who works for Security Specialists International, headed by the Maddox Brothers, is walking into a ambush. She hightails it down to South America, journeys through the dense jungle with her handydandy GPS while subduing and tying up some bad guys that get in her way and makes it to the tiny town to warn her brother. Okay.
She meets her brother, Ren Maddox, and another SSI specialist and they escape relatively unscathed. Did I mention that prior to flying down to South America she was kidnapped, taken to a warehouse, assaulted, AND managed to escape by killing two of the four kidnappers?
During this whole ordeal, Ren - who is apparently never had ANY interest in having a long term relationship with ANY woman, is struck by lightening and falls head-over-heals in love with Keely after seeing her subdue a baddy at the ambush site and help in the firefight (which includes getting rid of a live grenade!) OVERKILL!
Ren is possessive, controlling, territorial, overbearing and overprotective. All the qualities you know and love about an alpha male. But there is just not enough of the loving, tender, kind side in this story to really like Ren.
This book had all sorts of silliness that should have made me put it down, but in the end I found myself chuckling. It was fun watching Keely kick all sorts of butt against all sorts of bad guys. Just call it a stupid guilty pleasure, but not for everyone.
Keely Walsh
Ren Maddox
This is definitely a place for these kinds of books. The kind of books where the reader is required to suspend all sorts of reality (or stretch it really far) in order to get to the story. Keely Walsh is a 21 year old, double Ph.D., working for MIT. She is the only girl in her family, with 5 older brothers, all of whom are uber alpha males (father is Colonel, brothers are Navy Seals and Marines). Growing up in this household, Keely was trained to defend herself. Furthermore if it is to be believed, she shadowed Navy Seals candidates during their BUDS training making it until the final days (and would have finished if she hadn't had to rescue one of the trainees at the end) AND has attended the Army Sniper School. Okay.
Her work with MIT includes a contract with the DOD and she discovers that her brother who works for Security Specialists International, headed by the Maddox Brothers, is walking into a ambush. She hightails it down to South America, journeys through the dense jungle with her handydandy GPS while subduing and tying up some bad guys that get in her way and makes it to the tiny town to warn her brother. Okay.
She meets her brother, Ren Maddox, and another SSI specialist and they escape relatively unscathed. Did I mention that prior to flying down to South America she was kidnapped, taken to a warehouse, assaulted, AND managed to escape by killing two of the four kidnappers?
During this whole ordeal, Ren - who is apparently never had ANY interest in having a long term relationship with ANY woman, is struck by lightening and falls head-over-heals in love with Keely after seeing her subdue a baddy at the ambush site and help in the firefight (which includes getting rid of a live grenade!) OVERKILL!
Ren is possessive, controlling, territorial, overbearing and overprotective. All the qualities you know and love about an alpha male. But there is just not enough of the loving, tender, kind side in this story to really like Ren.
This book had all sorts of silliness that should have made me put it down, but in the end I found myself chuckling. It was fun watching Keely kick all sorts of butt against all sorts of bad guys. Just call it a stupid guilty pleasure, but not for everyone.
July 9, 2017
July 9, 2017:
I should probably knock this down to three stars, but it was still pretty charming somehow, so I'm leaving it as is.
August 8, 2014:
You can tell from the first sentence of the blurb that Keely is a Mary Sue.
"Keely Walsh has three doctorates, five older brothers and has never met a situation she couldn't handle."
She went to MIT at 13; she knows Krav Maga; she's gone through Marine Hell Week; she's gone to Sniper School; she's been trained with any and all weapons; she creates futuristic-only-seen-in-movies technology; she's a professional mountain climber; she's funny, she's sexy, she's perfect. Normally, this would bother me. But somehow, I liked her anyway.
Everyone she meets wants to fuck her, date her, or rape her. She is attacked 9 or 10 times, though it's usually not her fault. And she always comes out on top after handling the most immediate threat herself. She was too good at everything she did aside from remembering to feed herself before fainting. Doesn't matter. I guess I was just in the mood for a heroine that could do no wrong.
The story really focuses on Keely and I would have enjoyed another chapter from Ren's POV. He was a total alpha that wanted to wrap Keely up in a layer of protective bubble wrap and keep her from harm. But she wasn't having any of that shit. And his response to her strength and hardheadedness was charming and amusing.
I enjoyed the plot, though threads were left dangling. I assume they'll be dealt with in the following books of this series... it just wouldn't be fair for the DoD traitor to not ever be revealed after causing so much trouble.
So basically, Keely is an entirely unbelievable but enjoyable character. Ren is swoon-worthy and awesome. The Walsh family deserves their own series. And the plot was action-packed and a lot of fun. If you can just suspend your disbelief for a while and enjoy a mindless read, I would definitely recommend this book for a lazy afternoon.
Edit: I should mention that there was quite a bit of womb clenching/spasming and alpha-growling. I know a lot of readers hate that kind of thing and I totally agree, but I didn't care.
I should probably knock this down to three stars, but it was still pretty charming somehow, so I'm leaving it as is.
August 8, 2014:
You can tell from the first sentence of the blurb that Keely is a Mary Sue.
"Keely Walsh has three doctorates, five older brothers and has never met a situation she couldn't handle."
She went to MIT at 13; she knows Krav Maga; she's gone through Marine Hell Week; she's gone to Sniper School; she's been trained with any and all weapons; she creates futuristic-only-seen-in-movies technology; she's a professional mountain climber; she's funny, she's sexy, she's perfect. Normally, this would bother me. But somehow, I liked her anyway.
Everyone she meets wants to fuck her, date her, or rape her. She is attacked 9 or 10 times, though it's usually not her fault. And she always comes out on top after handling the most immediate threat herself. She was too good at everything she did aside from remembering to feed herself before fainting. Doesn't matter. I guess I was just in the mood for a heroine that could do no wrong.
The story really focuses on Keely and I would have enjoyed another chapter from Ren's POV. He was a total alpha that wanted to wrap Keely up in a layer of protective bubble wrap and keep her from harm. But she wasn't having any of that shit. And his response to her strength and hardheadedness was charming and amusing.
I enjoyed the plot, though threads were left dangling. I assume they'll be dealt with in the following books of this series... it just wouldn't be fair for the DoD traitor to not ever be revealed after causing so much trouble.
So basically, Keely is an entirely unbelievable but enjoyable character. Ren is swoon-worthy and awesome. The Walsh family deserves their own series. And the plot was action-packed and a lot of fun. If you can just suspend your disbelief for a while and enjoy a mindless read, I would definitely recommend this book for a lazy afternoon.
Edit: I should mention that there was quite a bit of womb clenching/spasming and alpha-growling. I know a lot of readers hate that kind of thing and I totally agree, but I didn't care.
March 24, 2015
Couldn't even finish the book. I started it but after reading how much of a bad ass the heroine is in every other page of the book I couldn't take it anymore. Don't get me wrong but I am all for a bad ass heroine who can kick ass and take out men bigger than her. but I don't like the fact that she came off a little too cocky for my taste. There were to many weird things going on like the fact that she was this attractive woman and all men wanted her because she was kick ass and had strawberry blonde hair. (Please give me a fucking break)There was also the fact that even when she had a fever because she doesn't do well in the heat and also because she had a infection there was a room of men seeing her naked her brother included. That was kind of weird for me. When she spoke it was like a teenager speaking as opposed to some on who was twenty one lik who the fuck says frick fracking??? I get your mom hated you cursing and made you all pay twenty five cents for every curse word but you were in the middle of the jungle nowhere near your mother!!! Curse all you want!!! Lol I can't even...I will admit I didn't finish the book so if you want to give it a try be my guest.
November 26, 2015
I loved this story no matter how many times I reread it.
Our h, Keely, was differed from many heroines because she was a kick-ass heroine. She could not only protect herself but also fight beside her brothers and H. She even saved them several times.
Don't take me wrong, Ren was as strong as other military heroes, and he was also totally alpha-male, it's just Keely can always defended herself, but she also enjoyed Ren's protectiveness.
Ren was a sweetheart, especially the way he treated Keenly from the beginning. What a great hero. Most of all, he was not a man-whore. His past relationship were all long-terms.
Hope Monette Michaels will write a story of Keely's parents soon, curious about their story.
Recommend to anyone who love to read romance with kick-ass heroine and alpha-male hero.
Our h, Keely, was differed from many heroines because she was a kick-ass heroine. She could not only protect herself but also fight beside her brothers and H. She even saved them several times.
Don't take me wrong, Ren was as strong as other military heroes, and he was also totally alpha-male, it's just Keely can always defended herself, but she also enjoyed Ren's protectiveness.
Ren was a sweetheart, especially the way he treated Keenly from the beginning. What a great hero. Most of all, he was not a man-whore. His past relationship were all long-terms.
Hope Monette Michaels will write a story of Keely's parents soon, curious about their story.
Recommend to anyone who love to read romance with kick-ass heroine and alpha-male hero.
February 7, 2020
This is the creepiest book, ew this chick would not only talk about this guy thingamajig in front of her brother, but was comparing it to her brothers because supposedly her brother would just walk around naked, ew ew ew ew, I am sorry but first he shouldn't walk around naked and second turn your face and the worst is why why would you want to compare it..yeah grossed me out and just didn't care for it
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author...(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author...(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
December 6, 2015
Lots of fun and action.
Totally OTT h, who was like a small army all on her own, and a dominant alpha H who finally came reluctantly to understand he couldn't stop her taking out the bad guys.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Totally OTT h, who was like a small army all on her own, and a dominant alpha H who finally came reluctantly to understand he couldn't stop her taking out the bad guys.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Read
August 3, 2011Truly awful.
March 1, 2014
just a bit much
January 31, 2016
3.5 Stars. Yes, it was definitely OTT unbelievable in parts. Thanks to my friends though, I was prepared.
Want to read
December 29, 2019🎁 FREE on Amazon today (12/29/2019)! 🎁
December 28, 2019
Keely Walsh is super smart and kick butt capable. She’s been trained by her Marine dad and military brothers. Ren Maddox is big, bad and totally alpha. These two are combustible. This book is filled with action, adventure and love. I’ll admit to laughing out loud at various points in the story. I look forward to more adventures with Security Specialists International.
April 29, 2015
While I was intrigued by the synopsis ..this book let me down.
You are lead to believe the heroine is this badass who needs no one. While her "shooting" it up and taking out people shows this badass ability..which is doubtful..yet...she somehow had time to go to sniping school, hell week and get 3 PHDs all before 21? Maybe the author should look up what a PHD entails and regroup. Back to the badass....she goes from saying she needs no one, to being babied by everyone because she sick and even being baby talked by her brothers, mother and generally everyone. Furthermore, its almost laughable how much conflict occurs in the book. Bad guys just seem to show up around her and she saves the day no matter what.... please.... Its just not believable at all. Then to top it off she miraculously gets pregnant and apparently is sicker than any doctor has seen....again maybe you should look up real morning sickness conditions...
The hero..we are lead to believe in the beginning is this loner military type, yet he sees the heroine for one second and is completely in love with her and super protective of her and close with all his buddies.... sooo hes not a loner then? I'm confused.
While I guess I could see what the author was aiming for I really wished she had "flawed" this story out instead of making it so "perfect" it is literally unbelievable... Furthermore, we know there is this bad guy after Ren but we don't get any of the information as to why he is after him...just set up for no reason.. where is the plot? ...I don't think I will read any of her other books and you shouldn't waste your time or money either there are other better military series... try KGI its a little more in the realm of reality
You are lead to believe the heroine is this badass who needs no one. While her "shooting" it up and taking out people shows this badass ability..which is doubtful..yet...she somehow had time to go to sniping school, hell week and get 3 PHDs all before 21? Maybe the author should look up what a PHD entails and regroup. Back to the badass....she goes from saying she needs no one, to being babied by everyone because she sick and even being baby talked by her brothers, mother and generally everyone. Furthermore, its almost laughable how much conflict occurs in the book. Bad guys just seem to show up around her and she saves the day no matter what.... please.... Its just not believable at all. Then to top it off she miraculously gets pregnant and apparently is sicker than any doctor has seen....again maybe you should look up real morning sickness conditions...
The hero..we are lead to believe in the beginning is this loner military type, yet he sees the heroine for one second and is completely in love with her and super protective of her and close with all his buddies.... sooo hes not a loner then? I'm confused.
While I guess I could see what the author was aiming for I really wished she had "flawed" this story out instead of making it so "perfect" it is literally unbelievable... Furthermore, we know there is this bad guy after Ren but we don't get any of the information as to why he is after him...just set up for no reason.. where is the plot? ...I don't think I will read any of her other books and you shouldn't waste your time or money either there are other better military series... try KGI its a little more in the realm of reality
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2020
DNF for me
I rarely leave bad reviews but this one went from having so much going for it to WTF in about one chapter. There were some early warning signs (the hero grabbing the heroine for a hug and getting such a giant boner that the mom actually commented on it... the heroine comparing the hero’s boner to her those of her many older brothers... the heroine announcing to a room full of people that included her mom, dad, older brothers, and the hero’s co-workers, that she was going commando and someone really should get her some undies...) but then the hero, who is about a decade + older than the newly 21 yo heroine (also ick) gets so worried he’ll injure her virgin self during s.e.x. because he’s so huge that he refuses to do anything with her (also she was almost raped off page before the book started but she seems to have no problem with that. To each her own but it just didn’t read well to me personally). The heroine gets mad he won’t have sex with her so she goes to the community kitchen on the “base” and announces to a bunch of dudes, including her brother, that she’s going to the kitchen to find a cucumber to assist her. That was the moment I stopped. I just.... couldn’t take anymore WTFery. Go buy a Pamela Clare or Cynthia Eden book instead.
I rarely leave bad reviews but this one went from having so much going for it to WTF in about one chapter. There were some early warning signs (the hero grabbing the heroine for a hug and getting such a giant boner that the mom actually commented on it... the heroine comparing the hero’s boner to her those of her many older brothers... the heroine announcing to a room full of people that included her mom, dad, older brothers, and the hero’s co-workers, that she was going commando and someone really should get her some undies...) but then the hero, who is about a decade + older than the newly 21 yo heroine (also ick) gets so worried he’ll injure her virgin self during s.e.x. because he’s so huge that he refuses to do anything with her (also she was almost raped off page before the book started but she seems to have no problem with that. To each her own but it just didn’t read well to me personally). The heroine gets mad he won’t have sex with her so she goes to the community kitchen on the “base” and announces to a bunch of dudes, including her brother, that she’s going to the kitchen to find a cucumber to assist her. That was the moment I stopped. I just.... couldn’t take anymore WTFery. Go buy a Pamela Clare or Cynthia Eden book instead.
January 6, 2015
This is the first book I've read by this author and I'm not too sure about it. Keely seemed a little too good to be true - 3 doctorates and combat experience and the ability to defeat most people without really breaking a sweat. And I didn't really feel her connection with Ren. They were attracted to each other but Ren's attitude to Keely seemed a little too forced. There is a lot of mention about her size and him wanting to protect her; despite her showing repeatedly that she can cope. But on the reverse she has wounds from an earlier attack and it's never really made clear how this attack happened and how Keely was overpowered.
The baddies are very bad whilst the good guys were beyond approach. There is a shadowy big bad guy who is getting away with a lot whilst being in a position of power and they don't know who it is. You can see that this is a series that will continue but overall it just didn't quite gel for me. So not quite sure. There are definitely better books out there.
The baddies are very bad whilst the good guys were beyond approach. There is a shadowy big bad guy who is getting away with a lot whilst being in a position of power and they don't know who it is. You can see that this is a series that will continue but overall it just didn't quite gel for me. So not quite sure. There are definitely better books out there.
August 7, 2013
I cannot give a better praise for this book than to say that this is my favorite go to book when i need perking up or when i need a really good read or just whenever. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Read this a couple of years ago but I still cannot stop recommending this to my friends. Ren and Keely's love story is unforgettable. I love how Ren is so protective of Keely that it just makes her feel so loved and special. Read this book!!! Very highly recommended.
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