November 28th, 2009 — 2.5 Stars, A-C, Australia/New Zealand, Book Review, Crime and Protection, Erotica, Estranged, Kidnapping, Mystery, Paranormal, Rape/Abuse, Supernatural, Survival, Travel, Vampire, Werewolf
The second book in the Riley Jenson series is a continuance of the first. It’s very important to read Full Moon Rising before starting this one because they are extremely tied in and you will be left confused if you don’t.
The urban futuristic world is expanded and more players are introduced. The plot thickens as Misha reveals clues to who is really behind everything. We find out more about the limbs of the organization while the head tries to save itself. The head is a mystery and is not resolved in Kissing Sin.
Keri Arthur is very good at staging fights, which is a good thing as there are a ton of them! The last stand off at the end is extremely creepy as in horror movie creepy. I’d give more details but I’m trying not to spoil anyone.
The things that bothered me in the last novel are back only this time without the excuse of a full moon inciting the werewolf lusties. Again it’s not the amount of sex in the novel, it is who the sex is with and how Riley reflects on her sexuality. Two new guys enter her sex circle: We meet Kade Williams, the horse-shifter (not a lycanthrope – his shifting is not tied to the moon) and Kellen an alpha male werewolf Riley can feel is important to her future. I didn’t mind Kade or Kellen or Quinn, who’s back in this book.
I did mind Riley sleeping with the enemy for information sake. In addition it read very bad when Riley grumbled mentally that she didn't like being forced to fuck a guy (which if she becomes a Guardian is a sure thing) even though she's positive the sex will be good. I guess what’s good for the gander isn’t sauce for the goose in my case. It’s sexy on James Bond and not so much with her. I also minded the raping of Riley which happened again in flashbacks as she’s trying to recall the week that’s missing. She doesn’t really deal with it and it’s excused because sex is practically nothing to a werewolf.
Quinn is back in part because he wants to solve the mystery and in part because he can’t leave Riley alone. She invades his dreams. The two go back and forth and Riley gives him an ultimatum: accept her sexcapades as a part of her werewolf charm or get the hell out of her life. Quinn agrees to a compromise of exclusivity when he’s in town, but makes it very clear he’s possessive and territorial when it comes to her.
I find I am Quinn in this series. I can’t accept Riley’s blasé attitude toward sex. It must be the human in me as Keri Arthur repeatedly says in the books it’s the werewolf way of life and it’s the problem of the humans, who are too prudish and morally uptight to really understand. And I don’t! I don’t understand walking into a club and having sex in public on the dance floor. I don’t understand going to a party with a guy you had sex with on the way there and then slipping off to fuck another guy – even if he’s a werewolf hottie you slept with the night before. It’s seedy and tacky.
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Buy: Kissing Sin (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 2)
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February 15th, 2009 — 2.5 Stars, 3 Stars, Book Review, Dukes and Earls, Highlander, P-R, Rape/Abuse
So how do you rate a romance novel where the romance part was exceptional but the side story was wholly unnecessary? Once again I’ve managed to pick up a story where the author seems to think that it’s a good idea to include a history of sexual perversion on kids. What’s with this? The young girl that was abused was not the heroine this time but the side character who ends up doing unspeakable things herself on innocents and sinners alike in the name of justice seemingly unable to tell the difference. Why include this? I mean really? Who wants to read this? I don’t!
Most of this stuff is hinted at throughout the novel about the hero’s father being such a sleaze ball, a building that the son had to remind himself was not a fault for what happened, etc. The bastard is dead mind you at the start of the novel so we don’t see a continuance, just back story. It’s becoming gratuitous to the point of being like a retarded bathroom scene in a movie. Anyway you are warned ahead of time if this is not your cup of tea to deal with topics like this in a novel.
Now that that is out of my system, the romance between Grant and Gillian was a wonderful unfoldment. The Scottish Companion starts with Grant’s return to Scotland when his brother dies of a blood disease following shortly after their other brother died of the same cause. Dr. Feyton is worried that Grant may be suffering from the same disease and Grant decides if this is true he must marry immediately. Not wanting to go through the hassle of finding a bride he asks about Dr. Feyton’s daughter. A marriage arrangement is agreed upon and they go their normal ways.
Arabella would rather play at being a physician than be civil to anyone. She doesn’t like to be touched, talked to, interrupted, or forced to do anything. So right off the bat she hates the idea of marrying Grant and does her best to be disagreeable. Everyone finds her to be exactly that and many make asides to Grant about his foolishness.
Grant himself is feeling foolish because immediately upon seeing Gillian he finds himself attracted to her. She is a magnetic force on his life and he can’t seem to stop himself from seeking her out. He knows she’s hiding something and desperately wants to be let into her world. She makes him forget his losses, and overwhelming duties; she challenges his authority and is an intelligent companion who he seeks to impress with his experiments.
Gillian for her part knows that as the companion to Arabella, Grant can never be hers. She was foolish once in love and paid the price with her innocence and virtue. She lost the protection of her family, the love she thought was hers, and was censured by society. Only under Dr. Feyton has she received a modicum of protection and sense of purpose. She knows the price of love and passion so how come she can’t seem to resist the handsome earl? She wants to experience his kisses, she wants to be his, and she wants what Arabella is so blithely willing to toss away.
Rating: 2.5-3 Stars
Originally posted 2008-10-17 05:10:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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