One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: The Belladonna Agency, Book 1
Rating: 2 Stars
Length: 384 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Bantam Dell publisher Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.





Ty Duncan is a Special Agent with the FBI...on paper, anyway...but since being tortured and turned into a vampire against his will six months ago, he - and a small group of specialized agents - work for the covert group called the Belladonna Agency. Belladonna has a specific purpose: stop Rogue vampires at any cost.

To that end, Ty has been sent to Seattle to recruit a new Belladonna member. Seven years ago, Ana Martin was known as Eliana Garcia, street-wise gang member and a favorite of the gang leader. Those gang ties are why Balladonna needs her. They need access to a place run by Ana's former gang leader, a place that may be a front for a Rogue blood slave market.

Now all Ty has to do is convince a very wary Ana to return to the life she's worked so hard to forget while fighting a desire for the feisty woman that stirs all his darkest yearnings - for her body, her blood, and most dangerous of all, her heart.


I had a lot of problems with this series debut by DePaul. The world building is pretty sparse, and what few details are provided stick to the broadest of broad strokes. I would have liked to have had a clearer idea of just how long the FBI have known about vampires (the book says "years" but not how many), how they found out about them, how long before they gave up on the born vampires and decided on trusting Rogues for their turning program (which, as far as I'm concerned, puts the FBI fully in the TSTL category, because really - there was no way that was going to end any way but badly), how many recruits have been turned, and what roles those turned recruits had in the FBI.

Not that having answers to any of those questions would have improved my opinion of the FBI's callous disregard for life or their general idiocy, but it may have given me a better handle on the world and the reason for Belladonna's existence.

Its supposed purpose is to quietly clean up the Rogue problem so the FBI could get back to making their turned vamps. That never struck me as the noblest mission statement, given the FBI's duplicitous and suspect actions, but maybe a clearer picture of their history with vampires and their beneficial utilization of turned recruits would have helped.

And not for nothing, but it seemed odd to me that neither the FBI nor anyone in Belladonna seemed to know all that much about vampires. Not even Ty, who was one. I'd think that at least knowing how to kill one would be one of the first things the FBI would want to learn about deadly creatures they're stockpiling.

There were too many problems and troubling elements with the world, the vampires, the FBI, and Belladonna in general for my comfort, but one point in particular stripped away my ability to willingly suspend disbelief. According to the mythos, the act of turning a vampire is fatal to the maker. At face value that's not a problem, but when I thought about Ty's brutal turning and certain other story elements, that detail created way more trouble than it was worth, making several plot points seem highly implausible.

But my problems with the book extended beyond those weighty issues. As characters, I thought Ty and Ana were the strongest part of the book. I liked them both as individuals. Ty's issues with his vampirism and Ana's ties to her sister gave them each depth and helped shape their definition. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as fond of them together as a couple.

Their initial chemistry was strong, and I liked the level of heat between them, but as their relationship progressed it started to sputter under conflicts that were inconsistent and hard to follow. Some of that was a reflection of the two characters who were, themselves, inconsistent at times. I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was bothering each of them with the relationship, or determining from one chapter to the next which one was martyring themselves for the greater good. And when I was able to follow the twists, I didn't like what I found. 

Ana, in particular, committed what I consider an ultimate sin for a romantic heroine. At one point she pushes Ty away in a completely unequivocal...and rather hurtful manner, completely repudiating any significance in their relationship, then gets all wounded and insecure when as a result, Ty pulls back and treats her strictly professionally. I hate that sort of hypocrisy.

Secondary and ancillary characters, like the other women recruited to Belladonna, had potential to add positives to the story, but they ended up getting little definition and had almost no impact on me one way or the other. They were just too underutilized. Though I do think the reason they were tapped for Belladonna, once revealed, was incredibly weak considering the importance of the jobs they have been recruited to do and the training that would be necessary to do it effectively without getting themselves killed.

Altogether, there were just too many things stacked against this book for me. Too many elements didn't appeal; too many questions left unanswered. Far too many things that just didn't make sense. As a series debut, it posed too many problems for me to feel any desire to follow the Belladonna Agency into the next book.

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Special Investigations Group (SIG), Book 2
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 384 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by HQN publisher Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




As a special agent with California's Special Investigations Group and the only female agent in the elite division, Carrie Ward knows all about having to work twice as hard to play with the big boys. She put in that work, dedicated herself to being the best. And until she hesitated during an apprehension, missed an important shot against a hostile perp and almost died because of it, she was confident and certain of her abilities as a cop.

Then she was shot and her world changed.

Her confidence shaken, Carrie is just coming back from medical leave when she's given lead on the sort of case that could make or break her career. A serial killer case. No sooner is she handed the file, though, than SIG starts second guessing the assignment. Carrie can accept that. It's not pleasant to be doubted but it's not wholly unexpected. She's poleaxed, though, when Jace Tyler, the one special agent that fires Carrie's lust...and incites her temper...goes to the acting director and flat-out tells him she can't handle it. Claims she's not ready. Wants the case for himself.

That's a betrayal that cuts deep. And it's one she won't forget, even when she and Jace are teamed up to stop the brutal, sadistic killer. Any lust she feels for the agent who is known for being fast on cases and faster with women...many, many women...will just have to take a back seat to her determination to stop a monster.


This second book in DePaul's SIG series worked better for me overall than it's predecessor. The characters had greater appeal to me, the serial killer thread was more to my liking, and the relationship between Carrie and Jace was both hotter and more realistic to me than the one in the first book. This story had its own ups and downs, but I did enjoy it more than the first.

I really liked Carrie as the female lead. Strong, independent, and a damn good shot, she's not so perfect that she doesn't have some rather serious personal flaws and insecurities, too. Short tempered, defensive, stubborn, she is a hothead with a chip on her shoulder - even if much of that chip is for good reason. She is also traumatized and shaken by what happened to her when she was shot and far more confident in being a cop than being a woman.

She wasn't always likable, in fact, there were times when she flat-out annoyed me, but she felt realistic to me, believable as a woman in that sort of career. I thought she was a three dimensional and interesting character...when I didn't want to smack her for her extremely prickly attitude.

Jace was slightly harder for me to get a consistent read on. On one hand he was a charming reprobate and his reputation with women precedes him. On the other, he kept Carrie in his sights, and kept pushing at the lust they felt for each other. He did some things I wasn't too keen on, but he also had a sharp mind and often looked out for Carrie's best interests when she was charging into situations half-cocked.

Obviously he was the senior agent, but sometimes I questioned his ability to think outside the box, and though I understand that his reputation with the ladies isn't totally representative of his reality, I wish I'd had a better grasp of what his reality was pre-Carrie and why.

The relationship between them was one of my favorite elements of the book. There was a lot of tension and anger, distrust and lust, attraction and frustration. The evolutionary road of the relationship arc that took them from reluctant partners and resistant allies to romance HEA wasn't without its major craters, and I can't say the romance elements totally won me over, but the chemistry generated by the often contentious struggles of two dominant personalities could not be denied.

I wasn't quite as enamored with the external conflict of the story, the plot threads surrounding the serial killer case Carrie and Jace were working. Some of the plot points seemed a little peculiar to me, and the way they developed as the story went along was at times perplexing. The first half of the book focused so heavily on the relationship between Carrie and Jace and on the questions of Carrie's competency to head the investigation, that the actual investigation and the killer's plot threads were almost completely overshadowed until the second half of the book.

By then there had been some fairly significant developments that I felt were tragically glossed over and under-represented in the story. So much so that when the unsub started to escalate as his story arc approached climax, it seemed many of the more unique elements of the plot had been muted or dropped completely. Then the story took a couple of drastic, dramatic turns that were surprising, but didn't completely make sense to me, given the psychological setup for the killer to that point.

There were definitely several tense and emotionally gripping scenes, though. Some that stunned for their abrupt carnage. The climax and subsequent resolution of conflict may not have been totally satisfying to my analytical side, but the part of me that likes the gut-churning emotions and steep costs when dealing with serial killer storylines was very entertained.

The story wasn't as smooth and well-balanced as I would have liked, but it appealed to me more than its predecessor, and DePaul has proved more than capable of creating some pretty twisted Bad Guys and nail-biting suspense. Call me certifiable, but I like the psychological thriller parts of my romantic suspense to be chock full of batshit crazy and causing a wide swath of damage, emotional and/or physical, for all concerned. This second book in the SIG series did, at the very least, do that.

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Special Investigations Group, Book 1
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 384 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by HQN publisher Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




Her retinal degeneration is progressive, but professional photographer Natalie Jones is coping with the limits of her decreased vision. She thought she had time before her world went completely dark. She had no idea the morning she decided to take a stroll through the park near her Plainville home, snapping pictures as she went, that the bright day full of color and light, shapes, forms, and textures, would be the last she'd ever see.

Eight weeks later, a man breaks into her home and attacks her, almost kills her, and Natalie's dark world gets a whole lot more terrifying.

As special agent for California Department of Justice's Special Investigations Group, Liam "Mac" McKenzie is working a case of the murder of a sixteen year old girl. Her skeletal remains were found an hour north of the home of Natalie Jones. Mac has no idea what the connection is between his victim and a highly successful professional photographer, but evidence found with his victim's body and at the crime scene of Ms. Jones' attack points to the same man committing both crimes.

Mac feels the sharp jolt of a visceral attraction to Natalie even before he meets her the first time. He'd done his research prior to driving to her home to interview her, and something about her picture reached into his gut and twisted. Despite that, they didn't have the most auspicious beginnings. Mostly because for all the information Mac has gathered on Natalie, he doesn't know she's blind. And she is still reeling from her attack the previous day.

Suddenly Mac is doubly motivated to get to the bottom of the murder of a young girl and find out why Natalie is a target. Because the thought of that vibrant woman becoming a killer's next victim is absolutely anathema to everything that makes Mac a cop. And a man.


DePaul's romantic suspense series has a strong premise that appeals to me, stories surrounding the Special Investigations Unit of California's DOJ. Maybe a series featuring a unit of law enforcement roughly akin to a state-level FBI branch isn't a totally unique concept, but it's also not the ubiquitous security firm employing a bunch of ex-elite military men. I take my breaths of fresh air where I can find them.

DePaul delivered on the suspense elements, too. I can't say I was thrilled with every piece of the plot-driven conflict, especially later in the second half, but it provided a solid threat to the main character and carried tension and danger along with it. I did get a little lost in the timeline in a couple of places, and thought the Bad Guy's storyline got muddled and chaotic as it got closer to the book's climax. Overall, though, I enjoyed it.

I wish I could say the same about the characters. Especially as both Mac and Natalie were created with such a deft hand and an eye on realistic layers and character foibles. Mac was fine as a detective, really, that wasn't a problem. I just couldn't figure out his seeming insta-attraction for Natalie. Not only was that not to my taste for the story, I also felt his behavior skirted professionalism at times.

I was not in any way a fan of Natalie. She struck me as self-pitying and weak throughout most of the book. While I sympathized with her over the loss of her sight, and can appreciate that her emotional state of mind was probably fairly realistic, her prevalent poor-me attitude rubbed me raw from very early into the read. And frankly, when Natalie wasn't being fearful or self-pitying, she was being an uncooperative, obstinate bitch.

Actively disliking one of the two main characters throughout most of their book and having issues with the other put a pretty serious kibosh on the romance for me. Yes, by the end, Natalie had evolved into a moderately tolerable human being. No, it wasn't soon enough for me to embrace her in her relationship with Mac. On top of that, the two weren't even together for many scenes in the book. Even if I hadn't disliked Natalie, I still would have had trouble believing the depth of emotion they supposedly felt for each other after such an abbreviated acquaintance and limited contact.

There were good points, most surrounding the suspense, but for me, this series debut didn't entertain me as much as I'd hoped. I think the premise is still rock-solid, and I'm still very grateful that not one totally buff ex-Special Forces alpha male stomped his fine, regulation bum across my pages. Not that I don't love them, mind, but a break is nice, too. If I continue with this series, I'll hope for another solid suspense but much more likable characters.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Anthology
Series: N/A
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 255 Pages
Formats: Kindle


While a bit uneven, overall these set of loosely connected novellas provided some entertaining hours. All set in Sacramento, you'll recognize a few recurring locations as four women and four men get set up for love.


Her best friend gives her The Boyfriend Bylaws.

Under penalty of losing her much beloved car, Melanie has to follow the bylaws to the letter. She would rather get a new best friend. When she starts to realize just how much a long-time friend and coworker means to her, though, Melanie finally understands that it's not a bunch of rules that will help her find her Happily Ever After...it's being true to her heart.

While the premise of The Boyfriend Bylaws is cute and the concept sound, I had several problems with this short novella from the start. I felt the first person point of view was too limiting a perspective and severely hampered the development of secondary and ancillary characters, including, to his extreme detriment, the male romantic lead. Worse, though, is that I found Melanie to be an unlikable and unsympathetic heroine, so a story told from her perspective was problematic.

Melanie's desperation and her shallow parameters for true love are a total turn off. Her issues with abandonment are valid motivators, but were brought up in awkward ways and didn't have enough room to develop to a point of satisfying resolution. She ended up seeming pathologically insecure and self involved, and very unhealthy emotionally. There were moments when a glimmer of sarcasm or sardonic humor showed through the desperation, which is always something I enjoy, but it was too brief for me to really warm to the character and she didn't have any other traits I found appealing.

I enjoyed what little I saw of Matt, though. He was cute, with his obvious attraction and dedication to Melanie, even as she was mentally criticizing him for assumed behavior that looked suspiciously similar to her own. They had a nice rapport as friends at the club, too, with their word of the day playfulness.

I wish the plot had developed a little differently. There were several plot threads that had potential but got snipped off at the end, and I felt like I'd been left hanging over the issue between Melanie and her sister. The ending was very abrupt and I was disappointed that there hadn't been more provided to redeem Melanie as a person or hold her accountable for some of her hypocrisy and shallowness.

Unfortunately, the problems I had with the story weren't improved by the manner in which it's told. The narrative and dialogue seemed stilted and jerky, and the inconsistent grammar made it often seem unwieldy. There were a couple of typos, but larger problems were the oddly disconnected thoughts from sentence to sentence, too many unsupported narrative tangents, and the inconsistencies in the timing of actions as they were described.

It was all just a bit too much for me to enjoy.


Nine years ago Shelby lost her high school sweetheart, Logan Starks, when his parents divorced and he moved with his father to another part of the state. A long distance relationship lasted for a little while, until a phone call that sent her dreams and their plans up in smoke and left her heart in tatters. Now, nine years older and wiser, she grudgingly accepts the blind date that her best friend sets her up on and comes face to face with a cold, hard, immutable truth: nine years wasn't long enough to get over the only man she's ever loved.

He thought he was doing the right thing for them both when he broke up with Shelby all those years ago, but Logan never stopped loving her. He knows now what a grievous mistake he made and it was one he had no intention of repeating. He was back in town, intent on convincing the woman of his dreams that nothing in his life was worth it without her. He knows she still loves him...but can she ever forgive him?

I've always been fond of romances like this, when the star crossed lovers get a second chance, and I thought this second story was more technically sound than its predecessor, with fewer grammatical errors and a smoother flow in narrative and dialogue. It has the same first person point of view as the first, though, and truly don't like that style for contemporary romance, especially those of novella length.

The plot was a little two dimensional, but pleasant, and I don't really expect much depth in novellas. That first person perspective is very limiting to character definition, and I didn't get much of an impression about any of the characters beyond Shelby. And that's a bigger problem than it could have been because I found her intensely unlikable.

Not at first. At first I found her reaction to coming face to face with the boy - now a man - who broke her heart was realistic and understandable. But she was so inflexible and cold to him all the way through that I quickly grew tired of her bitchiness. And I found her actions hypocritical, criticizing the overtures he makes to her just as vehemently as she criticizes him when he doesn't make any; desperately searching for proof of his love, and denying it when she sees it. By the end, I was left wondering why Logan still loved her at all...and that probably wasn't what the author was going for.

There were a few plot holes and some things that didn't seem too logical, and I dislike when authors have their protagonists act duplicitous when they're trying to stand on their moral high ground, though that was an issue that was quickly resolved and lead to more evidence of the larger hypocrisy. The first few chapters of Logan's manuscript made no sense to me, unless that manuscript was an autobiography...which would have been pretty arrogant, really. That whole part seemed like an ill conceived plot contrivance to force the characters towards a resolution unsupported by previous character thoughts and actions.

Despite all of that, I don't believe this was a bad story, really, but for me it lacked a bit of sophistication and polish technically and had a female lead who I sort of loathed by the end.


Deputy District Attorney Bryn Donovan has the hots for the gorgeous Daniel Mays. He's good looking, charming, and judging by his apparent dating habits, a bit of a player. But that's not a crime...at least not the one that convicts him. The fact that he's a defense attorney, on the other hand... That's nearly a hanging offense, as far as Bryn is concerned. Driven by guilt and with a bit of a prejudice against criminals, Bryn has no room in her life for...well...much of anything beyond her work, and certainly no time to dally with a man who gets those same criminals out of punishment for their crimes. And if that zeal has segregated her, leaving her feeling lonely and unfulfilled at times, it's just the price she has to pay.

Daniel Mays had always known that the woman nicknamed Justice was a hell of a litigator, but he hadn't really thought of her as a woman until he overheard a conversation about him between Bryn and a friend of his. Since then, he hasn't been able to think of much of anything else. When he tries to court her, though, she shuts him down. But Daniel argues for a living, and he's determined to convince this particular jury of one to take a chance on love.

I really liked this novella! Both characters were well defined within the parameters of the story, and I found them both likable and sympathetic. I was impressed with the balance in Bryn's character, and appreciated her depth and the reasons provided to explain what has made her the woman she is. I also liked the fact that she's an intelligent, highly successful woman who recognizes some of her less beneficial traits, and takes steps...though they may be small...to change some of them. It showed a nice evolution in her character that's surprising in a story of this length.

The dialogue was solid, felt natural and organic to the characters, and was full of great repartee, especially between Bryn and Daniel. I was also impressed that DePaul managed, with seemingly little effort, to add that southern flavor to Daniel's dialogue. It provided a genuine feel to his character definition.

This was a novella that worked for me on just about every level, telling a solid story with believable characters in a realistic setting with an appealing style. The narrative had a typo or two, but the grammar was solid and overall it was technically sound.

I thought Bryn's stance was a bit too hard core sometimes, but it was so well tempered by the motivation for her feelings that she never became unsympathetic, and that was a surprising treat. I was also very impressed with the level of sensuality in this story that was lacking in the first two. I appreciated the sex scenes and thought they were very well written, though I did think it was odd how Bryn chose to initiate it. I loved how the ending evolved, and found the events leading up to the resolution to be gut clenching. On an emotional level, it was very successful, and I liked that by the end, both characters had been affected.

This was a very complete feeling novella and honestly, I wish it had been longer, just because I was enjoying it so much. Nice.


Rachel Price is dateless for Valentine's Day, but dateless has to be better than getting set up on another lousy blind date, right? Especially since she overheard that the man she's been dreaming about for two months, Noah Peterson, has big plans of his own. Talk about depressing news. Still, Rachel caves to her best friend and decides to show up. When she realizes Noah is the one waiting for her, Rachel knows it was the best decision she'd ever made.

Short, sweet, and so much fun! This short story was perfect. Characters were likable, plot was simple but sufficient, and the dialogue was quick and funny. Short stories falter when they're overdone, but this one was sleek, slick, and well written. I enjoyed it a lot. It ended the anthology on a very high note.

Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by one of the authors for the purpose of an honest review. All ratings, comments, thoughts, and opinions are my own.