Serial Killers in the Snow

I just finished the third book in Stephanie Tyler’s Shadow Force series, In the Air Tonight.  Now I have to wait till October for book four’s release.  That makes puppies cry.  I will be in the corner with them weeping.

 

This may have been my favorite of the series so far.  I think I loved it because it involved so many of the characters we have met in previous books, as well as a few new ones.  There were updates on the “stars” we already have spent some time with, as well as a lot of development for the characters we have yet to get to know well.  The updates were enough to keep me happy and the background information got me completely hooked on the characters we have yet to really get involved with.

 

I know I keep saying it, butTyler’s ability to write her supporting characters in as much depth and detail wile giving them so much less page time is just amazing to me.  I find myself time and time again just as invested and sometimes even more so in her secondary folks than her main.

 

This book primarily takes place in one location.  The boys and their teams all have a Cheers like hang out / home base.  At first I thought that with everything being so stationary we would miss some of the excitement and adventure that we have come to love in the previous books.  There were no treks through the jungle, or sprinting across continents.  Just one building where everyone gathered and trouble came to them.  It could be a recipe for high drama and little else.  That was really not the case.

 

This book was just as exciting and thrilling as a cross country escapade and just as steamy as ripping the clothes off of your Seal in the rain of a jungle, possibly even more so.  The romance in this book was a little more endearing than the previous books.  All of the characters involved had a lot more to work through. Tyleralso added a touch of the paranormal, which I love.  It wasn’t overdone, and it while it was a focal point of the book, it still remained more of the Special Ops Romance genre.

 

I am counting down the days till the next installment.  I am not being very patient either.

 

 

xoxox

Mia

Pictures Last a Lifetime

After finishing Stephanie Tyler’s first book in the Shadow Force series, I dove right into book 2, Promises in the Dark. I couldn’t even function on any higher level till I was done reading it. This series kind of crept in and held me hostage. My laundry is suffering greatly.

 

Book two picks up several months where we left off. This story had a pretty nice set up in the previous book. The surprise once again were the secondary characters. Tyler has a way of writing a character that may not get as much page time with just as much depth as her main characters. It kind of amazes me. One of the couples gets maybe 1/3^rd of the page time, but you are not one bit less invested in them.

 

This book has a little bit of everything. You will run through Africa trying to evade warlords and terrorists. You can stay stateside and hack nuclear power plant computer systems. Maybe hanging out in a mercenary ran missionary safe house / medical facility is more your style? This book offers it all.

 

I love that the men in these books are trained, hardened operatives and after they meet the woman that is going to be the center of their universe they don’t drop what they are doing to start knitting. There are no quick purchases of houses with white picket fences and that puppy in the window. The women need to accept that these are warriors and that is not going to change just because they have someone to come home to after a mission.

 

I already have book 3 in my paws and I am pretty sure it will be devoured shortly. Who needs sleep right?

xoxox

Mia

Black Ops and Sweaty Sheets

After reading Lora Leigh’s Midnight Sin I needed to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I needed to read some fabulous Black Ops book and make it all better. I dove into Stephanie Tyler’s Shadow Force series. I am only familiar with her work through the ACRO series she co-writes with Larissa Ione under the name Sydney Croft. I love that series so I figured that this one would be easy to fall in love with as well. I finished book one, Lie with Me and I am ready to open up book two. I guessed right.

 

I loved the writing of the heroine in this book. Skylar had two agents as parents so she wasn’t exactly a shrinking violet, but she wasn’t superwoman either. She was recovering from an illness and the consequences of that were throughout the story, but not over the top. It was consistent. After long exertion there was the need for a rest period. She wasn’t played as a complete invalid either. Having grown up somewhat in the middle of the black ops agent lifestyle she didn’t fall apart every time something earth shattering popped up, but she did have some meltdown moments. There was a really nice balance to everything.

 

The hero Cam was wonderfully Alpha but had his balance as well. There were plenty of moments where he broke away from the “You Jane, me Tarzan” routine that the men in this genre of books so often fall into. Things weren’t easy for him in the romance department with Sky as well. They had plenty to work through and some choices to make along the way. Refreshing!

 

A pleasant treat was to have a secondary couple that you fell in love with just as much. You got to read enough background and flashbacks along the way to feel as if you have read an entire book about them, when in reality they were just slipped in. Its not often that you end up rooting for more than one couple in a book. Usually the focus stays on one couple with a set up for the next book. This time around you get resolution for both. (We did get that set up anyway, and it was awesome.)

 

I am really anxious to follow this series to see what happens to all of the loose ends. There are so many bad guys that need to be taken down, and some bad ones that you want to see try to get some sort of redemption. Stephanie Tyler did one heck of a job getting me so invested.

xoxox

Mia