Wicked Wednesday Review: Five HOT and suspenseful titles, perfect for your beach bag

imageLooking for some more beach reads this summer? 

Love wicked HOT suspense served along with your romance? 

Here’s a selection of five titles that I recommend you consider adding to your bookshelf. image
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A sizzling hot, cannot-put-it-down must read from Rebecca Zanetti
Sweet Revenge (Sin Brothers Book #2) by Rebecca Zanetti
Forever (Grand Central Publishing) ⎜ ISBN 9781455574469 ⎜ $8.00 ⎜ Jun 24 2010

Two weeks ago I reviewed Forgotten Sins  the first book in Rebecca Zanetti’s Sin Brothers series. In case you missed the review. I loved it. And I love this series about genetically engineered super soldiers who are seeking freedom from their military/scientist creators as well as cure for a time bomb sitting on their spine. One of the four brothers is missing and presumed dead, but seeing the other three all together in Forgotten Sins was almost alpha overload, in the best possible way. In Sweet Revenge, the focus is on Matt Dean and his search for a scientist who could possibly help them short circuit the physical time bomb the three of them are facing. He rolls into Charmed, Idaho, with a short-list of possible suspects and soon becomes indispensable to bar owner Laney Jacobs. I absolutely adore Laney and, well, Matt is just darn near perfect. Zanetti keeps you guessing about who’s who. Who’s friend and who’s foe. And if Laney and Matt might indeed be able to find some magic together in Charmed. I couldn’t put this book down and really, really recommend this series – if, like me, you’re hooked on romantic suspense with a military flair; fascinating and unusual plot twists; and some very HOT interpersonal relationships!

Five Stars

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Dangerously Hot is a searingly HOT and suspenseful read
Dangerously Hot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel #4) by Lynn Raye Harris
H.O.T. Publishing, LLC ⎜ ISBN 9780989451246 ⎜ $4.99 ⎜ Apr 5, 2014

Dangerously Hot, book four in Lynn Raye Harris’ Hostile Operations Team series, hit all the right marks for me. I loved the second-chance story former HOT team member Lucky San Ramos and current team member Kevin “Big Mac” MacDonald. I’d been curious about Lucky for a while (she’d been mentioned and made a brief appearance in earlier stories) and, well, Kevin is HOT. (Yes, the HOT acronym for this series might do double duty to describe these alpha bad boy team members.) I cried a bit with Lucky as she recalled why she married Marco upon Kevin’s desertion (As only she calls him Kevin, hope he doesn’t mind me taking that same liberty.) From the moment she’s recalled under duress to the HOT Team from surfing in Hawaii in order to search out her former captor and most-wanted terrorist, I was hooked. I really liked how Harris portrayed Kevin and Lucky. How their mutual wariness was transcended – bit by bit. And I really liked the fact that Kevin never could figure out why Lucky didn’t fall for him years ago, like all the other women who ran through his revolving relationship door. Harris really shows how each of these characters really matured and grew, finally ready to perhaps explore a new dynamic now. With the assignment of Lucky and Kevin undercover as husband and wife, it’s not a stretch to see that turning into something more. But along with the relationship, Harris also provides a fast-paced, engrossing plot that made me burn through those Kindle pages, without stopping. I highly recommend both this book and the HOT series.

Five Stars

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Humor, heat, and suspense make this a must-read dragon shifter title
Stop Dragon My Heart Around (Las Vegas Dragons series Book 2) by Susannah Scott
Entangled Covet ⎜ ASIN B00JI12A3W ⎜ $3.79 ⎜ Apr 28, 2014

I’m an admitted dragophile. Give me a dragon shifter book and I’m a happy camper. That’s why last fall, I was so glad to discover Susannah Scott’s Luck of the Dragon, the first book in her Las Vegas Dragon’s series. This spring the Las Vegas dragons return with Stop Dragon My Heart Around. (Don’t you love that playful title?!) This is a fun, quick read and Scott packs in a lot of suspense, hot and heavy love scenes, and laugh-out-loud humor. Visualizing dragons taking off from the top of the casino to fly – priceless. Even better is that visitors think they’re just part of a show. In both books, the dragon shifters face a ticking clock as they could lose their beast – their dragon – if they don’t find their mate. And mates may be identified by a tattoo-like mark, usually on the hand. Tension is high in Stop Dragon My Heart Around as casino number two official, dragon Leo, needs to find his dragon mate. But he’s not making the search a priority as he’s overwhelmingly drawn to his Native American casino hostess Tee. However, she doesn’t have a mark on her hand. Will he break her heart and ignore their fierce connection as he goes in search of a proper non-human dragon mate? Will Tee’s Paiute tribe bow to pressure and build their own casino? The pages quickly flipped to find out those answers. If you love shifter romances with plenty of heat and humor, add Susannah Scott’s Las Vegas Dragons to your bookshelf.

Four-and-a-Half Stars

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A must-read entry in a fabulously HOT series by Lynn Raye Harris
Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel #5) by Lynn Raye Harris
H.O.T. Publishing, LLC ⎜ 9780989451260 ⎜ $4.99 ⎜ Jun 30 2014

I have to admit that while I really enjoyed Hot Shot, the fifth book in Lynn Raye Harris’ Hostile Operations Team series, it never grabbed me like Dangerously Hot did. While I definitely enjoyed the story of HOT sniper Jack “Hawk” Hunter and pop diva Gina Domenico, for some reason neither of the protagonists were as appealing to me as some of Harris’ former heroes and heroines. But that’s just me. The two met when Gina was staying with a man whose wealth turned out to be from arms dealing. He was Jack’s target and in escaping that situation, he and Gina hook-up and then never see one another again. He’s not really over the death of his wife and leaves Gina once they’re rescued. Three years later when her son is kidnapped, the son Jack never knew about, they reconnect to rescue him. Harris throws in some unexpected twists about who the culprits are and keeps the plot moving quickly. A definite must-read if you’re as hooked on the Hostile Operations Team series as I am. I can’t wait to see which team member is in Harris’ sights for book six!

Four Stars

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Another thrilling title in Kall’s Love and Scandal series
A SEAL’s Mission (Love and Scandal Book 2) by Rachel Kall
NYLA ⎜ ISBN 9781625175175 ⎜ $3.99 ⎜ Jul 11, 2014

Rachel Kall really knows how to deliver a fast-paced suspenseful read. I’ve enjoyed the previous two titles in her political thriller Love and Scandal series, so was delighted to receive A SEAL’s Mission for review. (If you haven’t read the other titles, that’s okay as this could easily be a stand-alone title.) The combination of Rowena Murphy and SEAL Scott Ranger is HOT. From the moment he rescues her from her kidnappers in Afghanistan, where she was an embedded journalist in search of proof of a cover-up, there’s a clear attraction between the two of them. When the action moves stateside to the DC-area, we’re once again on more familiar ground for Kall’s readers. And yes, there are some political elements and you’ll recognize characters from the earlier two books, they don’t seem to dominate the story as much. (I was disappointed in this a bit, because I really enjoy Kall’s take on the backstage of the political arena.) But, hey, a HOT Navy SEAL, a feisty kick-ass journalist, and a fast-paced thrill-ride leave no real complaints from this reader. Looking forward to future titles in this series.

Four Stars

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