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by Lexi Blake

[Eve1972]

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
So I'll admit I went into this one with a bit of trepidation. Remy was another of this author's uber whores. At least that is pretty much all I remembered about him (lol). I seem to have the memory of an elephant when it comes to this stuff, unfortunately. In any case, it actually ended up being better than I anticipated. Much better. In fact, I would go so far as to say probably one of the best Masters & Mercenaries books this author has written in AGES. The writing was fantastic. It was a LONG book so I will admit the pace was a little slow in parts. That said, the plot was engaging and kept me turning the pages. I would probably suggest reading this one last out of all the crossover books. Mainly because the prologue and the epilogue take place after all the characters have found their happily ever afters. That is just "MY" suggestion and you won't be lost reading it before the others.


~HERO~
REMY...I went into this one expecting not to love Remy. I am a little over the whole uber manwhore thing. Especially when it is brought up over and over in a book. There was some of that in this one and honestly, most of it was unnecessary (IMO), but it wasn't as over the top as some of this author's previous books. Plus it helped that the heroine's past was thrown a bit in the heroes face when he finds out she slept with LINC her training partner. Anyways...I ended up really liking Remy a lot. He was alpha. He was sweet. He was funny. He spoke French. He recited poetry. He was a bonehead at times. He made mistakes. He apologized for said mistakes. He groveled. Surprisingly, he was a pretty decent hero.


~HEROINE~
LISA...She was a great character as well. She was feisty. She was funny. She was strong. She wore her heart on her sleeve. I loved that she wasn't a doormat. She made Remy work to get her back. She was maybe a TAD overly stubborn, but it was a nice change from the doormat heroines of the last few books for sure. I really liked Lisa a lot.


 

~FAVORITE QUOTE~
"You should get to the dining room, Remy. We had a bus pull up ten minutes ago. They’re on a swamp tour. Seraphina said it was thirty hungry, ancient people. Like really old. I bet it looks like the walking dead out there."


~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
This book was jam-packed with excellent secondary characters. We get tons of Ian and some other M&M originals. We get brief appearances from most of the crossover bodyguards. We get glimpses of Remy's family and people from his town in the Bayou --- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me we are going to get books (or a series) set in Remy's hometown and featuring his family??!! I was also VAWRY intrigued by Biondo. I *think* maybe he is from another series by a different author? Maybe a paranormal one? I don't know, but I want to read more about this guy for sure.


~HEAT LEVEL~
Medium. This one was fairly hot and had a few BDSM elements. I think we have one club scene and then a few more outside the club sex scenes. It could have used maybe a bit more kink, but I wasn't too bothered by the lack of that in this book.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Medium. This one was fairly angsty for me. Mostly because I knew the other shoe was going to drop at some point because Lisa wasn't privy to some information that she should have been. On top of that, add in some confused feelings, some hurt when the truth comes out, some pushing away, and finally, some groveling and you have the basis for some pretty decent angst. There was also a bit of OW drama in the form of Remy's ex-wife. But OMG I laughed my butt off at that scene. I wouldn't say there was any OM drama, but Remy gets a bit jealous about Linc and Lisa having slept together --- personally, I was thinking "YAY finally the heroines past getting thrown in the hero's face. *lol*


~IN THE END~
I enjoyed this one WAY more than I thought I would that is for sure. It felt more like the Masters & Mercenaries books of old. The writing (as always) was great. The plot was engaging. It was full of humor and great banter between the characters (both primary and secondary). Both main characters were likable. We got introduced to some great secondary characters. I loved the setting of Remy's hometown and hope we see more books from there. Honestly, I don't have much more to say. I loved it and therefore yours truly is going to be giving this one two very solid thumbs up.