UNLEASHING THE STORM

Author: Sydney Croft ISBN: 9780385340816 3/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: DELTA

Feel the heat. Hear the roar. The fever has begun... There’s a storm rising. Electricity crackles in the air. For Kira Donovan, it’s that time of year again: when the need floods her flesh, when almost any man—the bigger and the stronger the better—will do. For Kira, an animal psychic, the heat is a matter of life and death, and this year it has come at just the right time. Tom Knight, a natural-born predator, has arrived at her isolated Idaho farm—for reasons all his own. . . . At first Kira isn’t interested in Knight’s motives. She only needs him—his body, his hands, his scent. But soon, through a daze of desire and distrust, Kira discovers Knight’s world—the world of a covert operative, one man among dozens of secret agents waging an astonishing global war. Knight’s mission is to bring Kira—kicking and screaming if necessary—into the Agency for Covert Rare Operatives and harness her extraordinary gift. He never expected the powerful emotions she would ignite in him, or the fierce desire to keep her safe from harm. For as darkness gathers around them, Kira is feeling the heat once again, leading them both on a wild ride of delicious thrills . . . and terror beyond imagining.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

A cross between the X-Men and Feehan's Game series, UNLEASHING THE STORM is an erotic romance—and I use the term romance lightly—that offers some intriguing storylines, but too much crude sex for me. In that department, there is something for everyone, including gay sex.

There is a lot going on in this one, with many different characters, and I thank the author for that because, after a while, the main hero and heroine going at it like bunnies every few pages is routine. Yeah, I know she has to mate or die, but it's rather trashy that way. Instead of feeling sorry for her like I should, I think of how it could be more romantic to have her in "Spring Fever" but still selective. The idea that she will take any man kinda grosses me out, even if she is an animal whisperer. Guess I am old fashioned like that.

This type of review is hard for me because while I want to like UNLEASHING THE STORM, mainly for its characters and twisting storyline, some of the content is just too close to porno for my taste. Call me a prude, but I do not care for the p-word, or the c-word, and while I know the characters fall in love eventually, sex for sex is not romantic to me in the least. And that, since I review romantic fiction, for me says it all. Romance.

Shannon Johnson