Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Desire could destroy their deception…

When wolf-shifter Ivan Tang stumbles across a dogfighting ring, his soul demands he put the wrong to right.  Infiltrating the tightly knit and deeply paranoid group means he’s going to need an expert. Discovering his partner in the sting is a potential mate has made a difficult situation even worse.

Finding out that his commander is skimming money and drugs off busts means Ryder Moore’s undercover narcotics career is probably over.  When he’s offered a chance to work with another team, he leaps before looking only to discover himself paired up with a man he can’t stop craving.

As the mission pulls Ivan and Ryder into tight quarters, both men must put aside their personal feelings, but that turns the embers of desire into a raging fire. Wicked encounters only heighten the need to claim one another. Both men are willing to wait until the operation is over, but will Ryder be strong enough to survive the mating trial?

 

Book Review

This third book of the 'SWAT' series was a little less mysterious than the first two, since all the shifters now know what the mate trial involves and how careful they need to be when finding their potential mates. Instead, it added some action and serious suspense by making this the story about finding out who is the arsonist trying to burn a building containing several abused dogs. Figuring out who runs this particular dogfighting ring becomes Ivan's focus, and he is the one who gets Xenos, their liaison to the LAPD, involved in helping him infiltrate the illegal group. Of course the LAPD officer Xenos recruits, a narcotics undercover agent named Ryder, turns out to be Ivan's potential mate, the first Ivan has ever met.

Ivan is determined to find the perpetrators of the dog abuse their team encountered in the last book. Not just because he personally despises people who could be this cruel, but also because Sax, one of his friends in the pack and a new mate, has real trouble dealing with the thought they are still out there, free to torture more dogs. Ivan has always been alone, and has begun to doubt he even has a mate, so his shock when he finds Ryder may be it for him is significant. The attraction is almost too much for Ivan to resist, but he knows it has to be Ryder's choice, in the end, and he holds back.

Ryder is a snarky and sarcastic cynic, who has not only had an extremely harsh childhood, but is about to lose his current job as an undercover narcotics officer. His boss is skimming drugs and money off most of their operations, but Ryder has no proof and doesn’t have enough connections to make any charges stick. So he is about to lose his job when Xenos contacts him. Not one to knuckle under easily, he goes into this new assignment with hackles and fists raised, making sure none of the super-alpha men he encounters could possible accuse him of being weak. The fact that he is insanely attracted to Ivan, the guy he'll be going undercover with, doesn’t make things easier.

Ivan and Ryder are both strong alpha characters, and I loved their posturing and ribbing each other. The resulting passion once they admit there may be more attraction than rivalry to their feelings flares up high, and the dynamic once they hit the bedroom is definitely fun and very, very hot. If you like this series with its idea of a "mating trial" to find out if the potential mates are really suited to each other, if you enjoy two strong man learning how to work together both in and out of the bedroom, and if you're looking for a suspense-filled action adventure with two very passionate partners, then you will probably enjoy this novella.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Siren Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 37994 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	02-November-2013
Price	$5.50 ebook
Buy Link	http://www.bookstrand.com/kiss-of-deception