Terri Garey: DEVIL'S BARGAIN Series

Author: Terri Garey

Series: DEVIL'S BARGAIN
Plot Type: SMR 
Ratings: V2, S3-4, H4 

Publisher and Titles: Avon
          Devil Without a Cause (2011)
          A Devil Named Desire (2012)

     This blog entry was revised and updated on 3/6/12 to include a review of the second book in the series: A Devil Named Desire  That review is located at the end of this entry following a summary of the world building and a review of the first book:

   WORLD BUILDING   

    This humorous new series stars Samael (aka Sammy, His Satanic Majesty, Prince of Darkness, Lord of the Underworld), who is a holdover from Garey's NICKI STYX series, in which he had the hots for Nicki. In NICKI STYX, we saw Sammy as Samuel B. Divine, a human-looking, but devilish, entrepreneur in Atlanta. Now, we see him in his unnatural hellish environment, surrounded by imps, demons of darkness, the Basilisk, and other monstrous creatures—all under his command and at his beck and call. We also watch Sammy and his brother, the angel Gabriel, trade insults and gibes, each hating the circumstances of the other's existence but each remembering their idyllic childhoods—before Sammy's fall from grace. 

***   ***   *****   ***   ***

   BOOK 1:  Devil Without a Cause   

     In the first book in the series, Sammy is grieving over his lost human love, Nicki Styx, who has married her human lover and is on her way to creating a happy family. When Gabriel tells Sammy that he has a chance for redemption because he let Nicki go, Sammy is not inclined to believe him, but Gabriel presents Sammy with a challenge—and Sammy has never backed down from a challenge. Gabriel wants Sammy to assist a mortal woman who is in need of intervention and guidance. After Sammy finally accepts the task, he appears before Faith McFarland as she sits in a hospital chapel waiting for the results of her son's brain cancer surgery. Faith is a struggling single mother, worried sick about the cancer that is killing little Nathan. Sammy offers to heal Nathan if Faith will give up her soul and steal a ring from the finger of Finn Payne, a rock star who just happens to be staying at the hotel where Faith works as a concierge. Sammy gave that ring to Finn twenty years ago in exchange for Finn's soul. As long as Finn wears the ring, he stays alive and his musical talents are enhanced. If he loses the ring, his talents go away and he dies shortly thereafter, with his soul going directly to Sammy. The plot follows the troubled relationship between Faith and Finn as they begin to fall in love, but struggle for ownership of the ring. This plot line plays out as the very definition of the term "horns of a dilemma." As the Faith-Finn story moves along, Sammy has his own plot thread, which involves the development of parental feelings he never thought possible.

     The Sammy of this series is portrayed in a much more complex manner than was evident in NICKI STYX, where he was just a supporting character, and not a very nice one. Here, we see further into Sammy's character as he rails against the One, who allowed him to sin against humankind without telling him the rules of the game and then ripped off his wings and dumped him in the depths of hell. Sammy would love to have a chance at redemption, but he's so jaded and evil now, that it might be too late. 

     The set-up for the series is fresh and inventive. Sammy is still not a good person, but now at least we can see why he turned out the way he did. The development of the romantic relationship has no real paranormal aspect, except for the dark O'Henry-esque twist in which ownership of the magical ring has serious, and separate, consequences for both the hero and the heroine. The humor comes both through situations and dialogue, with Sammy's sarcasm adding many laughs. I enjoyed this first book and plan to keep reading the series.

***   ***   *****   ***   ***

   BOOK 2:  A Devil Named Desire   

     Sammy and Gabriel are still involved in their verbal squabbles, with Gabriel trying to save Sammy's soul and Sammy trying to trick Gabriel into something sinister. Sammy decides that he'll teach Gabe a lesson by making him fall in love with a human and then sweeping in to take her soul. leaving Gabe in the depths of despair. The human woman at the heart of Sammy's scheme is Hope Henderson, who is committing suicide as we meet her—lying in her bathtub after having slit her own wrists. Hope has just learned that the police have decided that her beloved sister, Charity, is dead after two years of being missing. Charity blames herself and feels that she has nothing left to live for. Sammy rescues Hope and proves to her that Charity is still alive. He then gives her a choice: She can have her soul immediately eaten by Nyx, Sammy's soul-sucking assistant after which her sister will die, or she can rescue her sister by creating a web site containing the words of a demonic book that will allow Sammy to better coordinate his minions and eventually giving Sammy her soul. Hope takes the second choice, hoping that she can somehow thwart Sammy's wishes.


     In the meantime, Sammy has maneuvered the situation so that Gabe will see Hope walking down the street, with her dark shadows twisting around her bright soul. Gabe can't resist such a challenge, as Sammy well knows. Soon, Gabe is ensconced in Hope's apartment, where his emotions move from "like" to "lust" to "love" in a very short time. The story follows Gabe and Hope as they head for Las Vegas in search of Charity. Meanwhile, back in Hell, Sammy's 9-year-old son Cain (whom we met in book 1), is in trouble once again, putting a hitch in Sammy's plan for Gabriel. As the climax plays out, each character learns a lesson and earns some happiness—even Sammy. We can see that Sammy is—very slowly—allowing love into his heart, which, unfortunately, makes him a far less interesting character. This book, for me, was not as successful as book 1. The love story was just so-so, and the story about Sammy and Cain didn't have much dramatic tension. Plus, what was the purpose of having Pandora in the story? Except for her sex scenes with Sammy, she really didn't have much to do but sit around and look slutty. 


     Click HERE to read an excerpt from Devil Without a Cause. Click HERE to read an excerpt from A Devil Named Desire. 

***   ***   *****   ***   ***

     If you haven't read Garey's award-wining NICKI STYX series, here are the titles in reading order, followed by a brief overview of the series:

   Dead Girls Are Easy (Avon, 2007)

   A Match Made in Hell (Avon, 2008)

   “Ghouls Night Out” in Weddings from Hell anthology (Harper, 2008)

   You’re the One That I Haunt (Avon, 2009)

   Silent Night, Haunted Night (Avon, 2009) 

     After a near-death experience in which she was told to go back and do good, Nicki, the owner of a vintage clothing store in Atlanta, finds that she can see and hear the ghosts of dead women—most of whom are looking for her help. Nicki’s love interest, Joe Bascombe, is the handsome, down-to-earth emergency-room doctor who brought her back to life. Her gay business partner, Evan, provides sardonic repartee to raise the humor level. Adventures involve a variety of supernaturals, including many needy ghosts, an evil voodoo spirit, and bad boy Samael “Sammy” Divine—the devil himself, who has designs on Nicki. To complicate matters further, Nicki discovers that Joe is married to a woman who may be her twin sister. Although the series has some chick-lit elements (e.g., lots of fashion descriptions, breezy tone—particularly from Evan), the heroine has enough attitude and angst to make it an urban fantasy.

Cynthia Eden: "Never Cry Wolf"

Author: Cynthia Eden
Title: Never Cry Wolf 
Plot Type: SMR
Ratings: V4; S4; H2
Publisher: Kensington Brava (2011)

     This erotic romance features Lucas Simone, the big, strong, and lusty werewolf pack leader of Los Angeles, and Sarah King, a feisty, beautiful charmer with lots of secrets. In this world, a charmer is a not-quite-human person who has the magical talent of being able to read the thoughts of and communicate with particular animal species. In Sarah's case, she can read the minds of wolves and werewolves, but only when the werewolves are in their animal form. As the story opens, Lucas is in jail on suspicion of murder when a beautiful, unfamiliar woman (Sarah) pretends to be his lover and provides him with the alibi he needs to get free. Sarah needs the protection of Lucas and his pack because her ex-boyfriend, Rafe Santiago (a vengeful werewolf alpha), put a bounty on her head after she attacked him (in self defense) and ran away. Neither Lucas nor Sarah fully trusts one another, with good reason, since they both harbor secrets (particularly Sarah). The plot, which is filled with treachery and multiple betrayals, follows Lucas, Sarah, and Lucas's pack through a series of battles with Rafe's were-coyote allies as they try to track down and eliminate Rafe himself. Along the way, Lucas and Sarah fall in lust, and then in love, as we knew all along that they would. Eventually, a voodoo mambo woman gets involved, as well as a vampire and her mate (who were featured in Eden's Immortal Danger). During the climactic battle that resolves the conflict, all of Sarah's secrets are finally revealed, and she must hope that Lucas will forgive her.

     Lucas isn't the smartest alpha in the world (he's always getting beat up and walking into traps), but he is passionate about his pack and protective of his woman. Sarah has the usual three S's of the stereotypical paranormal heroine: smart, sassy, and stubborn. She is also deceitful, and I felt bad for Lucas because she never tells him the truth. Instead, Lucas learns her secrets from others—always a downer. I found it hard to believe that Lucas would forgive Sarah so quickly after he finds out that most of what she has told him has been a lie. The secondary characters (Lucas's pack members) are strongly portrayed, with each having his own tragic back story that informs his actions. I was surprised, however, that Lucas's pack is so small. This is supposed to be the Los Angeles pack, so I would have thought that there would be more than a half dozen members.


     All in all, this is a typical SMR romance with a fairly strong and compelling plot, although the voodoo action in the latter part of the book is somewhat convoluted. The sensuality level is a solid 4, which is a bit lower than most erotic romances.

     This book can be read as a stand-alone, although it takes place in the same universe as Eden's NIGHT WATCH series. I recommend reading Immortal Danger before reading Never Cry Wolf so that you will understand references made in Never Cry Wolf to past events that took place in Immortal Danger.

Lisa Renee Jones: ZODIUS SERIES

Author:  Lisa Renee Jones

Series:  ZODIUS
Plot Type:  Soul Mate Romance (SMR)
Rating:  Violence—4; Sensuality—4; Humor—1

Publisher and Titles:  Sourcebooks Casablanca 
     The Legend of Michael (2011)
     The Storm That Is Sterling (11/2011)
     "Renegade Passion" (e-novella, 5/2012)
     The Danger That Is Damion (5/2012)

This ongoing post was revised and updated on 6/17/12 to include a review of the third book in the series: The Danger That Is Damion. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the series and reviews of novels 1 and 2.

                  NOVEL 3:  The Danger That Is Damion                  

     Damion Browne is one of the Renegade's top soldiers, and as an enforcer of the Renegade's code of honor, he lives life strictly according to the rules. As the story opens, Damion and his friend, Chale, are protecting a Russian nuclear scientist when Damion notices a beautiful female with a gun. That woman is Lara, who has been brain-washed by General Powell's scientists and injected with serum that turned her into a GTECH. When Lara takes aim at the scientist, she can't make herself pull the trigger, giving Damion the time he needs to capture her. 

     The two are immediately attracted to one another, and the plot mostly follows their love story. Lara has no memories of her life before Powell. He has made her believe that all GTECHs are bad—both Zodius and Renegades—and has turned her into an assassin, programmed to kill all GTECHS. The last thing that Lara can remember is that someone killed her mentor, and Powell has made her believe that the Renegades were the murderers. Damion begins breaking Renegade rules almost immediately by protecting Lara and refusing Caleb's suggestion that the Renegade medics should take a look inside Lara's brain. The Renegades fear that Lara may be faking her memory loss in order to infiltrate their ranks, but Damion—almost from the first moment he meets her—trusts Lara and believes that she is telling the truth.

     Meanwhile, Sabrina (a traitorous woman whom we met in previous books) is now the head of Powell's new female army. Powell's right-hand man is Lucian, also a traitor familiar from previous books. When Damion grabs Lara and wind-walks her away to safety, Sabrina seeks help from Lucian and the two of them try to get Lara back before the Renegades can deprogram her. Powell's new project is called Project Serenity, but the atmosphere at his headquarters is anything but serene. His people are consumed with in-fighting and back-biting—all trying to be top dog. Powell himself is not seen in this book; he is in Europe on other business, believing that he has left his project in competent hands. Unfortunately, that was a bad decision for him but a good one for the Renegades. Beyond the romance, the story line follows several attempts by Sabrina and Lucian to capture Lara.

     This romance is filled with the requisite numbers of angst-filled inner monologues and passionate love scenes. When the Lifebond mark appears on Lara's neck, their situation becomes even more complicated because of Lara's continuing memory loss and the fact that a true blood bonding might mean death for her and, perhaps, for Damion. This book runs about the same romantic course as the previous two with the exception that, for the first time, we have a female and a male GTECH getting together, which complicates things for the medical staff.

     By the end of the book, General Powell is back to square one, having lost his medical laboratory, his workers, and his female army. Since Powell believes that any GTECH who is not under his control must die, it's a sure bet that he will fight back. Adam and his Zodius forces do not appear at all in this book, so we don't know what they are up to at this point. Adam's son, Dorian, is still living with Caleb and the Renegades, and Caleb is trying to win him over to their side. With his speedy aging, Dorian now appears to be 20 years old, and his powers are growing stronger and stronger. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

                  WORLD-BUILDING                  
     In this world, there are no supernatural creatures—no vampires, werewolves, or demons. Instead, the main characters are super-soldiers called GTECHs, who are stronger and faster than humans, heal themselves from most injuries, and windwalk—that is, fade invisibly into the wind and travel great distances at super speed. The GTECHs were created by General Powell and his medical staff. They selected human soldiers and then, without the soldiers’ knowledge, injected them with the GTECH vaccine, which appears to have come originally from the DNA of aliens (the extraterrestrial kind). This secretive work was done at Zodius City (near Area 51). Early on, the U.S. government sponsored the GTECH program, but it was eventually shut down when some of the soldiers developed the X2 gene, which caused them to become violent and uncontrollable.

     In each book, one of the GTECH soldiers (but only the good guys) meets and mates with his soul mate. In this world, that is called a Lifebond. When a woman has sex with her true mate, she gets a mark on the back of her back that signifies he is her mate. That bond is not completed until the two have shared blood. If a blood-bonded Lifemate dies, his or her mate also dies, so that adds some tension as the couple tries to decide whether to do the blood-sharing completion of the bond.

     Click HERE to go to a page on the author's web site with brief biographies of the Renegade soldiers.

        BOOK 1:  The Legend of Michael        
     As the novel opens, Cassandra Powell (clinical psychologist and daughter of Dr. Powell), falls in love with Michael Taylor, a tall, dark, and handsome GTECH, who comes across like a 21^st century version of Conan the Barbarian, but with better manners. Dr. Powell is secretly continuing to experiment with his GTECH serum, but now he wants to add Red Dart, a laser program that will turn the GTECHs into nothing more than super-strong robotic slaves who will do his bidding. Of course, Powell, in typical meglomaniac fashion, is doing all of this to keep our country safe; at least that’s what he tells himself and anyone who questions his motives. In the early part of the book, the GTECHs learn that they are to be victims of the Red Dart program. They rebel and overrun the Zodius compound, but Dr. Powell, his daughter, and some of the medical team escape. After the takeover, the rebels split into two groups: the Zodius, led by the sociopathic Adam Rain, and the good-guy Renegades, led by Adam’s twin brother, Caleb. So...the conflicts are as follows:

> Dr. Powell wants to capture all of the Zodius soldiers and all of the Renegades so that he can Red Dart them and get them under his control.

> Adam wants to capture Dr. Powell and his Red Dart medical team so that he can create his own army, and he wants to shut down the Renegades and get his brother to join the Zodius group.

> Caleb wants to capture Dr. Powell and his Red Dart medical team so that he can destroy the Red Dart formulas, and he wants to shut down the Zodius group.

> Later in the book, yet another GTECH soldier forms a group in opposition to both the Zodius and the Renegades.

     Got all that? In the meantime, the romance between Michael and Cassandra is front and center throughout the book. In the early chapters, the two have their first sexual encounter, which results in a mark on Cassandra’s neck that indicates that the two are well on their way to a Lifebond (aka soul mate joining). When Adam leads the Zodius takeover, Michael unaccountably joins the bad guys and becomes Adam’s second in command. He stays away from Cassandra for two years and lets everyone think that he has turned to the bad side. (Now, we know that this must be a mistake, because Michael is the romantic hero, which means that he is one of the good guys. You must just keep reading to discover the truth.) Both Cassandra and Michael beat themselves up emotionally over and over again about their horrible parents, about Michael’s unknown future with his G2 problem, and about what will happen if Michael has to eventually kill Cassandra’s father to keep him from using Red Dart. Aside from its complicated triangulation of antagonists, the story is compelling, and the romantic protagonists are suitably filled with both passion and angst. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

        BOOK 2:  The Storm That Is Sterling        

     As the story begins, Sterling Jeter is sent to retrieve an astrobiologist, Rebecca Burns, who happens to be his childhood sweetheart. She may or may not be assisting Adam in his research. As Sterling is explaining the situation to Becca, they are attacked by Zodius soldiers and captured. In order ensure their cooperation, Adam's second in command (the evil Tad) forces Becca to drink a dose of ICE, a drug that addicts the user after the very first dose, forcing that person to take a daily dose forever after. Skipping just one dose results in a painful death. ICE is made from the blood of Adam's son, Dorian, who is only six month old but has a monstrous growth pattern that is similar to that of Renesme, Edward and Bella's baby. Dorina matures at a rate of two years for every month of life, so right now, he appears to be 12 years old, and he's totally evil to the core—a sociopath with absolutely no humanity whatsoever. One story thread follows the romance that develops between Sterling and Becca as they escape from the Zodius and then try to deal with their mutual distrust of one another. They must also deal with the fact that Becca has been suffering from a virulent form of lung cancer and that she is now addicted, through no fault of her own, to ICE for the rest of her life—however long that might be. The other plot line follows Adam's machinations as he tries to recapture or kill Becca. Since her ICE addiction kicked in, Becca has developed some powers that both sides want. She can knock any GTECH unconscious, and she has some mind control skills as well. The complexities of this world result in convoluted plots, so here's another bulleted list of what's what at this point:

> Adam wants to capture or kill Becca so that he can either use her powers or keep his brother from using them. He also wants to use her in his sex camps to try to find her Lifebond so that she can procreate. 

> Tad wants power, any way he can get it. As a result of using ICE, he has developed some powers that he tries to keep secret, and those powers add complications to the plot.

> Sterling wants to trust Becca and hopes that she is his Lifebond, but still has some suspicions that she might be Adam's ally.

> Becca wants to trust Sterling, but still fears that he has ties to Adam. She is also afraid that she is his Lifebond and that he will die to protect her.

> Caleb wants to believe that Becca is on their side so that her astrobiologist background can help the the Renegades in their research.

     The devious General Powell is absent from this book until the final scene, where he provides a link to the next book. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

        CRITIQUE        

     The series comes across as a mash-up of Lora Leigh’s BREEDS (without the shifters) and Christine Feehan's GHOSTWALKERS. We have Feehan's super-strong, magically talented, macho men created by mad scientists, and we have Leigh's sexually enhanced lifebonding between the men and their human soulmates—a bond for life that intensifies with every passionate interlude. One unfortunate aspect of this series is that the villains are truly bad to the core. Unfortunately, one-dimensional villains are completely predictable and a bit boring. This series gets more and more complex, with the intricacies of the plot being much stronger than the character development. As a result, the characters are rather one-dimensional—all angst and worry, with little depth.