Monette Michaels finally did it right, I'm thinking she may have gotten a lot of flak for her previous heroine, Keely, and decided to remedy this situation with our present heroine, Callie.
Short synopsis: Our heroine frank, earnest supermodel Callie, gets stalked by creepy Columbian paramilitary leader, Heroine asks for help from old friend Keeley, who in touch contacts SSI to get involved which brings our hero, Risto, in on the scene.
Risto 'saves the day' by escaping with her into the depths of the jungle and even though she manages to escape back to Chicago, the baddies follow her yet again! Risto arrives after a routine "she's to good for me" abandonment separation and really saves the day in an epic outside winter battle.
I've gotta say, Monette Michaels really does a great job with the action sequences quite possibly the best and most redeeming features of the books, alpha males aside.
Callie, unlike Keely, is not "practically perfect in every way" she admits her limitations and goes with them.
A breath of fresh air after reading about Keely, Now, diligent romance readers can willingly forgive the fact that she's a supermodel that just happens to know about tons of guns and shooting, etc.
b/c her dad was Marine and oh yeah she knows about/has been to all kinds of places on earth due to "her Dad's job" and numerous photoshoots.
Sure, I'll drink that Koolaid but it got really repetitive, really fast when she kept mentioning "her Dad" this and "her Dad" that.
Yeah, we get it. Your dad was MacGyver and he taught you to shoot, But to keep up with that after he passed and to keep up with it while being an internationally known supermodel while going to college and 'raising' twin brothers Yeah, my Koolaid is starting to taste a little cloying here.
But whatever, it's an escapist romance suspense novel, right
Never mind that parts of the story reminds me of my favorite Linda Howard novel right down to the snake in the jungle bit I tsked aloud at that, we have a great "escape into the jungle" set up and I really, really love those, despite how it's been presented.
Story is simple yet it's totally worth it for the jungle scenes and unbelievably hot interactions between our hero and heroine.
Definitely give this a shot I'd say, read it even without reading the first novel, It's much better and you don't even need to know that much back story since you'll be reading it mostly for the Jungle!Escape romance anyways.
wow I LOVE this series, keep them coming, can't wait for the next one, Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent, a MUST read
The five star rating I've given this book is based purely on my enjoyment when reading it and not how well written it was, how believable the characters were, or anything like that.
I loved this book even more than the first in the series, For me it had everything I want in a book, Action, suspense, and romance with an over protective, very possessive H who had and wanted to take care of the h.
The sex scenes were great to, If you are the type of reader who likes characters that are realistic you might not like the h because she has mad skills in this book.
The h in the first book was the same way but that stuff never bothers me, I don't read books for reality, I can't wait till the next boom comes out, Another great suspenseful story.
Calista is a famous model, when she isn't doing modeling she is raising her twin brothers who soon will be off to college.
Thinking nothing of her last modeling job before returning to her normal life she gets more than she bargains for.
Having a crazy paramilitary leader after wasn't was she wanted now he has an obsession with her and not letting her leave Colombia.
Nothing else to do she calls her childhood best friend Keely who now works with her husband Ren in his security company.
No one else available they send Risto Smith an operative who isn't easy to kill and knows his way around Colombia.
When meeting the famous Calista he vows to do anything he can to protect her even protecting her heart from him.
These two are thrown together on an adventure hiding out and finding ways to leave the country, She knew he meant something more the moment he saw her but was scared he wasn't enough, When they think it's safe for her he obsessive paramilitary leader is back in the states looking for her but this team he won't lose her.
I love the SSI series great guys are finding strong independent women that know how to hold their own.
It'scandy. Sexy candy. He's a caveman Marine, she's an expertrated sniper supermodel, It's just like the last book but instead of a tiny redhead NSA consultant, it's a famous blonde supermodel that's BFFs with the tiny redhead NSA consultant.
.stars.
I liked the romance between Calista and Risto at the beginning of the story, They had an interesting adventure in a few different countries together that brought them closer, Their dynamic was overall complimentary towards one another, I enjoyed Calista as a character because she was a strong woman that knew her limits in life, I think her personality was the prominent in this book and the previous book, I think Ms. Micheals developed her character well compared to the other characters, Calista was my favorite character in this story, Risto is tolerable most of the time and an idiot the other times, He is really alpha and quite hot headed, When he decided not to contact Calista after their extensive amount of time they spent together, I completely checked out emotionally to him.
Even as the the story went on with the cliche ending, I still didn't like him, I will not be continuing this series due to the overactive alphas in this book and the lack of actions from the alpha in the previous book.
Wow.
This was in my opinion way better than Eye of the Storm, The chemistry between Risto and Callie was so hot,
Callie is a childhood friend of Keely's and if you read my review of Eye of the Storm I have mixed feelings about Keely.
Callie has been trained and can use guns very well, but she is not necessarily better than any of the other characters who have been trained and she very much prefers to be an analyst as she isn't emotionally cut out for field work.
The second book in this series begins with Callie getting the unwanted attention of a really bad man named Cruz who has threatened to harm her brothers if she doesn't go "be his woman" willingly.
Callie needs to keep her brothers safe, so she calls her friend Keely for help since her husband is Ren, the owner of Security Specialists International.
They send out Risto Smith to help get Callie home safely, When these two meet it's an instant attraction, . . Not only do they have to worry about everything around them, and the dangers, but also about dangers of the heart.
This book was very good, It was written very well, and had a host of side characters that were just as awesome as the main characters.
There was even an ICK scene with a snake, and I won't say more but I got chills just reading it eww.
. . I loved Callie. She was a smart, independent, and sassy female who knew how to take care of herself, She knows she's in love with Risto but she also realizes she will probably never get more time with him than what she has while he's saving her.
So she's not one to waste the time she does have, she lets herself fall into a blissful relationship with him.
Risto thinks Callie needs someone better than him so he's determined to enjoy it while it lasts then get away from her.
But he doesn't realize how hard that's going to be on him, especially when he learns Callie could be in more danger.
I loved these two together, And I can not wait to read more in this series, it is full of romance, and tons of action! cant wait until the next one comes out I love the strong female characters that are in this series while not as funny or snarky as the first book still a really good read Fast paced adventure.
Lots of action and romance, Dynamic characters and a great storyline, Super series. loved it
X Danger Alpha Y !
First of all, let me
say Im a Monette Michaels fan.
I love her other SSI book, and her scifi novel “Prime Obsession” is A, However, “Cold Day In Hell” is a straight formula suspense novel,
Its a rehash of the Cindy Gerrard Novel “xxx”, X Dgr AY !, or take one super model X, add Danger, plus an Alpha Man, and you get a combustible danger danger lets fight the bad guys novel.
But if you expect this going in, youll wont be disappointed,
SYNOPSIS WITH SPOILERS:
Super model is lured to South America for the last photo shoot of her career.
A local paramilitary leader informs her, shes his and is not leaving the country, Bad guy tells her hell kill her little brothers back in Chicago, if she doesnt cooperate, She phones her friend at SSI for help, They send an agent “Risto” to pretend to be her husband and get her out in one piece,
Risto shows up, busts heads, he and Calista practically burn up the pages with sexual chemistry, He gets her out of the country then disappears, Two months later, he still hasnt called, Calista has taken an analyst job with SSI and has cost the paramilitary leader millions by tracking down his dirty money for the US.
But the bad guy goes after Calista again, so she turns to Risto for protection,
Risto and his friends stake out his hometown and literally repel an army of mercs bent on killing Risto for revenge, and kidnaping the super model.
Calista is a sharpshooter and serves as a sniper in the gun battle, The bad guys lose, good guys win, and everyone lives happily ever after,
PROBLEMS:
Calista feels the need to remind everyone in sight that she raised her “TWIN brothers” over and over.
In some places, the dialog seems forced, For instance, Quote by Calista: “Once I find that laundry list, Ill use my knowledge and skills to uncover some of Cruzs other accounts.
” Or when she reveals that she went to college on a full scholarship, Calista delivers the information like a shotgun instead in the course of the story or natural conversations.
The Alpha hero Risto goes overboard on jealousy, A smidge of it is cute in a story, but his is so overt that is borders on possessive abuse.
Come on, growling at everyone who looks at his super model world famous girlfriend makes him look like a Chihuahua at a party.
IMO, the love scenes were a tad too plentiful,
OK. You cant have a running gun battle that encompasses a whole town and not tick off the locals, Theres going to be damage, and even absentee home owners are gonna have something to say about it when they return.
Was there any particular reason that they didnt wait for the bad guys to bring the gun battle to the island where they could pick them off before they landed
GOOD STUFF:
The novel was fun.
I like the occasional suspend reality and go with it novels, Who doesnt like a heroine who can shoot dozens of men, and be an asset in catching bad guys with a computer
The chemistry between hero and heroine was ballistic.
Its fun when you see two characters who meet and practically self combust with heat,
I loved that the town people got into defending Ristos girl and that they have a hands on approach to civil defense.
IMO: the first novel was better, but even though this one was really formulaic, I say go for it and buy it.
Plus be sure to read the other SSI book,
.