Doing The Book Review Thang

Before I find myself behind again on book reviews, I figured it was time to sit down and write a little something. I have two more books to talk about and will be starting a new one today. Being that I am still averaging a book every two days, I am finding it all too easy to fall behind. 

Alright, first up: My Man Michael by Lori Foster.

My Man Michael is actually the fourth in the SBC Fighters series. I didn't realize this at first. What can I say? I was too enthralled by the cover. Oops. It wasn't until I was home and settled in from the library that I made the realization. However, I decided to break my own "thou shalt not read out of order" rule and read it anyway.  And I'll say this: it didn't matter in the least that I did that.  The characters from previous books are only mentioned briefly and it really doesn't give anything away (cause duh, this is the romance genre so everyone always ends up in love, engaged and ready to make babies at the end of these books).  This book is an individual story all its own and is truly a stand alone novel.

Hunky, ripped Michael "Mallet" Manchester is a former SBC fighter. A master in the ring, he finds himself suddenly broken and battered in a hospital bed, but its not the result of a match gone bad but rather a horrible car accident. Facing his own morality as well as his now obvious physical limitations, he finds himself tail spinning into depression. No more fighting. No more glory. No more doing what gives his life meaning. 

While comtemplating his now shitty life, Michael finds a stunning woman lounging on his hospital windowsill.  Seeming to have appeared out of nowhere, Kaylie begins her story of needing his help and promises she can heal all that is wrong with him physically. He only has to agree to transports over 200 years into the future and live with her and her colony so he can help her fight the neighboring enemy colony. Oooookay. What the hell kind of drugs where they putting in that hospital IV anyway? 

Keep in mind this is a romance novel so this smooth talking sexy man, despite the circumstances, finds his mind and body wandering to more primal instincts ands needs. Simply put, he wants Kaylie, in a bad way.  So yeah sure, ooookay he'll "come back to her colony and help them", just kiss him first.

And with that, he finds himselfs transported to the future. 

I admit this sounds a bit silly.  A little too sci-fi. A little too hard to swallow. How the hell could Lori Foster pull this one off? But she does..she pretty much does.  She doesn't allow Michael to just up and accept it all without question.  The reader gets to see him slowly go from thinking it's all the medication talking to still thinking he's imagining things to finally, very slowly, realizing this is not a figment of his imagination or a drug induced grand hallucination.  This is for real. 

The plot is really rather simple.  And it contains, of course, the classic push/pull of two main characters falling for one another.  When Michael is presented with hundreds of willing virgins for his taking and he chooses Kaylie, you know where this is headed.  And really, my saying that didn't give anything away. You would have guessed it, too, early on.

Overall the plot is not very thick, it's more an enjoyable read because you come to like the characters and the furturistic world Foster paints.  Oh and the love scenes...there's always the love scenes. They aren't half bad either.

I dug the book and Foster's style enough that I am going to go ahead and read the first three books in this series for the heck of it. This one won't make my top ten list, but I won't find it to be a waste of my time either.  Which really is a blessing for my children--it means they will be fed while I read through the series.

Next up is Bait by Karen Robards.  I was introduced to Robards when my sister-in-law told me about her book Whispers At Midnight.  You'll remember I snatched that one up when I found out the main male character is a former high school bad boy named Matt.  I liked her style so after a quick peek around her shelf at the library, I settled on Bait and devoured it over the last two days.

Maddie Fitzgerald is a young, sexy owner of a small time advertising agency. While on a mission to make her company a success, she finds herself scared of the dark like a small child.  Clinging to her stuff animal, Fudgie, and sleeping with lights on, she still finds herself plagued with nightmares where a man comes to kill her.  Although these dreams are not fueled by some irrational fear but rather by memories from her past.  She knows it's just a matter of time before they find her again and try to finish the job. 

Sam McCabe is a rough, abrasive and incredibly hunky FBI agent hot on the pursuit of a serial killer.  Traveling all over the country and always arriving just a few minutes too late, he just can not piece together the puzzle to solve this mystery.  The killer continues with his MO and leaves Sam baffled...until Maddie Fitzgerald comes into the picture. When she survives an attack by the wanted killer, the first to do so, she becomes the first real clue and Sam grabs onto her in an attempt to use her as bait--hoping that it'll cause the killer to make another mistake.

It's a classic situation in these murder mystery romance novels.  Cop placing victim in protective custody and oops, falling in love with her in the process. 

This read had a few pretty good hot scenes. Not enough for my likes but decent enough.  The story drags on at a few points and, although there's no denying Robards paints a great visual of characters and scenery, you start finding yourself wishing she wasn't quite so descriptive.  I will say, though, that at a couple points, I had a hard time putting it down and by the end, when the action really was hitting its peak, I found my heart racing a bit. 

Did I manage to solve the crime before Sam did? Yeah, I did.  The story behind the murders was a slight surprise but the guy who done it wasn't quite as hard to guess.  It was still well done though. Predictable in some ways and yet surprising in others.  Besides, what's a well done mystery novel if you can't atleast somewhat guess what is going on?  It wouldn't be very gripping if at the end, they just up and said, "Oh yeah..remember that pizza delivery guy from chapter two? He was the murderer..cause he was tired of people not tipping him."  Yeah, not very compelling and doesn't wrap up very nicely.  So yeah, a little predictability is nice. In Robards' last book it was the same except I wasn't able to guess the "who", only the "why".

Is it worth your time? Yep, if you're into this genre, it's a pretty entertaining read. 'Course I am not finding myself very picky at this point.

Next up?  Most likely the other SBC fighter books. But who knows? I have a few borrowed Nora Roberts waiting on my shelf so it'll depend on my mood.