Waiting on Wednesdays

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  The pre-publication release we are eagerly anticipating this week is:

Taken by Fire 
by Sydney Croft

(ACRO # 6)

HIS MISSION WAS TO TAKE HER OUT.
BUT DESIRE GOT IN THE WAY.
 
A product of genetic manipulation, Melanie Milan shares a body with her malevolent sister Phoebe. A sleek, blonde predator with a heart of pure darkness, Phoebe puts their body through the wicked underbelly of sex for thrills—when she’s not igniting her pyrokinetic skills for an evil organization bent on taking over the world. Melanie rarely gets out to play—much less fall in love. But that changes when rival ARCO agent Stryker Wills shows up, with a mission to take out the woman who torched his partner.

An operative with rare abilities, Stryker soon realizes that the woman he’s about to kill isn’t the murderous fire starter he’s hunting. But he does want her. Melanie, with the power to ice anything in her path, is heating things up in ways that are setting his blood on fire. As long as Melanie stays in control, she is his best ally to bring down her sister and stop hellish havoc from being unleashed. Walking a tightrope of longing and hate, Stryker and Melanie begin to understand that true power lies in sweet surrender to each other, to the fire between them, to the erotic adventure that’s joined their hearts and abilities to become their salvation—and perhaps the world’s.

Click here to read an excerpt

Meet the Operatives

I'm so excited to get this book.  It'll be the final book in the ACRO series (book # 6), which a mix of X-Men with paranormal romance/erotica.  Yes, these guys and girls have superpowers, and there's a good agency and an evil agency battling against each other for supremacy.  Who is Sydney Croft?  The alter-ego of Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler!!  And... does this series really have to end?  Taken by Fire releases June 28, 2011!!!  Don't miss out!

Review: Tempting the Fire by Sydney Croft

Tempting the Fire (ACRO # 5)

by Sydney Croft

Paranormal Erotica

Find it on Goodreads!

I liked this book a lot more than I expected. When I first read the description I wasn't too crazy about it. In the previous books we never get to see much of Marlena, other than she was Dev's secretary and sometimes lover, and she is cursed with falling in love with any man she has sex with, but her curse also makes sure that that man could never love her.

Chase & Marlena Marlena is now trained as a Seducer and she is sent on a mission to the brazilian forest to help Sela figure out what's going on with a missing soldier, Chase. She is supposed to infiltrate this camp and seduce the head of the operation to find out what's going on and free Chase. But Chase has been infected with a "chupacabra" type virus and he is now turning into a beast when angered. Chupacabras also mate for life, and Chase recognizes Marlena as his mate when he first sees her.

Sela & Logan Sela is the expert on chupacabras, even though she doesn't believe in them. She's worked for ACRO for a few years, and she has a special ability to read peoples minds and see into their past but only while they orgasm. So she's back up in case Marlena can't get answers out of Logan. But Marlena doesn't even stand a chase. Logan wants Sela from the first moment he sees her. Even though Logan works for a private company that is supplying weapons to ACRO's enemies, it's run by Logan's father, which means he has little control over it. And he owes them his life, as he was injured almost beyond repair while in the military and they saved his life by making him part machine.

Dev & Gabe We don't get to see as much of them in this book as I would've liked. Dev is a bit disappointed with Gabe's lack of interest and dedication to ACRO and learning to control his abilities, and Gabe decides he has to prove himself by doing something majorly stupid.

Creed & Annika I love these two. Have I said that before? Yeah? Well, I'll say it again. I love them!!!! I want to have Creed's babies!!!!!  hehehe  First Annika is jealous because apparently Creed had sex with Sela (way before Annika), and then we get a *huge* surprise!!!! Won't give anything away here, but this is a big one and very emotional.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, and I'm sad this will be the last in the series. Are you sure you don't want to write more???  Really?  Pretty please with a cherry on top!

Review: Taming the Fire by Sydney Croft

Taming the Fire (ACRO # 4)

by Sydney Croft

Paranormal Erotica

Find it on Goodreads!

At the beginning of this book I liked Trance a lot. The glimpses we get into his mind and his feelings made me feel for him from page one. However, when we started to throw Rik into the mix, I didn't like her at all at the beginning. Their relationship eventually develops, and I went through ups and downs between liking them and not liking them. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that some of their sex scenes were just not for my taste. Maybe it's just that I didn't like Rik 100%. I did feel bad for her and how she's had to live her life. The twist at the end of who she had actually killed I thought was a pretty hard thing to recover from, and I was a bit thrown off about how easy it was after so much tension for things to patch up and for them to end up together. Also, I didn't like that after the collar came off, Rik's personality changed completely.

That being said, I love the secondary characters, as always.  What a shock! After Oz's death in the previous book I couldn't imagine Dev being with anyone else. But, as Oz promised, he has sent someone new for him. Gabe. I just loved Gabe. And did I mention that he has the coolest power!?!? Invisibility. Except he can't control it well. When Dev was watching Gabe and Annika training and Gabe went invisible and next thing Dev feels is hands caressing him.... I almost died, sooo hot. And Gabe is determined, as is Oz and Marlena, to make sure they are together. I wanted to read more and more about these two!

Marlena.... what can I say? Even though she plays a small role in this book, we get a glimpse of what her life is like and the curse that she has. I do want to read the next book as it is her in her new role as a Seducer. Will be interesting to see how that will play in with her curse.

Ryan and Meg were sooo cute. Compared to all the other couples in this series they might be considered a bit normal and vanilla, but there was so much emotion there. It was sweet to see Ryan's memories come back, and how his feelings would show through even when he couldn't remember a thing. And this also ties in ML, who I wouldn't mind reading more about.

Not a lot of action in this book, plenty of sex, there is BDSM, some light, some a bit more extreme, and yes, some m/m. Other ACRO operatives made cameos in this book: Kira, Ender, Wyatt, Faith, Creed and Annika.  So keep reading!  This is a great series!

Review: Seduced by the Storm by Sydney Croft

Seduced by the Storm (ACRO # 3)

by Sydney Croft

Paranormal Erotica

Find it on Goodreads!

I've enjoyed this series so far, but this book is my favorite  ;)  I loved the first book, I struggled through the second book (thank God for the secondary stories!) and this one was just great!  I loved the main characters AND the side stories made me CRY!

I will admit I wanted to beat Faith senseless at times, but she was in a way what Wyatt needed, and he was soooo understanding, patient, sensual, hot, just... rawrrrr  Their powers were very useful and cool, I mean, she could make him come with just her power???  Anyway, I can see some advantages to their combined "skills".  And their sex was the most creative!  She was hanging off of pipes and they had sex in the cockpit of a plane... while he was flying!!!  LOL  Very hot!

I liked the small glimpse of Remy and how he has to try and save the day with his power, I've thought from book one his ability was very cool and I was glad to see it being used.

Now on to the sad moments... I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so all I'm going to say is that Dev & Oz just made me cry... literally...  Annika and Creed (and Kat! hehe) are awesome as usual, even though a bit more emotional in this one, I can never get tired of reading about them.

I'm soooo curious as to where things will go from here in the ACRO world and will be reading the next book VERY soon.

"I'm assuming you're taking me to ACRO."
"Can't get anything by you," Annika drawled.
"What's going to happen when we get there?"
"They'll probably torture you for a few days." Annika glanced at Faith's hands and shrugged. "You didn't need those fingernails anyway. Terrible polish. Black doesn't look good on you." 

 

Review: Unleashing the Storm by Sydney Croft

Unleashing the Storm (ACRO # 2)

by Sydney Croft

Paranormal Erotica

Find it on Goodreads!

This is a solid 3.5 Feathers.  Let me start by saying that I still do love this series, however this book didn't have the same effect on me as the first one did.

I couldn't really get into the story between Ender (Tommy!) and Kira.  I liked Ender in the first book, I just wasn't that into the "I'm in heat and need sex every four hours" storyline.  It took away from their story a little in my opinion.  Was it just her being in heat and putting out pheromones that got them together?

Kira seemed a bit needy for all her independent talk.  Their sex wasn't even always that hot, as it was becoming mechanical due to the "heat" cycle.  However, there was the one time with the handcuff chain that was pretty interesting :)  Ender gives off the impression he's an ass, but you can tell he's a big softie, and in a way Kira's attachment to the animals, and now having them all around his house, will be perfect for him.  It was actually pretty funny when we get to see the animals personalities.

The action and drama that we got in the first story seemed to be a bit lacking in this one as well.  There wasn't big action for the main characters, whatever we got was from the side stories.

And did I love all the side stories in this one!  First of all... Annika and Creed are still my favorite.  I felt so bad for Annika and what she almost did at the end.  In regards to their relationship, my heart broke at their/his final decision, but I really couldn't see him losing his powers!  I cannot wait to read more about them!  There wasn't even close to enough of their story in this book!

I enjoyed reading about the ACRO operative working "undercover" for Itor.  Ryan/Bryan, what was his name?  Anyway, he had a moment when he was looking through the eyes of another Itor op guy and he saw Annika.  Could it be they're bringing this guy into the storyline?  How's that going to tie in?

I enjoyed Dev and Oz's reunion as well.  However, after parting ways three years ago in such a bad way, it seemed that they got together rather quickly and without any major talk.  Can't give out spoilers, but I'm happy about what Dev got back!!  And shocked as the revelation the ghost gives him.  Where can the story go from here?

I am excited to read more of this series, and hopefully we'll stop reading about an agent having to recruit someone to join ACRO and actually start reading more about the actual operatives currently working for them, so we get to see the real story unfold!

Review: Riding The Storm by Sydney Croft

Let's start off by saying this is a completely different paranormal world than I'm used to reading and I LOVED IT. The story was very well written and I thought the characters were likable. I felt it had an X-Men feel to it, which I loved, and I could see developing more in the next books.

The connection between Remy and Haley was very sweet, and I buy into the whole soul mates thing, I think that's so cute and romantic how they find each other, so I had no issue with the lack of time they had to build a relationship. I could feel Remy's pain at not knowing how to control his "gift", how it had affected his life, and the possibilities that lay ahead.

I also LOVED Creed and Annika (secondary characters)! I could tell their attraction had been brewing for a while now and it's all starting to come out! It was great to see that they also got enough time out of the story even though they weren't the main characters and I was really excited whenever I got to read more about them. Those two have some explosive chemistry also, and I hope they get their HEA.

The third story that gets a bit of pages is Dev's. He's the Director of ACRO, has had a tormented and difficult life, even physically challenging. I wasn't expecting the twist of him being in love with Oz, who we read about but don't get to meet in this book. But it does sound at the end that he could, at one point, have to call him in. I wouldn't mind reading more about that either.

The only warning that should come with this book however is: This is 100% Erotica Paranormal. There's A LOT of HOT, I repeat, REALLY HOT sex. You will probably have to put this book down just to go take cold shower, or make sure you have something close by to fan yourself, or maybe just someone to help you through ;)  It's that hot... and that often! So, if that's not your thing, stay away from this book. But, in my opinion it was written in excellent taste, and refreshingly creative!
 
I'm officially hooked!