Linz Loves Romance

Wow. Just finished Shannon McKenna's Fatal Strike featuring a massively altered Miles and the kidnapped but tough Lara from her last book. I totally loved it and was pulled in from the beginning, realizing how much I'd missed McKenna's voice. I've reread several of her books and tend to love them all the more.

The action moved along, rapidly, and somewhat crazily. There was the requisite wedding scene that then allowed previous characters to return. It works for me, every time. I really enjoyed how we got to see Miles cope with an understand his new abilities. He's a changed dude, but, then, especially in his interactions with Sean and Cindy, he's still the same Miles from previous books. He's tougher and stronger, but still the marshmallowy, sweet, techy guy from earlier books. And it works. He's been an underdog for a while, who has gotten hero moments, and his book, where he gets to shine, doesn't disappoint.

Lara was super likable and, while possibly the weepiest heroine McKenna has written, didn't venture into TSTL territory. She and Miles were great together and even got a longer courtship than most in this series. Their smexytimes were very hot and intense. Miles, however, and this was subtle, doesn't see himself as that attractive of a guy. So, he has these alpha tendencies, but not totally because he spends part of the book wondering if Lara could really like/be attracted to him outside of their dream/fantasy times. This all worked for me, but it was a different shade of amped up sex given this type of hero.

Since Davy is a favorite of mine, him being (really) hurt was tough to read. It made sense though and showed, among lots of other ways, how truly frightening Greaves (the big bad) was. But, still, Davy! *sniff Here's hoping he bounces back a little enhanced later on.

Go read this book. And if you haven't read her backlist, what, on earth, are you waiting for? Freaking amazing, adrenaline-filled, raw, and plenty moments of sweetness. So much awesome. Yay, Miles! Mr. Citadel, indeed. ;)