Review: Shadow's Stand by Sarah McCarty

Shadow's Stand
Sarah McCarty
Series: Hell's Eight #5
Publisher: HQN
Publish Date: January 31, 2012
Kindle {p.384}
Source: Publisher/Net Galley
Genre: Historical Western
Fei Yen, Shadow Ochoa
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Shadow Ochoa is lying low in the western Kansas Territory, waiting for his fellow Texas Rangers—the Hell's Eight brotherhood—to clear his name. That is, until he's unjustly strung up for horse thieving…and pretty Fei Yen intervenes. Invoking a seldom-used law, the exotic lady prospector claims Shadow as her husband and rides off with the bridegroom shackled to her buckboard.

Savvy, fearless Fei is single-mindedly devoted to her hidden claim and all it promises: wealth, security and freedom. A husband is just a necessary inconvenience and a name on paper to hold the claim she cannot.

Shadow isn't a man to take orders from anyone, especially from lovely Fei—except that the daily friction between them ignites into nightly blazes of all-consuming passion. Soon Shadow is dreaming a little himself: of the life they could have if only Fei could see past the lure of independence. If only bounty hunters weren't closing in on him. If only he's left standing when the impending showdown has ended...

I was completely lost at the start of this one because I couldn’t remember the previous book. I had a difficult time getting into it or connecting with the characters. Both Fei and Shadow seemed a tad bit one dimensional.

I did however enjoy the scenes that involved the rest of Hell’s Eight, but not much more. Caine’s Reckoning and Tucker’s Claim I really enjoyed, but the other books in the series haven’t measured up.

Review: Running Wild by Sarah McCarty

Running Wild
Sarah McCarty
Series: Wild, #1-3
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Published: June 3, 2008
Format: Trade Paperback {p.361}
Source: Personal Library
Genre: Erotica, Paranormal
Characters: Lisa Delaney, Donovan McGowan | Robin Delaney, Kelon McGowan | Heather Delaney, Wyatt Carmichael
My Rating:

Heat Level: 2/5
Synopsis:

Donovan must bring the Pack Alpha home and nothing more. But when he catches the sexy scent of Lisa Delaney, he's hers, body and soul-and ready to risk both on an erotic desire that will shatter all boundaries.

Kelon intends to return to his pack after helping Donovan, but he never counted on the voluptuous distraction of Robin Delaney. She's the one woman who can make him contemplate a choice no werewolf should have to make.

Wyatt can't afford to be attracted to the practical, completely human Heather Delaney. But she isn't a woman a man ignores-no matter what the cost.

-Donovan-

It was going to be one of those nights.

Donovan is on a mission to retrieve his packs' alpha when he encounters his mate. But she is human and his pack won't accept a human for his mate because of his high pack rank.

The two of them get off to a hot and heavy start. There is an instant attraction which she tries to ignore because she doesn't have time for a man in her life right now.

Lisa does eventually decide to give it a chance and Donovan is content to wait until she fully accepts him.


-Kelon-

"You need to clean up."

Kelon, Donovan's twin brother, has come to help him protect his new mate and her sister from a threat to their safety. What he didn't expect was to find that his brother's mate's sister would be his true mate. Another forbidden human mating.

Kelon and Robin's relationship was a little slower in starting. Kelon chose the route of courting Robin first instead of just jumping into bed together. Which is understandable with her background and condition.

One of the threats to the sisters was taken care of before they moved on to offer assistance to Donovan and Kelon's cousin and alpha, Wyatt.


-Wyatt-

"There's no such thing as werewolves."

Heather has come home to find her two younger sisters shacking up with men believing themselves to be werewolves. Heather knows there is no such thing as werewolves, and begins to question their sanity.

She agrees to accompany her sisters and their mates to the wolf compound where she then encounters her own wolf mate, Wyatt. There was an instant attraction between the two, but she was a little more weary of Wyatt than her sisters had been about their mates. But with Wyatt being so hot, she decided she could overlook his claims to being a wolf.

I didn't really care for the way Lisa and Robin treated Heather in the beginning. They seemed to team up against her and treat her poorly because she didn't blindly believe Donovan and Kelon were wolves.

Of the three stories, my favorite would have to be Heather and Wyatt's. Running Wild was an okay start to the Wild series, and I wouldn't mind visiting it again to see how Wyatt's pack progresses.

Review: Tracker's Sin by Sarah McCarty

Title: Tracker's Sin
Author: Sarah McCarty
Published: October 1, 2010
Publisher: Spice
Format: E-book
Source: Publisher
Characters: Ari Blake, Tracker Ochoa
My Rating:

Synopsis:

WED BY NECESSITY…JOINED BY DESIRE

Before his trade became his name, “Tracker” Ochoa was a scrawny Mestizo runaway. Now as fearsome as he once was frightened, he’s joined the notorious Hell’s Eight...and they have a job for him.

He must rescue kidnapped heiress Ari Blake and deliver her safely to the Hell’s Eight compound—by any means necessary. Turns out that includes marrying her, if he means to escort her and her infant son
across the Texas Territory. Tracker hadn’t bargained on a wife—especially such a fair, blue-eyed beauty. But the erotic pleasures of the marriage bed more than make up for the surprise.

Tracker’s well-muscled bronze skin and dark, dangerous eyes are far more exciting than any of Ari’s former debutante dreams. In the light of day, though, his deep scars and brooding intensity terrify her. But he’s her husband and she’s at his mercy. With the frontier against them and mercenary bandits at their heels, Ari fears she’ll never feel safe again.

Tracker, too, remembers what fear feels like. Though he burns to protect Ari, to keep her for himself always, he knows that money, history—and especially the truth—can tear them apart.

I don't know how to start this letter, except to say thank God you're alive.

This one was a slow starter for me. It starts off with Tracker locating Desi's sister, Ari, living with an older couple raising her child. Upon first seeing Ari she appears to be happy and leading a normal life. But upon further investigation, you realize things are not all that they seem.

I won't get to much into the plot, but when Ari finally does reach Hell's Eight, it isn't the happy reunion everyone hoped for. Ari feels abandoned by Desi and also feels resentment towards Desi. She thinks Desi left her to the men who abused her, all while she had been living the good life with Caine.

Tracker too has issues in the fact that he doesn't think he's good enough for Ari. If Ari chooses to leave Hell's Eight and head back East she would never be accepted for being with him. Also he feels that his Indian heritage will be a constant reminder to her of her attackers.

I have to say, I do like Ari and Tracker together. At first I was unsure of how it would work out given all that she had been through, but Ms. McCarty pulled it off. Ari comes across as this damaged yet strong woman who just needs to find her strength and courage. And with Tracker she can be the women she is meant to be.