Review - - PIVOT

PIVOT
A three-novella Anthology
by Kat Martin, Alexandra Ivy, and Rebecca Zanetti
Publisher: Zebra
Release Date: March 31, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

In PIVOT, three friends, each survivors of a brutal childhood, grew up together in foster care.

Now as women, they’re fighting for their lives again.

When Meriwether Jones and her young daughter run from trouble in L.A., that trouble follows. By the time Meri reaches Spokane, she's out of gas, money, and ideas. 

Her prayers are answered when ex-cop Ian Brodie hires her to help his aging father. But Meri is keeping a dangerous secret - and Ian is in danger of losing his heart.  

Melanie Cassidy finds trouble when she tries to save a young boy from being kidnapped. The last thing she expects is former love-of-her-life, Detective Gray Hawkins, to appear and rescue them both. But her good-Samaritan efforts pull her and Gray into a conspiracy of drug dealers and dirty cops - and forces them to examine the relationship they'd once abandoned.  

Michelle Peach is one of Meri’s closet friends. She’s finally content in Portland - until two rough men break into her home and threaten her life. The last person Michelle wants to see is Evan Boldon, a former Marine turned sheriff. But this time Evan is going to stop the trouble stalking Michele - and win her heart for good. 

PJ's Thoughts:

If you weren't a fan of these three authors before, you will be after reading the sexy, suspense-filled, inter-connected  stories in this new anthology. I couldn't put it down. 

The main characters in all three stories are vividly portrayed with realistic obstacles in their way. The women are in danger but not your stereotypical damsels in distress. While the three heroes are all alphas, set on protecting the women they love, those same women are not about to twiddle their thumbs on the sidelines. They hold their own with strength and determination, especially when their loved ones are at risk. And the men, warriors all, are gentle and loving with the ones who hold their hearts. I especially loved Ian's relationship with Meri's four-year-old daughter, Lily.  

I was impressed with the flow and continuity of the three novellas, each written by one of the three authors. While each novella has a beginning and end, together, they form what feels like a full length book, with story and character overlap. By the time I reached the end, it was easy to forget that these characters aren't part of the same fictional world but, rather, are parts of worlds created separately by each of the authors. 

I'm already well acquainted with Kat Martin's books (I've been reading her for years) and enjoyed getting to know another Brodie cousin (I somehow missed this story the first time around (in the novella Against the Heart). While I know of Rebecca Zanetti and Alexandra Ivy, I had not yet read their books. These new novellas, which include ties to series of their own, were enough to have me correcting that oversight. I'll be taking a closer look at Ivy's books soon but the first thing I did after finishing Pivot was to download the three books in Zanetti's Deep Ops series. I cannot wait to read Raider's and Wolfe's stories, especially Wolfe's, a secondary character in Pivot who darn near stole his entire novella. 

~~~~~~~~~

PIVOT

An interesting Concept

My upcoming release, PIVOT, began as a novella that I wrote sometime back to introduce my BOSS Inc. series. Ian Brodie was the owner of the security firm, a tall, good-looking blond man, one of the Brodie cousins. The novella was AGAINST THE HEART, a Romantic Suspense set in a rural area of Spokane, Washington.

A year ago, Alicia Condon, my editor at Kensington, came to me with an idea for a collaborative novel that would include novellas by two other authors. Their stories would revolve around Ian Brodie and Meriwether Jones, the hero and heroine of AGAINST the HEART. The idea intrigued me and we decided to go forward.

Alexandra Ivy and Rebecca Zanetti, both bestselling authors of Romantic Suspense, came on board and started writing, taking sub characters from Ian and Meri’s story, telling their own stories, and giving us a glimpse of Ian and Meri’s life going forward. In PIVOT, Alexandra and Rebecca started with the premise that the three girls involved in the stories shared brutal childhoods and grew up together in foster care. Now as women, they’re fighting for their lives again.

When Meriwether Jones and her young daughter run from trouble in L.A., that trouble follows. By the time Meri reaches Spokane, she’s out of gas, money, and ideas. Then her prayers are answered when ex-cop Ian Brodie hires her to help his aging father. But Meri is keeping a dangerous secret—-and Ian is in danger of losing his heart. 

Melanie Cassidy finds trouble when she tries to save a young boy from being kidnapped. The last thing she expects is former love-of-her-life, Detective Gray Hawkins, to appear and rescue them both. But her good-Samaritan efforts pull her and Gray into a conspiracy of drug dealers and dirty cops—-and forces them to examine the relationship

they’d once abandoned.

Michelle Peach is one of Meri’s closet friends. She is finally content in Portland—-until two rough men break into her home and threaten her life. The last person Michelle wants to see is Evan Boldon, a former Marine turned sheriff. But this time Evan is going to stop the trouble stalking Michelle-—and win her heart for good.

I hope you’ll give this fun read a try. And if you haven’t read the BOSS Inc. series, INTO THE FURY, INTO THE WHIRLWIND, and INTO THE FIRESTORM, I hope you will. 

Till next time, happy reading and all best, Kat

 

Review - - Lethal Lies

Lethal Lies

By Rebecca Zanetti

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: May 16, 2017

Reviewed by Nancy Northcott

  

The brothers in Rebecca Zanetti’s Blood Brothers and Sin Brothers series were genetically modified before birth to be super-warriors.  The Sin Brothers series is complete at four books.  Lethal Lies is the second book in the Blood Brothers group but can be read alone.  Characters from the Sin Brothers series make very brief appearances but play no major role in the book.

Working as the Lost Bastards investigations agency, the Blood Brothers, who use the surname Jones, make most of their contacts over the internet or the phone.  They live under the radar and on the move because the doctor who created them and the abusive sheriff who ran the home where they were raised are continually searching for them.  The doctor wants their DNA to breed more advanced soldiers, and the sheriff wants revenge for the death of his brother, whom the boys killed when he was abusing one of them.

The heart of the book, however, is the romance between Heath Jones, the lawyer among the brothers, and criminal psychology professor Anya Bast, sister of an FBI agent kidnapped by a serial killer.  Heath has been working with Anya’s sister.  He wants to catch the killer and protect Anya, a task made harder when Anya taunts the killer in the press.

The FBI is also investigating this killer, and the agent heading their task force is involved with Anya’s sister.  He also wants to protect Anya,  but he and Heath don’t agree on how best to do that.

In addition, Anya’s televised taunt at the funeral, with Heath at her side, has brought him into the very limelight he seeks to avoid. Heath’s brothers and the woman who will soon be his sister-in-law set up fake offices, a fake residence, and a hidden, safe apartment so they can use Anya as bait to draw the killer in.

A soldier working with the doctor and the sheriff is tracking Heath and his brothers, drawing ever closer, and he has unique abilities of his own.  In general, the story moves at a great pace. The tight relationship Heath and his brothers share is very appealing, and Anya displays courage and resolve that are admirable. The book has a lot of action and wrenching emotion.