Ani's Book Abyss

Her Wild Hero

by Paige Tyler
Book 3 of X-Ops

Her Wild Hero is just as enjoyable and exciting as the previous two books in Tyler's X-Ops series.  I was sorely disappointed in my library for skipping Book #3 of this series after I finished reading the first two books--they just kept adding on other Paige Tyler books, and NOT this one, going straight to Book #4.

But enough of that rambling about my library--because I can never stay upset at them for long.  Aside from being an enjoyable, exciting survival suspense, the book continues the background conspiracy concerning experimental testing of shifters and creation of human-shifter hybrids by injecting animal DNA in a human vessel.  And apparently, the plot continues to thicken with each book.

I like that the book doesn't spend the entire story detailing the romance, since, obviously, our main characters have more important things to worry about--such as staying alive in hostile territory.

But little bits of jealousies and lust sneaks into a few scenes here and there... and then suddenly there's a huge disconnect when our main couple finally hop right into the romance and sexy times part of the story as if they aren't being chased by packs of bloodthirsty, violent hybrids, bent on either killing or capturing them.  Then we return to the regularly scheduled program, and our couple is back to running from the threat, fighting and killing their way out of the Costa Rican jungles.

I mean, I don't begrudge an author her right to insert sexy times into her books, but the time and place was just a little inappropriate (in a cave, of all places... however, Declan is part bear, so maybe it was fitting?).  Her previous two books at least brought the sexy times when no one was running from danger and it was just another day before the rest of the action got started again.

But aside from that little snafu, where the world kind of stops turning so our main couple could jump each other--meanwhile their rescue party is having a hell of a time trying to locate them and getting injuries and exhaustion while they're at it, which I found kind of amusing for some reason--the rest of the book was quite entertaining.


***

Booklikes-opoly

Roll #22:
This book is tagged 'fantasy' on GR; a book about shifters.

Page Count:  334
Cash Award:  $6.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $125

Meanwhile, I also went ahead and read the two companion short stories the author had written for Declan and Kendra.

Declan and the Disney Elves is a short story that is set in a timeline pre-Her Wild Hero.

It was pretty cute, though I'm not sure what it has to do with Disney elves.  Because there are Disney elves, and then there are Santa's elves.  But whatevs.  This was a cute read and some of the humor was giggle-worthy.

Rating:  4.0 Stars

Click on the above banner to read the story.

An X-Ops Honeymoon is set post-Her Wild Hero, following Declan and Kendra (as the title states) during their honeymoon in New England.

It's a nice follow-up to the main story, with a kidnapping and more politics to deal with.  A great treat for fans, that's for sure, but doesn't seem to add onto what we know of the ongoing background conflict of X-Ops.  Still, worth a go when you're at a standstill on what to read.

There were just a lot of typos in the context, and a lot of schmaltz and repetition in the dialogue.  About what you'd expect of a free read, so I'm not complaining much.

Rating:  3.5 Stars

This short story is only available via Paige Tyler's newsletter subscription, and I was lucky enough to sign up at about the time she started mailing the first chapter.