Monday, November 9, 2009

Review: No Control by Shannon K. Butcher

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Title: No Control
Series: Delta Force
Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Read copy: Mass Market Paperback
Published: February 1, 2008
Publisher: Forever
ISBN: 0446618667
ISBN-13: 9780446618663

NO HIDING.
Lana Hancock knows all about danger—and betrayal. Eighteen months ago, she was captured by a terrorist group known as the Swarm while one of its members, a rugged man with sinfully dark eyes, did nothing to help her. Now when she's freed and desperate to put it all behind her, the unthinkable happens. The Swarm is targeting Lana once again and the man who stood silently by has become her protector. But can she trust him?

NO ESCAPE.
Delta Force operative Caleb Stone will never forget the hatred shining in Lana's eyes. Ordered to take down the Swarm by infiltrating its ranks, Caleb couldn't blow his cover to save her—no matter how much it haunted him. Now, gifted with a second chance, he vows to move heaven and earth to protect her...and fulfill her every desire. But the Swarm has reorganized. It's more powerful than ever and hell-bent on revenge...

NO CONTROL.

My rating:

Another solid suspense story from Author: Shannon K. Butcher But like the previous one, while the suspense, the imminent danger, and the tension was great, I found myself zoning out on the romance aspects of the story. Which is a shame, because from what I can remember there were some pretty hot scenes in there.

Anyway, let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I finally got my wish and read Caleb's story. He's intrigued me from his very first scene in No Regrets and I was really looking forward to reading his story and learning just why he was the way he was.
And I wasn't disappointed.

This guy way lovable through and through. Such a huge force of a man, bulky, strong, intimidating, but still a real marshmallow deep inside that just needed the right woman to bring it all out. What I loved more about him, though, was the fact that despite he was an alpha through and through he didn't shy away from his feelings, but embraced them instead, seeing in the love he felt for Lana some sort of salvation for both of them.
Which made her rejection of him so much more painful. For him and for me as the reader (the all-seeing eye). Come on, a hero, the man who saved you from the three-day hell in the desert tells you he loves you (and he said it first!)...Nothing can beat that. And what does she do? She runs. She throws his feelings back into his face, tramples his heart under her small feet, and runs.

Lana wasn't my favorite female character of all times to begin with, but that just sealed the deal. I had loads of problems with her and her character. She started off as a scarred woman, living in fear and grappling with constant nightmares. Which was understandable with the ordeal she'd been through and it evoked just the right amount of sympathy and pity from me as a reader. But as the story progressed, the frightened girl skirted the border of stupidity more and more, until she stepped firmly onto the other side and all my "tender feelings" evaporated. She wasn't TSTL, but she was too stubborn and blind for her own good.
When you can trust a Special Forces guy to solve your problems and think if you just pretend not to know anything the terrorists who almost killed you before will just go away and leave you alone there has to be something seriously wrong with you.

And that (the heroine and my dislike of her) was probably the main reason I didn't get into the whole romance aspect of this story. I wished Caleb would fall for a different kind of woman. I didn't mind their strange bond over their tragic past, but the author could've made a better hob at creating her heroine. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want her to be some kick-ass chick high-kicking her way through life, but someone with a better perspective on things and a few brain cells more wouldn't have hurt matters.

I have absolutely no objections to the suspense plot, though. Nicely executed, gripping, well-paced, well-written, and with a few of some pretty awesome action scenes. And I got to see Caleb in action, so that's a bonus as well.

This wasn't as good as the first book in this Series: Delta Force trilogy (Noelle, the heroine in No Regrets certainly didn't lack in the brain and logic department), but it was still way beyond average, all thanks to Ms. Butcher's knack of writing suspense. If she would just work on the integration with romance. And a better heroine. 😉

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