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adelavmb's review
5.0
First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the authors, who have granted me free access to the Kindle edition of this book, in order for me to review it.
More importantly, this book was so much better than I expected, that I won't even hesitate in giving it the maximum rating of 5 stars, and I would gladly add more to it if I could.
Cassandra James was by far the character that I loved most during the time that I have read this amazing book. She is a very confident, strong woman, who never gives up on anything at all, no matter how difficult or dangerous things might get for her. She is assigned by her father (also her boss at James Security) to be the lead of the project of securing a Pharmaceutical Company's files for a revolutionary new medicine. However, while protecting the database from external attacks (like hackers), the formula is copied on a hard drive by one of the employees - Allison. Her father, a very tough man, gives the case to another of his employees, giving Cassandra a "vacation". However, Cassandra does not give up, and she starts working on her own at the case. She soon discovers that someone from NSA had infiltrated in the servers and she takes Nathan (a former colleague of hers, from the time when she was working for CIA) with her to the NSA headquarters to find out why. She then meets Trevor Bauer, and they fall in love at first sight. She realises he is hiding something, but that it has nothing to do with the theft of the formula. So, after escorting Nathan to the airport, she goes at Trevor's place and she asks for his help on the case.
"People say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Looking into the window of his eyes, she could only find a deep sense of honor, respect, and integrity shining through. It was a huge risk, but she was willing to take it. If he agreed to help her, she would still keep her guard up, her eyes trained on his every move. She wouldn't be making any more mistakes."
I forgot to mention that I hate this Nathan, with whom Cassandra makes the awful mistake of sleeping with, even though she doesn't love him in that way. But that you will discover yourselves if you read the novel (and I highly recommend you to do so).
Anyway, Trevor and his friend, George, find out that Allison is in Paris. Cassandra is determined to recover the hard drive from her, but she has to take Trevor with her (the price that she promised to pay for the help he gave her). There, things start to get crazy, but I can't exactly tell you why withouth ruining the book's charm. All I can say is that, apart from the case, Cassandra and Trevor are going to discover that they are made for each other. And there is a specific chapter that will make you blush, and smile and cheer the characters up in your mind.
"You were right. I was scared, but not anymore. I love you Trevor. Believe it or not, I've loved you since the first shite you said in front of me."
Trevor is also a very interesting character. He is from an Irish family, so imagining his accent while I was reading his lines was simply... delicious. As geek as he is, I found him lovely, not to mention funny.
What I liked most about this book was the vivid description of the characters' feelings, and the RPG style was definitely a bonus, as I got to know the story from different characters' point of view. Every chapter had a twist and turn of events, which made everything more interesting and, more importantly, it made me read pages after pages, without breathing at times. The end was a total cake for my soul, as I hadn't expected that to happen so soon, but I loved it all, from the first page, to the last words. So I look forward to reading the second novel. It's a mystery for me why this book isn't popular, as it is by far better than anything I have recently read. So I urge you to stop hesitating and read it!
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În primul rând, aș vrea să-mi exprim mulțumirea autorilor, care mi-au oferit acces gratuit la ediția pentru Kindle a acestei cărți, pentru ca eu să îi fac recenzie.
Dar mai important de atât, această carte a fost cu mult mai bună decât mă așteptam, astfel încât nu voi ezita nicio clipă în a-i da un rating maxim de cinci steluțe, ba i-aș da și mai mult dacă aș putea.
Cassandra James e de departe personajul pe care l-am îndrăgit cel mai mult în timpul pe care l-am petrecut citind această carte. E o femeie foarte puternică și sigură pe ea, care nu renunță niciodată la nimic, oricât de dificilă sau periculoasă ar putea deveni situația. Tatăl ei (de asemenea, șeful ei la firma de securitate James Security) o face liderul proiectului de securizare a fișierelor unei companii farmaceutice, care a descoperit un medicament revoluționar. Însă, deși a protejat baza de date de atacurile externe (ale hackerilor, de exemplu), formula e copiată pe un hard drive de unul dintre angajați - Allison. Tatăl ei, un bărbat foarte dur, îi dă cazul unui alt angajat, dându-i Cassandrăi „o vacanță”. Dar Cassandra nu renunță și începe să lucreze de una singură la caz. Curând descoperă că cineva de la NSA s-a infiltrat în servere și îl ia cu ea pe Nathan (un fost coleg de-al ei, de pe vremea când lucra pentru CIA) la sediul central NSA ca să afle de ce. Așa îl întâlnește pe Trevor Bauer, iar cei doi se îndrăgostesc la prima vedere. Ea își dă seama că el ascunde ceva, dar că nu are de-a face cu furtul formulei. Așa că după ce îl conduce pe Nathan la aeroport, ea merge acasă la Trevor și îi cere ajutorul la caz.
„Se spune că ochii sunt oglinda sufletului. Privind în oglinda ochilor lui, găsi strălucirea unui profund simț al datoriei, respect și integritate. Era un risc imens, dar era gata să și-l asume. Dacă el ar fi fost de acord să o ajute, și-ar fi ținut garda sus și ochii atenți la orice mișcare a lui. Nu ar mai fi făcut greșeli.” (Traducere neoficială a citatului, făcută de mine)
Am uitat să menționez că îl urăsc pe acest Nathan, cu care Cassandra face oribila greșeală de a se culca, deși nu îl iubește în acest fel. Dar asta veți descoperi voi dacă citiți romanul (și vă recomand să o faceți). În fine, Trevor și prietenul lui, George, descoperă că Allison e în Paris. Cassandra e hotărâtă să recupereze hard drive-ul, dar e nevoită să-l ia pe Trevor cu ea (prețul pe care a promis că-l va plăti pentru ajutorul pe care el i l-a dat). Aici, lucrurile încep să o ia razna, dar nu vă pot spune exact de ce fără să stric farmecul cărții. Tot ce vă pot spune e că, în afara cazului, Cassandra și Trevor vor descoperi că sunt făcuți unul pentru altul. Și un anume capitol vă va face să roșiți, să zâmbiți și să le faceți galerie personajelor în gând.
„Ai avut dreptate. Mi-a fost teamă, dar acum nu îmi mai este. Te iubesc, Trevor. Crede-mă sau nu, te-am iubit de la primul „shite” pe care l-ai spus în fața mea.” (Traducere neoficială a citatului, făcută de mine)
Trevor este, de asemenea, un personaj foarte interesant. Provine dintr-o familie irlandeză, așa că să-mi imaginez accentul lui în timp ce citeam a fost pur și simplu... delicios. Așa tocilar cum e, l-am găsit simpatic, dar și amuzant.
Ceea ce mi-a plăcut cel mai mult la această carte a fost descrierea intensă a sentimentelor personajelor, iar stilul RPG a fost cu siguranță un bonus, pentru că am reușit să aflu povestea din prisma punctelor de vedere ale diferitelor personaje. Fiecare capitol a avut o întorsătură de evenimente, care a făcut totul mai interesant și, mai important, m-a făcut pe mine să citesc pagini după pagini, fără să respir în anumite momente. Sfârșitul a fost ca o prăjiturică pentru sufletul meu, pentru că nu mă așteptam să se întâmple așa ceva atât de curând, dar am iubit toată cartea, de la prima pagină, la ultimele cuvinte. Așa că de-abia aștept să citesc al doilea volum. E un mister pentru mine de ce cartea asta nu e populară, pentru că e de departe mai bună decât tot ce am citit în ultima vreme. Așa că vă recomand să nu mai ezitați, și să o citiți și voi!
More importantly, this book was so much better than I expected, that I won't even hesitate in giving it the maximum rating of 5 stars, and I would gladly add more to it if I could.
Cassandra James was by far the character that I loved most during the time that I have read this amazing book. She is a very confident, strong woman, who never gives up on anything at all, no matter how difficult or dangerous things might get for her. She is assigned by her father (also her boss at James Security) to be the lead of the project of securing a Pharmaceutical Company's files for a revolutionary new medicine. However, while protecting the database from external attacks (like hackers), the formula is copied on a hard drive by one of the employees - Allison. Her father, a very tough man, gives the case to another of his employees, giving Cassandra a "vacation". However, Cassandra does not give up, and she starts working on her own at the case. She soon discovers that someone from NSA had infiltrated in the servers and she takes Nathan (a former colleague of hers, from the time when she was working for CIA) with her to the NSA headquarters to find out why. She then meets Trevor Bauer, and they fall in love at first sight. She realises he is hiding something, but that it has nothing to do with the theft of the formula. So, after escorting Nathan to the airport, she goes at Trevor's place and she asks for his help on the case.
"People say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Looking into the window of his eyes, she could only find a deep sense of honor, respect, and integrity shining through. It was a huge risk, but she was willing to take it. If he agreed to help her, she would still keep her guard up, her eyes trained on his every move. She wouldn't be making any more mistakes."
I forgot to mention that I hate this Nathan, with whom Cassandra makes the awful mistake of sleeping with, even though she doesn't love him in that way. But that you will discover yourselves if you read the novel (and I highly recommend you to do so).
Anyway, Trevor and his friend, George, find out that Allison is in Paris. Cassandra is determined to recover the hard drive from her, but she has to take Trevor with her (the price that she promised to pay for the help he gave her). There, things start to get crazy, but I can't exactly tell you why withouth ruining the book's charm. All I can say is that, apart from the case, Cassandra and Trevor are going to discover that they are made for each other. And there is a specific chapter that will make you blush, and smile and cheer the characters up in your mind.
"You were right. I was scared, but not anymore. I love you Trevor. Believe it or not, I've loved you since the first shite you said in front of me."
Trevor is also a very interesting character. He is from an Irish family, so imagining his accent while I was reading his lines was simply... delicious. As geek as he is, I found him lovely, not to mention funny.
What I liked most about this book was the vivid description of the characters' feelings, and the RPG style was definitely a bonus, as I got to know the story from different characters' point of view. Every chapter had a twist and turn of events, which made everything more interesting and, more importantly, it made me read pages after pages, without breathing at times. The end was a total cake for my soul, as I hadn't expected that to happen so soon, but I loved it all, from the first page, to the last words. So I look forward to reading the second novel. It's a mystery for me why this book isn't popular, as it is by far better than anything I have recently read. So I urge you to stop hesitating and read it!
-----------------------------------------------
În primul rând, aș vrea să-mi exprim mulțumirea autorilor, care mi-au oferit acces gratuit la ediția pentru Kindle a acestei cărți, pentru ca eu să îi fac recenzie.
Dar mai important de atât, această carte a fost cu mult mai bună decât mă așteptam, astfel încât nu voi ezita nicio clipă în a-i da un rating maxim de cinci steluțe, ba i-aș da și mai mult dacă aș putea.
Cassandra James e de departe personajul pe care l-am îndrăgit cel mai mult în timpul pe care l-am petrecut citind această carte. E o femeie foarte puternică și sigură pe ea, care nu renunță niciodată la nimic, oricât de dificilă sau periculoasă ar putea deveni situația. Tatăl ei (de asemenea, șeful ei la firma de securitate James Security) o face liderul proiectului de securizare a fișierelor unei companii farmaceutice, care a descoperit un medicament revoluționar. Însă, deși a protejat baza de date de atacurile externe (ale hackerilor, de exemplu), formula e copiată pe un hard drive de unul dintre angajați - Allison. Tatăl ei, un bărbat foarte dur, îi dă cazul unui alt angajat, dându-i Cassandrăi „o vacanță”. Dar Cassandra nu renunță și începe să lucreze de una singură la caz. Curând descoperă că cineva de la NSA s-a infiltrat în servere și îl ia cu ea pe Nathan (un fost coleg de-al ei, de pe vremea când lucra pentru CIA) la sediul central NSA ca să afle de ce. Așa îl întâlnește pe Trevor Bauer, iar cei doi se îndrăgostesc la prima vedere. Ea își dă seama că el ascunde ceva, dar că nu are de-a face cu furtul formulei. Așa că după ce îl conduce pe Nathan la aeroport, ea merge acasă la Trevor și îi cere ajutorul la caz.
„Se spune că ochii sunt oglinda sufletului. Privind în oglinda ochilor lui, găsi strălucirea unui profund simț al datoriei, respect și integritate. Era un risc imens, dar era gata să și-l asume. Dacă el ar fi fost de acord să o ajute, și-ar fi ținut garda sus și ochii atenți la orice mișcare a lui. Nu ar mai fi făcut greșeli.” (Traducere neoficială a citatului, făcută de mine)
Am uitat să menționez că îl urăsc pe acest Nathan, cu care Cassandra face oribila greșeală de a se culca, deși nu îl iubește în acest fel. Dar asta veți descoperi voi dacă citiți romanul (și vă recomand să o faceți). În fine, Trevor și prietenul lui, George, descoperă că Allison e în Paris. Cassandra e hotărâtă să recupereze hard drive-ul, dar e nevoită să-l ia pe Trevor cu ea (prețul pe care a promis că-l va plăti pentru ajutorul pe care el i l-a dat). Aici, lucrurile încep să o ia razna, dar nu vă pot spune exact de ce fără să stric farmecul cărții. Tot ce vă pot spune e că, în afara cazului, Cassandra și Trevor vor descoperi că sunt făcuți unul pentru altul. Și un anume capitol vă va face să roșiți, să zâmbiți și să le faceți galerie personajelor în gând.
„Ai avut dreptate. Mi-a fost teamă, dar acum nu îmi mai este. Te iubesc, Trevor. Crede-mă sau nu, te-am iubit de la primul „shite” pe care l-ai spus în fața mea.” (Traducere neoficială a citatului, făcută de mine)
Trevor este, de asemenea, un personaj foarte interesant. Provine dintr-o familie irlandeză, așa că să-mi imaginez accentul lui în timp ce citeam a fost pur și simplu... delicios. Așa tocilar cum e, l-am găsit simpatic, dar și amuzant.
Ceea ce mi-a plăcut cel mai mult la această carte a fost descrierea intensă a sentimentelor personajelor, iar stilul RPG a fost cu siguranță un bonus, pentru că am reușit să aflu povestea din prisma punctelor de vedere ale diferitelor personaje. Fiecare capitol a avut o întorsătură de evenimente, care a făcut totul mai interesant și, mai important, m-a făcut pe mine să citesc pagini după pagini, fără să respir în anumite momente. Sfârșitul a fost ca o prăjiturică pentru sufletul meu, pentru că nu mă așteptam să se întâmple așa ceva atât de curând, dar am iubit toată cartea, de la prima pagină, la ultimele cuvinte. Așa că de-abia aștept să citesc al doilea volum. E un mister pentru mine de ce cartea asta nu e populară, pentru că e de departe mai bună decât tot ce am citit în ultima vreme. Așa că vă recomand să nu mai ezitați, și să o citiți și voi!
jetenold's review against another edition
5.0
Lots of adventure as well as some romance, my kind of book. And it says something when i just sat and read the whole thing in one sitting last night:)
shannon_cocktailsandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Do you love leading men who speak with an Irish lilt? How about that same man knowing when he's found the perfect mate and willing to do what he needs to to help her solve a case and win her heart? If you said yes to either of those, this is definitely a book for you.
Cassandra James is an ex-CIA agent who left the field after being shot and finding herself questioning her team members...something you don't want to do when you have to trust they have your back. Now she finds herself working at her father's private security firm and struggling to prove herself to her father and ultimately herself. When she's finally given her own case to handle, it involves the security of trial results for a drug company. Unfortunately, it's during Cassandra's team watch that the data is stolen. But that stolen data leads Cassandra to the NSA and the desk of Trevor Bauer.
Trevor heads a team at the NSA, but plans on returning to his native Ireland to continue the investigation into the mysterious disappearance and assumed death of this parents. While monitoring chatter for possible terrorist activity, he discovers Cassandra's case and the use of a code name that was linked to his parents' company. While the discovery leads to a dead end, it brings him under the interrogation of Cassandra. That one encounter is enough to prove to Trevor that she is "the one" and he needs to somehow get himself involved in her case.
I loved Trevor. He was witty, charming and knew how to handle the very skiddish Cassandra. When most men would try pushing their will on the woman they want, he knew exactly when he could push his agenda and when to back off. But he never gave up, because he was determined to prove to Cassandra they belonged together.
Cassandra was a little gun shy when it came to Trevor. She came off as a bitch most of the time, but only because she was never really sure of her own feelings and hid behind her stoic facade. Once Trevor was able to find the cracks in that facade, she still wasn't sure what she should do because she was never really shown how to act when in a healthy relationship. Trevor's patience and her realization that she didn't want to lose Trevor helped her find the answers she needed.
A page turner romantic suspense with an awesome hero and heroine.
Cassandra James is an ex-CIA agent who left the field after being shot and finding herself questioning her team members...something you don't want to do when you have to trust they have your back. Now she finds herself working at her father's private security firm and struggling to prove herself to her father and ultimately herself. When she's finally given her own case to handle, it involves the security of trial results for a drug company. Unfortunately, it's during Cassandra's team watch that the data is stolen. But that stolen data leads Cassandra to the NSA and the desk of Trevor Bauer.
Trevor heads a team at the NSA, but plans on returning to his native Ireland to continue the investigation into the mysterious disappearance and assumed death of this parents. While monitoring chatter for possible terrorist activity, he discovers Cassandra's case and the use of a code name that was linked to his parents' company. While the discovery leads to a dead end, it brings him under the interrogation of Cassandra. That one encounter is enough to prove to Trevor that she is "the one" and he needs to somehow get himself involved in her case.
I loved Trevor. He was witty, charming and knew how to handle the very skiddish Cassandra. When most men would try pushing their will on the woman they want, he knew exactly when he could push his agenda and when to back off. But he never gave up, because he was determined to prove to Cassandra they belonged together.
Cassandra was a little gun shy when it came to Trevor. She came off as a bitch most of the time, but only because she was never really sure of her own feelings and hid behind her stoic facade. Once Trevor was able to find the cracks in that facade, she still wasn't sure what she should do because she was never really shown how to act when in a healthy relationship. Trevor's patience and her realization that she didn't want to lose Trevor helped her find the answers she needed.
A page turner romantic suspense with an awesome hero and heroine.
bryonie's review
2.0
As per usual, I'll review as I read... mostly because if I don't write them down as I come to them, I'll forget by the time I finish.
First, if you're really that intent on using a VERY SPECIFIC thing in your book, make sure you reference it correctly... in this instance, World of Warcraft was mentioned. I play Warcraft, and have for close to 10 years. Notice how I didn't call it World of Warcraft? Hell, we don't even call it Warcraft... we call it WoW.... always have... because MMORPGs are ALL about the acronyms. EVERYTHING is shortened as much as humanly possible because a) we have to type everything, and b) because we're lazy and c) is all about the texting culture in games like WoW. The dungeons, the raids, the xpacs (although they're really messing with things with the Legion X-Pac because shortening it to L just doesn't sound right compared to Vanilla, BC, WotLK, Cata, MoP, or WoD) everything is alphabet soup to the uninitiated. And unless us WoW addicts catch ourselves when we're taking about it, we WILL use the acronyms and then sheepishly (or irritatingly depending on our mood) expand on them when you look at us like we're speaking in tongues. Trust me. If you are ever able to listen in on a raid season in Vent/Mumble/TS/Skype/Discord/insert preferred voice coms here, you probably wouldn't able to follow without at least a little background in WoW. And further to this, we DO NOT call our characters avatars. EVER. They are toons. Or mains, or alts (depending if it's your primary raiding character or an alternate).
So after all that, he never would have said 'I have a date with a hot avatar on World of Warcraft'. What he COULD have said would have been more along the lines of 'I'm out. Gotta log in for some ERP with a sexy belf Hpally tonight in WoW. Going to take her for a ride on my Love Rocket and she can BOP me all night...' (ERP = erotic role play, belf = blood elf, Hpally = holy pally, Love Rocket is an in-game pink rocket mount, get your mind out of the gutter, BOP = blessing of protection, a spell, which is now hand of protection, but we still call it BOP)
A big pet peeve of mine is incorrect word usage, mostly because as an author you're expected to, well, use them correctly. Plus as a published author, you have the benefit of the manuscript going through several hands before it's actually published. So when I stumble a glaring error it angers me to no end. The latest gem in this book is the phrase 'micron of a second'. Instead of sounding clever, you just sound clueless, since a micron is a measure of distance, not a measure of time, so they don't go together, and no amount of artistic licence will EVER make them work together...
Let's talk a little about characters, shall we... My biggest beef is with Nathan. Other than using him to get into the NSA where Cassie and Trevor meet, he is given far more screen time than he deserves. His part in the storyline detracts from the overall plot rather than add to it. In fact I was unimpressed completely with the entire beginning of the book. You could have hacked off most of the first few chapters and lose next to nothing in the overall plot. At some point in the book we are told that Nikolas wanted to join the CIA but was rejected because he failed the psych exam. Well... duh duh duh... NATHAN WOULD HAVE TO. There is NO way that their psych exams wouldn't have picked up his over-possessiveness. (Not to mention the fact that Cassie didn't cut him loose irks me... after the way he behaved all book, why would she have even considered inviting him to his wedding?
Then there's Allison, the altruistic do-gooder who has a change of heart and dies for it. (Oops, spoilers...) Everything with her is all fine and dandy, UNTIL we meet her and get into her head, then everything you want in a good -pseudo bad guy goes all to shit in one big bad cardboard character. She feels like an afterthought because the author knew going into it all that she wasn't going to survive anyhow, so why bother. Her motivations are so laughable, you almost don't feel sorry for her imminent demise, just because she was so stupid.
I've come to discover a very common thread in my reviews -- my ire at authors who think that their readers will accept anything that's spoonfed to them as believable. Unfortunately, this book is not immune to my anger on this front either. ESPECIALLY considering the overall topics presented in the book. We have people who work for the NSA, CIA (and former CIA), and private security firms. We have white hat hackers in play throughout the book. People who can find anything and everything at the drop of a hat. Yet the police cannot trace a 911 (well, in this case, a 112) call from Cassie's cell phone? PLEASE. Then we have these same people not even thinking twice about using an unsecure WiFi network (on the train) for HOURS. Do us the courtesy of not thinking we're dumb as stumps to realize that having them found/detained by the French police would completely unravel their European romp/unfolding love interest.
So, about that love interest... I find it odd that a very obvious thing was missing during that very first sex scene between Trevor and Cassie. For someone with a scar that she's constantly alluding to throughout the book, as well as we were told is severe enough to be able to be felt through clothing, that ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION of it is made when she disrobes or when Trevor is exploring her body. Le sigh... opportunity lost.
And the cringe-worthy moments continue. Let's jump ahead to where Cassie is breaking into the hotel safe and nearly gets caught. I don't know about the hotels the author has stayed at, but in my experience most of the mattresses are not on frames and box springs. The mattresses is on a pedestal with the skirt around that. But even on the off chance that the bed IS on a traditional base, have you even seen how high the frames come off the ground these days? About 6 inches. That's it. They are so low these days that they make special Rubbermaid storage containers that are super slim to fit under there. They are so low that just about anything bigger than a shoebox isn't going to fit under there. So, PLEASE tell me how a fully grown woman is a) going to fit under the bed, and b) be able to curl up into the fetal position once under there. (And we shall not even begin to talk about the freaking 3 person head hoping in that scene where every paragraph is a different one of those schmucks.)
One other thing that is bugging me to no end is that Cassie worked for the CIA for how long and the only person she stayed in contact with was Nathan? Seriously? She doesn't have a single other contact there to help? Please... Again, treating you readers like we don't have a single brain cell between all of us is ludicrous.
Oh and cudos to the author, editor, first readers, copy editors, type setters and EVERYONE else who didn't notice Nathan's name being changed to Nelson, and Trevor morphing into Jack near the end of the story...
Overall, all I can say about this book is wow, the author sure does love her action movies... There is just SO much in this book that just screams reality-stretched-for-the-silver-screen it's laughable. The fight scenes are so totally not in tune with how things can really happen they are hard to read. (And I do kinda know what I'm taking about since I have YEARS of martial arts training in the kind of fighting in this book, and know that regular everyday clothing would not stand up to the abuse the author is trying to give it, as well as the physics behind tossing people around.) Buildings are not made with windows that will break if someone runs at them like they do in Hollywood (well duh...) -- I'd personally run and jump against one and know I'd just bounce right off with a hell of a bruised shoulder. The whole thread about guaranteeing that the hard drive hasn't been accessed or copied is just a load of bull doody, because that can be done any time anywhere and you'd be none the wiser. In fact, any good data thief worth their salt would have NEVER made only one copy... But then again we've already established that Allison was a clueless bimbo who had a job that based on all the things she's done she could have never attained, because I question her ability to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time let alone work for a big pharma company in their research department (you know all the jokes about blondes and whiteout on their monitor came to mind just about every time Allison made an appearance...). And WTF is up with this hard drive crap. Just call it a USB drive, or thumb drive, or flash drive or ANY of the other names for them like EVERYONE ELSE on the planet does -- a harddrive is the thing inside your computer -- and they come VERY big (over 1tb if you have the cash) these days. Nobody is going to trounce around with an external hard drive and try to hide it because they are big and bulky and completely not suited for what's being done in the story.
Overall, I gave this book a 2 out of 5 just because it COULD have been a decent story, with a lot of revisions... and a little editing... and judicious (or hell, just USE it) the find and replace function that every word processor has...
First, if you're really that intent on using a VERY SPECIFIC thing in your book, make sure you reference it correctly... in this instance, World of Warcraft was mentioned. I play Warcraft, and have for close to 10 years. Notice how I didn't call it World of Warcraft? Hell, we don't even call it Warcraft... we call it WoW.... always have... because MMORPGs are ALL about the acronyms. EVERYTHING is shortened as much as humanly possible because a) we have to type everything, and b) because we're lazy and c) is all about the texting culture in games like WoW. The dungeons, the raids, the xpacs (although they're really messing with things with the Legion X-Pac because shortening it to L just doesn't sound right compared to Vanilla, BC, WotLK, Cata, MoP, or WoD) everything is alphabet soup to the uninitiated. And unless us WoW addicts catch ourselves when we're taking about it, we WILL use the acronyms and then sheepishly (or irritatingly depending on our mood) expand on them when you look at us like we're speaking in tongues. Trust me. If you are ever able to listen in on a raid season in Vent/Mumble/TS/Skype/Discord/insert preferred voice coms here, you probably wouldn't able to follow without at least a little background in WoW. And further to this, we DO NOT call our characters avatars. EVER. They are toons. Or mains, or alts (depending if it's your primary raiding character or an alternate).
So after all that, he never would have said 'I have a date with a hot avatar on World of Warcraft'. What he COULD have said would have been more along the lines of 'I'm out. Gotta log in for some ERP with a sexy belf Hpally tonight in WoW. Going to take her for a ride on my Love Rocket and she can BOP me all night...' (ERP = erotic role play, belf = blood elf, Hpally = holy pally, Love Rocket is an in-game pink rocket mount, get your mind out of the gutter, BOP = blessing of protection, a spell, which is now hand of protection, but we still call it BOP)
A big pet peeve of mine is incorrect word usage, mostly because as an author you're expected to, well, use them correctly. Plus as a published author, you have the benefit of the manuscript going through several hands before it's actually published. So when I stumble a glaring error it angers me to no end. The latest gem in this book is the phrase 'micron of a second'. Instead of sounding clever, you just sound clueless, since a micron is a measure of distance, not a measure of time, so they don't go together, and no amount of artistic licence will EVER make them work together...
Let's talk a little about characters, shall we... My biggest beef is with Nathan. Other than using him to get into the NSA where Cassie and Trevor meet, he is given far more screen time than he deserves. His part in the storyline detracts from the overall plot rather than add to it. In fact I was unimpressed completely with the entire beginning of the book. You could have hacked off most of the first few chapters and lose next to nothing in the overall plot. At some point in the book we are told that Nikolas wanted to join the CIA but was rejected because he failed the psych exam. Well... duh duh duh... NATHAN WOULD HAVE TO. There is NO way that their psych exams wouldn't have picked up his over-possessiveness. (Not to mention the fact that Cassie didn't cut him loose irks me... after the way he behaved all book, why would she have even considered inviting him to his wedding?
Then there's Allison, the altruistic do-gooder who has a change of heart and dies for it. (Oops, spoilers...) Everything with her is all fine and dandy, UNTIL we meet her and get into her head, then everything you want in a good -pseudo bad guy goes all to shit in one big bad cardboard character. She feels like an afterthought because the author knew going into it all that she wasn't going to survive anyhow, so why bother. Her motivations are so laughable, you almost don't feel sorry for her imminent demise, just because she was so stupid.
I've come to discover a very common thread in my reviews -- my ire at authors who think that their readers will accept anything that's spoonfed to them as believable. Unfortunately, this book is not immune to my anger on this front either. ESPECIALLY considering the overall topics presented in the book. We have people who work for the NSA, CIA (and former CIA), and private security firms. We have white hat hackers in play throughout the book. People who can find anything and everything at the drop of a hat. Yet the police cannot trace a 911 (well, in this case, a 112) call from Cassie's cell phone? PLEASE. Then we have these same people not even thinking twice about using an unsecure WiFi network (on the train) for HOURS. Do us the courtesy of not thinking we're dumb as stumps to realize that having them found/detained by the French police would completely unravel their European romp/unfolding love interest.
So, about that love interest... I find it odd that a very obvious thing was missing during that very first sex scene between Trevor and Cassie. For someone with a scar that she's constantly alluding to throughout the book, as well as we were told is severe enough to be able to be felt through clothing, that ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION of it is made when she disrobes or when Trevor is exploring her body. Le sigh... opportunity lost.
And the cringe-worthy moments continue. Let's jump ahead to where Cassie is breaking into the hotel safe and nearly gets caught. I don't know about the hotels the author has stayed at, but in my experience most of the mattresses are not on frames and box springs. The mattresses is on a pedestal with the skirt around that. But even on the off chance that the bed IS on a traditional base, have you even seen how high the frames come off the ground these days? About 6 inches. That's it. They are so low these days that they make special Rubbermaid storage containers that are super slim to fit under there. They are so low that just about anything bigger than a shoebox isn't going to fit under there. So, PLEASE tell me how a fully grown woman is a) going to fit under the bed, and b) be able to curl up into the fetal position once under there. (And we shall not even begin to talk about the freaking 3 person head hoping in that scene where every paragraph is a different one of those schmucks.)
One other thing that is bugging me to no end is that Cassie worked for the CIA for how long and the only person she stayed in contact with was Nathan? Seriously? She doesn't have a single other contact there to help? Please... Again, treating you readers like we don't have a single brain cell between all of us is ludicrous.
Oh and cudos to the author, editor, first readers, copy editors, type setters and EVERYONE else who didn't notice Nathan's name being changed to Nelson, and Trevor morphing into Jack near the end of the story...
Overall, all I can say about this book is wow, the author sure does love her action movies... There is just SO much in this book that just screams reality-stretched-for-the-silver-screen it's laughable. The fight scenes are so totally not in tune with how things can really happen they are hard to read. (And I do kinda know what I'm taking about since I have YEARS of martial arts training in the kind of fighting in this book, and know that regular everyday clothing would not stand up to the abuse the author is trying to give it, as well as the physics behind tossing people around.) Buildings are not made with windows that will break if someone runs at them like they do in Hollywood (well duh...) -- I'd personally run and jump against one and know I'd just bounce right off with a hell of a bruised shoulder. The whole thread about guaranteeing that the hard drive hasn't been accessed or copied is just a load of bull doody, because that can be done any time anywhere and you'd be none the wiser. In fact, any good data thief worth their salt would have NEVER made only one copy... But then again we've already established that Allison was a clueless bimbo who had a job that based on all the things she's done she could have never attained, because I question her ability to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time let alone work for a big pharma company in their research department (you know all the jokes about blondes and whiteout on their monitor came to mind just about every time Allison made an appearance...). And WTF is up with this hard drive crap. Just call it a USB drive, or thumb drive, or flash drive or ANY of the other names for them like EVERYONE ELSE on the planet does -- a harddrive is the thing inside your computer -- and they come VERY big (over 1tb if you have the cash) these days. Nobody is going to trounce around with an external hard drive and try to hide it because they are big and bulky and completely not suited for what's being done in the story.
Overall, I gave this book a 2 out of 5 just because it COULD have been a decent story, with a lot of revisions... and a little editing... and judicious (or hell, just USE it) the find and replace function that every word processor has...
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