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sarabeth120's review
3.0
This is the first Gena Showalter book that I was not too impressed by. I liked the first book in this series, but I really couldn't get into this one. It was a slow book, plus the plot was a little hard to follow at some points. Evie was a very unlikeable character and I didn't like Corbin that much either; though, they were at least tolerable by the end of the book.
tasha_fullybooked's review
2.0
This story started out slow and I never really got into. Blue and Evie had some very funny moments together, but I never truly connected with either one of them. It was a struggle just to finish it.
Evie constantly berated Blue for being a "man-whore" but in the same time wanted to be one of his long list of many. Beyond their connection of Michael, Evie's father and Blue's boss, they have absolutely nothing in common. They had sex a couple of times and the rest of the story was just page fillers.
The communication, or speech, between the two main characters was very reminiscent of that of my junior high cousins. "Amazeballs" "Gorge" "Snugs" Very troubling for the speech of the future. Not the best I've read from this author.
Evie constantly berated Blue for being a "man-whore" but in the same time wanted to be one of his long list of many. Beyond their connection of Michael, Evie's father and Blue's boss, they have absolutely nothing in common. They had sex a couple of times and the rest of the story was just page fillers.
The communication, or speech, between the two main characters was very reminiscent of that of my junior high cousins. "Amazeballs" "Gorge" "Snugs" Very troubling for the speech of the future. Not the best I've read from this author.
andreaphoenix26's review
5.0
Lo único que puedo decir es que Blue es un dulce de caramelo. Él es tan lindo y ay Dios. Y Evie como heroína no se queda atrás aunque a veces me desesperaba, pero entiendo porque era como era.
booklovinmamas's review
5.0
Full Review posted on A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog
The storyline and the romance between the characters should have readers enjoying every bit of this story. (Those two had built up tension between them, and they needed to get it out)
I give this book five full moons and highly recommend it to paranormal romance readers out there. If you are a fan of Gena Showalter, then you will enjoy this book. I highly recommend reading the books in order though. You will want to know what Solo went through in Last Kiss Goodnight.
Oh, and for everyone, who misses Dallas, you will get even more of him in this book. I still love me some, Dallas. =)
The storyline and the romance between the characters should have readers enjoying every bit of this story. (Those two had built up tension between them, and they needed to get it out)
I give this book five full moons and highly recommend it to paranormal romance readers out there. If you are a fan of Gena Showalter, then you will enjoy this book. I highly recommend reading the books in order though. You will want to know what Solo went through in Last Kiss Goodnight.
Oh, and for everyone, who misses Dallas, you will get even more of him in this book. I still love me some, Dallas. =)
loverofromance's review
Originally published on my website: Addicted To Romance. Rated as a DNF.
I had high expectations for Black and Blue, especially after loving the first book. But unfortunately I had to put this book down. After 100 pages, and I wasn't into it, I decided to set it aside for now, and maybe at some time at a later date I will pick it up again. But with all the books on my schedule I need to read, I knew I couldn't keep trying to read this after three days. One of the problems I think was my issue with the heroine, Evangaline Black. From the beginning I knew I wouldn't connect with her character at all. She seems to have the personality that just clashed in the story, and I practically had to force myself to keep reading as much as I did. A part of me wanted to try reading further, but I felt like I would have felt this way through most of it. I do hope to eventually try reading it again, maybe I will enjoy it then.
I had high expectations for Black and Blue, especially after loving the first book. But unfortunately I had to put this book down. After 100 pages, and I wasn't into it, I decided to set it aside for now, and maybe at some time at a later date I will pick it up again. But with all the books on my schedule I need to read, I knew I couldn't keep trying to read this after three days. One of the problems I think was my issue with the heroine, Evangaline Black. From the beginning I knew I wouldn't connect with her character at all. She seems to have the personality that just clashed in the story, and I practically had to force myself to keep reading as much as I did. A part of me wanted to try reading further, but I felt like I would have felt this way through most of it. I do hope to eventually try reading it again, maybe I will enjoy it then.
naughtynicky's review
5.0
Loved book 1 & 2 but disappointed that you don't get John No Names story. Instead you get Dallas's story which should have been a story in the Alien Huntress series as that was series he was main character in.
tanyad74's review
4.0
For first impressions of Corbin Blue, you would think him the ultimate playboy, and he seems to be ok with that, until he gets past his initial feelings toward Evangeline Black. A new side of Blue is seen when all he wants is to be with her and only her.
Evangeline Black has left the assassin lifestyle after a job gone bad and is now a doctor. Awesome place for Blue to crash after being blown up and almost burned to death. Evie does not really want to be drawn back into the job, but her father is missing and she must help Blue heal and then get out there to help save him. I was on the fence with Evie’s character. She was very stuffy and withdrawn. Eventually though, her layers are peeled back, revealing a take charge, intelligent assassin. My favorite kind of heroine!
The reason behind explosion and ultimate grabbing of Jon was pretty gruesome. I did get kind of squeamish on the torture techniques and violence used by the bad guys. But I loved it. I haven’t read anything like that so it was quite different. Made me shudder, but fascinated me at the same time.
I thought the narration for this book was well done. There were not very many female characters for Mr. Newbern to narrate, and Evie’s character had an accent, and it just worked.
Overall I enjoyed Black and Blue. Only one thing that truly annoyed me. The shortening of words. I know it was supposed to come off cheeky and silly, but two assassins saying “adorbs” just made me cringe.
Evangeline Black has left the assassin lifestyle after a job gone bad and is now a doctor. Awesome place for Blue to crash after being blown up and almost burned to death. Evie does not really want to be drawn back into the job, but her father is missing and she must help Blue heal and then get out there to help save him. I was on the fence with Evie’s character. She was very stuffy and withdrawn. Eventually though, her layers are peeled back, revealing a take charge, intelligent assassin. My favorite kind of heroine!
The reason behind explosion and ultimate grabbing of Jon was pretty gruesome. I did get kind of squeamish on the torture techniques and violence used by the bad guys. But I loved it. I haven’t read anything like that so it was quite different. Made me shudder, but fascinated me at the same time.
I thought the narration for this book was well done. There were not very many female characters for Mr. Newbern to narrate, and Evie’s character had an accent, and it just worked.
Overall I enjoyed Black and Blue. Only one thing that truly annoyed me. The shortening of words. I know it was supposed to come off cheeky and silly, but two assassins saying “adorbs” just made me cringe.
amandaventure's review
5.0
FINALLY! This is the Gena Showalter that I fell in love with. I never got around to reading this when it originally came out since it a lot of Gena’s books were feeling phoned in around that time period. She was going through some pretty heavy stuff and it showed. But I couldn’t just abandon this wonderful author. I still stuck by her and kept reading her books. I’m really glad I finally got back into this series and finally read Black and Blue.
This pretty much had all the things I want a book to have.
Action? Check.
Likeable characters? Check.
Funny? Check.
Steamy? Check.
Sci-fi? Check.
Our leads are Evie Black and Corbin Blue. (Get it… their names are the title? It’s a PUN! Ha!) I really enjoyed that both of them had an emotional depth to them as well as a backbone. Neither were one to wallow in self-pity and neither one needed rescuing. No damsels in distress here. Only kick ass heroes coming to save their friend and the day. Their banter was pretty great and always had a dash of humor to keep things a bit light hearted considering they were up against some really dark stuff.
As for the nitty gritty technical aspects of how the novel was written, I don’t really have a lot of complaints. The pacing was on pointe. It never felt dull and the action didn’t droop even in the slower parts. There was always something there to drive the story forward. That being said, I felt the ending was actually a bit rushed. It just all of a sudden wrapped everything up. I think it could have maybe handled an extra chapter or two just to have it feel a bit more complete as its own story. It gave me the sense that I would need to read John’s book to finally wrap everything up. I mean, I definitely still want to read John’s book anyway but it would have been great if this had wrapped up a few more loose ends. Also, considering John’s book doesn’t even have a release date nor have I really ever heard anything about it so it makes me nervous that I may never get the answers I’m looking for. It just didn’t feel over with Tyson Star. It just feels a little cliff hanger-y without an actual cliff hanger.
Overall, I really enjoyed Black and Blue. It was action packed and kept me wanting to read further just to know what was going to happen next. It had a real palpable sense of suspense. The characters were smart, funny, capable, and just generally likeable which helped to sell the story quite a bit. The steam factor was super high here. O wow! Definitely some good smut for your reading pleasure here. This was a fun read and I’m actually kind of bummed that there isn’t already another book on deck with this series and I’ll have to wait for more. Sigh… So is life for a book nerd.
This pretty much had all the things I want a book to have.
Action? Check.
Likeable characters? Check.
Funny? Check.
Steamy? Check.
Sci-fi? Check.
Our leads are Evie Black and Corbin Blue. (Get it… their names are the title? It’s a PUN! Ha!) I really enjoyed that both of them had an emotional depth to them as well as a backbone. Neither were one to wallow in self-pity and neither one needed rescuing. No damsels in distress here. Only kick ass heroes coming to save their friend and the day. Their banter was pretty great and always had a dash of humor to keep things a bit light hearted considering they were up against some really dark stuff.
As for the nitty gritty technical aspects of how the novel was written, I don’t really have a lot of complaints. The pacing was on pointe. It never felt dull and the action didn’t droop even in the slower parts. There was always something there to drive the story forward. That being said, I felt the ending was actually a bit rushed. It just all of a sudden wrapped everything up. I think it could have maybe handled an extra chapter or two just to have it feel a bit more complete as its own story. It gave me the sense that I would need to read John’s book to finally wrap everything up. I mean, I definitely still want to read John’s book anyway but it would have been great if this had wrapped up a few more loose ends. Also, considering John’s book doesn’t even have a release date nor have I really ever heard anything about it so it makes me nervous that I may never get the answers I’m looking for. It just didn’t feel over with Tyson Star. It just feels a little cliff hanger-y without an actual cliff hanger.
Overall, I really enjoyed Black and Blue. It was action packed and kept me wanting to read further just to know what was going to happen next. It had a real palpable sense of suspense. The characters were smart, funny, capable, and just generally likeable which helped to sell the story quite a bit. The steam factor was super high here. O wow! Definitely some good smut for your reading pleasure here. This was a fun read and I’m actually kind of bummed that there isn’t already another book on deck with this series and I’ll have to wait for more. Sigh… So is life for a book nerd.