Above Reproach by Lynn Ames

Publisher:                   Phoenix Rising Press

Above Reproach is book two in the Mission Classified series by Lynn Ames.  It’s another action/suspense story that reintroduces the reader to Vaughn Elliott, one of the major characters in the first book Beyond Instinct.

Sedona Ramos works for a government agency and sees satellite images from Iraq that she wasn’t meant to see.  A nuclear facility that she helped to deactivate years before is showing activity again.  Sedona immediately becomes the target of a group that goes high in the US government and that wants to stop her from revealing what she’s seen, but she’s able to reach the president first.  That leads to Sedona making contact with retired agent Vaughn Elliott and a hand-picked team of super agents.  They are tasked by the president to go to Iraq to find out what is going on and are hunted by killers the whole way.  Sedona has a secret power though that will guide and protect them along the way.

For people who have read many of Lynn Ames’ books, this one is difficult to evaluate.  It’s certainly far better than her first books, but it doesn’t show the promise or ability of her recent work, especially Beyond Instinct.  The dialogue isn’t very good between the characters and there’s never really a feeling of suspense in the story.  The “bad guys” are supposed to be super-secret plotters who have tremendous resources available to them, but they are extremely inept at stopping the agents from achieving their goal.  Vaughn and her group have little real trouble confusing and evading their opponents and getting into Iraq.  The way they deal with the facility is probably meant to show their level of training, but it doesn’t create the suspense that a reader would expect.  The rate that a relationship develops between Sedona and Vaughn doesn’t match with the feelings they each express about past relationships, so their situation doesn’t feel “real.”  The story might have been stronger if the relationship had been left out.  Finally, there is a supernatural aspect to the story that, for those who don’t believe in that type of thing, can be very trying and contributes to the disjointed feeling of the book.

Above Reproach is not a poorly written book.  For someone who is looking for a quick read that is fairly entertaining, it will do fine.  For anyone who has read Ames’ recent books, it doesn’t quite come up to the ability she has shown recently; therefore, the book may be somewhat disappointing.  For fans of suspense novels, this one is tepid and there are others that demonstrate the genre better.    Those who are Ames fans and follow her work will read and enjoy this.  Those who are genre fans may want to find something else.

Rebellion in Ulster by Angela Koenig

Publisher:                   Blue Feather Books

To those who say lesbian novels don’t deal with serious or topical issues, that they don’t present sophisticated or well developed characters or plots, that they’re basically erotica disguised as romances, the answer is, sure, some of them are.  The answer is also that, if you want something different, you’re not reading the right books.

Rebellion in Ulster by Angela Koenig is a very intense book from a different perspective.  Jeri O’Donnell is a Rhodes Scholar from the US who decides to use her time in Britain to meet her extended family in Ireland.  Unfortunately, Jeri’s cousin Fiona is a gun runner for the Provisional IRA and uses Jeri’s rental car for her work.  A shoot out with British soldiers ends with Fiona dead and Jeri in the infamous Armagh Women’s Prison.  While there Jeri transforms from an American who understands very little of “The Troubles” between Britain and Ireland into a loyal soldier for the IRA.

What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?  The answer usually depends on which side of an issue you stand on.  Koenig presents this story with a slight bias for the Irish, but there is some sympathy for the British standpoint also.  Jeri feels she owes her life to the Irish cause as a replacement for Fiona and she becomes an expert at what she does - killing, gun running and bombing.  Occasionally however she wonders if she is doing the right thing.  As the book progresses the reader is able to see her internal struggle with what she believes and what she questions.  Along the way she meets a host of friends and lovers who shape the person she becomes and a crisis at the end will force her to make an important evaluation of her life.

Rebellion in Ulster is about a lesbian, but not lesbianism.  Jeri could just have easily been straight.  That might turn some readers away from the book, but it shouldn’t because it’s a very strong story with a complex and interesting central character.  There is also a bonus to this book, unlike anything this reviewer has experienced.  Holding the book provides a sensual experience not usual with a paperback cover.  It almost feels like suede.  Holding that book awakens your fingertips before the words reach your eyes.  It's not only a good story, but will remind you of why you like to hold a book in your hands.

Clandestine by Cheyne Curry

Publisher:      Blue Feather Books

Tia Ramone and Jody Montgomery come from different worlds.  Tia is a former CIA operative whose career was ruined when she was accused of botching an assignment.  Jody comes from a prestigious and wealthy family, though she prefers charity work and aiding homeless animals to the society functions her mother would like her to attend.  Those worlds collide when Tia is blackmailed into kidnapping Jody.  Tia realizes that her drinking problems have gotten her into this situation, but she can’t understand why anyone would want to do something like this to Jody.  Anthony, Jody’s husband, appears to be a successful businessman, but appearances can be deceiving.  As Tia comes to know her hostage better she develops feelings for her and wants to help Jody.  She just needs to find a way to get both women out of the situation alive.  Anthony has some definite ideas about thwarting that.

This could be a standard romance of rich girl meets poor girl of her dreams and off they go happily ever after.  Curry is a better writer than that however.  She knows how to present her characters to create just the effect that she wants and that keeps them interesting.  Tia could easily be a character that the reader doesn’t like, but, instead she comes off as a “Sad Sack” who deserves a break.  Jody is almost too innocent in her view of the world, but when juxtaposed against her mother and her husband, she becomes a sterling example of a human being.  Curry doesn’t pull her punches either.  Jody’s mother and husband come off as being just as vicious and double-dealing at the end of the book as they appear from the first.  There is no softening of the characters to redeem them.  Curry creates a story that is a romance with a little adventure in it and some really despicable characters who are trying to thwart the lovers.  That leaves the reader cheering for her main characters.

Clandestine is an interesting book to read.  The main characters are appealing, the pacing is right and it holds the reader’s attention.  Those are all of the ingredients for an entertaining experience.

Jacob's War by C. P. Rowlands

Publisher:      Bold Strokes Books

Anyone who suggests to C.P. Rowlands that she should write anything besides an adventure/thriller book should be taken out and punished….harshly.  Her first book Lake Effect Snow was excellent; then she wrote a romance.  Fortunately, she has returned to what she is very good at with Jacob’s War.  She needs to stay in that genre.

Allison Jacob is an ATF agent who is working on a joint task force trying to uncover a drug ring operating around Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Katie Blackburn is a business owner whose world collides with Allison’s the night she comes out to her car and finds a bloody woman in it.  The woman is one of Allison’s contacts and now Katie finds herself pulled into the investigation.  Katie has a connection to the drug ring that she won’t be aware of until the end of the book, but it leads to her cooperating with Allison to try and find the leader of the gang.  Such a close working relationship leads to a closer romantic relationship, but both women have been hurt before and are reluctant to commit.  Then there is that shadow connection of Katie’s, which could get them both killed.

Most Americans are probably not aware of the serious meth problem going on in the northern Midwest of their country.  Traveling through those states, which most people associate with the dairy industry and healthy living, can be a shock when the numerous signs and postings about the drug situation become apparent.  Rowlands, who lives in Wisconsin, obviously is very informed about the problem.  She’s done extensive research on the drug war and the police procedures involved with trying to combat it.  This gives a feeling of gritty reality to her story.

Rowlands is excellent at creating suspense in her stories and in crafting multidimensional characters.  Neither Allison nor Katie is a simpering, weak woman dependent on the other for her strength.  Most “suspense” stories seem to require that one character fill that slot.  Instead, they are both strong women, with weaknesses.  This makes them fuller and more interesting characters.  Rather than wanting to scream at the silliness so common in some female characters  in this genre, the reader becomes invested in what they are doing.  The reader gets an inkling of what is really going on before the characters do, but this adds to the suspense.  It’s similar to being in a movie theater and yelling at the character not to open that door because the viewer knows that what is behind it isn’t good.  Jacob’s War is a page turner right up to the end.

C.P. Rowlands has done a masterful job in allowing her main characters to develop their personal identities and of capturing the danger of dealing in the drug war.  The cover of the book suits the story perfectly, though the description on the back is a little sketchy.  There is a running tag line on the front cover that says “Drugs, murder, drugs, sex, drugs….”  What should have been added is “suspense, suspense, suspense.” The book is fast paced and draws the reader along.  This is easily a book that can be read in one sitting.  It wasn’t intended that way probably, but putting the book down is difficult.

Jacob’s War marks the much needed return of C.P. Rowlands to the mystery/suspense genre.  Let’s hope she doesn’t forget how to find her way there again.

 

The Raven's Heart by Jesse Blackadder

Publisher:        Bywater Books (reissue)

Jesse Blackadder went on a hunt to discover the origins of her family name and arrived at a fascinating telling of a period in Scottish history.  Her curiosity about her roots gave readers a very entertaining novel.

Alison Blackadder was raised by her father to believe that her family’s lands and heritage were stolen long before she was born, but that one day they would be reclaimed.  To protect her from assassins who are hunting her family, Alison was raised as a boy, Robert.  That gives her the ability to slip in and out of both the male and female worlds, a skill that brings her to the attention of Mary Queen of Scots.  Mary has just returned from spending most of her life in France and knows very little about her own country or the political forces there.  Alison comes to the court planning on using Mary to recapture her inheritance.  Instead, she becomes Mary’s weapon in trying to control Scotland and its notorious nobility.  Alison teaches Mary how to move among her people in disguise, to find out what they really want and need, but, as any student of history knows, it won’t be enough.  As Mary’s weaknesses begin to work against her, Alison, who now realizes she serves the queen out of love, fights for a future for her family, her country and herself.

Students of history might question the version that is presented in The Raven’s Heart.  Mary is portrayed as being more noble and heroic than most accounts would make her.  The basics of the story are true however and knowing what eventually happens does not weaken the tale that Blackadder spins.  If anything, Mary Queen of Scots is portrayed as a much stronger and determined woman than history would lead one to believe.  The book is marked by detailed character development, both in the strong and weak characters.  Blackadder’s descriptions of tavern life, the protocols in a royal court and the descriptions of the people’s daily lives create an atmosphere of reality.  It’s so realistic that the danger is in the reader believing that this is the way the real events unfolded.

The Raven’s Heart is an unusual lesbian novel.  Although the love interests are present, the story focuses on intrigue, dangerous escapades and 16^th century life.  Love affairs play a minor part as the reader will be swept up in the rich dialogue and twists and turns of the plot.  This is a book for people who like strong, interesting stories and fast paced action.  The fact that it might teach a little history is an added bonus.

Runaway by Anne Laughlin

Publisher:         Bold Strokes Books

Jan Roberts and Maddy Harrington have something in common.  They’re both runaways.  The difference is that Jan escaped years ago from her father’s survival camp in Idaho so that she could have a more normal life.  Now she’s a private investigator in Chicago who is hired to find a naïve, wealthy girl who ran away from parents and a life she hated to create what she thought was going to be a utopia.  Just as Jan begins the case, the company she works for is sold to a British security firm and she gets a new boss.  Catherine Engstrom is a former British government agent with some secrets of her own and there is a powerful attraction between them. 

Jan has to deal with two dilemmas.  She’s not used to trusting other people and she doesn’t want to trust Catherine, but she can’t help herself, even when she finds out that Catherine is forbidden fruit.  At the same time, the hunt for Maddy is taking the women into Idaho among the militia groups and survivalists that Jan wants desperately to avoid.  Both situations pose great danger for Jan.

Runaway starts as a very strong book, then dies at the end.  The prologue has a real hook to draw the reader into the story as Jan struggles to escape from her father’s control.  That edge continues into the rest of the book as Laughlin alternates between scenes of Jan and Catherine looking for Maddy and those of what Maddy is experiencing.  It becomes clear quickly that Maddy has involved herself in something entirely different from what she was expecting and the reader is allowed to feel her disillusionment as it mounts.  Likewise, Jan’s confusion about her feelings for Catherine and her concerns about possibly confronting her father again come through very strongly and add tension to what is going on.   The fact that there are some passionate scenes between Jan and Catherine doesn’t hurt the book.

In the last forty pages though, the book goes flat.  It’s like a balloon that someone has suddenly let the air out of.  The tension is mounting and things are headed for a climax and then everything becomes totally unbelievable and even trite.  Everything suddenly ends, everyone goes home and that’s it.  Anne Laughlin is a better writer than this.  The reader might almost think that she was running out of time for a deadline, so decided just to cut the book off.  It’s unfortunate because, up to that point, she had an interesting book.

Runaway is fine for entertaining reading……except for the end.  It isn’t a waste of the reader’s time, but once you see what the book could have been, the conclusion is that much more disappointing.  Read this one with caution.

Blue Skies by Ali Vali

Publisher:        Bold Strokes Books

Books that are based on current events are terrific and worrisome.  The terrific part is that they seem extremely believable and may teach people about situations they’ve ignored in the evening news.  The worrisome aspect is that, because the story is so realistic, everything in the book takes on a feeling of being factual when in fact it isn’t.

Berkley Levine is a Top Gun instructor for the Navy in Fallon, Nevada.  She’s excels at what she does and is one of the best instructors available.  Berkley doesn’t miss the action of serving in a combat position because she is nursing a broken heart caused by Aidan Sullivan.  Aidan put her career before everything when she was offered the opportunity to be the first female captain of an aircraft carrier, the USS Jefferson.  Tensions rise between the US and North Korea and the Jefferson is given secret orders to destroy a nuclear facility in North Korea.  Aidan uses all of her influence to get the pilot she knows she needs to lead her air wing and the attack on the plant.  Bringing them together on the same ship reignites the relationship they once had, but their positions are more than a complication.  What the women don’t know is that they are part of a bigger plot within the government to compromise a new president and possibly bring down the system in a military and political coup d’etat.

The reader will need to completely disregard the improbability of the relationship between Berkley and Aidan.  The military has strict protocols against affairs between people of different ranks, not to mention that, when this book was originally written, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was still very much in effect.  Once the reader gets past that barrier, however, she can enjoy an extremely well-crafted story.

Blue Skies could come off of the front of today’s newspapers with the concern over North Korea’s nuclear program and the instability that country threatens to inject into world affairs.  Knowledge of that situation enhances the power of what Vali writes about.  It’s a fast paced action story that will hold the reader’s attention with a high level of tension, especially once the mission begins.  It’s populated by interesting and well-rounded characters.  Berkley has the swagger of a military pilot and could easily be seen taking over Tom Cruise’s role in “Top Gun” or posing as one of the original astronauts.  She has that laid back, never get ruffled attitude down pat.  Aidan is a classic example of the Naval Academy graduate who is determined to make a name for herself in what has been a man’s world.  She’s as tough and professional as any of them.  It’s almost playing against type for them to be attracted to each other, but in this case it works.  Vali manages to take a North Korean pilot and make her an appealing and commanding character in the story, not an easy task.

Blue Skies is an exciting book with good characters and an interesting story line.  The fact that it may not be totally based on reality doesn’t detract from enjoying it at all.  This is one that it’s easy to recommend to people.

The Sea Captain and the Lady by Vada Foster

Publisher:          Intaglio Publications

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, being a privateer, which is basically a legal pirate, is a respectable occupation.  Colleen Edwards learns the family’s business by serving on her father’s ship and they sail the Caribbean Sea with permits from the king of England raiding the ships from other countries.  Abby Hume is the daughter of the English governor of the Bahamas  and has already met Colleen when she is kidnapped by pirate captain Jack Rackham.  When Rackham demands a ransom, Colleen and her father decide to rescue Abby.  When Colleen’s father is wounded, she takes over command of her father’s ship and the crew follows her because she has lived disguised as a man.  Her objectives are to save Abby and create a life together for them.

It’s never a good sign when an author starts out saying that she has taken “liberties” with the facts, so lovers of history will probably find reading this book to be a struggle.  There is just too much that is wrong to enjoy it much.  Since neither one of them is a prostitute, the characters know too much about sex and indulge in it too freely to be living in the 18^th century.  The dialogue isn’t true to the period either.  There was obviously very little research into the period to make the story believable.  Throwing in the names of real pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read does not make up for the other inconsistencies.  The number of editing errors would almost seem to indicate that the rough draft was printed instead of the finished version.

Things happen too quickly in the story also.  There is very little development as it jumps from scene to scene and the relationship between Colleen and Abby shows practically no thought.  Lesbian readers will probably be unhappy with the fact that Colleen lives her life as a man throughout the book, although that is the one realistic touch.  It’s the only way the women would have had a chance of staying together.

There are a number of very good and accurate historical romances in lesbian literature.  The reader should look for those and leave this one alone.

Scapegoat by Amy Dawson Robertson

Publisher:        Bella Books

Scapegoat is volume two in the Rennie Vogel intrigue series.  Someone has to pay for the mistakes made in a previous government mission in Tajkistan and Rennie is that someone.  Her career is over and she’s been ordered not to have any contact with Hannah Marcus, the woman she rescued during the mission.  Rennie is ripe to be plucked when she is approached by the Foundation, a private organization formed by a wealthy businessman to deal with threats to the country that the US government may not be able to be involved with.  Rennie agrees with the Foundation in principle, but she’s not sure of its tactics.  Her first assignment brings her in contact with a murderer, white supremacists, survivalists and Hannah Marcus.  It’s questionable which is more difficult, bringing down a terrorist threat to the US or establishing a relationship with Hannah.

This is an excellent follow-up to Robertson’s first book Miles to Go.  There is an atmosphere of tension through the whole book and a dark tone that seems to surround Rennie.  The suspense follows a pattern of building; then there is a release before it builds the suspense again.  Each time the peak goes higher than before leading to a crescendo in the final confrontation.  The characters are complicated and very well drawn.  Vogel is a study in the complexity of a person who is trying to reestablish herself after she thinks her life has been destroyed and Hannah clearly shows the torn emotions of a woman who is dedicated to her work, but wants to make room in her life for someone else.  Supporting characters are just as complex, perhaps more so.

One of the book’s strengths is that Robertson has the courage to let things happen that other authors fail to carry through with because they’re not very nice.  She doesn’t mind taking a risk with her plot.  Scapegoat is realistic in showing that, sometimes, the bad guy does win a confrontation.  Added to that is enough about current situations to make the reader feel like she is reading an account of actual events instead of fiction.

Amy Dawson Robertson has earned herself a position among the best action suspense writers today.  Both of her books have delivered on everything that the category promises.  She is quickly entering that group of authors whose books will be bought automatically because they are known for the quality they provide.  The fact that she tells an excellent story is certainly part of that.

Beyond Instinct by Lynn Ames

Publisher:          Phoenix Rising Press

Sometimes you see reviews that say, don't start this book unless you have time because you won't be able to put it down.  When I say that about Beyond Instinct, believe it.

Sage McNally saw something she shouldn't have.  She didn't know it, but what she saw causes her to be kidnapped off of the streets of Mali and taken into the desert by Tuareg warriors.  Vaughn Elliot, former CIA agent and now a security expert for the State Department, hasn't known the diplomat long, but she knows she has to rescue Sage and determine why someone would do this to her.  The women have fallen into a treacherous plot that stretches from Washington, DC, to Africa and on to Afghanistan.  Vaughn, who has watched a former lover be murdered in the line of duty, is determined that it won't happen again.  A congressional visit appears to be at the center of the mystery and Vaughn has to determine how all of the pieces fit together.  Sage holds the key if she can only remember what it is.  The women are joined by a cast that includes highly skilled field agents, corrupt politicians, deadly assassins and heroes who are willing to die for what is right.  Though Sage and Vaughn are attracted to each other, nothing can come before the mission.  Too much depends on its outcome.

Lynn Ames has written a suspenseful adventure novel that can be compared with the best in the field.  Beyond Instinct can stand against any Robert Ludlum or James Patterson novel on the shelf.  The action is fast paced and the characters are defined just enough to see each one of them clearly and why that person had to be in the story.  The weaponry and technology that are employed in the book have obviously been well researched and their usage gives the book a very real and modernistic feeling.  The emotions that come from the characters tap into the reader and create a feeling that the reader is sharing the fear, horror and relief that everyone is experiencing.  As the reader nears the end of the book the need to read slower speaks to the reluctance to see the story end.

Ames does two things in this book that make it refreshing.  The people of Africa are treated with great respect.  Unfortunately, the stereotype in Western literature is to show them as poor, corrupt and backward.  Ames' Africa most certainly contains poverty and illegal activities, but there are also characters who act with great dignity and honor.  There is a very delicate balance struck in the Tuareg leader.  Though he is going to perform a despicable act, he does it out of a sense of honor and has the decency to understand that what he is doing is wrong.  The other interesting point is the relationship between Sage and Vaughn.  The fact that they are lesbians and feel drawn to each other is a strong thread in the story, but it doesn't dominate what is going on.  There is never any doubt that the point of this story is to figure out who is behind what is happening, what their ultimate objective is, and how to stop them.  This is never a story that is simply holding together scenes so that the women can hop into bed together.

One of the best things to observe in literature over time is the growth of an author.  Anyone who is a Lynn Ames fan from her first books is going to find a very different writer in Beyond Instinct.  From someone who wrote rather formulaic novels, she has progressed to something much more.  Her use of vocabulary, characters and scenery has grown tremendously from her first books and gives this one a more mature feeling and allows the reader to flow seamlessly from scene to scene.  Ames' development of her abilities is striking.

For anyone who enjoys a book that is based around adventure, intrigue and suspense, there can't be a better example than Beyond Instinct.  Just one warning.  Don't start it late at night because you won't be going to sleep for a while.

Tilting at Windmills by Geonn Cannon

Publisher:             P.D. Publishing

Claire Lance is a wanted woman, but not in the way she wants to be.  The authorities think that Lance is a rogue cop who killed her lover Elaine.  No one believes what really happened, so she's been moving for over a year trying to avoid being arrested.  FBI Special Agent Faye Mallory is particularly tenacious because she is Elaine's sister and determined to make Lance pay for what happened.  Lance's car breaks down outside of a small Texas town and she is forced to take a job in a local bar to earn the money for the repairs.  Roy Morse isn't a great boss.  He's tied into the local crime community and he abuses his wife Gwen.  In a very short time, Lance is forced to kill two men, including Roy, and finds herself on the run again, this time with Gwen in tow.  As they flee from the police, Roy's gang and Agent Mallory, Lance will find herself forced to confront her past.  Gwen will learn things about herself that will alter her future.

Tilting at Windmills is a fast paced story.  By focusing on Lance's struggle to survive and protect Gwen it allows for a lot of action.  There isn't a great deal of character development, though the flashback sequences of what happened to Lance and Elaine gives greater detail to Claire's character.  The struggle between Lance and Mallory adds another dimension.  It's obvious how much each one is suffering.  The reader will wish they could reach some understanding.

One of the problems with Cannon's books in general is how he writes about lesbians.  It sometimes seems as if he sees them as men in women's skin.  Lance and Mallory could easily be portrayed as male characters.  All Cannon has done is change the gender of the pronouns.  He misses on the emotional bonds that exist between women as part of a relationship.  They may appear to be acting like men, but they aren't thinking or feeling that way.  A point that seems to escape Cannon.

Where Cannon's book is unique is in how he ends the story.  Romances generally follow a formula.  Cannon departs slightly from that formula, which gives the book a refreshing and realistic ending.  It also leaves the characters open for a sequel if he should choose to revisit them.

In all Tilting at Windmills is a quick read that may appeal to action or suspense fans.  There are also enough intimate scenes included to please romance fans.  It's an average book, but fine for a few hours of reading.