Book Review: Enemy Lover By Karin Harlow

Enemy Lover

By Karin Harlow

First book in the L.O.S.T. series.

Blurb:

It’s Jax Cassidy’s first mission for L.O.S.T.—one that will give the former cop who went rogue a chance to prove herself. Her assignment: gain the trust of assassin Marcus Cross . . . eliminate him . . . then take down Marcus’s mentor, Joseph Lazarus, a man with a bold eye on the White House. But the woman who’s known by her team for being a femme fatale succumbs to passion, only to discover Cross’s deadly secret. He’s a vampire, and Joseph Lazarus is his creator.

Left for dead by his platoon in the violent hills of Afghanistan, special ops sniper Marcus Cross was given a second chance at life. His newly heightened skills make him the perfect killing machine, and as Lazarus's right hand man, he’s quickly rising to the top of his dark empire, purging enemies with speed and precision. Only when dangerous beauty Jax Cassidy is sent to bring him in does he begin to question Lazarus’s motives and his own actions. But when Jax’s life is threatened by the one thing that can destroy them both, Marcus must make a bitter choice—her death or his.

My thoughts:

Something that is always nice to find in this genre is an original plot and Enemy Lover has it. A lot of set up at the beginning but then the story starts moving and is filled with action, suspense, angst, distrust, deception & betrayal, sexual tension and some pretty hawt love scenes.

Tight storyline that is straightforward and flows well with a natural dialogue set in today’s world. Harlow just needs a bit more work on her MC’s imo. Which is why this gets a 3 ½ stars from me because I am major into the characters before anything else.

Both characters are strong and unpredictable. The hero, Marcus, has more depth then the heroine, Jax, and I would of liked to see more from his POV but they are well matched for each other. Jax’s past was pretty solid, if somewhat brutal, but she lost her complexity when they came to present time. She was cold & distrustful at first and then all of the sudden she was all hot and in love with Marcus. There’s no denying the combustible lust & attraction but love? Didn’t get much emotion & reasons as to the change of heart, just seemed to happen a little too drastically. Especially considering her major, but understandable, trust & touching issues. But even though I found her lacking there she is still a strong, loyal and kick-ass heroine. Where as Marcus’ feelings are a natural progression and don’t seemed forced. He is a def. hot hero, very deep, honorable, driven and just rawr. LoL Just being a special ops sniper is hotness in itself imo. So good background pick on that Ms. Harlow! ;)

With the ending I’m not sure how these characters are going to be seen in other installments, and it didn’t fit with what was represented as the L.O.S.T. team in the beginning of the book. So that was a little odd and disappointing. It also seemed too brief and wrapped up quickly. Still, I am very interested in some of the side characters that are introduced here, especially the mysterious Godfather.

Not as intense as most paranormal romance reads, more of a romantic suspense with a dab of the paranormal (vampires) but it’s a good start to the series with a lot of potential and an interesting read. It kept me captivated and I finished it within two days. Which is my norm for books that don’t bore me even a little. LoL

3 Wine Glasses

and a Snack Tray

3 Flaming Hearts: Hot!

Newly titled Enemy Mine is the second book in the L.O.S.T. series; you can find the blurb HERE. Sounds good!

Find out more about L.O.S.T. HERE. Karin also writes under the name Karin Tabke.