BevQB’s review of Challenge Protocol by Dawn Ryder
Contemporary erotic romance ebook released by Ellora’s Cave 15 Mar 08
Gee, this sequel to the slipshod Outside Protocol (Ellora’s Cave, March 2007) did not COMPLETELY suck!
Ryder’s series centers on a team of former Marine Special Ops soldiers who left the service when their team leader, Dack, was framed and given a dishonorable discharge. They now work for Dack in a high priced assessment company that consults with private businesses to identify the “dead weight” and recommends reorganization to eliminate problem areas/employees.
They’ve also made dangerous enemies and must be aware of that threat every minute. They work in teams with a partner, constantly watching each other’s backs, never sleeping at the same time, never having sex at the same time (or so Ryder keeps telling us before the ménage scenes in both books), and always knowing that they will never find love since no woman can accept their lifestyle. In Challenge Protocol, the partners are Dack and Logan, and unlike the previous book, we learn specifically where the threat is coming from and who framed Dack.
Several problems kept me from liking the first book, Outside Protocol, but since the basic premise was interesting, I thought I’d give this author another try. However Ryder (who also writes as Mary Wine) still hasn’t filled all the gaping holes in her stories.
For instance, she goes on at some length about how the men are constantly on guard and are not even identified as employees of the assessment company. They caution that the government has cameras in more places than civilians know of and the team knows those cameras are often monitored by the military. Since it was someone in the military that betrayed them, they see all but a few close ex-military friends as potential assassins.
Yet the team still hangs out at a private club, The Play Yard, that in Outside Protocol, was referred to as a D/s club (which didn’t work well). This bar with chess, checker, and card tables is a better fit in this book as a private club for returning military operatives to adjust to life in the states again, but my point is that they are worried about military personnel identifying them, yet they hang out in a club full of military operatives. Huh?
And their mountaintop compound/home is described as being 30 miles outside of the city, an hour outside of the city, and three hours away from the city. Huh?
Dack and Logan meet Cambria when their company is called in to assess the business that Cambria’s best friend, Mia, works at. Now, I have to say that I REALLY liked Cambria, in fact I liked her enough that this book didn’t end up with a D grade mainly because of her personality. She knows who she is and doesn’t put up with anything from anyone. She ends up with both men, not because they overwhelmed her, but because she wanted both of them and she CHOSE to be with them… on her terms. But after we learn that Cambria climbed her way up the corporate ladder and now holds a high-powered corporate position (we never learn where or what she does), she apparently just walks away from it all without a second thought after being with Dack and Logan. Huh?
And while the relationship between Cambria and Dack works very well, and the sex scenes were hot and well written (more reasons to upgrade from a D), I never felt any connection between her and Logan. In fact, her encounters with Logan felt like the author said “Oh wait, this is supposed to be a ménage, I better put a scene with that other guy in here somewhere.” Huh?
Oh, and let’s talk racial stereotypes, shall we? Cambria, a Black woman, was raised by her single mother in a poor neighborhood filled with gangbangers, along with her five siblings, each of whom had a different father. Her best friend, Mia, an Asian woman whose family owns martial arts academies, is expected to be meek and mild, to not make waves, to live at home with her family until, as a dutiful daughter, she marries the man her parents choose for her. Huh? This is the most original back story Ryder could come up with for these two women?
Bottom line, I think I’ve been more than fair by giving this author two chances. While Challenge Protocol was an improvement over Outside Protocol, there are too many other authors out there that have learned to re-read their books with an objective eye, who CARE that their stories make SENSE, and I think I’d rather spend my time reading their books.
Grade: C-
Summary:
Cambria is no stranger to hot men or hot loving. She likes her relationships simple – hot, satisfying and under her control. Until Dack and Logan walk into her life. Now nothing’s simple, and she’s losing control. Two hot, hard men who live together, work together and love together, and the woman they want is her. Getting them out of her head, her bed, or her life isn’t working. Choosing between them isn’t an option.
A vengeful enemy has forced Dack and Logan to live a life spent watching each other’s backs, 24/7. That includes in the bedroom. Nowhere is safe. Love affairs are brief. But Cambria is a lady neither of them can resist. With her sassy attitude and passionate nature, she touches some part of them they’d thought dead.
Stormy passion and tender touches tempt the two battle-scarred warriors with a taste of the forbidden, but how to keep the woman they both want safe, and in their bed?
This is a sequel to Outside Protocol, although it can be read as a stand-alone.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
Read Bev’s review on her personal blog.
Read more from Bev at Cubie’s Confections.
