Sandy M’s review of Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Group, Book 2) by Maya Banks
Contemporary Paranormal Romance published by Samhain 1 Jul 08

I am so loving this series. Shifters are my favorite to read and I enjoy so much the different way Ms. Banks has given us these shifters.  And the fact that they’re all alpha to the core doesn’t hurt one iota.

Ian and Braden Thomas are brothers and part of the Falcon Mercenary Group which formed at the end of the first book in the series, Into the Mist, which I also reviewed.  They, along with other members of their team, have been forced into their shifting lives when they were sprayed with a chemical compound on a prior mission.  Ian is a jaguar and Braden is a tiger, and they do everything possible to keep from shifting, including injecting themselves with a sedative when a shift is imminent.  Their current mission is to track down the sister of a deceased comrade before the man who caused their plight finds her.  From the moment they make contact with Kate Buchanan, she always seems to have the upper hand and they can’t figure out how a slip of woman can give them such trouble.  Especially when they’re only trying to help.

But Katie trusts no one.  Her brother Gabe taught her that and taught her how to survive.  She’s been on the run for a while now, trying to stay a step ahead of the brother of the man she killed.  Thinking the two men who are now after her this time work for that slim, she runs and throws at them every trick her brother ever showed her.  Even when they finally catch up with her and they explain who they are and what they want, Katie finds it too hard to trust, especially when she learns the truth about their hidden animals.  However, being back in her enemy’s hands makes her realize that Ian and Braden are the lesser of two evils.  It’s not until they both love her that the barriers come down and she finds what she’s always been looking for.

Of course, my favorite part of this books is those brothers.  Sexy as all get-out and as dominant as their inner beasts, they still have that slight sensitive side and you know they love one another.  That shows each time one of them shifts.  They want to make sure they’re far enough away from each other so they can do no harm to the other when in their animal form, and that eventually includes Katie when their feelings for her begin to change.  The love scenes are sizzling, demanding, and tender all at once, and that’s my second favorite thing in this books.

The third would be all the action, and there is loads of it.  We also get to meet the rest of the Falcon team again, including Eli and Tyana from Into the Mist. Their story isn’t totally over and there’s some lovely scenes between them here.  I’m really looking forward to Damiano’s book, Ty’s brother.  He’s the worst affected by their forced shifting, the worst tortured so far, so his book should be full of emotion, which is something Ms. Banks is excellent at.

Two down and hopefully a lot more to come.  This is one series I don’t want to miss a thing on!

Grade: A

Summary:

It was supposed to be an easy mission. But nobody told her that.

Ian and Braden Thomas return to the U.S. to extract Katie Buchanan, the sister of the teammate who betrayed them. She could very well be the key to taking down the man responsible for turning Ian and Braden into unstable cat shifters. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones after Katie.

Katie has no intention of going quietly or of offering her trust on a silver platter. She’s got troubles of her own that don’t include two pain-in-the-ass men who claim her dead brother sent them. She’s too busy trying to stay one step ahead of Ricardo de la Cruz, the brother of a man she killed.

As the bodies pile up, Ian and Braden are only sure of one thing: Katie makes them crazy. Something about her calls to their inner predator. They both want her, but she’s made a practice of making bad decisions and trusting the wrong men. And by the time she realizes that she can trust these two warriors, it might just be too late.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Sandy M’s review of Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group, Book 1) by Maya Banks
Paranormal romance released 5 Feb 08 by Samhain

Shifters. Alpha hero. Lust. Kick-ass heroine. Sizzling sex. Betrayal. Family. Action. Love.

You name it, this book’s got it. In spades. Maya Banks has a terrific start to her new series, Falcon Mercenary Group.

Tyana is first up from FMG, and her mission is a mission of the heart – to save her brother, Damiano.  From their very first meeting, the hero, Eli, and heroine, Tyana, heat it up something fierce. Ty and Eli don’t trust each other, but between the sheets it’s absolute perfection. Which confuses Ty because she usually can’t stand to be touched by anyone but family. But with Eli everything fades away except him and his touch, and that scares Ty because even her mission fades when she’s with Eli.

Eli blames himself when a man dies and two others suffer daily and he can’t help them. Meeting Tyana gives him a place to bury himself initially, but as he gets to know her and finds out her secrets, suddenly his world doesn’t look so bleak. Then, when her betrayal comes to light, he can’t believe he’s put himself and his men in the danger once again and that they may not survive.

The characters in this book grab onto you and never let go. Eli and Ty are perfect together. As they slowly give in to their lust for one another and share their secrets, they each have great epiphanies that heightens our pleasure learning about them.  I love Eli’s shifting into mist or smoke. The scenes when he roams over Ty’s body in this form are some of the sexiest and most erotic, all done with feeling and no graphic language at all.

The secondary characters – Ty’s brothers Damiano, Jonah, and Mad Dog, and Eli’s men Ian, Braden, and Gabe, who all now shift in varying ways – are all intriguing in their own right. Even FMG’s go-to man, Tits, is hilarious and just as lethal as the others. The emotion throughout the book for family is a wonderful element.  It doesn’t lessen one bit at the end when Eli and Ty realize they have more than lust to deal with, but also a growing love they never expected, and their “families” who are coming together for the good of them all.   The action is swift and heart pounding and it kept me turning the pages.

I’m hooked. The next book is out in May and I’ll be first in line. Come on, take a chance*. You’ll love what you read.

*pun intended

Grade: A+

Summary:

     One woman’s mission to bring down a sexy elemental shifter turns into a battle of wills…and hearts.  Hostage recovery specialist Eli Chance has a secret. He was born a shifter. A freak of nature.  While on a mission, Eli’s men and their mercenary guide are exposed to a powerful chemical agent, and suddenly his secret has become easier to hide. Now he’s not the only one with the gift. But for his men, this “gift” is becoming more and more of a curse.

     Tyana Berezovsky’s brother Damiano was the guide for Eli’s team and was the worst affected by the chemical. As he grows increasingly unstable, Tyana fears she’s going to lose him to the beast he is becoming.  Tyana will do whatever it takes to help him, even if it means using her body to go after the one man she thinks holds all the blame-and possibly the cure. Eli Chance.

     Read an excerpt.