Shannon C.’s review of Dark Chance by Melissa Lopez
Contemporary paranormal erotic romance ebook released by Samhain Publishing 10 Jun 08

I’ve said this before and will doubtless say it again, but in order for me to really appreciate a romance, I need a strong heroine. I need to know that the woman who ends up with my hot, tortured hero actually deserves him and is simply not just the first willing sweet thang to come along and let him experience the healing power of her vajayjay.

That’s why I’ve decided I’m done with Melissa Lopez. She’s got a great concept for a series, and plenty of material to work with, but I am pretty sure I was not supposed to be cringing in abject embarrassment for the poor heroine, simply because girlfriend wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

Olivia has been sent on a mission from her dark masters in Netherworld. She’s supposed to push FBI agent Malin Cross down the path to the Dark Side so that Satan can add him to his armies. She’s supposed to do that by acting as Malin’s perfect submissive, which is, of course, his deepest, darkest fantasy. Then she’s supposed to convince Malin to go over the edge and actually kill the serial killer he’s been hunting.

Olivia… Oh my. As I said earlier, this woman is possibly one of the stupidest heroines I’ve read about. I think she is supposed to be cutely naive, but mostly this didn’t come across well. When she actively asks strangers if they know where the serial killer is Malin’s been hunting–yeah, really really good detective work there, Nancy Drew–I actively cringed through the scene. And since she refers to Malin most of the time as “Master’, well, I’m afraid that Barbara Eden as Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie came to mind and never quite left.

Malin is, predictably, much more interesting. I would have liked to know him better, but that wasn’t allowed for such a short story. I was left with a lot of questions about him, like why it was he needed to be a dominant. I thought his reactions to Olivia were very realistic, but I didn’t entirely believe in his serial killer obsession.

As usual, the sex scenes here are hot, although there wasn’t really any D/S stuff actually going on other than the fact that Malin wants a dominant. But the romance itself didn’t entirely satisfy me, as I felt the story probably could have ended just a smidge later, so that these two could actually resolve some of their issues.

As for the plot… This story was just too short. It’s a romance, so of course you know how it’s going to end, and it ended in much the same way that the last story did, with some literal deus ex machina stuff going on. I think I’d like to see Ms. Lopez try to redeem someone who really wasn’t a very good person in life, or have a true morally ambiguous character need to be brought to the path of righteousness. Unfortunately, I think after having given this author two chances, not even an interesting premise and a truly detailed idea of hell sells me on continuing the story.

Grade: D

Summary:
Do you believe in chance?

Absolution Book One

A book of Netherworld.

Olivia Sutcliff is a lost soul who has endured the tortures of Netherworld for more than a hundred years, but now she’s given one chance to get out—on a task set by the Dark Prince himself. She must use her sexual wiles to help damn an innocent man, and failure means a fate worse than hell.

FBI special agent Malin Cross has devoted every waking moment to catching the killer who haunts his nightmares. Until he meets the woman of his dreams. She’s a perfect submissive, one who anticipates his every fantasy. But she also asks too many questions, leaving Malin to wonder if she’s as innocent as she seems…or if she’s bait to lure him into the killer’s web.

As Olivia entices Malin deeper into a world that wants him destroyed, her second thoughts grow into a desire to save him from making a damning mistake.

But as the forces of light and dark collide, their lives—and their souls—hang on the one sacrifice that could destroy them both.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, and graphic violence. Netherworld is a dark, foreboding place.

You can read an excerpt here.

Read my review of Dark Sentinel here.