For Love or Vengeance, spotlight and review

                                          


For Love or Vengeance by Caridad Pineiro is part of the 'Reborn Vampire' series.


Blurb:

FBI Special Agent Helene Alexander is a goddess.  An actual frickin’ goddess. And her mission is clear, see that justice is served at all times or her days as a goddess are numbered.

Helene’s new FBI partner defines good-looking, but Miguel Sanchez, wants nothing to do with her ends-justify-the-means attitude. He knows through experience the type of guilt her actions can bring and Miguel wants nothing to do with Helene’s careless ways. Even if she’s so damned hot she makes him burn with the need.

When the serial killer they’re tracking strikes again, Helene and Miguel are drawn into a case that will challenge their most fundamental beliefs about justice and vengeance. But it’s the passion between them that forces a goddess to choose: eternal life with all her powers...or death—to save the man she loves.


Excerpts:

“My job was to protect her,” he finally said through a tightness in his chest that threatened to strangle him.

To his shock, she reached up and cradled the side of his face. Her palm was smooth. So smooth. So warm and…comforting. He had never expected that a woman as hard as Helene could offer comfort, but there it was, adding yet another intriguing layer to his partner. That sensation coursed through him, freeing up the tension in his chest so he could breathe again.

“It was her time. Nothing you did could have changed that,” she said with absolute certainty.

Her words resonated within him, bringing unexpected peace as if she were a priest who had just granted him absolution.

He brushed his hand against the thick waves of her hair and urged them away from her cheek. Then he dug his fingers into their softness, cupped her jaw, and tracked his thumb along the edge of her mouth.

“Thank you,” he said, at a loss to find any other words to express what he was feeling. Knowing in his gut that there was only one thing that might.

He leaned forward until her warm breath spilled against his lips. Her gaze filled with part surprise and part anticipation. A heartbeat later, he allowed insanity to take over.

* * * *

Helene’s breath became trapped in her chest as Miguel closed the distance between them and covered her mouth with his.

Craziness, she thought for a millisecond before all that he was—all that goodness and honor and sexiness—made her lose her head. Her supposedly more powerful refined goddess senses didn’t stand a chance against the wonder of his kiss.

He moved lightly against her mouth, an invitation rather than a command, as if knowing the latter would have been refused. Tentatively she accepted, meeting the sweep of his lips and deepening the contact. She opened her mouth to taste him and permit his exploration as he eased the tip of his tongue in to graze hers.

She moaned with need and the unexpected desire he aroused. The sound was loud in the quiet of the room. So loud it awakened them from whatever insanity had possessed them, breaking them apart.

They were both breathing heavily as she stood there, her fists clenched against the desire to reach for him again.

Someone walking in might have assumed they were fighting. And maybe they were. She was definitely fighting—for control.

He spoke first. “I’m sorry, Helene. That was out of line.”

“No need to apologize. We’re both adults and desire is a natural thing,” she said, attempting to downplay her fear that it had been much more than passion that had brought them together.

It worked. Miguel wasn’t the kind of man who indulged in desire just for desire’s sake. That would be too shallow. His lips—those mobile, engaging lips that had only seconds before brought her such pleasure—became a pencil-thin line.

“It won’t happen again,” he said, and before she could utter another word, he stalked from the room.

Author Bio:



New York Times and USA Today bestselling paranormal and romantic suspense author Caridad Pineiro wrote her first novel in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project – to write a book for a class lending library. Bitten by the writing bug, Caridad continued with her passion for the written word through high school, college and law school. In 1999, Caridad’s first novel was released and over a decade later, Caridad is the author of almost forty published novels and novellas. When not writing, Caridad is an attorney, wife and mother to an aspiring writer and fashionista.


Links
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Buy Links: 
For Love or Vengeance (Amazon buy link)
Barnes and Noble


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My review:


“For Love or Vengeance” by Caridad Pineiro is part of the ‘Reborn Vampire’ series and is an intriguing paranormal tale that mixes Greek mythological characters with contemporary situations.  The goddess Nemesis is seeking to escape the horrific attentions of her father, Zeus, and is on earth to exact justice, in this lifetime by posing as FBI agent Helene Alexander.  She is not the only newbie at her new field office and her newly assigned and reluctant partner Miguel Sanchez is also trying to settle in at his new location.  Their uneasy partnership will have significant challenges, not least of which is the race to catch a serial killer before another murder takes place.  Helene can’t reveal her primary directive but gradually her prickly partner causes her to realize that she may need to change her priorities and learn to depend on someone other than herself. Unfortunately the partnership may be forced to end before it really begins.

This entertaining story that combines a goddess and the procedures of the FBI provides an exciting tale as the search for a serial killer intensifies.  There are hints of the presence of various immortals but the action centers primarily on Nemesis in her human-seeming incarnation who has some trouble displaying human emotions.  There are a few disturbing elements (especially Zeus’ unnatural interest in his daughter) and some unexplained occurrences that aren’t quite resolved but the overall story is a fun read.  I am not quite sure how this relates to the Reborn Vampires but I surmise that subsequent stories will address that.  The emotional obstacles that both main characters have to overcome provide a nice depth to the story and I hope that we get more of their adventures.  I look forward to more stories by this fun author.

A copy was provided to me for review.
Review offered to Night Owl Reviews.