When the Bad Man murdered her mother 20 years ago-the heroine vowed to get her revenge in away way she could. This goal has made her an introverted loner who never trusts anyone and relies on her ability to fake emotions to avoid human contact. Her life has been hard-once an assassin killing the scumbags of the world-the heroine has finally quit that job to zone in on her main target. But he's zoning in on her as well. There she meets the hero. He's a black and white, right or wrong detective with just slightly more humor than the heroine though not by much. In fact they are strikingly similar in personality. They have limited people skills and live their lives separate from everyone around them. The hero is shocked by his reaction to the heroine. He finds himself breaking the rules he's vowed to uphold. He can't stop himself from being drawn to the strong femme fatale female with the legs of a goddess. He kisses her at every meeting, he takes her home to meet his grandmother. He harbors a fugitive, the woman his fellow cops are looking for in connection to a murder. He steals her mothers flute from evidence just to make her happy. But he never lost his sense of right and wrong. He has a very hard time coming to terms with her previous employment and though he falls in love with her, he is disgusted and disappointment over the secrets she still keeps from him. I enjoyed this book because I really loved both the hero and heroine. Though I felt that they fell in love far too fast and that the hero made such a sharp turn from his no nonsense direction to suddenly groping the chick he KNOWS is involved in murder. It was rather unbelievable. And the heroine is played up to be this evil creature as every states that she's not a dark as she think she is. But I didn't see it. You could so tell that she's putting on an act when she gets into the sassy seductress mode and just because she killed people for a living didn't make her evil by any means. Hey, she killed bad people. I loved her argument with the hero about how it makes it ok for him to kill because he has a badge. It was valid point. I though this was a nice book. A little slow at times but I really liked the characters individually as well as their chemistry together. ( )

I love stories with magical realism. I love stories with groups of friends or characters who are connected because you know there are probably other stories with the same group. I love hunky heroes and smart, strong heroines who have to overcome big hurdles (both external and internal) to find their way together. And I love love stories.

I love this book!

I haven't read the others in the series, but they're going in my TBR pile now. ( )

TEMPTED BY FATE by Kate Perry is a action packed urban paranormal romance set in present day San Francisco. It is well written with details,depth,page turning,and fast paced. It is the third in "Guardians of Destiny"series,but can be read as a stand alone. Book One "Marked By Passion, Book Two "Chosen By Desire".It has romance, sensuality, sexy humor, sassy women,strong men,secrets, destiny, fate, magic, murder, passion, love, the Scrolls of Destiny(Book of Wood), magic, ancient Chinese scrolls(earth,fire,wood,metal,water)and falling in love. You have a sexy,hot,policeman, passionate male hero, Rick and a sassy,vulnerable,tough, assassin,and guardian of the Book of Wood, Willow. Together they must battle a very "Bad Man", who is after Willow's power and murderer. Secrets will be revealed,(of other Guardians,earth,fire,& metal),trust will be tested and love will shine through.Can Willow and Rick overcome the powerful "Bad Man" in order to save them and Willow's extraordinary powers?This is a fast paced,action paced urban paranormal with lots of heated atmosphere,mystery, and sexual tension. I would highly recommend this book and the others in the "Guardians of Destiny" series especially if you enjoy sexy,hot characters with sas and wit.This book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher and details can be found at Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing and My Book Addiction and More. ( )

This book was an impulse purchase, having not read the author before and not reading any reviews of her books. It turned out to be a very good purchase! I enjoyed it so much that despite just buying two books I've been waiting months for, I kept reading this one. I was late getting dressed today 'cause I was so busy reading. I haven't done the housework I had planned because I was too busy reading. Gotta love when that happens.

I adored the heroine in this book. Willow is one tough cookie. She's had to be since her mother was murdered when she was only ten. As soon as she was old enough, she made it her life's goal to track down and wreck vengeance on the man who killed her mother even though Willow only knows him as The Bad Man. After tracking him for years, she finally hopes to corner him in San Francisco, even as she is aware that The Bad Man has probably lured her there. She is on her way to a meet with a private detective she hired when she comes across two dead bodies, the detectives and another man. Also at the scene is a police Inspector, Rick Ramirez. He senses Willow's presence, but because she has some pretty awesome superpowers, he's unable to find her; either that night or at other times when she seems to be at the same scene as other crimes. He suspects her, but doesn't really want to as their attraction to each other is overwhelming.

I really enjoyed Rick's character too. He's a rules kind of guy. He lives buy the book and his world is one of black and white until he's confronted by Willow who is all kinds of gray. Their opposite personalities really made for some great and spicy scenes between them. It was rather fun watching Rick having his carefully ordered world rocked.

The secondary characters were also very interesting - from his rather mysterious herself grandmother, to Morgan, Willow's computer geek best friend and partner. This is the third book in a series about Guardians, a select group of people who have inherited supernatural powers, but even though I haven't read the first two, it was no problem following this story at all. ( )

This was a really good story. I'd kind of gotten burn out on historical romance so I'd left romance alone altogether for a little while. This is the first romance I've read in a few months and it was refreshing to get back into the genre with such a well written specimen.

Willow was a great main character. She was spunky, witty, independent, and everything else you could want from a heroine. I liked her. Ramirez was nice... I used the model on the cover as a basis for what Ramirez looked like, and he is very nice :-) But my favorite character was Morgan and Lita was a close second. But Morgan is a computer genius. While I'm far from a computer genius I am a bit of a nerd so I was able to connect with her. She also plays as Willow's better judgment, as Willow doesn't always use her own good judgment... And Lita was such a sweet character. She was so knowing (beyond just the knowing the comes with being a grandmother) and was able to see what the future was going to hold for Ramirez and Willow.

I haven't read the first two in this series and I didn't feel lost in this one. While I do want to go back and read the first two I didn't feel like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

The story itself was a good one. Willow, a guardian of the wood scroll, is trying to find the bad man who killed her mother when she was a young girl. The search has lead her to San Fransisco where she meets Ramirez. The chemistry between them is great, even though they both try to fight it.

I liked the story and I loved the characters. I really do want to get the first two in the series and get the background of the guardians and then I want to see where the next book is going to go, as this one set the stage for something really big. I can't wait to see what it is!

A review copy of this book was provided by Hachette Book Group. ( )