Michelle Maddox

Kidnapped and forced into a life or death game with the hero-a convicted rapist and murderer, the heroine fights for her life via 6 challenges as well as dealing with the lies and truths of her mysterious partner. The hero, who invented the game to be a fun challenge was betrayed by his brother when the game began to take on a more sinister and evil nature. He was framed for murder and locked away in prison for the past 4 years. The heroine has spent her life on the streets after the murder of her family-, forced to survive by becoming a thief. When she unknowingly steals from the games master, she's targeted to be a contestant. Okay, so this was the stupidest 'evil' game I've ever heard of. The challenges that were portrayed to be torture and near impossible to completely consisted of, running across a balance beam to reach a tied up partner, finding the lost partner in the city sewers, killing two murders who very clearly want you murdered and killing a cyborg who shots the heroine in the leg and blowing his cover as a bad guy. I mean, come on! Survivor has harder challenges then that! On a positive side, I liked the banter between the characters and loved the hero. He's funny, charming and sarcastic despite how torturous his life has become and the fact that he started the game off being seriously wounded. He's light hearted and supportive of the heroine who just freaks out throughout the whole book. She was so frustrating. Instead of just doing the damn tasks and living, she bothers the hero with stupid questions about the game and his family. And dear god, every single chapter ended with a cut to black. I almost stabbed myself in the eye. Every single chapter.....I didn't like the romance and it was a total subplot to the book and felt very rushed. They fell in love very quickly and it was unnatural. Plus it was all adrenaline induced. The relationship has no chance of surviving after everything is said and done.… (más)

Kira and Rogan are stuck in a computer reality game that usually ends in the death of the participants. People with money to spare, are paying to watch the game as pairs of players hurry to complete tasks with the clock counting down. Partners in the game, Kira and Rogan, must rely on each other and cannot be separated or they will die. Kira is totally mystified about what’s happening, and while Rogan seems to have some inside information, he’s not very forthcoming. Of course when she learns he may be a ruthless killer, Kira doesn’t know who to trust and why she’s stuck with a murderer. The book is action packed and a real page-turner. The characters are likeable and courageous. Instead of the typical power obsessed leader, the threat comes from technology that’s out of control. The plot has some similarities to The Hunger Games with the twisted public interest in watching a game centered around murder. A quick read that should satisfy teen readers looking for action with some romance mixed in.… (más)