Eleri Stone

Captured and chained to a bed, outlaw Molly McGuire believes the worst is yet to come. Luckily for her, her ex-lover comes to the rescue.
Fellow outlaw Cassius Flynn put a bounty on Molly and has come to collect, but he didn’t expect to still have feelings for her. A year earlier, he asked her to marry him, but instead she stole his airship and left him. Now, he wants her to pay off the debt she owes him and help him steal some sensitive information from a wealthy and powerful politician. But then they’re captured. Will he abandon her or stick by the woman who broke his heart?
Flynn and Molly are fun characters, but they definitely needed to talk about their failed relationship and what they expect from each other. That never happened, however, and Molly’s actions at the end weren't very heroic.
I enjoyed this story and the world building (love steampunk!), and I originally gave it 4 stars until the abrupt and unexpected cliffhanger ending. I’m sure Flynn and Molly’s romance will be continued in another book, but I didn’t know to expect that when I downloaded this freebie novella.
3 Stars… (más)

I was really looking forward to this shifter story as it was based on the South American jaguar mythos. But it failed in execution. This was just okay. The shifter world was not explained very well. Some of the motivations of the characters were vague. The whole story just seemed like it was missing sufficient detail. There was very little description of the actual physical setting or the characters.

The hero has been exiled from his clan or what have you for something that totally didn't make sense. It was all very vague. And somehow stealing this relic and selling it for money would win his way back to the tribe. No explanation of why this would get him back in the clan. When he does finally get back in touch with the plan, the king says words to the effect that his exile had only been political and that seemed to come out of left field too. No further explanation.

There was a big story line with some secondary characters and a research grant they were vying for. That seemed important since so much page time was devoted to it and it was kind of interesting but this whole situation was dropped after the big I love you scene. Maybe she didn't need the grant anymore but the situation should have been wrapped up.

There were some sex scenes and they were nicely done. There was some talk of mates and marking that were inferred but not in any way explained.

The heroine was enjoyable and was perhaps the best element in the story and her reaction to the reveal of the shifter world was at least thought out.

On the whole though I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. Given the nice love scenes and the enjoyable heroine I would be willing to further books in a couple of years to see how this author progresses.

I received this book free from netGalley for review.… (más)