Even better than the first book, Malcolm Cole Alpha Were plus meets Charlie a female he wants as his mate. The problem is so does another Alpha Were and he is one nasty powerful pup. Both are uber sexy, uber rich and powerful. She is strong but is not up to the terrible future she will face. Torture and suffering have followed her for years and it's not over.
Great mystery and adventure, and H.O.T. moments that steamed my glasses. ( )

This is a fun sexy beach read that you can read in one day. I don't usually read this type of book but I did enjoy it and would recommend it.

Still Feeling Somewhat Unsatisfied By This Author

This is my fourth review of the author, Heather Killough-Walden, and I'm still feeling conflicted and slightly dissatisfied.

After reading "The Heat" Book 1 of the BBW series, which I rated at 3.5 stars, I immediately dove into the second book, "The Strip". Both books have many more fans than detractors on Amazon, and I remain somewhere in the middle still not feeling 100% happy with the author. Yes, I know the books in this Series aren't expensive, but that's not the point of this review. I've been trolling the no/low cost e-books and have found the quality to be all over the map.

Reading Book 1 is recommended to help set the storyline & characters in Book 2.

There's much to admire in HKW'S work generally. She has the ability to write a story that will grab and hold your attention. Her plots are well planned and have just the right amount of twists and turns. Her world-building and take on Were Lore is creative and she can flesh out her characters adequately enough.

The sexual content in "The Strip" is violent and dark, and even more disturbing than in "The Heat". For me, the S&M scenes between the antagonist & Charlie were a turn off. Let's just say it crossed the line for me, and I'm neither overly squeamish nor a prude. For those readers like me who take the time to read the reviews before buying, you'd best be aware that you will be entering a world of pain mixed with sex and dominance. It's not a place everyone wants to visit.

The author's writing style holds such promise and I want to unreservedly enjoy her books. I'm irritated that here, in the fourth of her books that I've read, I still find some of the same things to criticize and don't quite know what to make of it. Is she a lazy writer pressed for deadlines, or doesn't she use a copy editor for her work? I'm sure some of the following would/should have been caught before the book was published:

- The female lead in the first book is Lily St. Claire. The female lead in the second book is Claire "Charlie" St. James. The names are just too similar IMO.

- Since Book 1 there's been a running thread about Lily calling Malcolm by his last name (Cole) and him trying to get her to call him Malcolm. This continues in Book 2, and Charlie even started calling him Cole. It can get confusing to the reader when both Malcolm and Cole are used on the same page for the same person. I assume this was a powerplay between characters but couldn't a better device than this be found?

- This might seem petty, but it really detracted from this novel in particular. It's the constant repetition of the author's pet phrases such as "chewing on the inside of her/his cheek" or "ran a hand through his/her thick hair". After the 6th, 7th or 8th time it just totally ruined whatever scene I was reading. (This first phrase is a pet peeve I've carried since my first HKW novel "Hell Bent").

- The typos, misplaced words and poor editing continue to distract the reader. Not sure who's to blame for that, perhaps not a fault of the author as other e-books seems to suffer this failing as well.

Aside from these critiques, I enjoyed the storyline of "The Strip" more than Book 1. Although the story was pretty decent (i.e. complex enough and with interesting and fresh concepts for this genre), I ranked it half a star lower at 3 Stars because I didn't enjoy the S&M scenes and due to the annoyances outlined above.

A few intriguing new characters and rivalries were introduced in "The Strip" and I will certainly follow on with Book 3 "The Spell". Why don't I give up on HKW,you say? I bought most of her works while they were $.99 and am working my way through them one by one. And as I said, there is much about HKW's work to admire.........and some things not! ( )