Book Review: Smite by Eden Rose

About the Author

Hello! My name is Eden Rose and its a pleasure to meet you. I have been writing for a long time and once I picked a topic, I couldn't stop writing. My books are very special to me because in some aspect I have had experience in the subject matter one way or another. I love reading romance but I like the main male lead to be a real bad boy, not one who thinks they are bad.

I live in Michigan with my husband and three fur babies! I can be found taking my dog for walks all over town or in a quiet corner reading. I have two degrees in history and criminal justice from a small private college in Michigan where I also joined a sorority.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know me and I would be happy to answer any questions or filter in suggestions.

Smite (Lockdown Series Book 2)

****You asked for it! Be careful for what you wish for, because you just might get it! Smite is no-hold's-bar! This book takes off where we left off in Cuffed.

GRANT*

They just took her. They just took her from me and now I can't find her anywhere. Who just takes a federal agent off of the face of the earth and stash them some place? The FBI. What's worse than that? Howard's missing too. I knew that he couldn't wait for me to mess up so he could swoop in and take my girl. Some partner he was.

I've got Kayla living with me now. She's due to have my baby in a few months and I'm trying to focus on her. It's just not working out the way that it should. I keep thinking about Chloe and I can't stop her.

When I find out where Chloe is and that she's pregnant with my babies? All hell is about to break lose.

HOWARD*

I've finally got Chloe right where I want her and that's in my arms. Yeah, her being pregnant with Grant's babies isn't ideal, but I'm not ready to give her up. Not ever. When Grant comes showing up right after I get Chloe to give me a chance, I begin to worry. It's too soon to ask her to pick me like that.

CHLOE*

It's never been a choice as to who I should pick. It goes down to what is right and what is wrong. I'm a horrible person since I'm pregnant and I'm going to continue with the investigation. I have been waiting for something like this forever and I'm not letting anything get in my way from it.

But...

Howard is being the perfect guy and I can tell by the way he's looking at me that he's begging me to be with him.

Regardless of any of that, I'm here for a job. I'm here to bring down the Russian Sex Trafficking Ring in Las Vegas. Too bad Grant is about to mess all of that up!

*********Author's Note!
TRIGGER WARNINGS! If you have certain triggers, do not read this book.

Review

After reading and reviewing the author's first book, Cuffed, I decided to give a second chance by reading the next installment in the series, Smite.

The author tried to take a unique approach to the story by taking it from three different character perspectives. While I appreciate the attempt at a creative approach, it was not done successfully. Part of the problem with it was that there were three character perspectives and also added in a Then vs Now perspective with each one rather than tell the story as a constant stream leading up to the "Now" moments. It became very confusing especially when reading and you have a Chloe Now chapter that is immediately followed up with a Chloe Then Chapter.

The second piece that drove me away from the story was the actual plot, or lack there of. For a book labeled Crime Fiction or Mystery, there wasn't much of it. The plot was greatly overshadowed by the love triangle of Howard, Chloe, and Grant. Most of the book was spent on Grant being pissed off he wasn't with Chloe, Howard obsessing over Chloe and Chloe deciding it was smart to sleep with the best friend to the guy she just broke up with. All of this happens while she's infiltrating a sex-trafficking ring. There's not much time devoted to the actual investigation or even her involvement with the sex-traffickers other than the occasional chapter that appeared every once and a while.

While the ending did give a sense of peace to the story, I was not a big fan of it. There was no real emotion or depth to the characters, and definitely did not depict how anyone would react given the horrific ordeal Chloe went through in the book.

Book Review: Cuffed by Eden Rose

About Eden Rose

Hello! My name is Eden Rose and its a pleasure to meet you. I have been writing for a long time and once I picked a topic, I couldn't stop writing. My books are very special to me because in some aspect I have had experience in the subject matter one way or another. I love reading romance but I like the main male lead to be a real bad boy, not one who thinks they are bad.

I live in Michigan with my husband and three fur babies! I can be found taking my dog for walks all over town or in a quiet corner reading. I have two degrees in history and criminal justice from a small private college in Michigan where I also joined a sorority.

Cuffed (Lockdown Series Book 1)

I thought I was okay being on my own, but then I realized what I was missing. You.

Chloe is a tough woman who doesn't believe in relationships. She views them as a prison and enjoys being a free bird in life. It's unfortunate for her that she's secretly in love with her hot roommate, Grant. One drunk night, the two best friends hook up and she thinks it means more than it did.

Grant is a person who believes in monogamy and thinks that people should be in relationships. When he wakes up to his best friend in his bed, he panics and drops her off into her own bed.

A few years have passed and the two are now face to face in a business setting. Chloe is a hot shot FBI agent and Grant is about to be her partner. The two realize that there's a sh*t ton of unresolved issues and know that it needs to be fixed before they can work together.

Is this the second chance that is needed for Grant to show Chloe that relationships are not all that bad? Or, will their job affect their budding relationship? Being FBI agents, the job comes first and it's about to throw some wrenches into the road.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuffed-Lockdown-Series-Book-1-ebook/dp/B010MJEYQY?ie=UTF8&keywords=eden%20rose&qid=1460038323&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

*Teaser!
My hand has been grabbed and he laced our fingers together. Such a simple touch shouldn’t mean this much, but it does. “What are you thinking about over there?”

I smile at him and squeeze his hand. “Just thinking about you…”

“How handsome I am?”

I blurt out a laugh and roll my neck. “You are so humble.”

This is what I love about being with him. I love the fact that we can still be silly together and know that we can be ourselves. None of that heavy shit where we have to talk about our feelings and all of that.

“Finally!” I yell and unbuckle my seat belt as he pulls into the garage. I’m half tempted to jump over the seat and molest him.

Grant swaggers over to me and opens the door for me to get out. I laugh when he grabs my hand and kisses the top of my hand. “My lady,” he bows in front of me with my hand to his lips.

Before I can say anything, he has picked me up and thrown me over his shoulders. “Hey!” I yell but he swats my ass and my body falls like a sack of potatoes on his back. “Put me down!” No use! He shuffles me so that my stomach is laying on his shoulder and my body is hanging down.

Review:

 The premise of the book was what drew me to purchasing it. I mean who wouldn't want to read about two friends that made it to the F.B.I. together hook up while they solve cases. The characters themselves were interesting. Each had secrets they kept hidden from the other and had issues with relationships. The beginning was well written and loved the book until I got to the middle. It started to seem like every other chapter Chloe was being thrown into another case which became confusing and somewhat unlikely that a Captain would assign three cases (2 of which are high profile) to Chloe and her team when there are many other agents that could also carry out the investigations. The constant sex in the book was hot, but felt the amount of it took too much away from the story. Now don't get me wrong; I'm all for having a lot of sex in books, but feel like the plot could have been developed better or more detail added to the investigations in addition to what was currently displayed in the book. The ending was great. I loved the little cliffhanger to lure me into the second book. Needless to say, I do look forward to reading the second book in the series to find out what happens to Chloe, and hope it is better than this one.