Review: gripping sexy second installment
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2012
Seductive Sands - An Erotic Paranormal Thriller (The Fire and Ice Series)Kim Faulks (Author)I was supplied with this copy by author but as always on the basis that my opinion is honestly held and not influenced by whether the book was free or paid for. Integrity of reviewers is important to me, and false reviews do no favours to authors or readers.Having read Kim's first book in the Fire and Ice series I was excited to be asked to review further books in the series. Seductive sands quickly picks up where the last book finished, seamlessly taking Natalie and Malik to Arabia where she hopes to find answers to her questions about her past lives. Natalie is still conflicted about Malik and Alexander and unsure of whether to trust them even though she feels in love with them both. They both tell stories from her past lives but of course each slants the tale in their favour. She then meets Marrah, another supernatural creature that plays on Natalie's love for her in a past life. I felt for poor Natalie here - it seems they all want the person from the past and are prepared to use the person she is now to recreate her. Natalie is strong though and manages to hold fast to the person she is now despite the trickery and magics practised on her. It seems rather than finding answers she's faced with even more questions.Once again the book is well written and edited and the story races along. I do feel though that perhaps it would have been better to have either been longer, or have less content. Its almost impossible for the reader to keep up with what events are happening and work out what solutions have been found. So far Natalie seems to go from one person to another (via some hot sex of course!!) and from one dangerous challenge to another - she barely gets time to breathe poor woman :) I do feel she appears to bed hope almost mindlessly and yet she's supposed to be a strong woman with her service/bodyguard background. I know magic is usually involved but it does seem a bit not quite right for her personality for me. She begins the first book being annoyed (rightly - he is a jerk!!) when her boyfriend is cheating and then seems to lose all sense of morality for herself.Seductive sands is a very appropriate title as not only is Natalie seduced by the creatures of the desert but the reader seduced by the unfolding tale of who Natalie really is. I'm keen to get on to the next instalment but as there is so much contained within each brief novel I felt I had to review this one first to avoid confusing the books....you certainly won't be bored reading this series and its got enough excitement and sub plots to keep the books fresh and able to withstand subsequent readings . They're my favourite type of book. Fortunately Kim also happily for me avoid the recent horrible trend of ending each book in a series on a cliffhanger - I really HATE  those and now avoid buying them until the whole series is out if possible. Kim stops at a natural break in the book and lets enough from the next instalment seep in to whet the readers appetite but doesn't leave us hanging desperate for answers and feeling cheated.The book is 239kb for 1.97 so for readers who like shorter books its ideal - being a quick reader I tend to look for longer novels but not everyone wants that. Good job we all like different things :)Stars: well edited, decent price and thankfully Kim writes quite quickly so readers don't have to wait a year for each new instalment! So 4 stars from me. If it had been a bit longer which would have allowed some thought before the constant bed ( or wall or tent...) hopping I'd have gone for 4 and half, maybe five stars. I'm picky about my stars so four is very good in my view - five to me  is perfection and not often achieved, but Kim has come close in this book .