Cat Johnson Braves Doll Lil’s Word Association Challenge!

Author: Emma Holly
Title: Hidden Crimes
Release: June 1st 2012
Series: Hidden 3
Reviewer: Believer
Source: Personal Library
Purchase: | Book Depository

Cats and dogs aren’t supposed to fall in love. Like any wolf, RPD detective Nate Rivera knows this. He can’t help it if the tigress he’s been trading quips with at the supermarket is the most alluring woman he’s ever met—sassy too, which suits him down to his designer boots.

Evina Mohajit is aware their flirtation can’t lead to more. Still, she relishes trading banter with the hot werewolf. This hardworking single mom hasn’t felt so female since her twins’ baby daddy left to start his new family. Plus, as a station chief in Resurrection’s Fire Department, she understands the demands of a dangerous job.

Their will-they-or-won’t-they tango could go on forever if it weren’t for the mortal peril the city’s shifter children fall into. To save them, Nate and Evina must team up, a choice that ignites the sparks smoldering between them . . .

There are so many things I love about this book! Holly always manages to bring new perspectives to love stories. Her hero, Nate Rivera, is the epitome of cool alpha under pressure. As an alpha werewolf part of pack that already has an alpha he struggles to walk the thin line between dominance and assertiveness. A lonely bachelor with a taste for the finer things in life, Nate longs for a real relationship.

Holly’s heroine Evina, is a Tiger Were alpha, running a fire department full of tiger males. A mother of twin fraternal tiger cubs from a previous relationship, Evina longs for a man who won’t be intimidated by her confidence or her sexual appetite.

When the two meet sparks fly. Afraid of getting hurt and of bending social taboos, Nate & Evina share an awkward dance as the relationship develops. Each struggles to know when to lead and when to follow and the sex is super hot.

Their relationship evolves as they work together to solve a string of grisly murders and mysterious kidnappings around the city. Nate finds himself going rogue when his pack/police department wont follow his instincts. Evina feels compelled to help when her ex’s son is kidnapped. Overall – the mystery is a little thin towards the middle and the ending is easily discerned. But these points do not detract from the love story or the character development.

Holly is to be commended for making single moms sexy and responsible. To often in today’s literature, single moms & parents are non-existent, asexual or shrewish. Kudos to Holly for recognizing that parenthood is not the end of sex or longing for close relationships.

As I read this novel – I imagined the Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez playing the role of Nate Rivera and the former Miss World turned Bollywood sensation, Aishwarya Rai, as Evina. Tell me what you think. Who did you imagine in these roles?

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to read story books. She devoured them because they were full of magical possibilities with every turn of the page. Then the little girl grew up and school work occupied more and more of her time. Eventually the little girl graduated from school, trading in poets & prose for business management & autobiographies. Magic was left behind in her quest for the top and the world became a place filled with “paradigm shifts”, ROI & financial reports. Before she knew it, the girl was a woman who felt out of touch with the world’s magic until she met Birth and her sister Death. While Birth filled her with wonder & happiness; Death filled her with sadness & loss. And so one day she set aside the management books and instead picked up a paperback story filled with vampires, shifters & telepaths. Lo and behold, her passion for these stories blossomed and the woman became a believer in the magic of reading, again. My name is Believer9200 and I believe in the magic of stories because they give me hope.

Doll Believer

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