Zade Ryan. Rebel supersoldier. Nearly superhuman. On a desperate quest to rescue his missing brother Luke by any means possible. To do it, he must seduce the elusive Simone Brightman, inventor of the ingenious and deadly tech used to capture Luke and hold him prisoner, location unknown. Zade will do whatever it takes to get close to Simone. Her mysterious beauty and highly sexual allure have him … him at a disadvantage, but time is running out …
Simone is fighting battles of her own, on her own. Until Zade—six foot four of sinewy muscle and lethal combat skills—rescues her from street thugs and leaves her breathless. His smoldering black eyes and overpowering sensuality—and his seductive invitation to spend one wild, unforgettable night with him—prove too tempting to resist.
Their passionate encounter unleashes scorching desire that neither can control—leaving them vulnerable to their enemies who watch from the shadows and wait. And when they are lured into a trap by a monstrous killer hellbent on their destruction, they must fight with every weapon they have to save Luke, and each other.
Because one night together could never be enough—and they might not live to have another …
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I received an advance copy of My Next Breath via Netgalley and this is my freely given, honest review. My Next Breath is the second in the Obsidian Files series. It’s every bit as exciting as the first, Right Through Me but it delves deeper into the Midlands survivors stories. I would suggest reading Right Through Me first because even though My Next Breath stands alone, it is part of an ongoing series and there will be references to it. This is the story of Zade, a Midlands survivor who is desperately searching for his brother and Simone, a biotech engineer that has been used by Obsidian without her knowledge. These two could be great together if they just trust each other. They are passionate, angry and worried about each other. Shannon McKenna is one of the best when writing romantic suspense and in this series she has added a bit of a paranormal aspect. This book is full of intrigue, mystery, action, lust and love! I cannot recommend it enough but I will not spoil your reading experience by giving away anything more. My Next Breath is written in dual POV as are all Shannon McKenna’s books. I have read them all and she always impresses me with her innovative and exciting writing. Do not miss this one!
I just love this series Shannon has such an intensity in her writing. It’s a real page turner.
My Next Breath is the second book in Shannon McKenna series The Obsidian Files. I have read all of her books and the McCloud series is an absolute favourite of mine so when I received the ARC of My Next Breath through NetGallery I was thrilled to bits!
My Next Breath takes place couple of months after the first book ends and it takes us immediately on a rollercoaster ride packed with action, flaming emotions, betrayal, suffering … and redemption. All the themes that the die-hard fans of Shannon McKenna recognize and rely upon! The story is not your mom and pop thriller; it is a paranormal thriller that is not so far stretched when thinking of all the breakthroughs that have been happening in gene technology and genetic manipulation of human body … anyhow… My Next Breath is the story of a smartass and independent heroine Simone (who many of us did not really like after finishing the first book) and of an alpha hero Zane in its finest and a bunch of creepy villains …oh yes, you need them as well to make the story what it is!
The writer has given us another amazing story where the characters are made so likable through the human insecurities that they have, they make us dream of meeting our own hero and make us yearn for the steamy chemistry … And be ready for twists and turns and I promise you, you will not be bored, not a chance!
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/review-my-next-breath-by-shannon-mckenna/
This book could be a good example to illustrate that writing Romance is not easy. I know this genre has well-delimited walls, but covering the gaps between them with sex is not enough to write a good Romance book. Yeah, yeah. We all enjoy the mandatory hunk displaying his mastery at sex, but that shouldn’t be the goal of a book that is not labelled as Erotica. That is precisely the main sin of this story. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s activate our reviewing framework and see what we have here!
This book continues the story from the previous one, so we have Zade (an enhanced ex-soldier) desperately looking for his brother. His last hope rests in the shoulders of the scientist Simone and her involvement in the cyborg projects. At first, he only wanted to get closer to her to obtian information, but it soon was clear that she needed especial protection. Clothes will be dropped, secrets will be reavealed and plots will thicken as much as… uhm… nevermind. By now I guess you can imagine that Zade and Simone don’t spend their time together playing Pictionary. Will those previously mentioned secrets get in the middle of such… heated love?
This book has two genres in one. We have the one that is expected: Romantic Suspense. And the one we have for more than 50% of the book: Erotica. That, pardon me the pun, sucks in this case. This is not the kind of book I pick to read pages and pages of monkey, rabbit and who-knows-what-else sex. It started OK, with the characters meeting in seedy circunstances and getting away from the first dangerous situation. But then, they become two extremely horny human beings that can only think about sex, even though both of them have plenty of worries to keep them occupied with something else. But no. Everything is halted so these two can have as much naughty time as possible. And we are talking about an enhanced hunk who, for reasons, was also modified to perform better sexually. They keep going and going. And when you think they are drained… they go for it again. It’s exhausting and pretty much uninteresting when there were so many plot threads to explore. At least, I must admit those scenes are well written.
Leaving that aside, there is also good action and fighting scenes. It just take a little while to get to them. It has good villains, albeit basic ones. It is the kind of bad guys that are bad for the sake of it. Motivations are not clear, but after so much sex, I didn’t mind at all the change of scenary. But the first book was much better at exploring the foes of the tale. This time they barely have much focus, so their development is not as good as the one we had with Mark and his soldiers. The ending is a bit confusing with all those exchanges of control codes and it all seems a bit easier than expected, but once again, I won’t complain about the action. Better that than more naked time.
I do not dislike the main couple. How could I? The only thing I know is that both of them are gorgeous and have more stamina than twenty marathon runners at their peak. Zade is your classic Romance hero: big muscles, great good looks, superb sex skills, extremely protective and mildly possessive… And I guess he must be nice, but that is just a blant supposition. He obviously is not the greatest bother, because he forgets about Luke waaaay too easily. Simone is a bit weird. The scientist changes her behaviour too abruptly for my taste. It’s like she gets emotionally cold and feverishly horny at the same time. I’m not sure if her development makes much sense, but I rolled with it to make the reading lighter.
With the way they behave those two, I refuse to talk about their romantic relationship; because there is none. Those “I love you” in the end are hard to believe when their bodies are still burning the overdose of endorphines after their sweaty meetings. Oh well, I guess they will be happily ever after as long as they don’t get muscle cramps.
4.5 Thrilling Stars!
This is the second book in Ms. McKenna’s exciting series, The Obsidian Files. Rebel supersoldier, Zade Ryan, is trying to find his missing brother and needs Simone Brightman’s help. He always thought Simone was a cold, emotionless tech inventor. But after weeks of watching and planning how to approach her, he has become more and more intrigued by the reclusive woman. When he supposedly rescues her from a robbery, they are captivated by each other and the sparks fly. Zade wants to protect her from the organization who created them. As time is running out on finding his brother Luke alive, Zade and Simone must stay ahead of the men who will stop at nothing to destroy them all. Simone was a great character. She is smart and sassy and I loved her growth from mousy and compliant to brave and daring. She and Zade made a great team, and their chemistry was explosive. Ms Mckenna never disappoints with her strong heroines, dominant alpha men who love their women fiercely, the hottest love/sex scenes, the most terrifying villains, and the best heart pounding action scenes, and this book has it all! This story is fast paced, and thrilling with plot twists that will have you on the edge of your seat. My Next Breathe is a wonderful continuation to The Obsidian Files series and I can’t wait for more from these rebels!