Deadly Obsession by Maggie Shayne

Title: Deadly Obsession
Author: Maggie Shayne
Series: #4 in the Brown/deLuca series
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin/Mira  (December 1, 2014)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕☕☕☕

Synopsis: A cold-blooded killer with a burning obsession…

Rachel de Luca has a bad feeling about the new woman in Detective Mason Brown's life, the nurse taking care of him after he's injured in the line of duty. She'd like to think it's just jealousy, but intuition tells her it's something more, maybe something dangerous.

Mason knows Rachel's wary of commitment, and asking her to stay when he's in this condition would be the worst thing for their relationship. Then they receive chilling news that drives everything else from their minds.

Mason's psychotic sister-in-law has escaped from custody, putting her sons — the nephews he's raising — in the crosshairs. When his house is burned to the ground, he and Rachel are relieved that there are no bodies in the smoldering rubble, but now his nephews are missing and the clock is ticking.

As Mason and Rachel try to find the boys, she senses a new and unexpected danger stalking them. Soon, everyone close to Mason is in deadly peril — Rachel more than anyone….

My Thoughts: An excellent conclusion to a fantastic series.

The Good: Forgive me if this review is nothing but a bunch of gushing about how great this book was for me. After 4 books I am honestly going to miss Rachel and Mason, not to mention Jeremy, Josh and Myrtle. These characters are forever embedded in my brain and I can only hope that Maggie Shayne will write another book in the Brown/deLuca series in the future. The plot was full of twisty-turny things that made my stomach leap to my throat. The character development was so spot on it was real (no insta-love crap!!!! wooohooo!) from the relationship between Mason and Rachel to the growing family the mismatched cast of characters became. It was fun. It was serious. It was, dare I say it again? Real.
The relationship between Rachel and Mason grew to an obvious cohabiting end point and even though they were so into each other I liked that this book didn't feel the need to have them jump into bed every other chapter. It would have been unnecessary at that point especially for someone, like myself, who sucked down the first 3 books in record time. I also really liked the way Shayne was able to bring Marie into the story in such a believable way. She's a complex secondary character that I really like and really feel sorry for. Poor Marie!

The Bad: There really isn't much in the name of Bad things I can complain about. It would have been nice to see Amy more but other than that my only real complaint is this is the LAST Brown/deLuca book. Sad Panda Face!

In a Nutshell: I've read some of Shayne's Paranormal romances and found them just OK. her Romantic Suspense books are miles beyond those. Read the Brown/deLuca books. Seriously. Read them now!

Grave Intentions by Lori Sjoberg

Title: Grave Intentions
Author: Lori Sjoberg
Series: #1 in the Grave series
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Kensington  (January 3, 2013)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕☕

Synopsis: He’s handsome, reliable, and punctual—the perfect gentleman when you want him to be. But this dream man is Death’s best agent—and now he’s got more than his soul to lose…

One act of mercy before dying was all it took to turn soldier David Anderson into a reaper—an immortal who guides souls-of-untimely-death into the afterlife. But the closer he gets to atoning for his mortal sin and finally escaping merciless Fate, the more he feels his own humanity slipping away for good. Until he encounters Sarah Griffith. This skeptical scientist can’t be influenced by his powers—even though she has an unsuspected talent for sensing the dead. And her honesty and irreverent sense of humor reignite his reason for living—and a passion he can’t afford to feel. Now Fate has summoned David to make a devastating last harvest. And he’ll break every hellishly-strict netherworld rule to save Sarah...and gamble on a choice even an immortal can’t win.

My Thoughts: I loved the idea of this book and was really excited to get to read it. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I was able to but the story just didn't move me.

The Good: In a genre chock full of vampires and werewolves finding a book without either yet still smack dab in the middle of all things supernatural is so very hard to accomplish. This book fulfills the need for the woowoo which is pretty awesome. The interactions between the characters were great and watching David teach Adam how to be a reaper was interesting. I thought the chemistry between David and Sarah was good and their ultimate I Love Yous fell right into place. Also Lori's writing is easy to read. I got lost in her words which made for a more enjoyable reading pace for me.

The Bad: Unfortunately even with an interesting premise this book just didn't move me. At times I found myself bored with what was going on. There were also some holes left unanswered for me which sucked the fun outta the book a bit. Even though the training of Adam was interesting to watch it made it feel more like Adam's book rather than David's. Also David's boss, Raphael, was a douche with no real reason or background to support it.  The whole point of Raphael's input in the book was lost on me too other than to create the possibilities of having two villains. I couldn't figure out the hierarchy of reaping and if Raphael was a boss who did he report to? The Fates were mentioned also which confused me even more as to where this book fell in terms of religion or mythology. It never really committed to either one as the commandments were heavily influenced when it came to those being chosen for reaping yet Fate was an actual pissy being throwing temper tantrums when she didn't get her way (we never actually met her by the way).

In a Nutshell: An average book with a cool idea supporting it. I'm going to read the next one in hopes they get better with more published books under the author's belt.