Karin HarlowReviews

This book was pretty good but not great. The first half moved pretty slow. It was 100 pages or so before the heroine and hero met. There was a lot of set up. The second half of the book moved pretty fast. Lots of fighting, love making and vampire plotting, etc. You didn't learn a whole lot about the vampire world itself just the one evil vampire. So if there are going to be more books there is plenty left to explain.

The hero and heroine spent a lot of the time at odds with each other. I generally prefer books where the two are together against whatever bad guy etc. The attraction was pretty good even though they were distrustful adversaries much of the time. The love between them was fairly fast but really more believable from him since he had never had love before and wanted it. Although it might have been stronger if we had more time in the hero's POV. I never really saw much of a reason for her love for him except for her realization that he was not really an evil killer.

Minor SPOILERS below:

The very end was a bit of a let down. I was expecting more from the LOST guys. It sucked big time that they didn't run out to help her when Marcus was down. I don't see how that can be overcome in future books as it seems is the intention. The scene where we get the info on the vampire's solution for Marcus would have been much stronger if we had been there for the scene not just have a two paragraph 'here's what happened' conversation. Maybe some of those extra pages at the front could have been left out so the end could have been more fully told.

I liked the story line and the action, the whole concept of the book. But somehow it didn't grab me and I don't know why. I should have loved it, but I only liked it. I'm not sure if it's the voice or because I did not really like Jax - I just could not relate to her. Or maybe it's because I'm getting tired of all the killing because all these 'we are going to save the world teams' are playing judge/jury and executioner.
I'm more than willing to give this author another try, though.

3,5- 4*

liste, listx

can't rate this book because the male lead is a dick (as in he sees his wife who he supposingly killed for killing their little daughter) and the first thing he does? Tries to have sex with her on the spot instead of asking what the hell is going on... Says tons about his intelligence and sensitivity, doesn't it? No, thank you. I'd rather stop reading now and save myself some grief.
DNF

This is one of the best adult paranormal books I have read in a LONG time. OMG! I am sorry but when I am excited about something I don't articulate myself very well and boy am I excited! Let's hope I can explain my new found love for Karin Harlow!


So...lets start with a strong spitfire of a heroine, one who faces the worst life has to offer and comes out on the better side. Then...add a dangerously sexy vampire who is looking for his mortal side. Slap them together add political intrigue and secret government agencies and you have this book in a nut shell.


The heroine is strong, one of the strongest ones I have read about and wasn't turned off by her over exaggerated strength. The author has no problem torturing her characters and she certainly shoves everything bad in life at Jax and then rewards her with everything that can be good. The hero is also equally strong and as unmoving as Jax but he has a soft side as well and he has his own code, I can respect that in a man. It also doesn't hurt that their bedroom activities ignite to crazy heights, oh yes, you know what I mean.


The plot. OMG, the plot. *deep breathe* The plot is perfect, I was hooked from page one that I started at about one in the morning all the way to the last page at about six in the morning. I can't even explain the book well right now with all the sleep deprivation, it's like a female Jason Bourne crossed with a white Blade and then shoved into a freaking Mission Impossible movie. Gah, anyway the entire book is hot, exciting, and amazing.


If you were ever only going to be able to read one book that I recommend it would be this one! You HAVE TO GET IT NOW! I can't wait until everyone in the world reads this book and then understand the awesomeness and then can gush about it with me! *deep breathe* *sigh*

I LOVED IT!!
the book is very well written and never boring, it's amazing.
the characters are easy to fall for.
Jax Cassidy, what to say. At first i thought " OMG she's a psycho" but then, getting to know her better i saw that she's just that baddass.
Marcus Cross.... the author made him almost perfect. He's obliviously sexy, at first it's like a caveman, death and sex being the first thoughts, but then he becomes more "human-like". you start to see that he's honorable and that even if he wants to look like a super macho he is also very sweet, especially when he understands that with Jax he has to go soft.
what else to say.
hot hot hot

Reviewed by Jen
Originally posted at Romancing the Book
ARC provided by the author

I loved this book. I devoured every word and my first thought when finishing was “when is the next book in this series coming out?” (I happened to look today, Enemy Mine will be released August 30!). From reading the back cover, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into. Is this a paranormal, or a romantic suspense? Well, it’s definitely both, with more emphasis on the suspense… the paranormal part just seems secondary, although crucial.

I found myself intrigued by the “mercenary” group Karin created with L.O.S.T. and those members who have found their way to working for them. The political undertones mixed with this highly secretive group for hire lends itself to so many stories. And when you add in a paranormal twist, your options are just limitless. I can’t wait to see where Karin takes the staff of L.O.S.T in future books.

But, back to Enemy Lover. Jax is a complex character and she is well developed over the course of the novel. You care about her and ache for her to achieve justice in the end. While I didn’t find Marcus quite as interesting, I did want to see him receive peace (and a happy ending). And the chemistry between the two… well, I’m shocked that my book didn’t burst into flames.

After skimming the book to refresh my memory (other than remembering so clearly that I enjoyed it), I’m finding myself wanting to re-read… which is about the highest praise I can give a book as I rarely want to do it.

Reviewed by Jen
Review copy provided by author
I love this series! Karin Harlow has created such an interesting organization when it comes to L.O.S.T. It's a mix of a group of renegades, thrown together into a special ops group and then to make things even more interesting, some paranormal elements are added in.

With Enemy Mine, we get a reunion story with a twist. In Nikko's mind, Selena is back from the grave (that he happened to put her in) and he's bent on making her life miserable for breaking his heart years before. But at the same time, they end up teaming together to try to keep a nuclear weapon out of human and paranormal (demon and vampire) terrorists' hands.

There are so many twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge of their seat... or turning the pages. I think my only complaint is that the cast of characters was quite large and at times I had to stop and figure out who was who... especially when it came to all the bad guys. But it was great to reunite with Jax & Cross as well as the other LOST operatives, and I can't wait for the next installment.

Please see full review at Reader's Edyn: http://bit.ly/nPdu7F

I just e-mailed an acquaintance that had asked me to let her know what I thought about Enemy Lover because it was my first Karin Harlow book. Ironically, the e-mail served well in helping me collect my thoughts about the book. *whispers* Acquaintance, you know who you are so if some of the comments in this review seem familiar, take care – you inadvertently aided me in creating this review. 

I really loved this book. I can honestly say that I looked forward to turning every single page, actually upset with myself at times for not reading faster. Once in a while my eyes would jump ahead a catch glimpses of what was coming up. Bad, I know, but I enjoyed it that much. There was something taking place on very nearly every page. Yes, yes, that is what generally happens in books. I am aware. But what I mean is that Harlow did not linger over any scene overmuch. She kept the story forward moving at all times with a fast-paced read that the reader has no choice but to jump into head first.

What I really appreciated was the balance within the book. As much as I hate to admit this, sometimes reading a lot of erotica-type books kind of wears a person down. I do not always want to read about attraction, passion flared, and the inevitable sexual conquest wrapped up in a pretty little love story. *GASP* Did I just say that? Yes, the steamy sex is nice, but the story does not have to revolve around the sex to be good and suck the reader in. Trust me, I’m on the lookout for the lightning that is about to strike me down!

Anyway, Harlow builds a world with various other worlds that is very easy to believe in. Government funded secret op forces that take out national threats. Yeah, I can get on board with that. There is the world as we know it and then there is Marcus’s world and Jax’s world. Each has its own rules and regulations and each perceives the other as a threat. Not to mention each is acting for the greater good. But which side is the good side is the question that has to be answered. And of course, through it all, the world as we know it hasn’t the slightest inkling that any of these organizations exist.

Also liked was the fact that I could identify with Jax. Not from the perspective of having ever suffered a crime so heinous, but understanding her reactions, motivations, and drive to continue on after the nightmare she experienced. When the heroine is tough and strong, she has to embrace characteristics much like Jax to be believable. I think that a lot of us in our daily lives operate similarly to Jax. Definitely not on her level, but in the following way: She may not have been perfect, but she did the best she could with what she had with the best intentions - a feat I think many of us try to emulate within various aspects of our lives. Bottom line, I thoroughly enjoyed Enemy Lover and my time spent with the L.O.S.T. I can’t wait to continue the journey with Enemy Mine, Karin’s latest L.O.S.T. installment. You can also find Karin writing as Karin Tabke.

(paperback won in contest online courtesy Pocket After Dark)

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
www.allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com

While two characters at odds can be good for "Will they, won't they" tension, in ENEMY MINE Harlow has created two such unlikeable and irrevocably damaged characters, their relationship makes me think of restraining orders more than happily-ever-afters. For pure sexual chemistry, it's definitely dark, violent, and red hot. At the thought of these two behind a white picket fence raising children, however, I break into a cold sweat.

This pair has a certain amount of charisma, but Harlow does too good of a job driving a wedge between Selena and Nikko for me to want to bridge that gap. Selena is the homicidal love child of Bruce Wayne and Hannibal Lector, lurking over her nightclub and harvesting daemon body parts. Nikko is the hot beefcake combination of MMA and a bad episode of Cops, who almost kills Selena in a haze of rage. Harlow tries to write an act so heinous for Selena that the reader will be able to forgive Nikko's attempted murder, but to be honest, she just succeeded in making me wash my hands of both of them. It is beyond uncomfortable and distasteful to read Selena and Nikko tearing each other's hearts out over the supposed late-term abortion of their child (even knowing that Marisol is alive and well), or Selena dismissing her attempted murder at Nikko's hands as little more than something that she's "still pissed" about.

The plot and world building of ENEMY MINE are well written, and anyone who doesn't mind high drama and a lot of violence mixed with a potent sexual chemistry will find a lot to enjoy in this book. The plot of international intrigue gives a unique thriller/suspense element to this paranormal romance, giving ENEMY MINE appeal across several genres. My problems with this book are definitely content, not execution, and readers who like a lot of drama and violence spicing up a romance may enjoy the risks Harlow takes with her characters.

Sexual Content: References to rape, scenes of sex and sexual violence.

I loved the first book in this series, Enemy Lover and was thrilled to receive the ARC for this book in the mail. While this book is part of a series, if you have not read Enemy Lover you could still read Enemy Mine without a problem. Karin includes enough information and back story for a new reader to understand the world of the L.O.S.T. operatives. There are characters that we have met from the previous book that play roles in this one and it was nice to catch up with them and see how they were, but someone who did not read the first book would still be able to follow along with the story just fine. However, I would still highly recommend the first book because it is fantastic!

Alright, onto Enemy Mine. We rejoin the L.O.S.T operatives while they are on a mission to recover a weapon that will devastate both the human and immortal world. We follow L.O.S.T. operative Nikko as he and his team try and recover the weapon. Everything seems to be going well, until Nikko’s team is betrayed leaving him mortally wounded. He fears death until a face from his past comes to his rescue. It is the woman he thought was dead for eight years and the love of his life, Selena. In his weakened state he almost believes her to be a hallucination since he thought he had killed her himself, but when he wakes completely healed he begins to track Selena down. Nikko was burned by Selena in the past and as a result he has earned the nickname “Ice” because of the wall he has built around his heart. The second he sees Selena alive again, his wall starts to crack.

Selena is also taken aback to see Nikko while on a mission to recover the same weapon Nikko was after. She wants to leave him, but her heart breaks when she sees him dying. So, she stops long enough to revive him and disappear. Selena’s father and his constant attempts on her and her loved one’s lives has caused her to harden her heart and cultivate her fighting skills. Once someone who had her heart wide open for Nikko, she has now closed it off completely and adjusted to life on her own. Her new mission in life is to destroy her sadistic father and live life without fear of his rage. When Nikko comes back into the picture though, her world is turned upside down and her head and her heart are constantly at war with each other.

I loved that Karin painted Selena as a kick butt heroine. She did like having Nikko at her side at times, but did not need him there. She was a woman who could take care of herself and I admired her for that. I quickly tire of whiny heroines who rely solely on the men in their lives to protect them. The women in Karin’s novels are self-reliant and I appreciate her ability to write strong women as well as men. Through Selena, Karin also lets us see more of the daemon world. In book one, we learned about the immortal world, but focused mostly on the vampires. In Enemy Mine, we see how the daemons live and what threat they bring to the L.O.S.T operatives. As always, Karin’s mythology is fascinating and I soaked up every detail she gave us. She includes enough knowledge about the world to keep the reader interested and well informed, but does not bog down the story with irrelevant information that would slow down the plot.

The romance and the action have equal play time in Enemy Mine, which keeps the reader on their toes constantly. The fire that burns between Nikko and Selena is anything but a slow burn and when they let their walls down and give into their emotions, the result is explosive. They are both emotional wrecks trying to forgive one another for a past filled with heartache and betrayal. However, they still love each other with fierce passion, though neither is willing to get burned again. So they continue to guard their hearts with extreme caution. Watching the moments when they slowly open up to each other and let their hearts guide them was so precious. Nikko and Selena are learning to love again and Karin did a wonderful job of conveying those emotions to the reader.

As for the action, it is engaging and filled with suspense. You were never quite sure when an enemy was going to turn up and threaten all that Selena and Nikko are working towards. The fight scenes are intense and played through my head like a movie because the description was so precise. I longed for these scenes as much as the romantic ones and was hanging onto every word Karin wrote.

The secondary characters were also entertaining. My favorite among them was Joran. He has been a friend to Selena for a long time and also happens to be an extremely ancient vampire. We are not sure of his exact age, but we do know he was in love once and lost her to unknown circumstances. He is sarcastic, unforgiving to his enemies, but his loyalty to those he considers friends is unwavering. Karin kept me aching to learn more about him every time his name appeared on the page. Joran plays a pivotal role with many events throughout the book and left me hoping we get to see more of him in the future.

I could keep going on about everything I love about this book, but I am going to stop myself and just urge you to read Enemy Mine as well. Overall, Enemy Mine is a thrill ride filled with fast paced action, eccentric, lovable characters and a romance that has survived broken hearts, deception and come out of it stronger than ever. I cannot recommend this book and this series enough and am looking forward to future books from Karin.

This book is in the paranormal genre, but that does not really fit the full extent of the content covered. The book felt more like a plethora of genres mashed together to make one fantastic, face-paced storyline. Genres covered? Mystery, suspense, paranormal and romance all rolled into one. The best part of this? There is no freaking way you are going to get bored reading this book, I don’t think it is even close to possible. Another bonus to this book: no fluff. If you have read previous reviews by me before you will know I.hate.fluff. I see no point in describing the scenery for five and six pages when you could be spending those precious words advancing the plot and drawing me into the world further. Karin Harlow has done a fantastic job of cutting out the unnecessary and leaving behind only the exciting and intriguing. Which is getting to be a rarity in books nowadays, so I was thrilled that this book left me with nothing but essential and enticing information.

On to the main characters of the story, Jax has been through more than her fair share of trauma and she has come out of it on the other side kicking and screaming. She is not a damsel in distress and she does not need saving. I loved every minute of watching her keep up, and sometimes surpass, the men on her team. At the beginning I did think she was going to end up with Brinks, the guy who initially frees her, but she put a stop to that real quick. I know that there are going to be more books in this series, so I can only hope that I will get to see what life has in store for Brinks someday. As for the guy she does end up falling for, Marcus, he is crazy hot so I was not too disappointed with her choice Marcus would also be a vampire, bonus! I have not figured out everything about the vamps in this world, but you do get a general idea about how they work so you are not completely in the dark.

Final thoughts: this book is sooooo goooood! So awesome in fact I am yawing while writing this review because I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to finish it, and I am sleep deprived. The more I sit here and chew over everything that happened, the more in love with this book I become. It is a book that will stay with you after you are finished reading and still have you chewing over events that took place. If you are looking for something fresh and exciting in the adult paranormal world then this book is for you. It is the first book in this series and I cannot wait to get my hands on future installments!

Terrific paranormal thriller. Grabbed me from the first words and hung on.