Touch of Temptation

I was very excited when Touch of Temptation showed up on netGalley because I so enjoyed reading Touch of Surrender, the fifth book in Rhyannon Byrd's Primal Instinct series. (Click here for my thoughts.) Touch of Temptation picks up right where Touch of Surrender left off, except now the story's being told by Kellan, a Lycan shapeshifter. To recap for those who haven't read Touch of Temptation, or those who might need a quick refresher, Touch of Temptation is about Kellan's brother Kierland and his now-partner Morgan, who followed Kellan into the Wasteland on his quest to save Chloe Harcourt, a woman he's never met. His grand plan? To get himself captured and then bust himself and the lady out. He ends up imprisoned in the cell next to show more Chloe and can barely resist her, which is a problem since she's coming into her Merrick powers and needs to have sex and blood for her powers to fully manifest. Kellan doesn't think he's worthy of her, though, and fights their attraction and her need. For her part, Chloe thinks that Kellan is attracted to her only because of a curse of her family.

I'm really glad I got a chance to read Touch of Temptation. The previous books ends with resolution for the romantic storyline but not for the rescue plot so it was great to break into Touch of Temptation and find out what happens next. I really liked having Kellan front and centre. He torments himself for a past mistake and wants to get past his playboy history and it ends up giving the character a lot of depth. Chloe's not as well-developed to my mind but she's still a great romantic lead and her questions about Kellan's motives and the development of her powers are put together really well. There are also some fun action sequences and some new bad guys who make their appearance in Touch of Temptation, which will likely have a bigger impact in future books. I also feel like there are a lot more sex scenes in this book, compared to the previous one. I'm not sure which is more the norm for the series at this point but I did feel a bit overwhelmed by all the intercourse in the novel. I'm not saying this as a criticism of the book; rather, it's something that surprised me after my experience reading Touch of Surrender.

Overall, I think Rhyannon Byrd has done a fantastic job of creating a dynamic world filled with big characters and interesting storylines and I look forward to reading more in the series.

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