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August 22, 2014 7:38 am
Title: The Viper (Untamed Hearts, #1)
Author: Kele Moon
Genre: Erotic / Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 19, 2014
Publisher: Loose Id
Tour Organized by: As the Pages Turn
Marcos Rivera is a fighter. A gang member. Someone who has seen the dark side of humankind and survived. He has lost family and gained enemies. He has stolen cars and destroyed hearts, stripping one for money and the other for pleasure. His past is haunted and his future is bleak.
Until her.
Katie Foster is a high school history teacher. Smart, strong, and sexy. She is a woman Marcos shouldn’t want. Shouldn’t touch. Shouldn’t love. He met her in Garnet, a backwards, hick town that’s the last place in the world he wants to be, but he finds himself going back for a taste of the forbidden.
Katie represents all that is good in the world, and Marcos knows he’s nothing but trouble for her perfect life. He fights and he screws. He commits crimes and he breaks the rules. He will never change and he will never escape his gang lifestyle.
Or can he?
What happens when two different people from two very different walks of life risk it all by giving into the passion that threatens to consume both of them? Can a woman who only knows how to play it safe give her heart to a man who lives hard and loves harder?
Will she survive The Viper?
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22700076-the-viper
Buy Links:
The Viper, book one in Kele Moon’s new spin-off series Untamed Hearts, focuses on Katie Foster, a high school history teacher and Marcos Rivera, an ex-convict and gang member. Katie and Marcos’ lives couldn’t be more different – she’s always played it safe, focusing on her job and trying to move past her five year marriage with an ex who was mentally abusive. Living in a small town doesn’t afford for much excitement, leaving Katie to get lost in her reading instead of focusing on living a more exciting life. Conversely, Marcos is all about action and excitement. He’s an underground fighter who knows how to survive. Marcos’ past is violent, and his future doesn’t look much better because his attempt to go legit isn’t working out too well for him. One night, though, changes everything for these two strangers and brings them together in a way that neither will be able to forget. But can two people who live drastically different lives in different states find a way to make a relationship work or will the one week they spent together be all Marcos can offer Katie?
I’m a huge fan of Kele Moon’s Battered Heart series, so when I saw that she was writing a spin-off series, I was excited to dive in and experience more stories with steam, drama, and fantastic characters, and while I did enjoy reading Katie and Marcos’ story, I didn’t feel the same character connection like I did in Battered Hearts. Their relationship starts out purely physical, which is exactly how it should have because it was the sexual attraction that prompted Katie to seek Marcos out, but in a week’s time, there’s a confession of emotions without a lot of explanation, and then after Marcos leaves, their connection is even more stifled, forcing any kind of bond to deteriorate.
The relationship that I actually feel is at the forefront of the story is Marcos and Chuito’s. Much more of their history is explored and the depths that they go to, to protect one another is explained throughout the text. This is a definite relationship that needs to be discussed due to the events that occur in The Viper, but, in a way, it overshadows Marcos’ relationship with Katie, which in a romance story, readers wants the romantic connection to be at the forefront.
What I did love about the book was the idea of Marcos as more of the anti-hero throughout the text. He never claimed to be more than he was, and even when he tried to be on the straight and narrow, he got knocked down at every turn. He was completely upfront with Katie from the start, never offering more than what he could, knowing his life wasn’t safe for her.
How it all came together at the end between Marcos and Katie as well as Marcos and Chuito made for an exciting conclusion. It’s clear that Kele Moon did her research into the dangerous groups that are brought into the text. The sex scenes between Marcos and Katie were extremely well written; a lot of their feelings for each other are brought out in their physical connection, which Kele Moon illustrates well.
The Viper is a good start to Kele Moon’s spin-off series, and I can’t wait to read Chuito’s story.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 poison apples
“You’re not exactly a ten, Katie.” Grayson laughed cruelly, reminding Katie why she left to begin with. “No one is going to love you for your mind like I do, not in this town. I’m your best option, and I don’t understand why you did this to us.”
“I think she’s a ten,” a man called from behind them.
Goose bumps danced over Katie’s skin, and she wasn’t sure why until she craned her neck to look toward the direction of the low, male voice. Her body must have recognized what her mind hadn’t caught up with, because walking over to them was Marcos Rivera. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat, but it was undeniably him. She could see the snake tattoo on his arm from there.
He looked larger than life in the late afternoon sun with those impossibly broad shoulders and large, bunched biceps covered in tribal tattoos. She couldn’t help but notice that every inch of him seemed wound tight and ready to jump—like a tiger stalking prey. She blinked, understanding for the first time all those warnings Jules had been leveling at her in regards to Marcos.
This wasn’t the kind, handsome angel from the crash site.
This Marcos looked deadly.
He took off his sunglasses when he stopped in front of them. His light gaze rested on the steely grasp Grayson still had on her arm. “This is the part where you let her go.”
“Excuse me?” Grayson huffed in that annoying superior voice of his that had always embarrassed Katie when he used it in public, usually toward someone parking their car or waiting on them at a restaurant. “This is my wife and—”
“Ex-wife,” Katie corrected before Grayson could finish. She was still staring at Marcos in shock, unable to believe he was really standing there in front of her. “What are you doing here?”
Marcos broke the dangerous staring contest he was having with Grayson. He let his gaze run over her hotly for one long moment, making more goose bumps dance over her arms. A small bit of the tension eased out of his powerful frame, and the look in his beautiful eyes became warm just like she remembered. “I got your messages.”
“My messa—” Katie cheeks heated when she realized what he was talking about and her voice was a squeak of acknowledgement. “Oh.”
There was a quiet moment between them, one charged enough that Katie was actually breathless to be in his presence again after so long. Strangely enough, she could feel it off Marcos too. That electric fission of need so overwhelming it actually showed on his face and translated into something tangible enough that even someone as romantically challenged as Katie could sense it. As if remembering they weren’t alone, Marcos cleared his throat and turned back to Grayson, his eyes narrowed in warning once more.
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to insist you get your hands off her.” He eyed Grayson’s hold on her arm pointedly. “Now.”
A freckle faced, redhead born and raised in Hawaii, Kele Moon has always been a bit of a sore thumb and has come to enjoy the novelty of it. She thrives off pushing the envelope and finding ways to make the impossible work in her story telling. With a mad passion for romance, she adores the art of falling in love. The only rules she believes in is that, in love there are no rules and true love knows no bounds.
So obsessed is she with the beauty of romance and the novelty of creating it she’s lost in her own wonder world most of the time. Thankfully she married her own dark, handsome, brooding hero who had infinite patience for her airy ways and attempts to keep her grounded. When she leaves her keys in the refrigerator or her cell phone in the oven he’s usually there to save her from herself. The two of them now reside in Florida with their three beautiful children who make their lives both fun and challenging in equal parts–They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Author Social Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kele-Moon/444723672305590
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4340854.Kele_Moon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kele_Moon
Website: http://www.kelemoon.com/
Tour Giveaway Info:
Kele is offering the following prizes for the tour wide giveaway. The giveaway is open internationally and ends 08/31/2014 @ 11:59 PM CST.
1 x $25 Amazon or B&N gift card (winners choice)
5 x eBook copy from any of Kele’s backlist including The Viper
Posted by Rebecca
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Thank you sooo much for taking the time to read and review!! And for being part of the blog tour!
By kelemoon on August 23, 2014 at 5:15 pm