C. Rae D'Arc's Blog, page 9

The Guardians: Protectors of Spies

This is my favorite series by Traci Hunter Abramson. The main reason I read all her other books was to better understand the side characters of “Safe House” (which was my first novel to read by her). Yep, I read the Guardian’s series all out of order; starting on book 2, then 3, then 1, and I plan to read book 4 as soon as it’s released in October. Even after reading all the others, plus the Undercurrents trilogy, AND the Saint Squad series, “Safe House” (Guardians #2, and Saint Squad #9.5) is still my favorite.

[image error]I put the whole series at *****4.5 Stars****

Why? Well, for starters, I simply enjoy the concept of the Guardians. They’re a myth among even the spies. They’re the people who analyze all the data between FBI, CIA, NSA… EVERY agency to make sure no one’s caught in crossfires. They’re the people who help undercover operatives to disappear when their cover’s blown. The Guardians basically comprise of a head analyst, an analyst within each agency, a senator for funding, and about seven Ghosts who have death certificates and skills to remain invisible. They work the field to protect anyone in the lines of fire, as seen in “Safe House” (book 2), “Kept Secrets” (a stand-alone), and “Mistaken Reality” (sequel to “Deep Cover,” Saint Squad #10.5, and Guardians #3.5).

“Failsafe” (book 1) deals with what happens when their all-knowing information and security is breached. It follows Hannah (the only surviving analyst) after the breach. She tries to disappear from her enemies and figure out how to contact the Ghosts to help her reestablish security. She runs into Jake, a famous author who’s forced to take care of his family ranch.
Like most of Abramson’s books, there’s horse-back riding (and/or boating or swimming), chaste co-habitation (even though this is her only series not focused on members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), scenes from the villains perspectives (which I skip), lots of action during 80-95% of the ebook, and a proposal at the end.

In “Safe House” (book 2), they lose their senator and funding. It’s the first book that combines the Guardians, Saint Squad, and Senator Whitmore (Undercurrent trilogy and “Obsession”) as large players. We got a small introduction to Kade through “Drop Zone” (Saint Squad #8), even though the Ghost character wasn’t named or explained.
Book 2 focuses on Kade (a Ghost) and Renee (their new NSA analyst) as Renee is targeted for her alliance with the guardians. Kade is like Mr. Darcy if he was a spy; he doesn’t like people, but is fiercely loyal and will literally give the shirt off his back to help someone. Also, of all the houses/living places Abramson describes in her books, Kade’s home is my favorite because it’s surprising and fun to imagine.

“Sanctuary” (book 3) focuses on Ace (the leader of the operative guardians) as the agency creates a new base for themselves off an island of his ex-girlfriend’s. I was a little annoyed with this book as some average officer is able to endanger the guardians and evade capture for as long as he does. Seriously, these are guardians! They should be able to pick this villain off like lint on a shoulder.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I keep re-reading “Safe House,” but I’ll need to re-read book 3 before book 4 comes out in October, because that’s where book 4’s star (Nolan) is recruited as the newest guardian.
An unnamed Ghost is heavily involved in the stand-alone “Kept Secrets,” though since it’s based in Asia, I suspect it’s Erik. (He’s too young to be Ace, and he talks too much to be Kade.) Another guardian I look forward to reading about is Troy. Poor Brody.

Saint Squad Books 1-10

So, I started this series by Traci Hunter Abramson on “Tripwire” (book 10). Oops. Funny enough, I didn’t feel totally lost because each book of this series is meant to stand partially on its own. While I heard a lot about this series from my manager (she reads anything/everything by Abramson), I didn’t plunge through the rest of this series from beginning to end until this last month.

To give the rundown: this series is about a five-man squad of Navy SEALs who all happen to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hence the “Saint Squad”). It starts with “Freefall,” about the squad’s second in command, Lieutenant Brent Miller and Amy Whitmore… Except it doesn’t really start there because Amy Whitmore is the younger sister of Matt Whitmore, who has his own trilogy from Undercurrents. I really enjoyed the first half of “Freefall” as Brent and Amy try to escape a hostile country without any contact from the rest of the squad. Then Brent decides to be stupid for the second half of the book as they try to stop multiple terrorist attacks in the States. If it was just the first half, this could have been my favorite book… Alas… Brent’s stupidity puts it down for me.

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“Lockdown” (book 2) is my manager’s favorite (the same manager who reads all of Mrs. Abramson’s books) because it deals with the psychological problems of a school shooting and how to prevent them. It’s also Tristan and Riley’s book, which makes it important to book 5 since Tristan is basically Quinn’s adopted brother and he dates Riley’s sister, Taylor.
I heard that Saint Squad book 11 deals with Erik (the abused kid all grown up!?) so I’m super interested to see how that’s going to work out.

“Crossfire” (book 3) is about Seth. The team tries to contact his ex-fiance: CIA Agent Vanessa as she’s undercover in the same hostile country of “Freefall.” This book is a must read for later books, as this is when Kel is shot (which dominates the plot for book 4) and the backstory for Seth and Vanessa is highly referenced in books 6 and 8.

“Backlash” (book 4) is about Kel, the squad’s commander, and his wife, Marilyn. As mentioned above, he’s shot and put on medical leave for most of this book. This is the first time the squad itself becomes a target, particularly Kel and Seth (and Vanessa and Marilyn in turn). In this book, we gain a new member to the squad: Jay Wellman who–guess what?–was introduced in the Undercurrent series as the son of CJ’s swim trainer. Small world, huh? It’s like the author planned it.

Undercurrents Trilogy

“Undercurrents” was Traci Hunter Abramson’s first book, back in 2004. Since then, she has written over 30 different novels and now averages two published books every year. Unfortunately, I picked up my first book of hers in 2015, and ended up reading all of her books out of order. Oops. It doesn’t help that most of her earlier books are no longer available in print. For this reason, when I saw her very first book returned and marked 90% off, I bought it.

The Undercurrents trilogy focuses on Christal Jones/Shaye Kendall (later named CJ) and Matt Whitmore. All CJ wants to do is swim for the Olympics and go to church like a normal member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Unfortunately, she’s also in the Witness Protection Program and struggles not to stand out with her talents and friendship with Matt Whitmore: a man surrounded by reporters because his dad is a Senator and he’s an up-and-coming baseball star. (Apparently both occupations are popular on the East Coast).

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The trilogy revolves around their weaving romance that defies their struggles. Book 2 has a secondary romance and conversion story.

The biggest downfall of this story is the fact that these books use third-person omniscient, which is just a pain to read as it bounced back and forth between characters. Also, editing expectations have improved immensely since 2004 (especially from traditional publishers).

If I read this trilogy again, it’ll be to refresh my memory of CJ and Matt’s backstory as the Whitmore family interacts with the characters of other books by Traci Hunter Abramson.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Macomber’s Next Door

My book club decided that next month we will discuss “Anything by Debbie Macomber.”  I figured that with such an open selection of Contemporary Romance, I should find at least one book of interest.
Turns out, I found two.

“Right Next Door” includes the neighborly romances of “The Courtship of Carol Sommars,” and “Father’s Day.”  Both stories are about widowed moms with a son who wants to be closer to his best friend (thereby bringing the mom closer to the dad of the best friend).  Ironically, I picked this book because I expected these stories to be less about the mom, and more about the boys with plots to put the parents together.  I was wrong on both accounts.  Silly me.  These were romances for women.