Tempting Evil (Riley Jenson Guardian, #3) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jan 28, 2010 Christina T rated it really liked it

Shelves: 14-000-in-2014-book-count-challenge, 2014-challenge, 4-stars, shifter, werewolves, 3-in-series, shapeshifters

Synopsis: In a world of sorcery and seduction, the nights bring out the beautiful, the damned, and the desired. Here, Riley Jenson is on her own–half werewolf, half vampire, working for an organization created to police the supernatural races. Trusting her superiors and lovers barely more than she trusts her worst enemies, Riley plays by her own set of rules. Her latest mission: to enter the heavily guarded pleasure palace of a criminal named Deshon Starr–a madman-scientist who’s been messing ar Synopsis: In a world of sorcery and seduction, the nights bring out the beautiful, the damned, and the desired. Here, Riley Jenson is on her own–half werewolf, half vampire, working for an organization created to police the supernatural races. Trusting her superiors and lovers barely more than she trusts her worst enemies, Riley plays by her own set of rules. Her latest mission: to enter the heavily guarded pleasure palace of a criminal named Deshon Starr–a madman-scientist who’s been messing around in the gene pool for decades. With two sexy men–a cool, seductive vampire and an irresistibly hot wolf–vying for her attention, Riley must keep focused. Because saving the world from Deshon Starr will mean saving herself–from the trap that’s closing in around her. . . .

My Thoughts: Jumped right into this book when I finished the second in the series because for some reason I just can't get enough of Riley.

Spoiler Warning: Due to a controversial scene in the book where many readers want to be told about it I'm including a spoiler within my review. I will not give away pertinent plot twists or anything like that but continue with caution.

What Worked: Even though I find Riley very flawed I'm enjoying her immensely. She rarely jumps into trouble without thinking first and I have yet to label her TSTL (if you've read any of my reviews in the past you know this is a major issue I have with many heroines.) Her abilities stemming from her being a Dhampir are notable as are her growing psychic talents. I can't wait to see what is in store for those! What also worked was the ending of a 3 book underlying plot thread. I don't think I would have continued on with a 4th book if the DNA/Cloning plot thread had not ended.

What Didn't Work: While undercover, Riley was given the choice to wear clothes or not while in the Starr complex. She opted to run around naked. As a werewolf she has very few inhibitions but as a reader I found it really weird. Perhaps if I were a nudist it wouldn't have felt so awkward but as I'm not I couldn't get that point to flow well while reading. (view spoiler)

In a Nutshell: Despite what didn't work, I thought, once again, the positives outweighed the negatives. My recommendation, as with the other two books in this series, is to ignore the sex and focus on the action. That is really where this book shined for me. A kick butt woman and some serious nail biting action. ...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was ok

Having really enjoyed the first few books I was dissappointed with Tempting Evil. It is really dark, with a lot of physical and sexual violence, enough to distract from the story for me. Plus the walking aroung naked thing seemed a bit extreme, even though it works with the context of the story.
I did enjoy Riley discovering her new psi talents and the final confrontation though. I can't decide between two and three stars, but since i didn't like this as much as the others it will have to be 2. ...more

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May 22, 2009 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2009

This was my favorite so far!
The ending was really good and I would have never guessed who the bad guy was. There is so much going on that I really had to pay attention to little details and found myself wanting to go back through the first two books to see if I missed something.
I'm still not sure abouot Quinn. If he takes too long and stays set in his ways, then I might have to end rooting for him. ...more

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