Nick Maltese and Barrett Miles are both ex-military, and
were friends with benefits while working together a year
before. They parted ways somewhat abruptly when Barrett was
sent home with an honourable discharge and told Nick it was
over.
Nick is now a consultant for the FBI and basically
kills rogue vampires; Barrett works for the Belladonna
division of the FBI, where they keep an eye on vampire
criminals; although the government knows about vampires,
their existence is unknown to most of the population. The
FBI had experimented at turning volunteer soldiers into
vampires, but it went awry and some Turneds went rogue and
became criminals.
Barrett, while working a case on sex
trafficking briefly sees Jane Small's face on the SexFlash
website; Jane is the daughter of a high school friend of
Barrett's, who died a few years prior. Barrett, a rich
girl, lost her brother who was shot by gang members and
died; she is dedicated to helping those in need, and when
she sees Jane's face, she goes on a mission: she has to
bring her back to safety. Since all the nefarious business
is conducted online, she goes to the one man whom she knows
will be able to help her rescue Jane: Nick Maltese. Although
Nick and Barrett have unresolved issues, he agrees to help
her for a specific reason: his brother Gary is dead as well:
he had been Turned and things turned out very badly.
AWAKENED is the second book in the Belladonna Agency
series,
and if you have not read book one, don't worry you won't be
lost. Virna DePaul has added some very clever twists to her
vampires, although I would have wanted them to be more
present in the story: they're mostly in the background.
AWAKENED is
a very solid suspense, it moves swiftly along, and the
dialogue is spot-on. The characters are well-rounded,
complex and interesting, whether principal or secondary. I
particularly liked Nick Maltese: for once here's an Alpha
male who is truly a take-charge kind of guy but not a bully,
as I often find those über-Alphas to be. And I hope in the
future we get to read more about Kevin and especially
Justine; I liked them a lot.
Perfect for fans of J. R. Ward, Nalini Singh, and Lara
Adrian, New York Times and USA Today
bestselling author Virna DePaul’s thrilling series of
paranormal romances invites readers into a seductive and
dangerous world where vampires secretly exist among the
general population, while the FBI tries to keep the Rogues
among them from preying on humans—for killing, for turning,
for pleasure.
Ex-soldier Barrett Miles had no idea that vampires were
real—until Belladonna recruits her to serve as a covert
agent and infiltrate a murderous sex ring run by the most
depraved of immortals, those who feed on the purity and
blood of innocents. Their latest victim: a young girl whom
Barrett promised to protect. She will be sold—unless Barrett
can find her first. Forced to team up with her former lover,
Nick Maltese, an undercover sniper, Barrett is caught
between fulfilling her personal mission and shielding her
heart from the man who betrayed her.
Nick’s hunting a new breed of vampires and harboring a
terrible secret when Barrett finds him. Soon a seething
underworld of strange desires threatens to engulf them all.
Can he save the girl and reclaim Barrett’s heart? Nick knows
he has only one chance to prove himself to her as the hunt
begins—and their love forces them to embrace the darkest
places in their souls.
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