This book sucked the big cheese. I'm am in no way a prude but it's a little hard to take your heroine seriously when she is running around naked the ENTIRE book. How awkward. Esp. when she's constantly fighting gladiator style. The whole time I thought; "well, I guess it's a good thing she doesn't have balls or a hairy ass crack."**SPOILERS**Let's see... Riley is raped, beaten, abused, oh yeah & the best yet....going to have naked mud wrestling as an "arena whore" for her arch nemesis. And not only barely bats an eye after all of this, but is actually looking forward to the wrestling! Cue the eye rolls. Yeah, yeah, we get it, she is a werewolf & they "need" to have sex all the time in order practically survive. But the author does such an incredibly lame job trying to justify this fact to her audience (well me anyway) that I wonder if she is actually trying to convince herself most of all. It comes off as forced, gratuitous & extremely laughable.I actually can't believe people give LKH crap & not this series. At least LKH integrated Anita having the ardeur 10 books in. In this series - Arthur clubs you over the head with the same exact justification in each book (I'm talking line verbatim here), just so she can write lame sex scenes. And yes - the sex scenes suck. They are super short, all the EXACT same. The man is always too excited at 1st so takes her quick, no foreplay, then he's in her "deep" & "fierce" & that's that. Big deal. This series is Anita Blake's very poor cousin by comparison.In a particularly mind boggling moment - Riley has infiltrated her enemy's compound & after a good day of fighting & some consensually boring yet brutal sex w/one of the men WHO, in the previous book raped her for 8 days straight while she was unconscious, she decides it's not enough so seeks out one of her current shape shifting lovers who happens to be a "stallion", literally. Yup...that's right.He also has infiltrated the compound, thank god b'c he misses Riley & she him, so they get to have sex on the down low in the stables. Despite the fact that the place is supposed to be fort knox, but anywhoo - werewolves need sex so can't put a good woman down.!!!!...Seriously!! Why is this series popular? That whole setup is actually offensive! Arthur completely glossed over the fact that Riley WILLINGLY had sex with a man who raped her for 8 days straight! WTF kind of message is that??And just to take the absurdity a step further - while having sex, Riley's other possessive vampire lover, Quinn, manages to infiltrate (surprise!) the compound as well & willingly watches while Stallion boy (Kade) spitefully takes Riley AGAIN (b'c once is never enough for these horny shifters) while she's in the process of having a rather large relationship convo with Quinn. And she lets Kade b'c she is annoyed at Quinn. Now imagine that..... Quinn & Riley are having a huge relationship talk while she is all naked, sweaty, sexed up & Kade is taking her from behind while said conversation is still continuing! Not only is this stupid but enhances the whole "whore" concept which Arthur is trying to have us not buy into. Go figure.It gets better too...Quinn manages to actually freeze Kade while he is inside her (umm..is that tacky?) & proceeds to have spiritual, metaphysical sex with Riley to let her know that he is not giving up on her. This, in spite of the fact that he thinks werewolves are all "whores" & too free sexually. Ummm....note to Quinn, you're not wrong. Riley is written about as deep as the shallow end of the kiddie pool & as cavernous as a mayo jar.I read the series this far b'c I was engaged with the genetic cloning subplot, which this book wrapped up quickly & insufficiently. And based on my review you'd think I put the series down but I didn't. I seem to be a glutton for bad writing punishment. What kept me going was that Quinn seems to be an homage to LKH's Richard and I was really curious to see how far Arthur took it. Thankfully - her books are so vapid, you can skim most of it without wasting too many precious minutes of life. I gave up the series after book 6. Everything was the same, same, same.
Riley Jenson is part werewolf and part vampire that works for the Directorate governing supernatural world. Riley's boss Jack Hunter wants her to be Guardian something Riley really doesn't want to do but doesn't really have a choice in the matter. Thanks to Deshon Starr for Riley taking Guardian training over the past six months. Rhoan, is Riley's packmate and twin brother, who is doing most of Riley's offensive and defensive training before she takes on Gauntier in a fight. Riley doesn't want to fight Gauntier at all, who happens to be the best Guardian the Directorate has, yet she has no choice either. In order to take down Deshon Starr, she must face Gauntier, something she dreads. Riley must become a fighter if she's to have a chance at taking down Starr and his labs too. Riley meets Dia Jones, a famous psychic, known for her accurate predictions this meeting leaves Riley on edge. Dia Jones has a few secrets of her own that puzzle Riley under her false identity as Poppy Burns. Poppy Burns is a half werewolf and half human which happens to be a thief. Poppy/Riley gains access to Starr's home as a fighter instead of a prostitue that Jack had planned for this mission. What Poppy/Riley don't need is a certain vampire named Quinn bent on revenge mucking up this mission even before it begins. Quinn only knows control in a relationship yet doesn't understand Riley's werewolf nature or culture but then again he doesn't even try. Whereas Kellan, a werewolf, and Kade, a horseshifter, understand Riley's nature and culture allowing her to be herself all the time unlike Quinn. Can Riley complete the mission? What is Dia Jones hiding? Will Quinn hinder Riley's mission? Will Deshon Starr be stopped? What about Gauntier? Will Riley resolve her differences with Quinn? Your answers await you in Tempting Evil.
What do You think about Tempting Evil (2007)?
It's funny how these books always take me a minute to get into them, but once I do I whip right through the book. It's interesting that one of the biggest enemies of Riley and Co. is taken out, and yet this is a long lasting series, haha but alas there is a nice little zinger at the end, which bodes for a much more evil nemesis than before. This book was filled with alot, alot of things for Riley to do, alot of questionings on many different thing. The one hang up I have on Riley is her need for sex, I understand she's a wolf and is alays needing sex, but still the way this woman desires sex I think is beyond the need for a wolf, and really it's not the sex that bothers me, that's pretty intriguing on it's own, it's her desire to find a wolf mate, she thinks purely wolf when she isn't a pure wolf she's a halfbreed wolf/vamp, so her hang up on the wolf soulmate is kind of far fetched in my opinion, but we shall see how things progress with that in future books.
—Samantha (Book Lover's Cozy Cafe)
Tempting Evil turns out to be Keri Arthur tempting fate. The story has definitely run its course now. Oh no, I don't mean that this is the end of Riley Jenson. Not at all, there are several more books in the series. However, I don't plan to go anywhere near them if I can avoid it. The Directorate for Other Races finally manages to infiltrate the super secret gene lab that's been spending four decades developing a perfect soldier out of various species, human and otherwise. Riley gets her big break in taking out the mad scientists in this one. The story is full sex, murder, rape and attempts thereof. Riley's lax attitude towards all the violence makes you wonder whether she actually is one of the good guys. For some reason it seems lack of sexual satisfaction is more noteworthy for her than dozens of people witnessing a gang rape for the evenings entertainment. So really all I can say is that in the field of mindless entertainment mindless has taken over the entertainment. Like in so many other series the quality deteriorated unsurprisingly fast and I for one have lost all interest.
—Nancy
c2007: FWFTB: rules, mission, gene-pool, werewolf, trap. IMHO this was a better book than the first one. The plot seemed to be more coherent and was a lot darker. Riley has kept in character with the relationship between her and Quinn still more or less unresolved. I don't think any other characters really developed much with only brief cameos from some of the lesser characters in the early book. Definitely recommended. 'Even the very old can try to change if we see something worth changing for.'
—Ruth
