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Hello and welcome to Lily's Reviews!

I like to read a lot of books and many different genres.

I will consider all requests, but sometimes it may take me longer to post reviews than I would like - and I apologize for that!

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The Polaris Protocol by Brad Taylor

Blurb: Taskforce operators Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are used to putting their lives at risk—and in The Polaris Protocol it’s Jennifer’s brother and countless more innocents who face unfathomable violence and bloodshed.

Pike and Jennifer are in Turkmenistan with the Taskforce—a top-secret antiterrorist unit that operates outside US law—when Jennifer gets a call from her brother, Jack. Working on an investigative report into the Mexican drug cartels, Jack Cahill has unknowingly gotten caught between two rival groups. His desperate call to his sister is his last before he’s kidnapped.

In their efforts to rescue Jack, Pike and Jennifer uncover a plot much more insidious than illegal drug trafficking—the cartel that put a target on Jack’s back has discovered a GPS hack with the power to effectively debilitate the United States. The hack allows a user to send false GPS signals, making it possible to manipulate everything from traffic signals and banking wire transfers to cruise missiles, but only while the system’s loophole remains in place.

With the GPS hack about to be exploited and Jack’s life at stake, Jennifer and Pike must find a way to infiltrate the cartel’s inner circle and eliminate the impending threat. The price of failure, for both the Taskforce and the country, is higher than ever.

Review: Drug cartels, control of GPS signals, and a TaskForce member's kidnapped brother - and that is mostly the beginning.

The Polaris Protocol is a fast-paced, edge of the seat read. There are parts of the book that do not make for easy reading (cartel methods, for example), but they give the story a certain authenticity it might not otherwise have had.

The plot revolving around GPS signals and how they could be (mis-)used by less than savory people was nicely done.

Great recommended read and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Taylor's books.

Originally received as an Advanced Reader's Copy from publisher for review.

(Cover image and blurb (c)Brad Taylor)

Chained by Night by Larissa Ione

Blurb: THE FUTURE OF HIS TRIBE

Leader of the vampire clan MoonBound, Hunter will do what he must to save his people from extinction—or worse, a torturous eternity as vampire slaves and subjects of human experimentation. To keep his enemies at bay, he has agreed to mate a rival clan leader’s daughter in return for peace between the clans and an ally in the looming war with the humans.

THE LOVER OF HIS SOUL

But survival comes at a price. First, Hunter must break an ancient curse by successfully negotiating three deadly tests. Then he must resist the searing passions of the gorgeous vampire warrior he despises but is bound to mate. Will Hunter stay true to his word? Or will he risk everything for the woman he really loves: the vampire seductress’s identical twin sister?

Review: I found myself liking the characters and premise of the book. The first because of the "what lies beneath" (or behind) their motivations factor and a few twists and turns. The second because of the spin on the vampire legend - very intriguing.

Having said that, for now I find myself preferring what I have read of Ms. Ione's Demonica/Lords of Deliverance series. The reason for this is that I find myself questioning some of the elements presented (one of which is how vampires can become enslaved to humans). This book is only the second in the series, so there might either have been a hint of an explanation in the first book (which I have not, as yet, read) or there might be a gradual explanation in future books.

Good read with a good pace and characters, but not entirely satisfactory for me.

(Cover and blurb (c)Larissa Ione, book provided by publisher for review.)

Days of Rage by Brad Taylor

Blurb: The Taskforce is used to being the hunter, but this time they’re the hunted.

Intent on embroiling the US in a quagmire that will sap its economy and drain its legitimacy, Russia passes a potential weapon of mass destruction to Boko Haram, an extreme Islamic sect in Nigeria. The Russian FSB believes the weapon, a relic of the Cold War, has deteriorated and is no longer effective, but they are wrong. Boko Haram has the means for mass destruction, which will be set loose upon a multitude of unsuspecting innocents on one of the world’s grandest stages.

Trying to solve the riddle of who might be stalking them, Pike Logan and the Taskforce have no idea what’s been set in motion; but there’s another secret from the Cold War buried in the Russian FSB, and exposing it will mean the difference between life and death—not only for Pike and his partner, Jennifer, but for perhaps millions more around the globe.

Review: Days of Rage is another fast-paced thriller with a very relevant storyline in today's world.

The blending of fiction with real-world "what could be" possibilities is riveting. So are the characters (TaskForce, FSB, Boko Haram) and how they work, react, and change throughout the book.

This is only the second book I had read by Mr. Taylor, but will definitely look for others to catch-up on as well as those that will be published in the future.

Received from publisher for review.

(Cover image and blurb (c)Brad Taylor)