Red Alert by Lynne Connolly
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Length: Full Length (170 pgs)
Other: M/F
Rating: 5 Cherries
Review by Gillyflower
Megan meets Sandro at the lowest time of her life—when she thinks her crazy nightmares are symptoms of the tumor that is killing her. But the sexy dragon shape-shifter tells her the dreams are telepathic messages from his missing brother. More than telepathy flares between them. Megan and Sandro burn up the night with sizzling passion, but Sandro won’t commit, and Megan wants more than a fling.
When Sandro rescues Megan from a dangerous situation, she gives him the key to locate his brother, but he wants far more from her. He wants her body, all ways, all day, all night.
But he knows he can’t promise Megan any kind of forever.
You will be at red alert while reading steamy, action-packed
Red Alert. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and, if you’re like me, up all night to find out what happens next.
The STORM series is related to Ms. Connolly’s excellent Department 57 books, but in that series Talents are still concealing themselves from the public. In this first installment in Lynne Connolly’s wonderful new STORM series, “Talents” have just come out of hiding. Talents include sorcerers, shifters, vampires and, like our hero, Alessandro (Sandro) Gianetti, dragons. Although Talents have always existed, often working secretly with governments, only now has their existence been revealed to the general public. Once Sandro, in full, 452-year old glorious dragon form, flies over Central Park, the cat – or dragon - is well and truly out of the bag.
As the story opens, sassy – hell, kick-ass – Megan Armstrong is about to undergo tests and surgery. She’s been suffering from hellish nightmares in which she hears and sees a dragon shape-shifter being brutally tortured. The doctors tell her she has a brain tumor, but something about them does not seem right. Fortunately, Sandro gets to her just in time. Though Megan has no idea know who Sandro is, she has a split second to make a decision before she is sent under the knife. Trusting her heart and her gut, she chooses Sandro. Megan has been only vaguely following the news about Talents, and she is a little stunned to flee the hospital on the wings of his dragon.
It turns out Sandro’s brother, Ricardo, has been captured by the International Research and Development Clinic (IRDC), an organization that believes Talents are mere animals to be caged, except they want to poach their secrets for “humans” first. It is Ricardo, being tortured by his captors, that Megan has been seeing in her dreams. And even though most Talents can link telepathically, for some reason she – a mere “mortal” – is the only one who can hear or see Ricardo.
Sandro takes Megan home to protect her from the IRDC and to introduce her to his team: Johann Kozak, a vampire (and, from a peek at Ms. Connolly’s website, the hero of Book 3), Carilla Toledo Vargas, a jaguar shape-shifter, and Chase Maynord, a powerful and sexy sorcerer, the hero of Book 2,
Red Heat. Most Talents have banded together under the auspices of the Society of Talented Officers Resisting Mistreatment (i.e., STORM), led by the diminutive but fierce (and fiercely self-controlled) Anne Reynolds. (As an aside, I wonder if Anne Reynolds will get her own story). In addition to these Talents and Ms. Reynolds, Megan’s best friend, roommate and one-time lover Jack rounds out the delightful cast of secondary characters.
Sandro, while a thoroughly modern man who likes his toys, especially fast cars, has a certain very attractive elegance and charm from a time gone by. He wants to protect Megan – from the IRDC, from seeing more gruesome images of torture, from himself and his secrets. Megan, a librarian and history buff, is thrilled to learn more about changes that have taken place over the years – historic and more recent. And while librarians may typically be mild-mannered and demure, Megan is anything but. Megan has an inner core of strength. She masks her fatigue; refuses assistance; and is generally too gutsy to appear needy. And she is pretty darn good at karate/self-defense. She impresses Sandro with her stamina – in his (somehow endearingly) sexist way, he notes that she has more stamina “even” than many men. Megan is less confident in her own appeal, and she responds to Sandro’s appreciation of her with increasing lusciousness.
Sandro’s and Megan’s ability to communicate telepathically is not only convenient when fending off attackers, it is also delicious in their more private moments. You can almost feel Sandro’s mental caresses of Megan, and when she channels Sandro and he’s like a “ghostly penumbra” around her, the painterly image appears before the reader’s eyes. I am jealous of all the levels on which they can communicate. And oh my (fanning self), does it enhance their intimacy and mutual enjoyment. These Talents are hot, with skills that most certainly extend to the bedroom, and the kitchen and the … well, you get the idea. I should note that there is some very minor shape-shifting in some of the steamy scenes. It is tastefully done and I doubt it would trigger anyone’s ick factor, even the very squeamish.
While Sandro and Megan must overcome numerous external obstacles, such as some health issues and the continued attempts on their life from the IRDC, many of the biggest hurdles to their relationship come from within. As Megan and Sandro peel away the layers, she is worried that as a mere mortal, she can never be enough for him. And Sandro cannot and does not care to isolate the man from the dragon. In an earlier time, he was married, and his wife – a human who lived a normal human lifespan – could not accept his dragon past. He’s worried that Megan will feel the same way. He’s also extremely proud and stubborn. He cannot promise Megan forever, so in a fit of misguided nobility he pushes Megan away. But since he doesn’t tell her why he is pushing her away, she experiences it as rejection, and both of them suffer.
The only angle of the story I did not care for is the idea that if Megan loses another love (like Sandro, she has love and lost) she will have a half-life, likely spent in and out of psychiatrists’ offices and hospitals. It not only seemed overly dramatic, it did not quite fit the tough, independent woman who can handle herself in a street brawl, refuses to admit she needs help, and won’t be left behind on any aspect of the mission.
Otherwise, Ms. Connolly sets a lovely scene and she has created a fabulous world of tomorrow, with very appealing main characters. She tackles some big themes in this story, including prejudice and ageism – and the desire to go out in a blaze of glory rather than deteriorate to infirmity. An additional theme addresses the issues Talents in positions of power such as elected officials in Congress must face as they debate legislation to determine whether their status will be changed to that of animal. None of these larger themes detract from the action and romance of the story. If anything, it makes it richer – as the characters deal with the full spectrum of powerful emotions -- love, lust, fear, pain and hate.
The introduction to Chase Maynord, the hero of Book 2, is deftly handled and we want to know more about him. (He is yummy in
Red Heat, but that is another review). A romance among secondary characters also adds to the layers of the story. The dialogue is snappy and intelligent. The editing is not as tight as it could be, but it is not terribly distracting. A story about such mythical creatures in an alternate reality could have strained credibility, but instead Ms. Connolly draws the reader right into her world seamlessly. I highly recommend Red Alert and I am thrilled to know that there will be at least a third book in the STORM series, and hope there will be more after that.
