I’ve had a good run of luck with Amy J. Fetzer’s books in the past. This weekend, I finished Intimate Danger. I guess I was due for one I didn’t love as much as the others.

Clancy McRae is mad as hell. Charged with creating technology-enhanced troops, she’s discovered her top-secret nano-device has been surgically implanted in four U.S. Marines without her approval. Though it makes them smarter, faster, and stronger than any human on earth, in this untested stage it can also drive them insane–or kill them. Now she’s stolen classified data, risking her career–and her life–to go after them.

While recovering from a shoulder wound, Spec Ops leader Mike Gannon learns the rest of his team was dropped into the jungles of Peru to locate a chilling new weapon. Then: nothing, nada. Injured or dead, it’s his duty to bring them home and destroy the threat. But when a scrappy red-haired beauty butts into his rescue mission, insisting the government turned his men into lab rats, Mike doesn’t believe her–till she becomes a moving target.

Keeping Clancy with him keeps her safe, yet as the tropical temperatures rise with their passion, Mike and Clancy are ensnared in a labyrinth of ingenious deceptions concealing a peril no one suspects–and only they can stop. In the dark forgotten Andes, they unearth a deadly plan and an ancient menace that turns a resuce into the crucial fight for their very survival.

And the clock is ticking . . .

There’s always a lot going on in Fetzer’s books. In this case there was too much. Too much time in the beginning of the story when the hero and heroine weren’t together, too many point of view characters, and too many scene jumps that keep the reader from getting engaged in the main story.

I wanted to become invested in Clancy and Mike’s story, but every time I did, the point of view shifted. Now, this isn’t my favorite technique to begin with, but it’s even more difficult when the POVs don’t really add much. In this case, some of them did, but others didn’t. The story would have been better served by focusing more time on the main couple.

Speaking of which, I like Mike and Clancy, but they fell in love very quickly. That’s typical for Fetzer’s stories, but the jump from stranger to in love was a bit too abrupt. A higher page count for their part of the story would have helped with this.

Fetzer is a good writer, and I’m still looking forward to her next book. But this one definitely wasn’t my favorite: 2.5 out of 5.

After reading a blog that started as an interesting discussion about costumes at book signings and turned into a dogpile, I vowed to read the first two Shomi books: Wired by Liz Maverick and Marianne Mancusi’s Moongazer. I read Wired a few weeks ago and am glad I did: 4 out of 5.

Seconds aren’t like pennies. They can’t be saved in a jar and spent later. Fate seeps through cracks and shifts like fog. Pluck a second out of time or slip an extra one in, the consequences will change your life forever. Is the man you love really the man you think you know, or is there a version of your life in which he’s your enemy? If you didn’t know who or what you were before, would you take a chance on becoming that person again?

L. Roxanne Zaborovsky is about to discover fate is comprised of an infinite number of fires, filaments that can be manipulated, and that she’s not the one at the controls. From the roguishly charming Mason Merrick–a shadow from her increasingly tenebrous past–to the dangerously seductive Leonardo Kaysar, she’s barely holding on. This isn’t a game, and the pennies are rolling all over the floor. Roxy just has to figure out which are the ones worth picking up.

This is one of those books that took a little while to get into. Maybe because I wasn’t sure what to expect, and it’s not always clear what’s happening. The reader is basically in the same position as the heroine–thrown right in and trying to figure out what is going on.

By the time I got a third of the way through the book, though, I was engaged in the story, curious about how it would play out, and starting to form my own theories. I was right about one part of it, but it’s complicated.

As I reread the back cover blurb, I realize it’s a bit vague. I’m not going to try and describe the plot, as it’s a bit complicated and I think it’s best appreciated when you just read the story. The label on the spine calls this an action romance. The action takes center stage with the romance staying firmly in the background. I typically like more romance, but it worked for this story.

Wired was fascinating, different from anything I’ve seen out there in a while.

I posted at Romancing the Blog this week. Please check it out if you haven’t already done so.

You’ve probably figured out that when I’m not blogging here, I’m busy writing. I’m pleased to say I’m getting back into the writing groove, which is nice, considering the number of works in progress I have. Now you know why one of the things I bought at RWA was a magnet that reads:

Finish the #%&* Book!!!

It helps that a few of my coworkers and I have started an informal writing group. We share some of our writing every day. It’s nice, and it helps me stay motivated.

In book news, I’m getting excited about some upcoming releases, including Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice. Speaking of which, I did this fun meme.

Which Psy-Changeling Hero Is For You?

Your Psy/Changeling Hero: Dorian

Strong, angry and wounded, Dorian has the lethal grace of a leopard and the seductive charm to melt even the hardest heart. But Dorian walks in the darkness and to reach him, you might have to give up everything - can you love that deeply, trust that much?Find out more about Dorian and the series at http://www.nalinisingh.com/
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Of course, I’ve been doing some reading. I just need to figure out which books to write a review for. One of these days, I’ll finish my review of the last Harry Potter book . . .

Julia Quinn’s The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever is another of the books I got at RWA. I read it last weekend and quite enjoyed it: 4 out of 5.

2 March 1810 . . . Today, I fell in love.

At the age of ten, Miranda Cheever showed no signs of Great Beauty. And even at ten, Miranda learned to accept the expectations society held for her–until the afternoon when Nigel Bevelstoke, the handsome and dashing Viscount Turner, solemnly kissed her hand and promised her that one day she would grow into herself, that one day she would be as beautiful as she already was smart. And even at ten, Miranda knew she would love him forever.

But the years that followed were as cruel to Turner as they were kind to Miranda. She is as intriguing as the viscount boldly predicted on that memorable day–while he is a lonely, bitter man, crushed by a devastating loss. But Miranda has never forgotten the truth she set down on paper all those years earlier–and she will not allow the love that is her destiny to slip lightly through her fingers . . .

This book includes two of my favorite scenarios: unrequited love and diary entries. And Quinn puts both elements to good use. In the unrequited love books I’ve read in the past few years, the man has been the one to love from afar. In this case, it’s the heroine. This was a nice twist. Another element I appreciated was the fact that there’s complexity in her feelings. As Turner’s life changes and as he changes, she revises her opinion of him. Miranda may love him, but it’s not a blind love.

As for Turner, I found myself quite sympathetic to him. Quinn does an exceptional job of showing how his previous marriage affected his thinking. It helped me as a reader to know where he was coming from. I thought his reluctance to admit he loved Miranda was especially realistic. He thought he loved his first wife, so he associated that emotion with the heartbreak he felt. What he felt with Miranda wasn’t heartbreak.

Overall, I liked The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. It wasn’t my favorite of Quinn’s novels, but still one I enjoyed and one I will reread.