I had read Cursed before this prequel came out and loved it. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to read Captured and be a part of the tour.

How can you not love a fallen siren and a sexy werewolf as they use their special abilities to track down missing children? I found Emma and Zack captivating and easy to relate to. The novella is fast paced, easy to read and realistically written (aside from the paranormal aspect, or is it?). I felt a sense of urgency, wanting to tell them to hurry up, time is running out.

Emma is a fallen siren, cursed because she did not save Persephone from being kidnapped. She kept in mind that……

Redemption could be one rescue away.

I would also love to have a best friend like Liz, a super witch.

Zack is a sexy FBI werewolf that specializes in finding missing children.

Zack – more James Bond than Seeley Booth.

I think that is a fantastic description. I love Seeley Booth, but I watched James Bond before there was a Seeley Booth. They are two different kind of “super heroes” and there is always room in the world for another one.

When Emma and Zack come together, it is obvious there will sparks flying, but with two children dead and another one missing, their job is cut out for them.

Emma makes a Note To Self – When in the South, be sure to specify unsweetened tea. When I first moved down here, I came across the same problem myself. I don’t know how many times I would have to send back sweetened to get my unsweetened iced tea.

As Samantha and Jeanne talk about the heat in the South, I can vouch for stepping out and gasping for breath when the air is thick and heavy with humidity. It’s as if someone dumps a warm bucket of water over you, because you are immediately drenched and dripping from the moisture in the air. But….I love it.

Kidnapping, especially of children, brings peoples emotions to the surface, wondering how someone could hurt an innocent and trusting child. Family is always the first to be investigated, hopefully to rule them out.

Why can’t the bad guy look like a monster, instead of a handsome, charming guy who could be your next door neighbor?

I love crime stories, my fave. I love paranormal stories, not far behind. You put the two together and I am a very happy reader.

This is a great read, I loved it. I already knew Emma and Zack from reading Cursed, so I was predisposed to loving them and their story. Still, the story and writing must be good and entertaining, plus keep up a level of suspense that has me eagerly turning the pages, unable to put the book down until I find out the ending. Well done ladies! I look forward to reading Reckoning and being on another investigation with Emma and Zack.

I received an ebook of Captured, the novella by S J Harper, for review in conjunction with the tour. ( )

We join Emma and Zach on the first case they worked on together – a string of dead children and another boy who appears to fit the pattern has gone missing

A child is in danger – FBI agents Emma and Zach need to find him and save him.

I was actually surprised that I liked this book. The supernatural elements are really light throughout, we have an introduction in the beginning and the conclusion is much more leavened by it, but most of the book could happily have been replaced by two humans in a non-supernatural world and the plot would have kept working. Normally that would put me off – but this really worked.

I think it worked because the very essence of the frustration and the fear of looking for a lost, possibly dead, child really came through. The leads they chase that go nowhere, the desperation for any clue, the need to go back over old ground again and again and again and constantly hitting dead ends and false leads. There’s no real eureka moments, and the woo-woo can only get you so far, can only help you so much. Most of it is slog, reading the notes, questioning the witnesses, questioning them again, and again, going back over the files again, chasing up every tiny possibility – endless slog

That doesn’t sound appealing – but it is. It’s very real and really well written to convey all this slog with added frustration and fear over the stakes and the heavy emotion of the grieving, angry families who, yes, do lash out and are falling apart and often aren’t facing any kind of happy ending.

And, ultimately, it’s the slog that pays off. Not the woo-woo (though it helps), but doggedly going back over the ground until a connection is found. I like it, I like that magic isn’t used as an excuse to replace investigation or ignore investigation or completely render the gruelling slog of police work completely irrelevant. It means the characters are still professionals who are doing their jobs well BECAUSE they can do their job well and are willing to work hard and go the distance – not just because they have woo-woo and can just show up and spill powers everywhere and call the job done.

The book is prequel short story – picking up on events alluded to in Cursed. It’s not necessary to read the main plot line (I think), but it does add some context to that often mentioned first meeting between them which fills in a lot of the background.

There’s sexual tension thoughout the book, but Emma is also an extreme professional – which I appreciate a lot. After all, a child is missing, other children are dead, time out for a roll in the hay is not what the mission calls for. Not only that, but she’s very good at setting boundaries with Zack and repeatedly telling him when he steps out of line and treats her as a date or an attractive woman rather than a police partner. She doesn’t need him to hold her chair for her at dinner, she doesn’t need him to tip the staff at the hotel for her. She’s very clear every time he treats her differently than if she were a male FBI agent – she’s not his date, she’s a fellow professional, he needs to step back

Read More ( )