GFP: Fatal Heat Book Tour, review & Giveaways

We are today's stop on the Fatal Heat Virtual Book Tour. Fatal Heat is a SEAL novella by Lisa Marie Rice and will be published on October 4th. With a title like that, you can guess this is an adult fiction work.

Book blurb: Former Navy SEAL Max Wright is out of the SEAL Teams forever after being almost killed by an Afghani RPG. He retreats to his former XO’s beach house to lick his wounds. He wants to snarl at the world but finds it hard to snarl at his new neighbor, his XO’s beautiful goddaughter, Paige Waring, who also comes with a ridiculously likable, totally undisciplined dog.

As a plant geneticist, Paige has always been focused on her work, but when she and her dog run into Max, she recognizes the lonely, shattered man behind the rugged exterior. To her mind, sexiness always comes with a white lab coat, not with acres of tanned muscle and a tough mind-set.

When Paige’s work becomes the target of criminals and she’s abducted, Max springs into action. Though still terribly wounded, this tough as nails SEAL goes on his last mission-stopping at nothing to save the woman he loves.

About the author: Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall and willowy and beautiful. Men drop at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archaeology, nuclear physics, and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman and exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Now isn’t that an interesting bio to have? Isn’t that a thousand times better than saying that I’m a middle-aged, er…woman, no longer in the very, very first flush of youth, who basically sits in front of a computer screen all day in her pajamas?

I am so lucky to be Lisa Marie Rice! There is no literary genre anywhere remotely as exciting and thrilling as erotic romantic suspense. It has absolutely everything: red-hot passion, danger, adventure, heart-stopping love. I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy sitting down to the keyboard and bleeding…er, writing my heart out, falling in love with my men over and over and over again.

Well, why not? My men are brave and smart and built. And boy do they love their women! Their women are much more interesting than new weaponry, sports cars, and even plasma TVs in their eyes, and the fascination will last their entire lifetimes, I promise. It’s sex, of course, but also a whole lot more. My heroes genuinely like and admire their women, though in the beginning this is sometimes obscured by blinding lust. Once that first sharp edge of desire is over and they settle down a little—and that will take several years and a kid or two—they’re so bonded with their women that they couldn’t live without them.

And it is so much fun “being” my heroines while writing about them. You may have noticed that most, if not all, of my heroines are artsy in some way, just like me. It just sort of comes out that way. There’s not much calculation when creating my characters: They literally become alive for me and when my character says—I’m a singer or a designer or I love books—well, that’s that.

It’s fabulous sitting here in my not-perfect body and becoming the beautiful young woman that that ornery alpha male is glomming on to. Of course, my heroines are also in dire peril, which is not so much fun. And which is why I’m the writer and not the heroine (give or take a few years and a few pounds).

One true fact: Looking out of my study across my wonderful terrace I see a bright blue line which is the Ionian Sea. And if I had a powerful enough telescope I could see the Greek temple where Pythagoras taught.

Links: Author website  Author blog  Twitter

Giveaways!!

The author will be giving out one autographed print book from her backlist (she'll be choosing the title) to ONE commenter at each stop. Also, at the end of the tour, one randomly drawn commenter will win a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. 


The tour:
October 3: Reader Girls
October 4: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
October 4: Reviews by Molly
October 5: Books Read 'N' Makeup Done
October 6: Among the Muses
October 7: Coffee Beans & Love Scenes

Our review:
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 469 KB
Publisher: Avon Impulse (October 4, 2011)
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers

My thoughts: I became a Lisa Marie Rice fan when I picked up a copy of Dangerous Lover (Dangerous #1) four years ago and was drawn into Caroline and Jack's moving story. I've read a handful of Rice's other titles and see a pattern in her stories: independent woman, strong male, they meet, fall in love/lust, he protects her, she provides him with something missing in his life. I don't mind formulas when they're well written and Rice can certainly spin a romantic tale.

I was thrilled to read Rice's latest for a tour being a fan of the author. Once again, I was not let down and let the novella monopolize my rainy afternoon. Although their story was brief, I found Max and Paige's love affair touching, and the addition of a canine also named Max was an added treat. Because of the length I didn't feel the closeness I've experienced in the past with Rice's full length novels, but I still enjoyed their story. No longer a SEAL and with a limp, Max is resigned to living alone. His injury and his recuperation period were well explained through his thoughts and dialogue. I chuckled during his first dinner date with a woman in over two years. His mental reaction to his physical attraction, while humorous, also came across as heartfelt and sexy. 

I really liked Paige, her strength, her intelligence, and the manner in which she treated Max as a man with an injury and not as someone to be pitied. Both were compassionate and fell in together quickly and quite believably. Fatal Heat is a sexy, fast paced exploration of attraction and meeting the right one when least expected. 

Rating: I enjoyed it.

Favorite excerpt: "Oh God. How ironic. She'd never thought to find love, not the wild, pulse-pounding kind. She'd thought maybe someone would come along at some future point. A fellow research scientist, maybe. Some nice guy who didn't turn her off. They'd date for a year or two, then start discussing marriage.

Never, ever, would she have thought love could come in another package. Tall and broad, a warrior. A wounded warrior who woke up every sense she had and made her feel alive down to her fingertips.

And now she was going to lose that love the instant she found it."

Cover comment: It's OK. Max's skin is described as being darker from being in the sun and scarred from his years on the job as a Navy SEAL. This model's chest is too perfect.

Book source: From author for my honest review during a book tour.

We thank Lisa Marie Rice and Goddess Fish Promotions.