Click here to read reviewer Sonia R. Polinsky's take on Deadly Desire.
Riley Jensen is a feisty, dangerous woman who works as a Guardian, a supernatural police force in Australia. We've met Riley and her colleagues in previous books, but this story works reasonably as a standalone book for those unfamiliar with the previous entries. However, the book as a whole doesn't really hold together enough to make it a great read.
Riley is half-werewolf, half-vampire, and this means that she has extra skills and abilities which are still developing. Her work for the Guardians can be dangerous and often involves killing or clean-up. As the story begins, we are drawn into a case where various vampires are being killed and humans are being savaged. Riley fairly quickly identifies sorcery as part of the cause and even finds a significant suspect – but her investigation isn't going entirely as planned when lone wolf Kye reappears in her life. She and Kye have an inconvenient attraction, especially inconvenient to Riley, who is trying to be faithful to her vampire lover Quinn. As more and more people die Riley may need to enlist Kye's help to solve the killings; she may get a bit more than she bargained for.
There is plenty of action in this story and the continuation of the romanctic thread between Riley and Quinn; less focus falls on her brother, Rhoan, and his lover, Liander, but there’s still a good cast of characters. Yet somehow, this story didn't quite hit the spot for me. It feels too transitional - events are left unfinished at times, and Riley seems to get to the bottom of the murders too easily. Riley as a character isn't always easy to like, and I’ve never quite understand her appeal to the various men who seem to clamor for her attention. Deadly Desire features some good moments and the Australian setting is interesting, but overall it’s a bit of a disappointment.