Friday, March 18, 2016

Blog Tour and Review: Talon - Sybil Bartel

Talon by Sybil Bartel 
(Uncompromising Series, #1) 
Publication date: March 1st 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance

Talon

I surf.
I fuck.
I pretend to smile.

Two years ago my life was perfect, until it wasn’t. I scattered my wife’s ashes then walked away from the Marines. I didn’t think I had anything else to lose.

I was wrong.

The blond showed up at my surf shop, beaten and stabbed. I did what I was trained to do—I stitched her up. I didn’t have a clue who she was and I told myself I didn’t care. Until they came looking for her.

I swore I’d take my last breath before I let anyone else hurt her except I didn’t know she was keeping a deadly secret. Now I had two choices, her life or mine.

Marriage and combat taught me the same thing—I was no one’s hero. And I was about to prove it.

AUTHOR BIO:
Sybil Bartel grew up in Northern California with her head in a book and her feet in the sand. She dreamt of becoming a painter but the heady scent of libraries with their shelves full of books drew her into the world of storytelling. She loves the New Adult genre, but any story about a love so desperately wrong and impossibly beautiful makes her swoon.
Sybil now resides in Southern Florida and while she doesn’t get to read as much as she likes, she still buries her toes in the sand. If she isn’t writing or fighting to contain the banana plantation in her backyard, you can find her spending time with her handsomely tattooed husband, her brilliantly practical son and a mischievous miniature boxer…
But Seriously?
Here are ten things you probably really want to know about Sybil.
She grew up a faculty brat. She can swear like a sailor. She loves men in uniform. She hates being told what to do. She can do your taxes (but don’t ask). The Bird Market in Hong Kong freaks her out. Her favorite word is desperate…or dirty, or both—she can’t decide. She has a thing for muscle cars. But never reply on her for driving directions, ever. And she has a new book boyfriend every week—don’t tell her husband.
To find out more about Sybil Bartel, be sure to follow her on Twitter (she loves to hear about your favorite book boyfriend!), visit her website, like her on Facebook or join her Facebook group Book Boyfriend Heroes for exclusive excerpts and giveaways.
Website - Facebook - Group - Goodreads - Twitter


Review
3.5 Stars
Talon is a spin off of Sybil Bartel's Unchecked series, which I didn't read prior to reading Talon. Do I feel like I am probably missing something? Yes. However, it didn't take away from the story too much. Told from Talon's POV, this book is all alpha male all the time. He's possessive, bossy, and frankly very rude and crass, but he's protective and has a serious hero complex. Nicole, our damsel, is hard to read, I mean seriously hard to read. I almost wish I could've had her POV, because like Talon, I got really annoyed with not being able to follow her hot and cold attitude. The not-unique story line of ex-Military womanizer saving damsel in distress is done very well in this case. I loved the plot of Military versus motorcycle club, because there was a lot of action and suspense. While I normally don't say this, I really liked the instant connection between Talon and Nicole. Their personalities may clash, but his over-protectiveness and her need to get out of a bad situation causes them to lean on one another and hey, I happen to like when Talon get's all possessive and hot. On top of that, though it takes forever to happen, when the two start to open up it is like watching a flower bloom. Both have been holding onto some serious stuff for such a long time and seeing them really come out of their shells, and face some of their ghosts, makes for a really interesting read.

Unfortunately, it took a really long time for me to get into Talon. While it's a fast read, I didn't feel a connection to the characters until 45-50%. While Talon's off being rude, to everyone, Nicole is like a brick wall. Characters like this are just hard to understand, especially when we're missing important information, like what happened in their pasts, Talon's especially. There are a lot of secondary characters I would like to know about, because we're only given just glimpses of who they are and why and let's be real, I couldn't figure out why anyone would be Talon's friend until the very end. In this case, I think Talon would have been a lot better had I read the Unchecked series first.

If alpha males and action are your cup of tea, this is the book for you, add it to your TBR pile right now. There's no shortage of suspense in this book and the chemistry between Talon and Nicole just heats it up, plus there's some twists you won't see coming.

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