Review: Mesmerized by Lauren Dane

Title: Mesmerized (Phantom Corps #2)
Author: Lauren Dane
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Heat Index: 4 out of 5
Release Date: May 26th, 2011
Word/Page Count: 294 pages
Format: Purchased

The national bestselling author of Insatiable turns up the heat with her latest sizzling adventure.

Andrei Solace delivers death on silent feet as an assassin for the Phantom Corps. Mercenary Piper Roundtree thought she was over him. But against the backdrop of an impending war, their passion is rekindled. Now the lovers must join forces- in more ways than one-to save the Known Universe before the Imperialist enemy hurls it into irreversible chaos.

The writing in Mesmerized is pretty solid. I was really impressed with the fact that there was so much showing instead of telling, despite the fact that there was quite a bit of back history between the hero and heroine.

Where things went from 5 stars to 3 were when, about 2/3 of the way in, I began to get this sense that there just wasn't enough movement in the story's tension itself. Remember those graphs we had to draw in school, reflecting the plot development / narrative tension in a story? The one I'd draw for Mesmerized was a very gentle slope. For a story that's supposed to take place during so much political upheaval and war, this was especially disappointing. There wasn't really any real relationship conflict - what was there was lukewarm at best (Andrei's low self-esteem about being a stealthy military special ops dude and killing people sometimes, paired with Piper's "spunkiness" that bordered on obnoxious when it came to their lifelong soul-matey "bond" was about all the "conflict" we got). As for the non-romantic parts, there's all this apparent danger and they keep going out on dangerous missions, and yet they all end pretty much smoothly. No one gets captured, and what wounds there are are quickly healed. Frankly, the death at the end seemed almost forced, as if to make up for this unrealistic lack of casualties or tension, both in the story's world and in the plot of the book.

Honestly, I think Mesmerized would have been better as a novella. I really did like the main couple, their chemistry (and their sex!) was fierce and hot, and the non-romance plot was a good backdrop for these two. It just felt like, halfway through, the story started trying to be something more than was originally intended. I'd give a 3.75 rating total.