Invisible Secrets by Mary Buckham – Review & Guest Post

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Description:
Kelly McAllister has a chance to uncover her true identity but only if she manages to shield a secret that threatens to destroy her IR team. On a new assignment she and sexy shifter Van Noziak are at cross purposes when Kelly becomes the unwitting protector of a teenage Seer that Noziak has been ordered to capture. Now Kelly faces a choice of protecting Van or stopping a powerful predator determined to manipulate a Seer with the ability to destroy the world.

Review:

Invisible Secrets by Mary Buckham is the 2^nd book in her Kelly McAllister arc, which is part of her Invisible Recruits series. Invisible Recruits is an secret organization of agents who have different kinds of unnatural abilities to help them protect humans against non-humans. Kelly McAllister, who is our heroine, is just coming into her powers. A former teacher, now an IR agent, Kelly has the ability to become invisible. Alex Noziak is her  best friend, and fellow team member of IR. Alex is a witch, and in the first three book of this series, she was the heroine. Alex plays a big part in this book, as do other team members. But this belongs to Kelly, as she is charged with taking care of a 15 year old seer, who is laying in coma.

Van Noziak is our hero, and is Alex’s brother. Kelly and Van have been attracted to each other for awhile, especially when they worked together in Africa, on her last assignment. Knowing that Alex is not happy about the two of them getting together, Kelly tries to keep her distance from Van. Well best laid plans do not always work out..

What follows, without giving any spoilers is an exciting adventure, with a demi god threatening all their lives to get his hands on the young seer. With the impossible tasks for finding the predator, who inhabits other peoples bodies, Kelly and Van find themselves in danger almost from the beginning. But the action gets intense, when the predators brings all his resources to the IR compound and Kelly must find a way to kill him, before he kills all her friends.

I liked the characters within the IR group, and Van, who is a werewolf. I also liked Kelly and Van together. Even though it was an exciting storyline, it was also a fast and light read. Invisible Secrets does end with a cliffhanger, which will lead to more for Alex and Kelly to continue this case.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author

How I came up with the idea of the Invisible Recruit series

The basis of the Invisible Recruit series was born out of the time we currently live in that’s subtlety yet radically different than the world of our mothers and grandmothers. These stories are about ordinary women who are suddenly called upon to do extraordinary things.

            Women have traditionally made sacrifices. That’s not new. It’s universal and consistent throughout history. Often the sacrifices have been hard ones, made for others. They’ve made choices for their spouses, their children, their loved ones, but their actions have largely invisible to the larger world.

            It’s a different world today. Women are still willing to make hard choices and sacrifices but they have a desire to be seen, to be acknowledged, not in a selfish way but in a way that lets others know that what they are doing matters, that they are making a difference by what they are willing to do and to sacrifice, and those choices are acknowledged and, hopefully, valued.

These stories are about understanding what’s truly heroic because most women’s actions have been quietly done, in the shadows, undervalued.

            Today’s women are no longer accepting that they must remain in the shadows or allow their actions to be left unseen. Today’s women quietly grapple with the idea that their sacrifices no longer need to be assumed as givens.

Today’s women know it’s important that their sacrifices, their choices are seen in the world for the betterment of everyone.

            The Invisible Recruit women are not quiet women. We’re not talking loud as in boisterous or blatant self-aggrandizement. We’re talking about the feeling every woman has felt at some point in her life. The feeling of invisibility—that who and what they are doesn’t matter enough to those around them.

            The IR (Invisible Recruit) women may have started their lives invisible—being seen in their familial roles as daughters, sisters—or their social roles—teacher, beautician, debutante—but never for who and what they really are. Each has hidden gifts that they must learn to tap into and accept as strengths, not flaws—not for their own gain, but for the betterment of the larger world.

            Each of these women is flawed but even those flaws, in the right situations, can be assets. They also learn, like most women do, that those flaws are called flaws by someone else’s definition of what’s appropriate for a woman to do, say, think or act.

The series is about women embracing their talents, stepping out of the shadows and laying their lives on the line for the sake of a larger good. They do this by fighting dangerous preternaturals and villains with paranormal abilities. They also do it by fighting their own inner demons—their doubts, insecurities and fears. We all have them. What we do about them is what makes the Invisible Recruits series, and the readers who love them, stand out.

In the new world of these novels, just as in the new world of today’s women, it’s about becoming visible, learning to step into our abilities, stepping out from the shadows.

USA Today Bestselling author Mary Buckham credits her years of international travel and curiosity about different cultures that resulted in creating high-concept urban fantasy and romantic suspense stories. Her Urban Fantasy Invisible Recruit series has been touted for the unique voice, high action and rich emotion. A prolific writer, Mary also co-authors the young adult sci-fi/fantasy Red Moon series with NYT bestseller Dianna Love. Mary lives in Washington State with her husband and, when not crafting a new adventure, she travels the country researching settings and teaching other writers. Don’t miss her reference books on the craft of writing. Writing Active Settings and Writing Active Hooks

Her Urban Fantasy series centered around five women drafted to combat preternatural beings agitating for world domination, combines a fantasy/paranormal element with high stakes and the pace of action adventure stories. Mary loves creating thrills, spills and spells as she follows the ups and downs of fascinating characters starting with Alex Noziak, the heroine of INVISIBLE MAGIC, INVISIBLE FATE and INVISIBLE POWER, and Kelly McAllister, the heroine of INVISIBLE FEARS, INVISIBLE SECRETS and INVISIBLE EMBRACE.

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