Devil and the Deep (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

DEVIL AND THE DEEP (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

Devil and the Deep

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 5, 2016

Six men. One sunken Spanish galleon. Millions in gold and silver coins lying on the ocean floor. And a past that refuses to let the guys of Deep Six Salvage forget the Navy SEAL motto: the only easy day was yesterday…

Cocktail parties, political fundraisers, and charity events are Maddy Powers’ way of life. But the daring man who appropriated her father’s yacht a couple of months ago is still out there, somewhere, and she wants to pay him back for the scorching kiss they shared.

Behind his suave smile and ladykiller eyes, Bran Palladino carries a dark secret that keeps him from pursuing Maddy… even though he can’t get her out of his head. But when Maddy is kidnapped as part of a grand scheme, it’s time to put up or shut up… because Bran can’t live without Maddy now.

•••••••••••

REVIEW: DEVIL AND THE DEEP is the second installment in Julie Ann Walker’s contemporary, adult DEEP SIX romantic, suspense series focusing on a group of former Navy SEALs who currently own and operate a civilian marine salvage business. The DEEP SIX series is a spinoff from Julie Ann’s BLACK KNIGHTS INC series. This is former Navy SEAL Bran Palladino, and heiress Maddy Powers’ story line. DEVIL AND THE DEEP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. There is a running theme throughout the series as the Deep Six team set up business on Wayfarer Island to search for a five hundred year old sunken treasure and the missing Santa Cristina purported to sit on the ocean floor.

Told from several third person perspectives DEVIL AND THE DEEP follows two paths: the friends to lovers romance between Bran Palladino and Maddy Powers; and the attempted abduction of our story line heroine- an heiress whose family is worth billions of dollars making Maddy a prime target for kidnappers and ransom demands. Maddy and Bran have been emailing one another since Bran’s rescue of Maddy three months earlier (Hell or High Water #1) from a group of international terrorists but Bran believes he is not worthy of love, and is unable to give Maddy what it is she wants. Maddy, in the meantime, is escorting three scholarship winners to a nearby island, and is hoping for some one on one time with the former Navy SEAL. What ensues is the rescue of Maddy by the man that she loves when she is once again targeted by an unknown assailant, and several more attempts to take down the people responsible for threatening their lives.

The relationship between Bran and Maddy began three months earlier when Bran rescued Maddy from marauding terrorists. In the ensuing time, Bran and Maddy have kept in contact with another adding friendship to their list of relationship goals. When Maddy offers Bran something more, Bran continues to push Maddy away believing his dark and dangerous past will rear its’ volatile head. The $ex scenes are intimate and steamy; Bran will only accept a friends with benefits relationship from the woman with whom he has fallen in love.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including the three young women Maddy is escorting through an historical tour of the Dry Tortugas Island. We are re-introduced to one of Bran’s partners at Deep Six-Mason-who may or may not have an interest in Alex-the team’s new historian and translator of ancient scripts-their building story line took up quite a bit of page time in the book. The requisite bad guys are numerous, as well as a couple of familiar faces to our story line heroine.

I did have some issues with the author’s continuous, non-stop use of metaphors, movie line quotes, innuendos, euphemism, southernisms, and clichés. Julie Ann Walker has used these types of ‘descriptors’ and clichés in her previous books and series (including the Black Knights Inc) but the copious references, cliches and comparisons to movies, metaphors, and books was overwhelming, and I quickly lost interest. It was a distraction and felt more like filler than actual conversation or story. The humor was lost in the repetition and redundancy.

DEVIL AND THE DEEP is an interesting story line but a bit scattered and uneven. I would have liked more focus on the leading couple but the author chose to divide the focus between two couples, which in and of itself is fine, but I wanted more time with Bran and Maddy. Also, the hunt for lost treasure is virtually non-existent in this installment. The premise is entertaining; the characters are a bit hapless and lost; the romance is a slow build to love.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

excerpt

6:23 p.m.…
“They’re on the island. My guys are in position, advancing slowly and waiting on your signal to go in strong,” Tony Scott told Gene Powers.
Sitting on the sofa beside Gene on the small, sixty-foot motor yacht they’d rented under a false name with false identification, Tony watched the older man try to swallow the lump in his throat. And not for the first time, he wondered if Gene had the stomach to go through with their plan.
Just keep your shit together a little while longer, he thought, impatience gnawing on his backbone like a junkyard dog.
“Once we cross this line, there’s no goin’ back.” There was a tremor in Gene’s voice. It matched the one in the man’s hands as he absently picked at the stitching on the edge of the blue pillow tossed into the corner of the molded seating area at the back of the vessel.
Tony had always respected Gene for his courage and sense of adventure when it came to business—and to living life, for that matter—but the old fart was proving to lack the intestinal fortitude to get down and dirty when the occasion called for it. And this occasion definitely called for it.
Which is where I come in.
“I know there’s no going back.” He reached out to squeeze Gene’s wiry shoulder. “I’m ready. Are you?”
“No,” Gene spat. “I can’t help but think there’s got to be another way.”
Tony bit the inside of his cheek, girding himself to have the same argument they’d been having for the last week. As patiently as he could, he said, “Gene, we’ve been through this a million times. No venture capitalist will touch us. We’ve exhausted all our reserves and the reserves of our investors. We need cash.”
“Maybe I could ask him again,” Gene said, something close to desperation in his eyes. They both knew to which him Gene was referring.
“He’s already told you no three times,” Tony reminded him. “He thinks it’s a bad investment. He’s grown risk adverse over the years. Too risk adverse. And he’s pushed you to this.”
“No.” Gene shook his head. “It wasn’t him. It was OPEC. Goddamned OPEC!” Gene cursed, taking off his Stetson to run a hand through his gray hair. His droopy handlebar mustache quivered when he glanced out at the open ocean, hoping to see a way out. But Tony knew that nothing but endless, undulating waves surrounded the vessel. Certainly no other solution to their problem.
If they wanted to save the oil business, this was it. A Hail Mary pass in the final minutes.
“Goddamn OPEC,” Gene said again, pounding his fist on the arm of the molded fiberglass sofa before replacing his cowboy hat. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—made up of the twelve most oil-rich and least American friendly nations—was a cartel that kept a stranglehold on the world through its control of the majority of the earth’s crude oil reserves. And right now it had a stranglehold on their company. “I don’t know why we didn’t bomb the shit out of all of them when they first incorporated sixty-five years ago.”
Tony snorted. “We didn’t ‘bomb the shit out of all of them’ because leveling entire nations just to make sure they couldn’t profit from their own natural resources would’ve been frowned upon by…well…pretty much everyone,” he explained, noticing the time on his gold GMT-Master Rolex and getting increasingly antsy as the seconds ticked by.
“Well, now they’re tryin’ to stop us from controllin’ and profitin’ from our natural resources,” Gene snarled. “How’s that fair?” Before Tony could respond, Gene answered his own question. “I’ll tell you how. Plain and simple, it ain’t.”
“That’s why we have to see this through,” Tony said. “If we do this, we’ll have enough cash to get a couple of new ventures up and running. Once they are, they’ll fund the rest. And then when everything is online and we’re pumping out hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude a day, the United States will be safer than it’s ever been. And that’ll be thanks to us. You and me, Gene. Just imagine it.”
The only reason Gene had finally agreed to this scheme was because Tony had couched his arguments in a bunch of flag-waving hoopla. It had worked like a charm then. It worked liked a charm now.
“You swear to me no one will get hurt,” Gene demanded. His bottom lip, visible beneath his ridiculous mustache, quivered. His eyes misted.
Oh, for God’s sake. If the man started crying, Tony would be hard-pressed not to slap his face.
“My guys’ plan is sound and every scenario has been accounted for.”
“Your guys.” Gene shook his head, sounding so much like Foghorn Leghorn that Tony was surprised he didn’t start his next sentence with I say, I say. “You keep callin’ them that. Where did you find them anyway?”
“You’d be amazed how many ex–armed forces types are willing to sell their services for the right price.”
Gene grimaced.
Poor Gene. Always thinking the best of people. It was genetic. Everyone in the Powers family suffered from the same affliction.
“Come on, Gene.” Tony sighed. “It’s just three girls, one woman, and a wet-behind-the-ears park ranger. It’ll be a breeze.”
“A breeze, huh?” Gene smoothed his mustache and wet his lips with his tongue. “Then tell me again why there are guns involved.”
Tony smiled, but the expression held no humor. “Surely, since you’re a born-and-bred Texan, I don’t need to explain that to you.” When Gene scowled his impatience, Tony elaborated. “Shock and awe, my man. Shock and awe. Besides, we need to make this thing look legit if we want him to pony up the cash and do it quickly.”
“Shock and awe better be all it’ll be.” Gene pressed a hand to his chest as if his heart was hurting. That’s all Tony needed. For the waffling old cuss to have a heart attack. Although, on second thought… If Gene keeled over with a coronary, Tony would be left at the helm. Which would make things so much easier.
“If anything happens to Maddy,” Gene said, shaking his head, “I’ll never—”
“Nothing is going to happen to her,” Tony assured him. When Gene searched his eyes, he made sure his expression reflected one-hundred-percent sincerity.
Gene turned to stare out at the ocean again, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Tony simply sat and waited. Gene had donned his decision-making face, and Tony knew better than to intrude. Finally, Gene blew out a breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Tony flashed Gene a reassuring wink before lifting the satellite phone in his hand and barking two words: “Go time.”

About The Author

Julie Ann WalkerFOLLOW Julie: Facebook / Goodreads / Website / Twitter

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of award-winning romantic suspense. She has won the Book Buyers Best Award, been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award. Her latest release was named a Top Ten Romance of 2014 by Booklist. Her books have been described as “alpha, edgy, and downright hot.” Most days you can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission.

Be sure to sign up for Julie’s occasional newsletter at: http://julieannwalker.com

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Devil and the Deep (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker-Promotion and Giveaway

Devil and The Deep (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker-Promotion and Giveaway

Julie Ann Walker Giveaway

In anticipation of the July 5, 2016 release of DEVIL AND THE DEEP (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker,  Julie Ann’s publisher is offering a paper copy of HELL OR HIGH WATER and DEVIL AND THE DEEP exclusively to ONE (1) member at The Reading Cafe.

Devil and the Deep

DEVIL AND THE DEEP
Deep Six #2
by Julie Ann Walker
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Genre: adult, contemporary, military, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N /

The former SEALs of The Deep Six return in a sizzling series from New York Times and
USA Today bestselling author Julie Ann Walker.

A COVERT MISSION
Maddy Powers’s life revolves around cocktail parties, political fundraisers, and charity events – but she can’t forget the daring former SEAL who appropriated her father’s yacht a few months ago … or the scorching kiss they shared before he disappeared into the deep blue sea.

SPARKS A FLAMING DESIRE
Bran Pallidino carries a dark secret behind his lady-killer eyes – one that keeps him from pursuing a serious relationship with Maddy. But when she’s taken hostage during a trip to the Dry Tortugas, the men of Deep Six Salvage drop their treasure hunt for a sunken galleon and embark on a dangerous mission to save Maddy.

WITH EARTH-SHATTERING REPERCUSSIONS
As they fight her merciless kidnappers, they discover this isn’t a simple hostage situation, but something far more sinister. Passion boils between Bran and Maddy, but what good is putting their hearts on the line if they don’t survive the dawn?

________________

Hell or High WaterHELL OR HIGH WATER
Deep Six #1
by Julie Ann Walker
Release Date:
Genre: adult, contemporary, military, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / The Book Depository

In a world on the brink…

Six men. One sunken Spanish galleon. Millions in gold and silver coins lying on the ocean floor. And a past that refuses to let the guys of Deep Six Salvage forget the Navy SEAL motto: the only easy day was yesterday…

There’s more than one kind of treasure…

The nation’s security has always been CIA agent Olivia Mortier’s top priority. But a mission-gone-wrong has begun to make her wonder if there’s more to life than risking hers.

And more than one secret at the bottom of the sea…

Only two things could make Leo Anderson abandon his hunt for the legendary lost ship, La Santa Christina, and return to the world of weapons and warfare he swore to leave behind: a capsule of enriched uranium, lost on the ocean floor, and a plea for assistance from the one woman he can’t seem to forget..

about the author

Julie Ann WalkerFOLLOW Julie: Facebook / Goodreads / Website / Twitter

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of award-winning romantic suspense. She has won the Book Buyers Best Award, been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award. Her latest release was named a Top Ten Romance of 2014 by Booklist. Her books have been described as “alpha, edgy, and downright hot.” Most days you can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission.

Be sure to sign up for Julie’s occasional newsletter at: http://julieannwalker.com

Giveaway Black and Orange

Julie Ann Walker and her Publisher are offering a paper copy of HELL OR HIGH WATER and DEVIL AND THE DEEP to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

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7. Giveaway is open to USA and CANADA

8. Giveaway runs from May 28 to June 2, 2016

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Devil and the Deep by Megan Tayte – a Review

Devil and the Deep by Megan Tayte – a Review

 

Devil and the DeepAmazon

Description:
STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING, AND THEY WILL RAIN BLOOD.

The Ceruleans: mere mortals infused with power over life and death. Five books; one question: If the might of the heavens were in your hands, would you be sinner or saint?

Scarlett is living her happy-ever-after, back in the real world. Only the ‘happy’ part is proving problematic.

For starters, there’s the isolation. Being a Cerulean among humans is fraught with risk, so her time with people can only be fleeting. Which means being with Luke but not being with Luke.

Then there’s her Cerulean light, her power over life and death. Less awesome talent, as it turns out, and more overwhelming responsibility. And it comes with rules – rules that are increasingly difficult to obey.

But what’s really pushing Scarlett to the precipice is something much bigger than herself, than her life in the cove. A force to be reckoned with:

Blood.

When long-buried truths are exposed, will Scarlett keep her head above water – or will she drown in the blood-dimmed tide that is unleashed?

Review:

Scarlett Blake is Cerulean. That means she has the power to heal others within herself.  But with that power comes many rules and risks.   Scarlett has decided to leave Cerulea behind and return to her life with her boyfriend Luke.  But that choice does not come without consequences.  You see, it is unheard of for a Cerulean to have a relationship with a human.  Ceruleans; with or around humans for any length of time poses a risk.  But Scarlett is bound and determined to make it work.  Adjusting to a new way of life has been a struggle; Scarlett is isolated and sometimes alone at length.  But she takes on the task of spending time with Jude (fellow Cerulean) to learn how to use her light and heal those who are in need, without causing any harm to herself.  Scarlett has discovered that the results of using her light in the wrong way or on the wrong person can have devastating and real repercussions. 

Scarlett’s relationship with her mother has improved. Her mother is forging forward and creating a life for herself, and finally seems quite happy.  But as all of this is coming about, Scarlett realizes that all of what she has believed about her childhood and life has been lies.  The man she has always believed to be her father, is not.  Which leads her on a journey to find out just who is?  And what will the consequences be when she finds out? Will it change Scarlett’s life as she knows it?  Will she be able to handle the truth of just who her father is?

I have absolutely “fallen” in love with this series.  Megan Tayte’s writing opens up an enchanted world of love, friendship, lies and turmoil.  Finding out who Scarlett’s real father is – was both heartbreaking and completely satisfying.  Knowing that her sister Sienna – now lost to The Fallen was not alone in her tragedy left me hopeful and with a complete sense of understanding. Especially when finding out the real story behind The Fallen.  All along I believed; just as Scarlett that The Fallen were outcasts because they had decided to use their healing power to take lives instead of heal them.  But that may not be the case.  The real reason behind what they have done may be something different entirely.   This adds a completely and totally unexpected twist to this journey.

Luke is completely loving and understanding in this book.  Making me care for him even more than previous books.  His patience with Scarlett and understanding knows no bounds.  Luke is completely committed to the relationship he shares with Scarlett.  And even though she is keeping things from him, I truly believe nothing will ever change the way he feels for her. The way that he brings love and even his own light to everyone around him makes him a pleasure to read.  He is completely selfless and unwavering.

I still continue to love the secondary characters of Cara (Luke’s sister) and Si.  They are both fun and always uplifting.  Jude proves to be more of a friend to Scarlett in this book, and I truly love how he is always there for Scarlett.  Michael has stepped forward in this book and I find him quite intriguing as a character.  I am hoping to find out more about him in the fifth book.  I even enjoyed Evangeline in this book, which I did not in previous books.  Evangeline reveals more to Scarlett and seems to be open to a new way of being Cerulean, which I hope for everyone’s sake is the case.   The ending of course was the ultimate cliff hanger – one of those –scream at the page ones.  Where you can not believe it has ended this way – but leaving you wanting more and more.  I will – although not easily – patiently wait for book five.

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Author

 

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