I've been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon for awhile. I really enjoy her Dark Hunter series, though I've gotten away from it recently. Her B.A.D. (Bureau of American Defense) series, however... I'm anxiously awaiting more of these.
Some of it is that I've got plenty of supernatural series that I'm reading lately. Between Keri Arthur's Riley Jensen, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld and Kay Hooper's S.C.U/Bishop series, I have enough supernatural to keep me going for awhile. Some of it is that I'm finding I enjoy spy-ish romance stories (you know the kind I mean... people that work for some government agency that puts them in danger on a regular basis). But a lot of it is that B.A.D. is headquartered in Nashville.
I love reading books where I can recognize locations and say, "Hey, I've been there." (Talking about the Bat Building - or the Bellsouth Tower, as it's formally known - always brings a smile to my face.) I've only been living in Nashville for 6 years, but it's as much home to me as if someone were to write about Delaware County, NY or Sarasota, FL. So it's usually a big draw for me in novels. I've got the next several books requested through the library. And I can't wait to get them.
Born to be BAD is a trio of short stories set in the BAD universe. In the first, "One BAD Night", agent Samantha Winslow has been charged with bringing in a supposed rogue agent, Jason Banks. Samantha had never particularly cared for Jason, but their forced time together - after she has captured him and the two end up on a run for their lives - changes her opinions. Marianne, the heroine of "BAD to the Bone" (the second story of the trilogy), has won a sweepstakes that is supposed to make all her romantic fantasies come true. She find the contrived plots that the book company sponsoring the getaway to be boring, but when she meets agent Kyle Foster, she finds out just how well her fantasies can be met. And the final story, "Captivated by You", brings the reader just a little into the world of S&M, when Rhea needs to play a dominatrix to get close to the bad guy she's after. Her training partner is a colleague she's long desired, "Ace" Krux. Being close together, and being forced to take on the dominant role, opens up a whole new world for both the agents.
I love short story anthologies like these, because they give little glimpses into the world that the writer has created. Each of these stories were strong, and very, very hot. And the first and the third both had little glimpses of Nashville that made me feel right at home. But for all of that, "BAD to the Bone" was my favorite.... probably because it was a non-agent getting involved with an agent, without the usual stumbling into trouble that usually happens. Born to be BAD, along with many of the other BAD books, are on my Christmas list for books I want to own.
