Review ~ Riding the Storm ~ Sydney Croft

Riding the Storm by Sydney Croft
ACRO #1
Release Date: August 28, 2007
Genre: Adult, Paranormal Romance
Source: Library
Rating: 3.5 Bookworms
Goodreads

Synopsis
A storm's rage. A woman's desire.

A man with the power to set them both free.

He can summon lightning at will. Emerge unscathed from the center of a tornado. Strip a woman down to her barest defenses through the sheer force of his sexuality. He's gorgeous, dangerous, and the target of parameteorologist Haley Holmes's latest mission. Haley has been dispatched to the Louisiana bayous to investigate the phenomenon known as Remy Begnaud-a man with a gift he never wanted: the ability to control a storm's fury. But even a woman trained in bizarre weather phenomena has no defense against the electrifying power of the ex-Navy SEAL...a power his enemies would kill to control.

With her agency monitoring their every move, Haley's job is to seduce Remy, gain his trust--and help him harness his extraordinary gift. But who will protect her from this voracious lover who's introducing her to a new world of erotic thrills--a man who grows increasingly insatiable with each new weather event? Haley knows a big storm is approaching--and with it will come unexpected delights. But so, too, will the storm unleash her greatest fears: an enemy bent on destroying Remy. And her worst fear of all--falling in love with this magnificent man, then having to betray him.

This was a nice introduction to an exciting and unique series. There were times when I felt there was a lot going on and I wasn't exactly sure what it all meant. But I liked the introduction to the varied characters and their organization. I'm eager to get better acquainted with more of them and their abilities, as well as learn more about ACRO and their mission.

Although the story wove in multiple characters in different locations, the majority of the story revolved around Haley and Remy. Haley is a parameteorologist who's been sent to study and recruit Remy, who has the unique ability to affect the weather. Their meeting is under interesting circumstances but over the course of several days, and life-threatening events, these two develop a strong bond. Their bond is ironic since neither has experienced real love. Haley's parents' love taught her that love meant sacrificing things - including your children - for it. Remy's unique ability has kept him from being able to be close to anyone. As they earn each others' trust, they begin to look at love in a completely new perspective.

Annika and Creed are another couple introduced - although Annika would probably balk at my use of the word couple. She and Creed are on another assignment - talking to ghosts - in order to procure some information for their boss. These two are attracted to one another but have each stayed away from the other for different reasons. But while on this job they learned some interesting things about themselves.

Devlin is the leader of ACRO and is blessed with several gifts. All we learned about him - his upbringing, the event that left him blind, his lost love - all left me needing to know more. I know he cares for the members of ACRO and would do anything to protect them. But I'm most eager to learn much more.

So with all that was going on, I was left questioning - why was I seeing these characters doing this? What's ACRO's end gae? Why does ITOR collect people with gifts? How and why do these people have these gifts? And in this way, this was a fantastic opening to a series. I did feel it was a little slow in developing though. And I had a hard time with fitting the pieces of this puzzle together. However, it was action-packed and I'm eager to read further into the series.