Sterling Files: Vicious by Sherri L. King

I decided to give the Sterling Files series another chance, so I picked up Vicious' story. His 'gift' is Time chasing. He can slow down time to a point where he can weave around things and appear, to the naked eye, as just being very fast. Enya Merritt, who is of Arabian descent, is in protective custody with a pack of hit men after her. She is a witness for the government against Siren, the other organization that recruits people with 'gifts'. She use to work for them until she realized they were corrupt.

Running away from a couple of hit men she runs smack into Johnny Vicious, who cleans house very smoothly. When the police arrive, she meets John Strada who is a sexy police officer taking over her protection from the FBI, which failed her terribly. Well it seems John has a secret not even he knows, but Enya later discovers. John is Johnny Vicious.

I really enjoyed this installment in the series. A story like this is why I chose not to give up on an Author after a bad read. Everyone has a bad day. I loved the twist King gave the story by making Vicious, John's alter ego (no spoilers here, you figure it out early on in the story).

The story still has cheesy lines like: "I won't stop to ask again, Enya," he whispered. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" but the pace was slower and the romance was built nicely. I had to laugh when John's equipment was described, though. Have you ever noticed that these heroes are always HUGE! Poor John was abnormally huge and it was just too funny.

Girls, bigger is not always better! Don't get me wrong, size DOES matter and whoever says it doesn't is lying through their teeth, but too big can be a problem too. LOL!!

Anyway, not only did this story redeem this series in my eyes but it also made me want to watch out for the next installment which has to be Ryan Murdock's story. Quite an intriguing fellow.

Grade: B
Format: ebook

Sterling Files: Steele by Sherri L. King

I admit that Sherri L. King is a dastardly temptation for me. I loved her work with the Horde's War series (which is not yet finished) and I have picked up several of her single titles as well with great pleasure (no pun intended). She is very good at her art and her art is writing Erotica.

With that said it pains me to say that she missed her mark with her new series. The story behind the couple appears to be sound but this first installment left me wondering if I was reading King's work or was it some other author with no experience in giving her characters flesh (again... no pun intended).

Brian Steele is part of a government project called Sterling. He was discovered and bought into the program at the age of 13. Everyone involved in the project has some 'special' talent. His is his extraordinary physical strength. He is like a human Superman.

He is sent to recruit Marla Rivers who after being in a coma for a year, wakes up with the ability to control electrical currents. She does not know how to control these new powers and this is where Sterling can help her. That is, if their rival, Siren, will just leave her alone.

Well, within 24 hours she is already in Steele's bed and he's already gaga over her. I mean don't get me wrong, I've seen books that go this fast and honestly, it's a very short story (58 pages in PDF format), but the dialogue was very bad... to the point I found myself cringing.

Even with that, I still liked Brian Steele. He was this huge puppy dog you just wanted to take home to care for. He was all tenderness and sweetness, even when he was knocking heads. Marla... well... she did nothing for me.

I'm not one to kill a series because of one installment. I'll give the next story a try (Sterling Files: Vicious), the hero is like The Flash (super fast).

Grade: C-
Format: ebook