Daughter of Destiny : Sisters of the Ark

Rating:
Summary: terrific romantic suspense
Review: After being court-martialed and receiving a bad conduct discharge from the navy for striking a superior officer, Kai returns to her grandmother's home on the Qualloah Eastern Cherokee Nation in North Carolina to lick her wounds. She is bitter that the navy didn't believe she was defending herself from a sexual assault. Her grandmother has her go on a vision quest and she dreams she must find one of the secret totems that were stolen from the tribe. The dream shows her she must go to the Australian Outback to meet with an aborigine shaman.

Her grandmother convinces her that she was chosen to return one of the totems and she must go to Australia because her dreams are a method of communication between shamans. Morgan Trayhern's organization Perseus agrees to fund her mission provided she partners with her childhood friend Jake Carter. Although she is turned off by men, she has no choice but to agree to the condition. The two fly to the outback where they find adventure, danger and the possibility of a lasting love.

Lindsay McKenna is a brilliant author who writes romances that are action packed and character driven. In DAUGHTER OF DESTINY the audience will empathize with the heroine who had a physically abusive father and grew up determined to be strong so that no man would hurt her again. The hero, who has loved her since he was a child, tries to prove to her that not all men are predators and he is deserving of her trust and love. If this book is any indication, the Bombshell line is going to be a smashing success.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: I bought the first 4 books in the Bombshell Series, and this was the first one I read. What a disappointing start! I gave it 2 stars because although the author set up a pretty good plot, I just didn't care for what she did with it. It's always a bad sign when I start scanning through to get to the end, and that's what I did with this book. Also, there is very little romance in this book. Kai and Jake spend the whole time tip-toing around each other. Am I mistaken, or is this supposed to be a romance series? Hopefully, things will get better with the next book.

Rating:
Summary: Ms. McKenna hits the mark!
Review: This is a great read! DAUGHTER OF DESTINY contains romance, action and mystery - what else do we need? Oh yes, and exotic locations. We meet sympathetic characters with real-life problems, like an abusive family background, disciplinary charges, unemployment... But events take an extraordinary turn. Kai finds herself in a life and death struggle to fulfill her destiny on behalf of her people, the Eastern Cherokee: to win back a stolen talisman. She is ably supported by a hunky hero from her past, Jake, who is not afraid to follow her lead sometimes and work with her as team.

Much of the action is set in the Australian outback, near Ayers Rock. The book has a real sense of place. The author must have done some hands on research to be able to describe the thrills and spills of riding a camel so well. She also highlighted the situation of the Aboriginal people in the area. I enjoyed the metaphysical elements of the story, like the need to work on our wounds in order to be able to meet our destiny, how dreams can be real and the importance of trusting our intuition.

With two other talismans still missing, I feel a trilogy in the offing. Bring 'em on, Ms. McKenna!


Rating:
Summary: Overall good tight exciting action read
Review: This is the first of a new Morgan's Mercenaries trilogy focused on the retrieval of 3 stolen Cherokee artifacts with mystical powers.
This book is exciting, tense, action packed and suspenseful. The aboriginal mysticism in Australia is nicely balanced by people shooting bazookas at our heroes in a helicopter!

I only have one complaint and I think this is a generational thing with the author- her dialog when she tries to use colloquialisms feels stiff and unnatural. Very few women or men- even gung ho military types use "dude" as much as she uses it. This is a term that went out with valley girls 20 years ago. "Buddy", "guy" or even "hey you" would be more current. This is a quirk I have seen in a number of books by the author- just a little thing- but it does disrupt things. Editors- please take note and get out a thesaurus.