Seduced by the Storm

by Sydney Croft

Book Review by Lisabet Sarai

“Faith Black had been beaten, drugged and imprisoned, but none of that scared her. No, what frightened her to the core was the man confined with her.”

Thus begins Sydney Croft's new erotic romance, Seduced by the Storm, the second novel in his series about ACRO (Agency for Covert Rare Operatives) and its arch-rival organization, the evil Itor.  It's a bang-up start to a frenetic, fun adventure in a world of secret agents with various paranormal abilities.

About a year ago I reviewed Riding the Storm, the predecessor to this work. That book focused on Remy Begnaud, a wild Cajun with the ability to control the weather and a libido fed by storms, and on Haley, the ACRO parameteorologist sent to recruit him, who turns out to be his fated soul mate. This novel picks up where the Riding left off and centers on an equally talented (and horny) couple: Wyatt Kennedy, whose powers include telekinesis and sexual intoxication, and Faith Black, who can manipulate the state of biological systems with her mind.

Wyatt is part of ACRO; Faith works for a mysterious third agency. Both are on missions to disable the artificial weather machine that has been developed by Itor and installed on an off-shore oil platform. They meet in a Florida bar just as Faith is foiling an attempt to assassinate her, and enjoy a night of blistering passion that Wyatt knows is more than just “mission sex”. The reason he's so sure is that Faith remembers everything vividly, whereas usually the women who succumb to his sexual mojo don't recall the experience at all.

Wyatt and Faith face challenge after challenge together, including a confrontation with Faith's ex-lover Sean, who is now an Itor operative. They have to disable the weather machine before Itor's huge hurricane becomes self-sustaining in its destructive course toward New York City. But Faith and Wyatt both have secrets; each one fears revealing the truth and violating the other's trust. Nothing seems to get in the way of their sexual attraction, though, which grows more intense and passionate with each (frequent) encounter.

Seduced by the Storm includes a variety of secondary characters, many of whom were  introduced in the first book:  prickly Anika, who can marshal a hundred thousand volts of electricity against her enemies; ghost hunter Creed; Dev, the blind head of ACRO; his mysterious mentor Oz. When I reviewed Riding the Storm, I complained that Mr. Croft had left their stories hanging. Seduced by the Storm makes the opposite error. In my opinion, the book spends too much time on their subplots, particularly on Devlin and Oz. One problem is that there are clearly some important events that occurred between the end of Riding and the start of Seduced. For example, Dev's blindness has been cured, apparently due to the exorcism of some ghost. These events are discussed, but the situation never becomes clear (at least it did not become clear to me). Meanwhile, the reader is eager to get back to the  adventure, the danger and the sex.

Remy and Haley do show up for one extended scene. In fact, ultimately they are the ones who save New York. It felt as though I was reuniting with old friends. All in all, I have to say that I found Remy's and Haley's relationship more satisfying than Wyatt's and Faith's. On the other hand, I might feel the same way about the new couple when I read the third book in the series.

Plotting is not Mr. Croft's strong point. The plot is this book is paradoxically a bit thin as far as the main flow of events is concerned, yet contorted and overly complex when it comes to subplots.  However, he excels in two areas.

First, his sex scenes amaze me. Every one is vivid, intense and erotic. And every one feels different, fresh, even though almost everything he writes is pretty vanilla—not a fetish to be found. Actually, I do recall some bondage in the earlier book—but in general the thrills originate in the characters' total sexual immersion in each other. I know from my own writing experience that keeping sex scenes exciting through an entire novel is a difficult task.

Second, his characters feel very real for superheroes. They all suffer because of their powers. They've all had difficult childhoods. They're all damaged by the way they have been treated, used, abused or abandoned. Having paranormal abilities is no ticket to happiness; quite the contrary.  The agents of ACRO are in some sense freaks, or have always been viewed that way by the outside world. Their talents affect their ability to love and to trust.

The relationship between Anika and Creed demonstrates this, perhaps even better than the book's core couple, Wyatt and Faith. Until she met Creed, Anika was a virgin. During orgasm she emits enough electricity to kill any normal guy. Creed's ghostly companion Kat protects him from Anika's powers. Unfortunately, she's a jealous guardian who won't allow Creed to truly bond with another female. Creed loves Anika, but Kat won't let him have her. Anika is drawn to Creed, but wonders if all he really wants from her is the (literally) electric sex.

Lisabet Sarai
September 2008

Seduced by the Storm
(Delta, July 29, 2008; ISBN-10: 0385340826)
Available at: Amazon.com  / Amazon UK

About the Author: Lisabet Sarai has been writing ever since she learned how to hold a pencil. She is the author of three erotic novels, Raw Silk, Incognito, and Ruby's Rules; co-editor, with S.F. Mayfair, of the anthology Sacred Exchange  (Blue Moon); and editor of Cream, the Best of the Erotica Readers & Writers Association.
Visit her website, Lisabet Sarai's Fantasy Factory for more information and samples of her writing.
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