One Wrong Move (McClouds Friends #9) By Shannon McKenna

When a ruthless crime syndicate wants social worker Nina Christie to disappear, her only chance to survive is with Alex Aaro.

Secrets Never Die

Alex Aaro has spent most of his life on the run from his ruthless, toxic family. But when he learns that crazy Aunt Tonya, the only relative who ever gave a damn about him, is dying, he risks returning home to say goodbye. He's prepared for anything except the call from his friend, Bruno Ranieri, that sends him on a wild and dangerous ride with a mysterious woman who holds a deadly secret and a white hot passion tht binds them together.

Social worker Nina Christie has no idea how much trouble she's in when her Aunt Helga shows up bleeding at her shelter, babbling in Ukrainian--and with one inexplicable act thrusts Nina into the heart of a nightmare. Now a ruthless crime syndicate will stop at nothing to make Nina disappear, and only Alex Aaro, that inscrutable six-foot-four rock hard slab of lean muscle, stands between her and certain death. Now Nina and Alex are in a race against time, death, and their desire for one another. . . One Wrong Move (McClouds Friends #9)

The ninth book in Shannon McKenna's exciting McCloud & Friends series. Nina Christie is a social worker who dresses to be invisible. Issues from her past have caused her to be wary of being noticed. One day she is being followed and grabs her phone and calls 9-1-1. At that moment, a woman jumps out of a car and injects her. Alex Aaro is back in town to see his dying aunt. She is the only one in his family that he cares about. But Bruno Ranieri needs Aaro to do one tiny favor. He refuses. His aunt comes first. So Nina ends up at the hospital along with Helga, the woman who injected her with something. The doctor has examined her and now she is waiting for protection from Bruno, her best friend Lily's fiance, to arrive. While waiting in the hospital two baddies show up and she escapes...

Okay I will agree with the other reviewers that the plot is really far-fetched. I don't want to give any spoilers so I won't get into that. Otherwise, the romance was hot, even though Aaro was a real jerk at times. But Nina wasn't a timid little thing herself. She held her own. Almost a contradiction in some ways. But it was fast-paced, exciting and steamy. While I knew basically how it was going to end I did get a few surprises on the way. Fans of Shannon McKenna won't be disappointed. 9780758273475 Weak 3 stars. I wasn’t drawn in enough. This plot/topic is wearing out. Author needs a fresh idea.

I love this author’s voice, her writing style, her characters, and her gritty sex scenes. But she needs something new to write about. This was similar to what she did in previous books - drugs enhance psychic abilities. Bad guys use drugs which give them powers to read minds, coerce, and torture others mentally. They take hostages. It was ok and I liked the sex scenes, but it wasn’t as good as her early books - those done prior to 2009.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 411 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: about 8. Setting: current day various U.S. locations. Copyright: 2012. Genre: romantic suspense. 0758273479 Where to start...first, a huge thank you Shannon for her interview with us last year and the complimentary copy of Bruno and Lily's book, Blood and Fire. It goes without saying how much I love have the ARC and someone notices and asks me when it came out and I say, not for a few months! So when this beautiful book arrived, I was ecstatic. I have been looking forward to Aaro's story for so long.

Who is Alex Aaro? Not who he says he is, not who his friends know him as, and certainly never what his family wants him to be. But what we do know, is what he looks like...his looks are described in such detail. It is hard to get a handle on whether he is handsome, ruggedly beautiful or that ugly gorgeous (like Billy Bob Thorton and Gary Oldman)...the angles, the hair, the height and severe leanness over muscle, mmm, mouth watering! But his life has been built on a lie and he continues to live because he has gone no where near New York City. But Alex finds himself flying from Seattle to NYC to visit his dying aunt, his beloved Aunt Tonya.

Nina can feel trouble, so when a strange woman stalks her down in the middle of the street, Nina freaks and runs. But the haggard woman is fast and strong. Just as Nina realizes who the woman is, Nina is plunged into darkness and a hallucinogenic world that she cannot comprehend. Scared out of her mind, running from people she doesn't even know why are chasing her, Nina calls her only friend, Lily. As the McClouds put pressure on Alex to help Nina since he is minutes away from her and they are on the other side of the continent, dark forces begin to align against these two and throw them head long onto a destructive course. Yup, a classic McCloud Cluster----event.

While I was on the edge of my seat (with my heart in the throat), I was hoping for even more crazy, risking life and limb sex. Alex has been such an enigma for me for some time, I loved seeing him break down his barriers and hunger for Nina in a way he could not understand and would not explain. Nina, quite literally burned for him. She shook with need whenever he was near, yet fought evil for the man who had her back and was a little like my girl-crush Tam.

Now speaking of Tam..what the heck? She was no where to be seen, not even a little gifty of a poisoned hair pin in the gala outfit for Nina??? So, imagine my surprise when there was also no wedding. Seriously, one of my favorite parts of any McCloud book has been the jacked up scenes unfolding at a wedding. Kind of like death at a funeral, the hijinx at a McCloud wedding has always makes me laugh and a favorite story theme. So, no wedding, no Tamara. Sad for me...but the story was still really amazing!

If you have not started the McCloud and Friends series, you seriously DO NOT KNOW what you are missing. She has truly hard, ex-military/operative, uber alpha men, with intense sexual appetites and even stronger appetites for brutality and violence (only on those who hurt those they call friend and lover). These stories are fast paced, smart and full of deeply moving, albeit sometimes terrifying, story lines. To quote another who commented on Shannon McKenna's writing, I quite simply love the way she writes. Try Hot Night one of McKenna's stand alone books to get a feel for her...I loved that book. Then jump into Behind Closed Doors, the first in the McCloud series. Seth and Raine are amazing...Enjoy!

P.S. Cindy, if I see you out and about with that Aengus fellow, I will become violent. Miles, you big, hunk of a man, I knew you were special...but that special, right on man! I do believe the next installment will be Miles and Lara's story (even though I really want Sveti and our cop)...Write faster Shannon, because I just love these guys! Enjoy! Paperback This was such a good book. Everything a girl could want in a romantic suspense book. Highly recommend.

Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur magazine in the October Issue: http://affairedecoeur.com. Romance, Mystery Thrillers I'm going to save some people some time here: If you don't like over-the-top, overexaggerated, high-octane, kind of crazy stuff in your romance novels, then please skip the rest of this review and move on. Shannon McKenna is not, I think, for you. There are plenty of romantic suspense series for you. Nora Roberts has some good ones. Start there.

Still here? Me too. I can't explain why, but Shannon McKenna's particular brand of crazysauce just does it for me. Her heroes are so alpha it's amazing they can form sentences, and yet they are beyond head-over-heels for the heroine. The heroine is perfectly imperfect. She's smart, kind of tough (not too tough, with the exception of Tam, but tough enough that you don't want to slap her for being useless), beautiful in a quiet way that somehow the rest of the world manages to miss until the hero comes along. Usually. And the villains! The villains are absolute evil. No redeeming qualities there. Which is good, because it would defeat the purpose if you felt sad when the alpha hero (again, usually) destroyed him in some way that has you bugging your eyes out and asking seriously!?!

There's lots of cursing. Lots of brutal violence. Lots of explicit sex. This book, and indeed all of Shannon McKenna's writing, is not for the faint of heart. These books are not sweet. These books are not subtle. That is exactly the point.

As for this book in particular, McKenna is in fine form. This installation reminds me most, of all the books, of my favorite: Extreme Danger. The heroine has been dragged unsuspectingly into some crazy Russian mafia/crazy drug dealer insanity involving mind reading, and the hero is off to save her life. Thanks, of course, to her association with the McCloud team. The enforced closeness allows the sexy sexing to start off early, while the crazy Russian mafia allows for the messed-up, eyeball-exploding violence. And they're off. Fans of McKenna should be well pleased. I was.

Does this review make me sound completely unevolved? I think it does. Hmm. Oh, well. I had enough fun to make it worth the hit to my cred.

**A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley. Romance, Mystery Thrillers

Nina and Aaro

Good installment to this series. Aaro has a dirty mouth. Me likey.

Full review on Fiction Vixen Book Reviews

Right before I started One Wrong Move I got an email from fellow FV reviewer, Amy, asking about the book. She said Mandi had told her the hero was a dirty talker. Of course this peaked my interest. I quickly found out that Aaro is a dirty thinker AND talker, to the extreme. I lurve him.

“If we play now, then when I get you to the hotel room, you’ll be ready,” he said. “What I want requires a locked door, a whole lot of girl lube, and ideally, sound proof walls, though its probably too much to hope from a mid-range hotel. And after a few hours of what I’ve got in mind, you won’t be accusing me of altruism anymore.”

She blinked at him, intimidated. “Um. That sounds alarming.”

“It’ll be awesome. But it’ll be very mutual. I’m a calculating, selfish dickhead, but I do excel in a few things. One is kicking asses. The other I can demonstrate to you right now. Say the word.”

Since I could spend all day quoting Alex, I should probably stop and tell you a little about the book too. On her way to work one day, Nina Christie, is stopped by a family friend who is in some trouble. While trying to figure out what the problem is Nina is stabbed with a syringe and injected with a drug. She does not know what the drug is and because her friend is speaking in another language she has no way to find out. She called 911 when she first saw her friend so she has a recording, she just needs someone to translate it.

Enter Alex Aaro. He is in New York to visit his dying Aunt Tonya. He is long estranged from his family to the point where he has a new identity so they will never find him. By being in New York he is taking a huge chance that they will finally pull him back in. When Bruno, a friend and hero from a previous McKenna book, calls him and asks him to translate the 911 call he says no. He owes Bruno a huge favor so maybe once he is done seeing his aunt he will look Nina up and translate then.

Things quickly go to hell in a handbasket when Nina is accosted at the hospital by zombies, ok they are not real zombies but whatever she was injected with has caused her to think they are. They are really people who are trying to get Nina’s family friend and find out what she has done with the serum she injected Nina with. The serum is something that will cause psi powers in the person who takes it. Nina’s family friend is the only person who can make the serum and they need her back. She has created a max version of the drug and they want it. It has proven to be more powerful than anything she has created before and allows the user to not need a constant re-dose.

Aaro finally hooks up with Nina when she on the run. They translate the call and find out that it is a binary serum meaning Nina was given dose A and will need dose B within several days otherwise she will lose her mind. Aaro is determined not to be involved with this cluster and wants to dump her off with Bruno’s protective guard. That isn’t how it works out and Nina and Aaro on on the run, fighting for their lives, together.

The psi part of the book was a little off, for me. Both the H/h have their own abilities on top of the ones that Nina has developed with the drug. Aaro has spent his life denying the abilities and Nina knows she has some but doesn’t necessarily know why they work. Aaro’s father has a very strong psi ability that made me wonder if we will see him/them in another book.

I loved the H/h in this book. Nina is facing certain death but she doesn’t whine or cry about it. She is pretty strong and gives Aaro grief any chance she can get. Aaro is a jackass and pretty unapologetic about it. After they have sex for the first time he freaks out and Nina bitch slaps him back into shape by having sex with him again. The whole scene is quite comical. Nina has a handle on how to manage Aaro which is something it doesn’t seem that even Aaro knows how to do.

Like I mentioned about Aaro has a filthy mouth and filthy mind. It is great. Ms McKenna did a fabulous job writing Aaro. He should have been unlikable but he was the exact opposite. His jerkiness made me like him more.

The plot is neat and tidy in that Aaro’s family is also involved in the psi part. As with all Ms. McKenna’s books there is heart stopping action to the end. You are left wondering how things can possibly work out, but they do. To be honest, I read this book for Aaro and Nina. The plot was an interesting side bit and was fast-moving, but it wasn’t what held my main interest. These two characters are worth the book and their sex scenes are really worth the book! I encourage everyone to read One Wrong Move! The book is part of a larger series, The McClouds, but you don’t need to have read any of the others to get this one. It is a stand-alone. I would say that if you are looking for fast-paced, hot romantic suspense though, go back and read this series. Final grade- B

Favorite Quotes:

He’d just pretend this was normal. Gunfights, pulling zaftig naked girls with bouncing tits out of closets. No biggie. All in a day’s work. Nina Christie did not need his engorged prick bobbing hopefully in her direction. She needed a hot cup of tea, a shot of Demerol, a trauma therapist. A police escort.

Bummer for her. All she had was him.

and

“Shhhh.” He spun, scanning the area. “Shit,” he muttered.

“What?” She twirled too, but heard nothing and saw nothing.

“They’re watching us,” he said. “They’ll follow.”

She looked around wildly. “But where? I don’t see-”

“Me either,” he said. ” I feel them. They make my balls itch.”

“Oh,” she said inanely. “Must be nice to have an early warning system. Are you sure it’s not just a fungus?”

Paperback 4.5 stars high calibre, high-octane romantic suspense.

This really is classic Shannon McKenna. If you’ve enjoyed the McCloud books up until now, you really won’t be disappointed. The plot is, as always, highly implausible and far-fetched but that’s what we’ve come to expect from Shannon McKenna and she really does do highly implausible and far-fetched better than anyone else in this genre, in my humble opinion. This book hits the ground at a sprint with action right from the very first page and doesn’t ease up until the last page is closed. If you’re looking for romantic suspense that is actually on-the edge-of-your seat-suspenseful - you’ll definitely find it here.

This time is the turn of Alex Aaro who we’ve met before in the books. He’s gruff, brusque, grumpy, broody, alpha and, of course, completely gorgeous. He’s a complete closed book â€" never letting any of his emotions see the light of day. He is in NYC and receives a call from Bruno that Nina, his wife Lily’s friend, is in trouble and asks that he helps her as he is nearby. Nina has been attacked and injected with an unknown drug and is in hospital and in need of protection. True to form Alex refuses as he has personal matters to attend to but soon gets dragged into Nina’s dilemma with guns blazing.

The drug Nina has been injected with has increased her psychic ability exponentially (I did mention far-fetched and implausible) and it turns out she has 3 days to find an anti-dote before the drug kills her which leads to a tight, action-packed journey for Nina and Alex as they fight to get the second drug in time, with many hurdles and enemies standing in their way.

Alex and Nina are both closed books emotionally. Nina, like many victims of abuse, is hiding her luscious curves beneath frumpy clothes and big geeky glasses and perfected the art of invisibility â€" people just walk on by without a second glance. The first time she meets Aaro, she falls into his arms naked, invisibility barrier down, and he cannot forget what he has seen and his developing feelings for her are breaking down his emotional walls he’s held strong for decades.

The urgency of Nina’s situation adds an intense pressure to their relationship and you feel their acute desperation that their very short time together may be rapidly running out.. Aaro, with his emotional barriers in ruins, finds himself consumed by his feelings for Nina as they hurtle from one disaster to the next. It’s beautifully done and, of course, it’s plenty steamy as we’ve come to expect in a McCloud Bros story. Alex Aaro has awesome staying power, if you know what I mean!

4.5 stars instead of 5, mostly for the terminology in the sex scenes. I’m not bothered in the slightest by the C word being used in erotic fiction, but it’s fairly unusual in main stream romantic suspense as a descriptive term. Also her use of the words muff, girl lube and cream really did make me giggle like a school-girl! I was expecting it â€" it’s always in a Shannon McKenna novel but it gets me every time!!

So, if you love action-packed, far-fetched suspense, nefarious villains, broody alpha heroes and feisty kickass heroines â€" I think you’ll love this.

For fans of the series you see plenty of Miles, Lily and Bruno, a small scene with Edie and Kev and Davy and Sean get mentions.

4.5 stars highly recommended romantic suspense

ARC courtesy of Kensington via NetGalley

For more of my reviews, please visit my Sinfully Sexy Book Blog Romance, Mystery Thrillers If you're a fan of Shannon McKenna (I am I am!), you're going to like (maybe love) this book. She gives you your typical McKenna asshat hero with a sweet, vulnerable side in Alex Aaro--probably one of the most surly, hardass McKenna heroes in a while! Aaro (as he is referred) is the son of a Ukranian mobster, who hasn't seen his family (mainly his creepy, controlling dying father and his jealous cousin Dmitri) in nearly 21 years and wants nothing to do with them or their ways. Aaro is 37-ish, a former Army Ranger and a buddy of Davy McCloud, and has been in previous books helping out the McClouds. Anyway, he gets his own story told here when McCloud adoptive brother Bruno Ranieri (Blood and Fire) taps him for a favor. Would he translate a message that Ranieri friend Nina Christie received from an old Ukranian friend of the family? Nina's in trouble in NYC with some scary people following her and got zapped with a drug from her Ukranian friend (who is now comatose)--would Aaro also be her temporary bodyguard? It just so happens that Aaro is heading that way to visit his dying aunt, but he wants nothing to do with helping out a friend of Bruno's soon-to-be wife Lily, no matter that he owes Bruno big time for a screw-up on his part that nearly cost him his life. But you know how these things go--Aaro does get involved--big time, and ends up running for his life with the curvy, hiding-her-light-under-the-bushel social worker Nina in tow. Major sparks fly (Aaro is a blunt dirty-talker and that does all kinds of things to Nina), Aaro and Nina find out the truth behind a mind control drug and it's connection to Aaro's family and Nina, and of course, Aaro is brought to his knees for his love for the spunky Nina.

He may not be Connor McCloud, but Alex Aaro is one big (6'4, 230) sexy bad a**...


Lots of goodies in this one. Snappy, sexy, argumentative dialogue between the hero and heroine as they fight their attraction for each other; a creepy plot about an ambitious politician and a mind control drug (seems to be a favorite theme from SMcK--that and having some of the bad guys be Russian mobsters) and a really, really fast pace (the story takes place in less than a week's time). Once again, as in all her books, McKenna makes the sex-turning-to-love scenes between Aaro and Nina super sexy and white hot, and provides just enough balance between the suspense and the romance.

Aaro's declaration of love...:

You see what I am, right? When you look inside?
No secrets, right?
Yes, but what I meant was--
You see that I'm a rude, bad-tempered, suspicious, oversexed butthead? With zero moral values, and a pathologically bad attitude?
Ah...yeah, but I also see that you're--
I'm all fucked up, he forged on. I'm going to piss you off on an hourly basis, if not more. But I love you.

I like how the H/h both had issues with their childhoods, and SMcK explored those issues enough to explain their actions (although I'll admit I could have read more about both their pasts). I really admired the heroine, Nina. She was tough, smart, and courageous, and became more confident with Aaro's growing love for her. I loved how she scolded him (and loved how he loved it!) and took no guff from him. I felt these two were truly equal partners in every sense of the word. She may have started out as a damsel in distress, but she more than pulled her weight as the story went along.

What's that? A smile? Alex Aaro never smiles...until he meets Nina...


Nina no longer makes her looks 'invisible' with Aaro's love...


My only problem with the book? Where was the epilogue? I realize SMcK left a few threads dangling (what about poor Miles--who by the way was a revelation in this book and I can't wait to read his story) and maybe she couldn't tell a proper epilogue without getting into Miles's story, but I still felt the story ended a bit abruptly. Just give me a couple more paragraphs about Nina and Aaro! Although that scene at the end on the beach...(*sigh*) For all you McCloud Family and Friends fans, you'll enjoy this one and I'll bet you'll be looking forward to Miles's story. 4 1/2 stars 400 Story Rating 4 Stars
Character Rating 4 Stars
Romance Rating 4 Stars
Heat Level 4 Stars
Overall Rating 4 Stars

WOW what a wild ride that was. It was a very interesting but somewhat crazy story line, that kept me very entertained. Of course this was a HOT one in the heat category, it's Shannon McKenna after all. Loved that Shannon added some of the other characters from this series to this book and let us know what is going on in their lives too. The ending was not as good as I wanted it to be despite that it ended happy, kind of. I hope the next book is Miles because we were left not really knowing what is going on with him and besides we have all been wanting his book and now I feel that he's all buff and tuff he's ready for his own book. So Shannon bring him on. One Wrong Move (McClouds Friends #9) One Wrong Move is great romantic suspense!!

Alex Aaro, heir apparent of his Ukrainian mafia family, has made a life for himself separate from the chaos and pain his father's business causes. However, he returns to New York upon hearing that his beloved Aunt is dying, if only to be able to say goodbye. As soon as he lands, he finds himself in the midst of a call-out for help from Bruno Ranieri. Bruno's wife's best friend is in dire straits and needs Aaro's help immediately. Torn between family and a request for help from a friend, Aaro eventually gives in and heads straight into a life and death adventure with social worker Nina Christie. Along the way, he discovers a passion that is not easily denied.

Social worker Nina Christie has been injected with an unknown drug, most disconcertingly by a close family friend. In addition, there are ruthless criminals tracking her every move who will stop at nothing to get rid of Nina. She is desperate and reaches out to her best friend for help. Now, the frightened but determined social worker not only has a group of mind-enhanced and murderous criminals after her, but Alex Aaro as well. The only difference? Alex is on her side, and is the only thing standing between her and certain death. The surprising passion she feels for him takes her breath away. But, while she trusts him to protect her, can she trust what she feels for him as well?

This is a fun, sexy, fast-paced, exciting read from one of my favorite authors, Shannon McKenna! The characters are well developed, and the story, as usual, is very interesting and well written. Alex Aaro is a fabulously sexy, brooding alpha male, and Nina Christie, as his counterpart, is smart, sassy and a little bit vulnerable. They are a terrific combination, and the sparks leap off the page from their first encounter. These two have quite an adventure together throughout the course of this book, in bed and out!

Shannon McKenna always delivers with her trademark sensuality, suspense and just the right amount of edge. This book is certainly no exception!

4 Stars!


**The release date for One Wrong Move is September 25, 2012.


***My thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the opportunity to read this early. 0758273479