Brightwing [Kindle Edition]

Sullivan Lee (Author)

Book Description

Brightwing
A Criminal Love Story
Edgar and Mallory Battle are on the run after a spectacularly violent escape. Now, with a trail of bodies behind them, they need a hostage against the inevitable standoff with the police. Their first doesn’t last long, thanks to sociopathic Mallory. Edgar has been hiding his brother's crimes since they were kids. Now he’s torn between family loyalty and self-preservation.

They carjack Lucy Brightwing, a criminal fresh from her own heist, with a fortune of uncut gems hidden in her vehicle. She could escape – but she won’t abandon her millions. She could kill the Battle brothers, but she has to be careful. For one thing, if the law investigates, they’ll find her ill-gotten loot. For another, her own life is sacred. She’s the last member of a Florida paleoindian tribe thought to be extinct – the Tequesta. With her share of the money she plans to buy, bribe and blackmail her way into her own ancestral tribal lands in the heart of the Everglades: a Tequesta nation.

Lucy leads the brothers into her beloved swamp, determined to kill them. But when she falls for Edgar she must decide whether to risk her heritage and the future of her tribe to save the doomed brothers.

Product Details

• File Size: 542 KB
• Print Length: 268 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Laura L. Sullivan (July 6, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005BHR61I
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,762 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Aspiring July 21, 2011

By Isirius

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

As an early work this book is not a bad one, I have read much worse from professionally published authors. The dialog is well thought out, the actions scenes nicely constructed and the overall flow of the book pleasing. The chief complaint I have is that this book still aspires to be more than it has become.

The main character is practically perfect in every way. Lucy is an ass-kicking, suave, aggressive femme-fatal who can beat any odd flung her way. She can find a way out of any situation without any major consequences for her actions which roll off her like water. Nothing weighs on her, and in the end there is no question of her winning everything she wants. In the end the solutions to all her problems practically fall into her lap simply because she's Lucy, She Who Cannot Fail.

A lot of authors have trouble with the ending. It is important to get the opening of a book just right, to tickle the imagination and interest the reader. But it is just as important to get the ending to the perfect point in the story that you do not leave your readers wondering "what just happened?". An open ending is possible to set up for a sequel, but this book did not give that impression. I ended up troubled by what felt like the authors wish to continue, that there were more things that needed to be said but not enough pages to say them. There was no definite ending to one chapter in Lucy's life to eventually be continued in the next chapter, a sequel. New problems cropped up in the last 10 pages with hasty resolutions that felt forced, and new characters were introduced randomly and suddenly without supporting background.

THIS IS A SPOILER FOR THE ENDING: Mallory's ending left the most questions. Mallory is left alive at the end, after raping and torturing his way through the book, in the care of people who want to build a new and better nation. Granted, they're not good people, but Mallory is far worse than their type of bad. There is no restriction to his movements, no warning to the women he may eventually torture and rape, only the hope that he can perhaps be cultivated into being a good little monster. Supposedly Lucy is making a safe haven for her people, but it seems doomed to failure from the beginning just by his presence. Too many possibilities popped up into my head as I read the "resolution" Lucy had come to regarding Mallory, to many conveniences to his psychosis and to many assumptions about their ability to control him.

I can see this book eventually reaching its aspirations, overall I was pleased enough with the story line to justify its purchase. However if it is to go mainstream it will need adjustment.

3.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Cocktails and Books January 22, 2013

By Cocktails and Books

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Brightwing is an incredibly unique and quite enjoyable mystery/thriller. It took me a few chapters to get in to the story, which started out slowly. However, after having gotten in to the story, I appreciated the author's pace and creativity.

The story centers around three main characters: Lucy, Edgar and Mallory. Each is a criminal running from the authorities. Lucy just pulled off a heist worth millions, and Edgar and Mallory are fugitives on the run from a deadly escape. When their paths cross, they all have hidden agendas to keep themselves alive and free. All three of these characters are incredibly well written with flawed personalities that make you love them and hate them at the same time.

As a mystery lover, I can appreciate a thrilling suspense and Brightwing delivers that and much more. If you are looking for a unique story with great characters, this book is definitely worth picking up.

Reviewed by Marie for Cocktails and Books.

3.0 out of 5 stars Whatever Two men can do, A woman can do better. July 31, 2012

By Bitchita

Format:Kindle Edition

The cover of the book is amazing by the way, aside form the girl wielding a gun, which I do not really like, the surrounding environment and images was pretty cool.

"The early fry cook would find her, and probably not rape her....."

When the first few pages of a book makes you laugh out loud, it can only mean two things....

Pitbulls are the softest, gentlest dogs in the world.... until they decide not to be.

So far, the self published authors have managed to hold their end, though I am not sure if I should categorize Sullivan as a self-published author, from what I hear, she has dabbled in the traditional route for quite some time. Anyways......

The characters in this book, BRIGHTWING, were real and developed. We have Lucy, a bold thief and a native American of some royal status, we have Edgar, who is also a thief, but is really bothered with his brother Mallory who is well..... kind of a retarded, messed up, trigger happy sociopath....

All I just need is a minute with this guy Mallory if Sullivan would permit, and he would be dead in a giffy..... yeah that's how much I hated him. And I think it is a good thing because for every character you fall in love with, there should be one you hate, one you feel sorry for, and one who is insignificant, and this author provided all of that.

The one thing that got me in this book is the fact that Edgar has spent his whole freaking life trying to defend the bastard of a brother Mallory, covering up for his mistakes, meanwhile deep down, he secretly wishes Mallory was dead but cannot just bring himself to kill him. I think that right there was reality at its fullest height. I found myself hating Edgar for this, but Sullivan Lee quickly gave an explanation on why Edgar hadn't put two shiny ones in the sucker's head. He made a promise to their mother.

The female protagonist was kick ass. Lucy is determined, she is smart and almost always accomplishes whatever she sets her mind to do. I loved how she ended up with the two brothers when they kidnapped her, but I did not like the idea of Lucy falling for Edgar, I felt he was lily-livered and was too much of a coward for Lucy to have fallen for him.

Sullivan Lee let her characters guide her if that makes any sense. One minute the motivations of the characters are established, and the next, they do something else and you're like SERIOUSLY!

Then there's the Tequesta tribe, Lucy's native tribe. The way Sullivan interwove the legend was nicely done. Another highlight of this book was how slowly Edgar realized that their hostage, Lucy, was a lot more crime-oriented than they were.

That being said. I would like to pin point the annoying, eye-raising, mind-beating, and energy-sapping points in this book.

There comes a time when meticulous can become annoying. Sullivan gave us every little detail to the point that I started having headaches. I also felt that Lucy should have escaped from her captors since she was given enough opportunities.

Generally speaking though, I honestly think that this is not a book strong enough to evoke an emotion such as to make you really hate it, or really love it. It was an in-betweener for me.
The plot was really unique without trying too hard to be, in the sense that all the characters were bad, so you had to side for which of them was worse than the other.

On a side note, Lucy of BRIGHTWING and Aloysia of THE SEPTAVALENT STONE is what, Bella, Nora and Lucshka could have been if they were in the same age brackets. Yeah Lucy was falling in love with Edgar but not for once did she forget her initial goal and dream.

I would definitely be picking another book from this author. I only hope she can dull down her details because I really can't be going to the pharmacy to get a packet of Aspirin each time I want to read a book by Sullivan Lee.

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