4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yet More Evidence Shomi Is Amazing, October 17, 2007
This review is from: Driven (SHOMI) (Mass Market Paperback)
Each new Shomi novel I read convinces me more and more that this new line is one of the best things to happen to romance in a very long time.
Raina is a strong woman, smart, driven and on the run from a diabolical man who threatens her very existence. She's thrown into a situation where she ends up taking on a mysterious and sexy stranger who challenges her control.
Wizard is sexy and strong and utterly not what he seems and Kenin (Eve Silver) draws out his story with a fine hand. As well as she does the emotion between these two characters.
I'm not always a fan of the big reveal of original intent where the heroine finds something out, feels betrayed, runs off and the hero saves her sort of thing - but again, in the right hands, it works like it does here.
Nail biting action, a very well developed world and great characters make Driven an absolute must read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! What a ride you'll find in Driven by Eve Kenin!, August 21, 2007
This review is from: Driven (SHOMI) (Mass Market Paperback)
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
Raina Bowen is a survivor. In the aftermath of a World War that decimated the population and left the northern realm a frozen wasteland, Raina makes her living as a truck driver delivering supplies to the northern population. Her latest trip has her competing against the maddest, baddest, toughest lot of fellow truckers a girl can meet - the Janson crew - in a competition to be the first to cross the finish line with their truckload of goods. Raina desperately needs the winnings she'd earn to protect her young sister she just recently discovered existed from a fate like Raina's own past. Additionally she wants desperately to take down the man responsible for her brutal past... Duncan Bane, the most powerful business man in the world and personal advisor to the President. But she needs the help of mystery man Wizard to succeed. Unfortunately she may have put her trust in the wrong guy...
Now Raina finds herself bailing Wizard out of a truckers' brawl where the odds are stacked against him. Then she discovers that the one job she needs from him he failed at miserably. Don't forget that pesky attraction to her mystery man that has her wishing to engage in a few more exciting ways to warm up a cold night in a frozen wasteland. Through Wizard's blundered attempt to get Raina the document she needed to win the race and her own unfortunate luck to have an enemy like Bane, they are being chased by the entire Janson crew... and a band of ice pirates who want the goods Raina is carrying. Wizard is anything but what Raina needs... or is he?
Wow! What a ride you'll find in Driven by Eve Kenin! Already a fan of Eve through her Gothic romances written under the name Eve Silver, I was quite excited about the opportunity to see what kind of story she could provide in a post-apocalyptic speculative fiction romance. I was most definitely not disappointed! All of the trademarks I've come to expect from her writing, under any name, were in evidence here. Action is unstoppable, the romance is hot enough to melt the entire Northern Waste, and the suspense of events unfolding made me unable to put Driven down!
Raina has had a rough life, rougher than most women could even dream about. But rather than let circumstances beat her into submission, Raina uses them to make her stronger and braver, determined to never be so helpless again. The more we learn about her past, the more remarkable of a woman she becomes. As past secrets of which even Raina had no idea about come unraveled, spilling their truths, I was totally awed by Raina's spirit.
Wizard is quite the enigma and makes what seems to be an odd choice for a male protagonist. After all how could someone who, as Raina puts it "didn't have much in the way of gray matter" be a very impressive hero? It's hard to put a finger on just who he is until he begins to tell his own story. Well appearances, and sometimes behavior, can be deceiving as we discover where Wizard is concerned. As little bits and pieces of his history and personality are revealed, Raina's opinion of him grows, and in turn, ours.
One might think that two people so steeped in history and the resulting baggage could never find there way out of the dark. However, Eve Kenin shows her remarkable talent for character development by giving us two such strong and memorable players. I was cheering them on from the moment I met Raina in all her glory at the truck stop in the very first paragraph and later Wizard when he shows up after having made enemies of just about every person you don't want to tick off. What could have been a dark story if the back story is anything to go on, was kept from being overwhelming by the dry and sarcastic humor, and even a little slapstick comedy once or twice, tossed in to the mix.
Eve Kenin's star is on the rise, no matter what name she writes under, as is proven in Driven. And if this novel is any indication, the new Shomi line from Dorchester Publishing is going to be a huge hit with fans of romance and science fiction alike.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, August 2007. All rights reserved.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful futuristic story, September 5, 2007
This review is from: Driven (SHOMI) (Mass Market Paperback)
When I picked up this book, I was a little in unsure how I would feel about it. Even though I loved her writing as Eve Silver (Gothic romance) I knew futuristic books mostly held little appeal to me.
But was I in for a surprise!
Raina got to me the minute I met her. She's hard, strong and a woman with a mind of her own. After her mother died her father changed and started drinking and pushing her to the limit physical and emotional. When she was 12 she was in the hands of Duncan Bane and that moment made both her future and gave Bane a life mission to hunt her down. Now she's all alone, rough on the outside en determined to rescue her sister. She can do without someone like Wizard.
Wizard is a mercenary. A lethal killer. He was the result of an experiment and raised by a computer. When discovered his skills were put to the test by Duncan Bane. So now Wizard sees a change to get even with him. But for the first time in his life he feels emotions he can't just put aside.
I loved this book. Raina and Wizard are both people that been through so much one can hardly imagine they still have the force to go on. Still they do... Step by step they open up, but never putting themselves in a position that makes them vulnarable.
We have the dark past, the passion and the action... And emotions... Lots and lots of emotions even if the two main characters claim to have none.
This is the first book Eve writes as Eve Kenin and I must say it's a wonderful story! I could see the 18 wheels thundering by on the icy décor. This story was so enthralling it left me yearning for more... Will we get the story of Yuriko and Tatiana?
Like I said, I'm not really into futuristic stories, but for this one I can tell you to make an exception.
Kenzo
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