"The idea of time travelling to fix the past...never gets old." #Kindle #BookReview

Storm Riders

by Karen Michelle Nutt

Genre: Western/Steampunk

Book Synopsis

The day before his scheduled hanging, Ace McTavish is visited by an unusual, captivating woman who points a knife at his throat and then kisses him breathless. With a promise of rescue before the big event, Samantha Skelley reluctantly leaves her latest assignment in his jail cell. With her partner, Denny Randeli, she's been sent to 1879 in the boomtown of Bodie, California, not only to keep this man from hanging, but to make sure he stays alive afterward. However, Ace has an agenda of his own, and Sammy and Denny soon learn keeping him alive might not be as easy as it sounds.

Bec's Rating

Bec's Review

If I had to describe Storm Riders in one word it’d be fast. Not only is it a fast read but the action in the book happens fast and this includes the love side of things. While I am used to reading romance books where the two characters fall in love at first sight or over a span of very few days, much like this book, I didn’t feel the action in the book justified the connection Ash and Sammy seemed to feel for each other. Whatever their feelings I just wasn’t buying them. Clearly there needs to be more material in the book to justify the romance because what was in the book just didn’t sell the couple for me.

Perhaps this is because the book skips the three act format to romance novels. We get the couple falling in love (albeit far too quickly) and we get the story ending but we don’t get the conflict in the middle that makes a romance story great even at the same time that you know it is coming. Sure there is a bit of action in the middle but it is less concerned with the relationship between Ash and Sammy and more a secondary plot device. There is no large fight between the two, no argument or even a spat that they have to work through to prove their love for each other, instead you get everything moving along far too quickly and a relationship which just seems forced.

Perhaps I’m being overly critical on the romance side of things, however I do feel that a longer book, with more scenes between Ash and Sammy, would have me buying into the romance more. Despite not feeling that the couple were well suited this book was an okay and short read. Despite claiming to be a steampunk book there is little mention of the genre beyond a few gadgets or weapons that are mentioned in passing, which disappointed me a little as I would have liked to have seen more of that. The idea of time travelling to fix the past is one that has been done many times, but for me it never gets old so I did like the premise of the story. It’s just a shame that the romance side of things let it down so. This book would be an interesting read, if only it was longer.

Disclaimer: May not be appropriate for children due to violence.