Intent to Kill Review Tour! (+$25 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway!)

Title: Intent to Kill 
Author: Ryshia Kennie
Series: N/A
Pages: 243
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Date Published: October 18, 2013
Format: eBook
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours 

Synopsis:
A ruthless band of smugglers will stop at nothing to strip Cambodia of its priceless artifacts, even if it means using and killing female tourists. Journalist Claire Linton knows she’s on to the story of a lifetime. But for Claire, it’s personal too: long before her “Uncle Jack” came to the U.S., he was held captive in the nightmarish killing fields of Cambodia, and Claire senses there might be a connection between that long-ago bloody history and the dark crimes plaguing the country today.

Simon Trent is a burnt-out Interpol agent who quit the service and was forced to disappear after his last case turned fatal. But with the resurgence in smuggling and all signs pointing to the man who once escaped his grasp, he comes out of hiding to finish the job that’s haunted him for years. What he doesn’t see coming is Claire, the beautiful and headstrong reporter who may be a threat to his case—and to his heart.

As Claire and Simon reluctantly join forces to unravel a mystery that reaches deep into her family history and may be his only chance at redemption, they must fight to stay one step ahead of a brutal killer—and one step away from the dangerous feelings building between them.

~~~My Thoughts~~~

Before I begin, might I be able to draw your attention to the cover. Never in my life have I seen a more attractive Bicep, and may I just say, that I really REALLY would like tickets to that particular gun show... *wolf whistles* *catcalls* etc. etc. Sorry about that...give me a moment to calm down a bit and then I can get to the review. :) 

In addition to the very seductive cover, the book itself was full of heat and thrills. The main character, Claire, is investigating an series of smuggling incidents in Cambodia. On her journey, she discovers secrets not only about dangerous people, but about her own family and discovers the true peril that she is in. Simon is a broken man. After a botched assignment sent him into hiding and got his girlfriend killed, he's out for revenge on the person behind it all: Samnang. As Claire's and Simon's agendas overlap, they are thrown together in a tangled web of mystery and thrill. Not to mention the irresistible attraction that is keeping the two in each other's hair, and constantly in danger!

One of my favorite things in Literature is when you get taken outside of the typical setting of North America. I love "seeing" other countries and settings that I have never seen before, and I got to go on the ride of a lifetime with Claire as she traveled to Cambodia and attempts to solve vicious and grisly murders and disappearances that are taking place.  While Claire's character actually seemed a bit ditzy to me, I liked her overall. There were a few moments of "wow, don't do that you idiot" where you just know she is making a mess for herself, but after you get over that you can really get in touch with who she was as a character and that made up for it. I liked Simon. I didn't really feel like I got to know him all that well though. He was a good character, but a bit flat if you know what I'm talking about. He could have been great if he just had that touch of depth or that character flaw that gives him true substance. Still Intent to Kill was a thrilling and entertaining read and I would be happy to read another book from Ryshia in the future! 

~~~Try an Excerpt!~~~

He wanted to kill him as brutally as others had been killed.

He wanted to watch him bleed, hear him scream.

Simon Trent stilled his thoughts by sheer willpower. Revenge wouldn’t change any of it. No one lived because someone else died. He had to focus on what was real and on the danger they might face tonight.

He crouched near the fragile ruins where the land first began a long and leisurely sprawl toward the lake. He took a breath and then another. The hot Cambodian night closed around him.  Ahead the vast expanse of Lake Tonle glistened as the moon slipped from behind a cloud and temporarily cleared the darkness. To his right, in the distance, he knew that the shadowed spires of Angkor Wat loomed and beckoned in the darkness as they had so many nights before. A cricket grated. Its rough-edged call was loud in the deceptive silence, where only the distant lapping of the lake reminded him of why they were here. And as much as he didn’t want to be here, as much as he was ready to hang it all up, he’d toughed out over a year in isolation for this moment. It was the most difficult assignment of his life, but he’d see it through and then it was over.

He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. It came away damp. The air was slightly dank and reminded him of how close they were to the shoreline. There was nothing but sunbronzed soil and patches of ground-hugging brush between here and there. He could see the area clearly in his mind as he remembered the last time he’d been here, in daylight, over a year ago. It didn’t seem like much time had passed since he’d last stood on this flat, slightly sloped patch of land that fronted the lake. He could visualize the dock about seventy-five feet away. And he could see what he didn’t want to, the tragedy that had begun here.

~~~Meet Ryshia!~~~

The Canadian prairies are where Ryshia Kennie makes her home with her husband and one opinionated and slightly geriatric, Irish Terrier.  The winner of her city’s Writing Award in 2011, her novels have taken her characters from the depression era prairies in her first book “From the Dust” to the ancient stones of Angkor Wat in her latest book, “Intent to Kill”.  There’s never a lack of places to set a story as the too long prairie winters occasionally find her with travel journal in hand seeking adventure on foreign shores.  While facing off a Monitor Lizard before breakfast or running through the Kasbah chased by an enraged Water Carrier aren’t normal travel experiences and might never find a place in one of her stories, they do make great travel stories.  But it’s the memories of those exotic worlds, the smell of the spices, the words of a stranger, the furtive look one man gives another, that often become the catalyst for a suspenseful story with a deadly villain and an intrepid hero and heroine who must battle for their right to love or even their right to live, in a place that neither may call home.  For more, visit her website at http://www.ryshiakennie.com.

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