breathless updatedRating: 2.5 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novella


Corey Shaw is a detective with the Psionic Corps, a special branch of law enforcement that uses the abilities of psychics to help catch criminals. When his relaxing weekend at home with his partner of six years, Ethan, is interrupted by a phone call from the sheriff, Corey has no choice but to go. A young man has been found dead in Provincetown and Corey’s abilities are needed to track the killer. Provincetown is hosting Mates weekend—a big gathering for all those into the BDSM lifestyle—and Corey goes knowing that he may have to go undercover in order to investigate.

Once there, it’s clear to Corey that the young man’s death is the result of a BDSM scene gone wrong. In fact, he thinks it’s possible that it’s the result of an execution fantasy gone too far. He contacts his fellow psychics through the link they all share and ultimately finds out that there have been several similar murders throughout the country. So Corey dons his leather gear and goes in search of information. At one club, he gets invited down into the dungeon. Surprised by how turned on he is by the exchange of power, Corey ends up mastering and having sex with a Master. But while Corey is momentarily forgetting his purpose for being in Provincetown, another young man is murdered.

Realizing he screwed up, Corey is more determined than ever to find the man that is doing this. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to find the murderer, even if it means using himself as bait. And Corey nearly loses his life to bring the man to justice.

Okay, um, wow. This story was unbelievable, and I mean that in the truest sense of the word. The premise was good. I liked the whole idea of it, but it was lacking in execution. I found myself shaking my head at just about every turn, unable to understand just exactly what the author was going for. There was really not a whole lot that worked for me in this story.

The whole psychic premise had a lot of potential, but I think it was too underdeveloped to really take off. There were times I was confused about what the abilities truly were, and there were other times when a lot of information about the psychic powers was just kind of dumped into the text. I was left with more questions than answers about how it all worked and that feeling left me puzzled when a “new” power was brought into the fold. It seemed like there was too much going on here to really be effective.

Corey is an inconsistent character. He’s likable, for the most part, but I didn’t relate to him or feel invested in him. It wasn’t until the last chapter of the story that I really felt we got to see him, and I liked the development in his character at this point. But before that, he’s very unpredictable. One minute full of confidence and determination, the next completely ignoring everything he’s supposed to be doing with nary a thought.  He says he takes his work seriously, but then ignores his job in favor of having sex. And this is after he promised his partner that he wouldn’t even be tempted. Corey doesn’t give Ethan a single thought until long after the fact. I don’t necessarily have a problem with cheating in stories if it drives the plot, but it bothered me here that Corey could so easily forget his responsibilities to his job and his partner.

As for the mystery surrounding the murders, everything seemed a little too contrived. Corey instantly knows it’s an execution fantasy that killed the young men, he gets all the information he needs over a relatively short period of time, and then the murderer practically falls into his lap. Once he’s caught, the murderer then almost immediately confesses, though he says it was an accident. And this is after Corey nearly dies and only manages to save himself at the last possible second. If he’d been alone, he would have died.

I hate to say it, but I can’t recommend this book. Morgan has a lot of promise as an author, and I wouldn’t be opposed to reading his work in the future, but Breathless missed the mark for me.

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