Review: Heat of the Storm by Elle Kennedy (Out of Uniform #3)

Publisher - Samhain Publishing
Publication Date - 23th July 2009
Genre - Erotic Romance

Source - Purchased

Rating - 4 out of 5: I really liked it.

Book Info - Lieutenant Will Charleston has waited fifteen long years to show up as anything other than a one-pixel blip on Mackenzie Wade's romantic radar. If a powerful storm is what he needs to send her into his arms, he'll take it. Once the hot sex is over, though, she seems determined to kick him right back into the friend zone.

Not this time. This time, he's going to teach her the meaning of tenacious.

Mackenzie has always had feelings for Will, feelings she fights with all her strength. He's her best friend, her safety net. The one man who's not scared of her accursed psychic gift. No doubt he drives her wild in bed, but their night of passion was more than a mistake. It generated a tragic vision of the future, one that leaves her more confused--and afraid--than ever.

Problem is, Will knows her too well. Plus he's a SEAL to the bone. And they don't like to lose...

My Thoughts - Heat of the Storm is the third instalment in Elle Kennedy's Out of Uniform series, about a bunch of SEALs and the women who love them. I absolutely loved the first two books so held very high hopes for this novella. And i was not disappointed in the slightest.

This is Will's story. He has always kept a bit of a distance from the other SEALs that he works with - he's the quiet, reserved member of the group who likes to keep his business to himself. I really liked Will. He has been in love with Mackenzie for a number of years and he is her best friend and confidant. He has stood by her side as men have come and gone in her life and has been the only constant in her life as other, weaker men have decided that Mackenzie's visions of the future are too much for them to deal with. And I have to admit that I fell a little bit in love with him because of his loyalty to her, despite the fact that they've never taken things further than just being friends. Will would have been perfect for me, except for one small thing... in this novella Will has become convinced that Mackenzie has feelings for him and so is no longer willing to sit on the sidelines anymore, and his desperation to make her trust him and love him means that he makes some pretty big mistakes. These mistakes are completely understandable and, in some ways do make Mackenzie come to her senses, but as I was reading I did start to feel pretty frustrated that the patience and loyalty that I'd loved about him right from the very first page... no, when his situation with Mackenzie was first bought to the readers attention in the previous novella... seemed to disappear before my very eyes. But Will is still the type of character that will have the reader cheering for him from the very offset.

Mackenzie is also a character that will have the readers caring for her and cheering her on to find her happiness with Will. She has been plagued with visions from the future her whole life - some of them pretty horrific ones - but she is stuck with the awful knowledge that no matter what she does she can't do anything to stop these tragedies that she witnesses ahead of time. Because of this, men have never stuck around in the past meaning that she's had her heart broken a time or two, so now she is unwilling to get involved with another man. Especially Will, her best friend, the only man who has stuck around in her life. She doesn't want to lose him when he realises that her visions are too much to cope with. It is impossible not to feel for Mackenzie and the burden she carries through life.

And the chemistry between these two characters, right from the very first page is smokin' hot! Elle Kennedy is certainly very good at writing a sex scene that will leave the reader feeling hot under the collar. Will is very much a take charge man in all aspects of life, what with being a SEAL and all, and this doesn't change in the bedroom. He knows that Mackenzie always keeps herself under very tight control because of her visions - but he also knows she craves a lover who will take control for a while so that she doesn't have to worry about a thing - and the results are quite spectacular!

Summary - Another great instalment from one of my favourite erotic romance series. I really can't recommend this series enough.

Other books in the series:
1. Heat of the Moment
2. Heat of Passion
3. Heat of the Storm
4. Heat it Up
5. Heat of the Night
6. The Heat is On
7. Feeling Hot
8. Getting Hotter
9. Hotter Than Ever