Review Tuesday: Their Untameable Passion by A P von K'Ory #RomanticSuspense #ActionAdventure #ReviewTuesday

Their Untameable Passion by A P von K’Ory

AuthorMeProfessionals Press, 2023

Nicknamed “Gorgeous Ice Block” by her envious and admiring colleagues in the world of finance, Leontine “Leo” Boswell is fiercely intelligent and doggedly willful. Leo is determined to unearth the truth about her mother’s mysterious murder. In the course of her barely legal investigations, she takes risks that lead her into an ambush and she is kidnapped by the Phantom, a shadowy figure of enormous power. She finds herself half-naked, chained to the floor on a boat in the middle of the sea. Though Leo struggles to remain strong and rational, her captor knows how to wring the maximum anguish out of his stubborn but vulnerable prisoner.

Adrian Xerxes Cranford, Leo’s first and only lover, is in Europe on his own mission against the Phantom when he learns about Leo’s abduction. Crushed by the news, furious and desperate to save his “Adrian goddess”, he’ll move heaven and earth, crack skulls and slit throats, to set her free. First, though, he has to find her.

Their Untameable Passion is the third installment of A P von K’Ory’s Untameable erotic romance series. Unlike the first two books, which focused on Leo’s and Adrian’s incendiary erotic connection and their slowly developing mutual trust, this novel shifts into action/adventure mode. The story reads like a Mission Impossible episode, as Leo and Adrian individually fight to defeat a seemingly omnipotent adversary. Complicated plans, advanced intel-tech, split-second coordination... Ms. von K’Ory even has Adrian jumping out of a helicopter thousands of feet above the ocean.

The author keeps Leo and Adrian apart for nearly the entire book. Surprisingly, this amplifies the volume on their passion. Each of them suffers deeply from their separation and their worries about the other’s welfare. Their pain is visceral, mirroring the intensely physical nature of their relationship. There are no sex scenes at all in Their Untameable Passion, aside from memories and fantasies, yet the lovers’ constant focus on one another keeps the level of erotic tension high until the outrageous, thrilling conclusion.

Like much of this author’s work, this book is extreme in both plot and emotions. If someone summarized the novel for me, I’d probably giggle and shake my head at its lack of realism. As I read, however, I found myself suspending disbelief, carried along by the author’s confidence and conviction. Ms. von K’Ory clearly feels every nuance of her characters’ pain and passion. She manages to make this real and immediate for her readers. We’re passengers on Adrian’s and Leo’s roller coaster of lust and love. After the fact, we might wonder whether any of this is plausible, but while we’re on the ride, there are no doubts.

All in all, I greatly enjoyed Their Untameable Passion. When faced with adversity, Leo and Adrian come to a deeper understanding of how much they care for one another. They release their remaining resistance and mistrust of one another in the process of their life-and-death battle against the Phantom. Adrian, in particular, comes to realize that he literally cannot live without Leo – a humbling conclusion for someone so arrogant and macho. Despite its action/adventure trappings, this novel is true romance, providing a delicious HEA with a love so pure and powerful that it almost hurts – which is exactly what Leo and Adrian crave.