Susannah Sandlin – Storm Force

The first book in the Omega Force series, published June 18, 2013.
Genre: paranormal romantic suspense
Cover: Love it



When a bomb explodes inside a Houston high-rise and the governor of Texas goes missing in the ensuing melee, former army ranger Jack “Kell” Kellison and the Omega Force counter terrorism team are called into action. Their mission: infiltrate the activist group suspected of masterminding the bombing, neutralize the threat, and recover the hostage.
Yet within moments of meeting his prime suspect, beautiful environmentalist Mori Chastaine, Kell knows she’s innocent of the bombing – but definitely guilty of something. Mori has a secret, one she is desperate to hide from Kell and the rest of the world – a secret that binds her to a primal power hungry to assure its future, even at the cost of thousands of innocent human lives.
If Mori dares to reveal her true identity, will Kell join in her fight? Or will she become his next target?


Mori’s 25th birthday is coming up, and her time is running out. Her parents sold her in marriage when she was born, and that pact will have to be honored on her 25th birthday. Mori doesn’t want to marry the man as she can’t stand him, but she is the last female shifter of her species of childbearing age. If she does not want to doom them to extinction as their animal counterpart is, she will have to comply. All her attempts to reason with Michael Benedict have been for naught though, he will have her as his wife, and more importantly, the mother of his children, or he will destroy her and her parents.

The bombing in Houston is horrible, and Mori has lost one of her co-workers when the building fell on part of the highway. They were protesting the governor’s negotiations with foreign chemical concerns about starting a factory in the north of Texas. It is an important wild life preserve, but for the governor, the human needs are more important. The animals will just move on.

Just before Mori is taken in for questioning by the FBI and Homeland security, a gorgeous retired soldier wants to volunteer at their organisation. Reluctant at first, Mori agrees to have him help out, especially now they are being pointed at as the ones behind the bombing. People who have pledged donations are withdrawing their support en masse, and she needs to keep track of who owns them what.

The retired soldier is Kell, head of the Omega Force counter terrorism team, and he has been send to find out the truth. Is this group guilty of bombing the high rise, killing the governor of Texas and his foreign business men in the process, or are they framed. And if so, why. Kell needs to gain their trust and snoop around in the offices. And if necessary, he will get op close and personal with Mori. This is not a hardship for him, as he finds her very attractive and it has been a long time since he felt anything for a woman. He will do anything to keep his country safe, and if this woman really is a terrorist, breaking her trust doesn’t matter. But the attraction soon grows to more, and he wants to protect her, especially when he sees the nasty bruise on her face.

When Mori finds out that Michael is behind the bombing, as a special message to her, she is horrified. She cannot reveal her knowledge without revealing the reason behind it, and the fact that they are shapeshifters. The world doesn’t know they exist! She can turn to Kell for comfort for one night, but she knows she will give in to Michaels’ insane demands to prevent him from doing the same in New Orleans next week …


I am a fan of Susannah Sandlin’s Penton Legacy vampires, but I think this is her best book so far. I really enjoyed the set up, the characters and the story. At times Mori was naïve and way too trusting, but I did like her honesty and her efforts for the environment.
It was kept hidden a very long time what kind of shifter they are though, and I was surprised by the revelation. She did not really have a predatory nature, or an alpha vibe as is more usual in shapeshifters I read.

The Omega Force was a nice surprise, as it is made up of a normal human (Kell, a former Ranger), a human psychic, a human computer wizz, and some shapeshifters, including a female eagle. Robin was a great secondary character and loved teasing Kell, who had a hard time accepting that they are stronger and faster and just better than he is.

Kell fell for Mori like a log, he so did not see that coming. Now he had to choose between his mission of finding the terrorist who levelled a high rise in Houston, and being honest to Mori. Someone pointed the finger to Mori and her environmental group, and Kell did not want to believe her guilty of being able to kill so many people. But she clearly knew something, and he needed to find out what she was hiding.

As this book first came out as a serial novel on Amazon, it is fast paced and filled with action. I fell for the characters fast, and I really hope there will be more books in this series.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian