Rebecca Zanetti - Winter Igniting

With nothing to lose, former cop Damon Winter agrees to an undercover op, infiltrating a cult in the dangerous post-Scorpius world. After one look at his new partner, he knows she belongs far away from not only the cult, but from him. She's sweet and kind and has no business being in peril, but she's determined to help. Suddenly, the part he's playing as her man explodes into a passion neither of them had expected.
April Snyder has survived loss, pain, and uncertainty. Now she's ready to live again. There's nothing left but to make a difference for others, so why not go undercover in the cult? Now all she has to do is keep it professional and ignore her handsome, deadly, overbearing partner, who's too sexy for her peace of mind. Intrigue, risk, and danger make for an irresistible temptation--until enemies close in, threatening everyone they've sworn to protect. 

Comment: This is the fifth story in the Scorpius Syndrome series by author Rebecca Zanetti. I've been positively surprised by the series despite featuring an apocalypse type story, something I usually don't like much. I had hopes for this one too but it wasn't as captivating overall.

In this story we have April as they protagonist, someone who has been a recurrent character in the series, and she is about to participate in a mission for the group. Along with her is Damon, one of the recently joined Mercenary elements to the Vanguard one. The two seem to be mutually attracted but Damon is as alpha like as they come and April is still seen as someone fragile after the death of her daughter in one of the first books.

As the mission moves forward to try to make certain a smaller group currently isolated within Vanguard territory, April and Damon have to decide if there is a chance they can be a couple or not...

The books in this series have been quite addictive to read and probably what I liked the most about them was how, despite such a dire theme and some less than interesting scenes (namely the ones from the villain's POV which I never like in any book), the focus still felt optimistic and the focus on the characters made me "forget" some of the less than good parts or details.

In this book I think the distracting elements just didn't work as well and although the issues the characters had to face were solved, the overall feel is that the story was not as engaging.

The relationship between hero and heroine is usually a strong point in the stories but in this case I couldn't find April and Damon to be that impressive together. Yes, they do seem to match or made to match in the necessary ways but their connection didn't feel that strong.

Damon has a very alpha personality despite the scenes where he acted like a more laid back guy before. I can understand the more active evidence of his personality now he is the main character but some of his attitude felt a bit too much sometimes.

As for April, she has always been fragile but not inept so I was not surprised she found more strength in her usefulness and in how she felt being with Damon. 

As a couple, though, I was convinced by their feelings.

In regards to the plot, of course I expected some more development in what is going on. I understand the need to keep things in a low level so that there is always something to add, to develop but I just think some things could just move on more quickly. It's not know if this will be a longer series or how many books will exist but it would be nice to see if the groups could move to a better spot, if there's a way to save those not in danger, if the enemies could be vanquished... it would also be nice to see the focus go from fighting enemies to establish a new society and how that would happen.

To me this book was a bit boring at times. The characters take some time to act, to decide...then if they do, there's something interrupting, something more important to do first... I get this tactic to keep a fast pace and the attention always on the page but at the same time, it can be a little complicated to remain interested if things are just being described and described and then it takes time to happen. In the other books this situation was not such a problem because the romance felt better but in this one, things were just more evident to me in how they didn't work.

The end of the story was positive, though. There is a specific situation that gives me hope the next one will focus on developing something new and that is hopeful. The next couple is also very promising in terms of a possible relationship.

I just hope the book can be balanced and the author keeps up with moving things forward instead of just hinting at some things over and over.

Grade: 6/10