Insatiable by Lauren Dane (Phantom Corp #1)
Erotic Sci-Fi Romance
July 6, 2010
Trade Paperback, 352 Pages
Berkley Trade

Today, my friend Belinda aka Bells, from Hanging With Bells is guest reviewing. Take it away Bells!

Insatiable is book #3 in the Federation Chronicles Series, but branching off to book #1 in the Phantom Corps Series as well.  The Phantom Corps is a group of mercenaries that work for the Federation and pretty much do all the dirty work such as killing people and keeping it secret. I don’t usually like to start a book in the middle of a series, but I really wanted to read this book. Okay yes, the cover totally made me want to read it. I am a cover whore and would totally have bought this book just to stare at it.

Daniel, who runs the Phantom Corps division of the Federation, is very good at his job and is hunting down the man who hurt his sister in the past. Daniel takes great joy in making the man suffer before he dies. Once his job is complete, he updates the leader of the Federation, happily married to Daniel’s sister.

The enemy of the Federation, The Imperial Verses, is run by an evil dictator by the name of Ciro Fardelle. We learn about his evil ways throughout the book and I can truly say that this guy is scum. He offers his only daughter, Carina, to an older man that just so happens to be a Minster in his government. Once Carina’s mother finds out what her husband is up to, she sets a plan into action to get her daughter as far away as she can get. She has valuable information against her husband and uses it to strike a deal to get her daughter out of the universe. I found myself tearing up reading about Carina’s mother’s sacrifice to save her daughter. She does not want her daughter to live the life that she has and is willing to make a great sacrifice to ensure she is safe. She manages to contact the Federation and offers the information in exchange for them transporting her daughter to safety. This is when Daniel’s job comes into play. He is sent to the Imperil Verses to transport Carina, who has the information against her father imbedded into her skin, to the Federation. Along the way, Daniel and Carina’s attraction to one another grows.

I found the banter between Daniel and Carina funny at times. It was a nice distraction from the danger that they faced while traveling. They learn more about each other along the way and Carina realizes that although Daniel is a trained killer, she is falling in love with him. Her attraction to Daniel gets so strong that she decides to let him know that she wants him, and Daniel gives in to his attraction to her as well. I am a fan of Lauren Dane’s smexy scenes and found them  to be very hot as well as touching. Daniel holds back from Carina as much as he can because he feels that he doesn’t deserve her. He feels that his job taints him and that she deserves someone much better than him. Carina on the other hand couldn’t care less. She just knows that he put his life on the line to save her, and that makes her love him even more.

This part of the book got a little long winded for me. There were many stops and checkpoints that the characters had to go through to get to safety. I understand that they had to travel a great distance to get to their destination, but it was kind of long and drawn out for me. The only good thing about this part of the book is we get to see Daniel and Carina have sex in different locations and in lots of different positions. *points at self* Smut lover over here! Carina is the type of woman to not hold her tongue, and asks Daniel to teach her different things about having sex. I found her questions and some of his answers to be a waste of time. Do we really need to learn that the word ‘vagina’ is an Earth bound word? Carina speaks frankly from this point on letting Daniel know exactly what she likes. Now I like a man that talks dirty, but I found Daniel’s dirty talk not sexy at all. I just didn’t get turned on by some of the things that he was saying.

Towards the end, Daniel must leave because after all, he does have an important job. Carina does not like this and we have to hear her complain several times that she doesn’t want him to go. She even has the nerve to say this to the leader of the Federation! He let’s her know that just because she and Daniel are a couple, Daniel is not going to stop doing his job. Even Daniel tells her this but she still complains about the issue. I understand that she is young and in love and doesn’t want to see Daniel get hurt, but goodness! I just wanted to reach through the book and slap her around a couple of times! I wanted to yell "Hello! The man is a trained killer and he has a job to do!" I seriously think that she thought he was going to give up his high rank and stay home all day to teach her about sex. Daniel leaves not too long after they arrive and asks his sister to watch after Carina while he is gone. At this point we still get to hear her complain to his sister that she misses Daniel and that he is in danger. There is a war going on and people are dying! I felt that Carina had the potential to become a strong female character by overcoming everything that had happened to her but instead she falls short.

I’m giving Insatiable a rating of *3* Bells.

I don’t think I will be interested in reading any more of the remaining books in this series. I am a huge fan of Lauren Dane and feel that her other series have stronger characters. One final word, I am in love with the cover.

Rating: 3/5

Recent Reviews:
Lynette’s Two Cents – B
Babbling About Books and More – B+
Pearl’s World of Romance – 7.8/10
Leontine’s Book Realm – 2.5/5
Goodreads