Stronger Than Sin (SINS #2) by Caridad Piñeiro
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
November 1, 2010
Paperback, 336 Pages
Forever

Reviewed by Tori

Dr. Liliana Carrera was abducted by the Wardwell scientists and almost died. Since her rescue, she has has devoted all her energies to analyzing and trying to cure the experimental gene therapy that was forced on her sister-in-law who was also a victim of the Wardwell scientists strange experiments. When the FBI approaches her with the opportunity to help former pro athlete Jesse Bradford who was a patient at Waldwell and who’s gene therapy has gone terribly wrong she jumps in to help. Having treated Jesse before, Liliana is not only familiar with Jesse’s reputation as a womanizer, but also his explosive temper. As Liliana Jesse, she realizes that Jesse and the FBI are hiding something.

Dr. Liliana Carrera is an intelligent, low key woman who is adamant in her goal towards curing her sister in law. When she’s offered the chance to work with another victim of the Wardwell scientists she feels this may be what she needs to achieve her goal. But Jesse Bradford scares her. She has a violent past history with angry men and having treated Jesse before, she remembers Jesse is about as angry as they come. She comes into their “relationship” already viewing him in a negative way but vows to still try and help him.

Jesse Bradford is the poster boy for bad boys. At least that’s how the tabloids portray him. A gorgeous former football star; a rare bone degenerative bone disease cut his career short. As a last resort, Jesse submitted to radical gene manipulation therapy only to find that you need to be careful what you wish for. Now his genes are mutating and the FBI assures him they can "help" if he does something for them.

As his attraction to Liliana becomes deeper, he realizes that he will have to come clean with her. But he fears what will happen to them and his family if he does.

This is my first time reading Caridad Pinerio. I did not read her first of this series, Sins Of The Flesh, but read some wonderful reviews so I decided to give this one a try. I’m sad to say I had a hard time connecting to this book. While the over all arc is interesting, renegade scientists using whatever means necessary to test their gene manipulation experiments, I felt the story here was under developed. The surface is skimmed but never fleshes out. We know from the beginning who the villain is and his objectives are revealed with equal swiftness. We don’t see much of Waldwell which surprised me. They are, after all, part of the main arc. It becomes clear that the romance is the main storyline and the suspense is visibly sacrificed for that.

I had a problem with Liliana and was unable to connect with her. I found some of her actions to be a bit self righteous and cold. While she questions the FBI’s involvement and their treatment of Jesse-she doesn’t do anything about it for most of the book. That bothered me seeing she is a Dr and she knows what he has been through-regardless of her personal feelings. You see an internal conflict-do I help him or do I keep mouth shut and get the samples I need to try and help sister in law? While I didn’t think she should jump immediately on his side, I did question her ethics during certain scenes. Her constant internal dialog about Jesse as being a womanizer and having a temper became repetitious.

Jesse Bradford was a little easier to get to know. We knew from the beginning why he is doing what he is doing but I felt certain issues could have been addressed early on and that may have allowed for a deeper storyline. His insecurities are heart tugging and he fleshes out better then Liliana. We are able to see the emotional and physical demands that have taken a tole on him and his reasons for deception are viable.

Watching Liliana and Jesse develop a relationship stalls the story and without a viable suspense plot to counteract that-it stalls frequently. While I enjoy subterfuge and misunderstandings as much as the next person, an over abundance crosses the line from tantalizing to "oh for the love of God just tell them already." Once the misunderstandings are worked out, the relationship suddenly works for them. But I didn’t believe it. Unfortunately the author does to well of a job convincing me they are not right for one another that it colored my perceptions as well.

There are some secondary characters that keep you guessing but as with our protagonists-I didn’t see a development with them. They stay one dimensional for me.

As we near the end the story it does pick up speed. Jesse and Liliana finally trust each other enough to compare notes and realize what is actually going on. As we enter into the climatic final scenes I was disappointed to find that once again the suspense and action are regulated to the back burner and we are handed a gift wrapped ending. There is a nice epilogue, which I admit I’m a sucker for, which gives us a clue to Liliana and Jesse’s life after all this. It also leaves us with a clue to the next story in the series.

While I’m sure many readers will find this story and series much to their liking-it was not for me.

Rating: D

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Goodreads

This Series Includes
Sins of the Flesh
Stronger Than Sin

Author’s Website.