Book Review of The Royal Flush

Book Review of The Royal Flush

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Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Blurb : 

The Royal Flush is the third novel in the edgy, action-packed, sexually-charged, Knights of the Darkness Chronicles. In the third installment of this tale, the hunt is on! The coven, Pack and Pride must join forces to stop a group of big game hunters by any means necessary! Hold on to your seat as the Knights take you on yet another wild ride that will not let you go until the last word is read and the book is closed!

Original, sexy and gritty, the Knights of the Darkness Chronicles will suck you in and
take you for a ride you won't forget!

About the Author:

D. N. Simmons lives in Chicago IL., with a rambunctious German Shepherd that's too big for his own good and mischievous kitten that she affectionately calls "Itty-bitty". Her hobbies include rollerblading, billiards, bowling, reading, watching television and going to the movies.

She has been nominated at Love Romances and More, winning honorable mention for best paranormal book of 2006. She has won "Author of the Month" at Warrior of Words. She was voted "New Voice of Today" at Romance Reviews and "Rising Star" at Love Romance and More.

To learn more, and have the opportunity to speak with the author personally, please visit the official website and forum at www.dnsimmons.com . D.N. is always interesting in meeting new and wonderful people.

Contacts:

Website: http://www.dnsimmons.com

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/dnsimmonsKOTD?feature=watch

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DNSimmonsKOTD

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000552496587&ref=tn_tnmn

Blog: http://authordnsimmons.blogspot.com/?zx=824e0b32bd268e30

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Excerpt:

The Royal Flush

Chapter One

Walter Bailey, the owner of the Esquire Hotel chain, entered the brightly lit den and began eyeing the other occupants. Standing six feet tall, with thinning salt and pepper hair, thick mustache and eyeglasses, he looked as powerful and self-assured as any man could. He tossed an unopened pack of playing cards on a round green-felted table.

“All right everyone, what game have we chosen to play this time?” he asked. His brown eyes panned over the faces of his eleven comrades who were standing around the table. The other occupants, nine men and two women began darting glances at each other. Finally their gazes settled on the pack of cards.

“I say we play gin-deuces wild,” suggested Miriam Foster, the twenty-nine-year old president of Synblood Corporation; also a graduate from one of the country’s most prestigious colleges in only three years, which was most impressive. Even more so was the fact that in less than eight years she had risen to become one of the most powerful and famous female entrepreneurs in the country and the first woman to grace the cover of Parkers’ Business Magazine.

“Nonsense! Gin just isn’t appropriate. I’d say we settle this like gentlemen…” Richard Parker began. He paused, glancing at the two females and smiling slightly, he added. “... And ladies.” He settled into the chair in front of his gold name plate. “We’ll play poker this time around.”

As if on cue the others sat in their designated chairs, following Richard.

“What about the teams?” Walter Bailey asked.

Richard smiled. “We have two new members joining us for this hunt. So I suggest we separate into four teams of three. The team captains should decide who will be on each team.

 “Make no mistake, this will be an elimination round of poker. The winner of this game will have first choice for their hunt. Then the next team who wins the following game will choose out of the remaining prey and so on. Agreed?” He waited for a response from the others. The room was quiet as everyone considered the arrangement.

“Agreed,” they responded.

“Excellent, then it’s settled,” Richard said as he opened the box of cards, shuffling them evenly.

The seating arrangement was in representation of each person’s financial prestige. Richard Parker, the wealthiest man at the table and owner of the largest cigarette company in the world, Old Ports, sat in the upper center. In clockwise formation; to his immediate left was the second wealthiest person at the table, Miriam Foster, and so on, ending the circle with Andrew Houston, the vice president of Caster Financial Bank. The four longest standing members--Richard, Jesse, Amanda and Peter--were also the team captains who would decide which members would join their teams on the hunt. Richard dealt the cards and the game began.

The game was intense. Team captains Jesse Harthorn of Harthorn Advertising Agency and Amanda Patrick of Amanda’s Fashions folded in the first game which left the remaining team captains, Richard Parker and Peter Johnston in a head-to-head standoff. Peter was the owner of the KOTD Radio station, one of the top rated radio stations in the country. The station was well known for playing popular hits, both new and old. The members on Richard’s and Peter’s teams each hoped that their representing captains would win the game, thus gaining them the most coveted prey.

“Give it up, Peter, the vampire is mine,” Richard declared as he stared intensely at Peter in hopes that the other man would fold under the pressure.

“Enough talking. Lay down your cards... that is, if you’re not bluffing,” Peter challenged, a smirk spreading across his face as he glanced at his own set of cards.

“Not before you,” Richard’s round, blue eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Peter. He toyed with his lucky half-dollar coin in his other hand, twirling the coin between each finger.

“Why? Are you feeling defeated already?” Peter teased.

Richard smiled slyly, shaking his head. “No, of course not, I just hate to see you torture yourself. You have no chance of winning this game.”

“If you say so,” Peter retorted. “But I think that you may be too confident, Dick.” He placed his cards on the table making sure to spread them out, face up so that everyone could see. He smiled triumphantly at Richard. “A Straight Flush. Don’t worry, the other prey should provide you and yours with plenty of fun.” He chuckled as his hand snaked out to retrieve the slip of paper with the species of their prey written on it.

“Not so fast, my friend,” Richard protested, smiling wickedly at Peter as he exposed his cards, laying them on the table. “A Royal Flush.”

Peter’s triumphant expression faded as he looked up to see his opponent laughing.

Richard snatched the slip of paper from between Peter’s fingers.

“My team shall hunt the vampire,” he announced, rising from the table.

“Bastard,” Peter whispered softly, but Richard overheard him which caused him to laugh even more boisterously.

Richard approached Peter from behind, clamping his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Well, you know what they say, Peter. ‘Sometimes you win some, and sometimes you don’t.’”

Peter snorted. “I think the saying goes: ‘Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose’.”

Richard laughed. “You’d know, wouldn’t you. I’m sure you hear it a lot more than I do.”

“I could do without your belittling sarcasm, Dick,” Peter retorted.

“Now, now… none of that. Don’t be a sore loser, Peter. It doesn’t become you.” Richard looked at the others. “Please continue.”

With that, he left the room.

Amanda brushed her long blond bangs from her green eyes as she began dealing the second hand. The games continued until each team had chosen their prey. After winning the second game, Peter’s team chose the wolf. Amanda’s team chose the leopard and Jesse’s team would hunt and kill the tiger. Richard re-entered the room, eyes scanning over the others who were now casually chatting amongst themselves.

“I take it; every team has its mark?” Richard asked, bringing attention to himself.

“All we need are the weapons,” Peter said, he looked towards one of the men sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Richard nodded.

“George, how are the negotiations going with the contact? How much longer are we going to have to wait until we get our merchandise?” he asked. He was growing increasingly annoyed by the run-around they had been getting.

George sighed. “Well, it’s not as if we don’t have enough weapons to work with if we don’t get this ship-”

“That’s not what I asked you. I’m not concerned with the weapons we have. What I want to know is where are the weapons we’ve paid for?” Richard waited for his answer.

They had agreed to let George Masterson handle the arrangement for the weapons. Standing at six feet, with an athletic build. George was the third youngest in the group at thirty-five years old. He was also the manufacturer and distributor of KRS-19, UV-LG7 and SLN-22 weaponry exclusively designed for the renown S.U.I.T. organization.

However, the transaction was taking longer than expected, since they were having to work with a third party to cover their tracks. Unfortunately, it was their first time dealing with these new people and they were all growing impatient with how the arrangement was being handled. Especially Richard, he was a man that was very much used to getting exactly what he wanted, when he wanted it.

“I’m just making sure none of this can connect us,” George said in his defense.

“I want Brian to procure the weapons,” Richard demanded.

George’s brow furrowed in anger. “You don’t trust me to get the job done?”

“How can a cobra trust a rattlesnake?” Richard said with a smug smirk. “Have Brian report directly to me once he makes contact with your man. This is not a suggestion.”

“As you wish, but we should be receiving the shipment within the next three days, maybe sooner,” George said.

Richard huffed.

“Let’s hope that it will be sooner. We’ve already waited long enough as it is,” he complained.

“One more thing,” Governor Andrew Wallace began.

“And what's that?” Richard asked, eyebrows cocked.

“We need to make sure that none of this, and I mean none of this falls back on me. I can't risk being exposed.”

“You're not taking any more of a risk than the rest of us, Andrew. Why do you think I've gone through such annoyingly great lengths to make sure we have as much distance from us from our targets?” Richard waited for his response.

“I know, but it was some of my intel that got us our targets, I don't want to be linked to any of this,” Andrew said.

Richard huffed. “Were you exposed in Washington? Were you exposed in Colorado? How about in Miami?”

Andrew shook his head.

“No? So why the sudden paranoia now?” Richard asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“It's closer to home for me and I just want us to be careful, that's all,” Andrew said.

“Oh for crying out loud, if you don't have the balls to go through with this, Andrew, get out now. Otherwise, shut the hell up about it. Either you trust me or you don't. Which is it?” Richard glared at the man.

Andrew sighed. “I trust you.”

“Anybody else having reservations?” Richard asked the others.

They all shook their heads or remained silent.

“Good. Now if you would excuse me.” Richard turned and exited the room.

Review

OMG.  I loved book 1, but book 2 was just as good or even better.  I loved the growing relationship between Natasha and Darian and Xavier.  So sexy.  The hunt (see excerpt) was a thrilling addition.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.