Review: Ruthless Temptation by Ravenna Tate

We’re getting close now! Only one more book in a great twelve part series to go, and I’ll be a little sad. I loved “The Weathermen”, and I’ll miss them when they’re gone.

One of the reasons these books have been so good is that it feels like it could be a “real life” situtation somewhere in the future. Technology is a great thing. It can improve our lives in so many ways from health care to new discoveries in the rainforest and the ocean, and everything in between. However, it can also be dangerous. There are people out there who would use techology to destroy things. Whether their intentions are evil or not, this is a very real threat. Ravenna Tate has written such a detailed and obviously well researched world. Sure, there is romance and (very) hot sex between each couple, but to me, the fear of what could happen just jumps right out at me.

I always do a little rundown of the story as a whole before I get started on anything else, so bear with me.

In the year 2112, a group of scientists create a computer program they’ve called The Madeline Project. It’s goal is to release electrical pulses into clouds to try to prevent catastrophic storms like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and blizzards. In 2117, a real time test proves to be relatively successful, but there is a group of hackers who upload a virus into the project, and what happens is exactly what The Madeline project was trying to prevent. Apocalyptic storms make 85% of the Earth completely uninhabitable. Those who didn’t die in the storms have moved underground into “cities” built several years before during a nuclear war scare. A group of 12 very wealthy men, college friends, calling themselves “The Weathermen” , and they’re doing whatever they have to do to be able to bring society back up on to Earth’s surface.

In “Ruthless Temptation”, we meet Viggo Ingram. CEO of Ingram Properties, and just like the company’s name, he manages…well…property. He, along with the other Weathermen, have been working to find all of the hackers responsible for the Tommy Twister virus that ruined the Madeline Project. It’s becoming very important because the air in the underground cities is dwindling fast. Enter Madison Overton, employee of Homeland Cyber Security. She’s only been there a short time, and she’s not an agent, she’s an administrative assistant, but she overheard her boss talking to someone about a certain warehouse and what is going on there, and now she wants to find out the truth. Maybe get an important story about anything unseemly the Weathermen might be up to. She manages to get in to see Viggo, and she tries to pull off her ruse, but he sees right through her fairly soon and threatens to call her boss if she doesn’t tell him who she really is…and goes back to work to spy on her boss and report back to him.

The story really takes off from there. There is a lot of intrigue afoot. Are the hackers being held at the empty warehouse? Have The Weathermen and their right hand men found someone who can stop the virus? Is there a mole in the HCS? I absolutely love it all. Good mysteries are hard to find, and when I do find one, I tend to be able to figure out the whodunnit quickly. I was completely surprised and set off course so many times during the story as a whole. This impresses me to no end, and kudos to Ms. Tate!

Viggo and Madison are delicious as a couple. The chemistry is off the charts, and the sex scenes are smokin’! Hot sex isn’t the only thing they have going for them. The romance is very sweet. This is a great combination to have in a book/series like this.

There are plenty of background characters as everyone works together to try to save the world. The other Weathermen, their wives/fiancees, several trusted employees, and a few HCS folks as well, come together, and even though there are a lot of people, it’s not confusing or over the top. Everyone has their role, and they fulfill them well.

I’m not going to give anything else away. You have to read for yourselves. I cannot stress enough that you must read the entire series in order to be able to understand what is happening. If you pick this one up by itself, you’ll find yourself saying, “What the everloving F Word?” Start with book one, “Appetite for Blackmail” and move through each installment. The books are compelling, exciting, romantic, sexy, and even a tad scary (remember that whole technology thing). I recommend “The Weathermen” highly. Definitely grab these!