Street Game (GhostWalkers, #8) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Jun 29, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal-romance, favorite-or-autobuy-author, soldier-or-military, family, alpha-hero, favorite-series, 2012-sky-s-the-limit-club, part-of-a-series, hot-and-steamy-romance, owned-copy

Continuing my GhostWalkers reread because I get withdrawal if I don't visit my GhostWalker peeps often. I read this between June and July, 2017.

New Thoughts:

Mack is less off-putting to me in previous rereads. I think he's a strong personality and he took some things in his relationship with Jaimie for granted, which he learned the hard way. I think that he needs to stop treating her like she's his subordinate. I am glad that Jaimie made it clear how she feels on things, and has a way of handling Continuing my GhostWalkers reread because I get withdrawal if I don't visit my GhostWalker peeps often. I read this between June and July, 2017.

New Thoughts:

Mack is less off-putting to me in previous rereads. I think he's a strong personality and he took some things in his relationship with Jaimie for granted, which he learned the hard way. I think that he needs to stop treating her like she's his subordinate. I am glad that Jaimie made it clear how she feels on things, and has a way of handling him to deal with his bossiness but also to make sure she gets what she needs in their relationship. I enjoyed their romance, but my favorite part of this book is getting to know Team 3 and their family dynamic. I loved that this team is very much a family, and while the other teams operate that way on many levels, it's deeper with the Urban Warfare Team because they all grew up together. At the same time, they integrate newcomers like Paul into the group and extend loyalty to them.

Because Feehan was introducing a new team, this book is pretty straightforward, not to many twists and turns with the suspense. It does further the overall theme of the GhostWalkers conspiracy and Whitney playing puppet with them, along with their trying to find out who is trying to eliminate the GhostWalkers.

Javier is literally my favorite, well other than Kane. I always bug Ms. Feehan about when she's going to write his story. I picture him as my beloved Diego Luna.

I will definitely give this a five star as before. I just love this series. I am a broken record about. I can't help it. Now onto Ruthless Game.

***Reread from July 17-July 19, 2012

My Thoughts:

Looking back at this book, I can't believe how much I came to love Team 3. They are firmly entrenched in my heart. Initially I felt sort of thrown and betrayed that Ms. Feehan had left my beloved Teams 1 and 2 and went to a bunch of folks I didn't know. I am eating my words. These guys (and two girls) rock! A different feel and relationship with this group. All the teams are a family, but these folks grew up together, and that bond is many years in the making. I could feel that family tie between them and it makes this book shine.

Jaimie and Mack--

This couple is very complementary. Mack is hard and decisive. Authoritative. Jaimie is warm and welcoming. Her strength is in her mind and in her heart. She is thought and intellect. Her mind is kind of scary and beautiful at the same time. Mack is acting and moving. Jaimie is pondering and mental exploration and examination. That is not to say that Mack is not intelligent and Jaimie isn't decisive. But in those areas where one abounds, the other benefits. I liked that about this book.

I liked Mack more this time around. I could see that he loves deeply and strongly, but that's not about declarations, but about doing. He did learn a lesson when he lost Jaimie the first time, and it has impressed on him that he needs to give her what she needs, the affirmation. We can take people for granted, assuming they know how important they are. But Jaimie didn't know how important she was to Mack. She thought that she was an add-on to his life, easily replaceable or forgettable. She didn't know that his life more or less fell apart without her. When he comes back, she can't understand his anger. But the thing about a man like Mack is that if he can't change or fix something, it makes him mad. When Jaimie left him, he couldn't fix that. So now he is angry at her for taking something so precious away from him and not understanding how important she was. She thinks she's the one who has more of a grudge to bear against him.

Their job now was to find that way of giving each other what they truly needed. I liked seeing them come to this point of understanding that one was not too hard or the other too soft, but perfect for each other. Together they were complete and full, making something even stronger as a unit. It was also funny seeing how the family worked through and around their issues with each other, because their relationship affected the whole group and the guys loved them both. I liked how integrated the romance aspect was into the overall group dynamics.

Overall Thoughts: I didn't think this was a favored romance in this series, because Mack is so pushy in some ways. In the end, and even moreso on the reread, I loved it so much. It's different from all the other books (as each one is). While Mack isn't my favorite GhostWalker, I have come to love him for who is. There are some people who challenge you in a way that no one else does. And that's good. Because their presence in your life makes you well-rounded in ways you lacked before. I am taking Mack this way. He is teaching me to deal with the kind of guys that get on my nerves, and teaching me understanding. I do need that.

A different installment, but great in its own way. Love Team 3, love all the characters, and I loved the escalation and expansion of the conspiracies.

Another thumbs up. Yes I am hopelessly in love with this series!

Check out my my !

Original Review:

To express my powerful feelings for the GhostWalker series, I would like to borrow the words from Oliver by its namesake: "May I have some more please?"

Street Game takes the GhostWalker series to a different level, but captures everything that I loved about the preceeding books. I love how this series is so intricate, with different storylines that intersect. There are familiar things here that continue to light my fire for this series, but this story is also unique as Mack McKinley and Jaimie Fielding get closure on their past relationship.

Street Game focuses on the Urban Warfare team led by Mack McKinley. He loves his job and what he does. He even loves the enhancements that Whitney's program has given him. This is slightly different from the heroes in the prior books, because they generally felt betrayed that their bodies had been manipulated in such a fashion. Mack takes it all in stride, enthusiastic that his enhancements enable him to do what he does best, fighting the bad guys and protecting his country.

Mack is very much an alpha hero. In fact, he almost comes off as nearly unlikeable at times. He is the macho type, not one to express his feelings unless it involves putting his fist into something, giving orders to his men (and girlfriend), and expecting them to be followed, or having a bout of energetic sex with his girlfriend. He is blown away when Jaimie leaves him. He tells himself that she'll come back, because she needs him much more than he needs her. However, he finds that to be far from the case. Jaimie was his everything, and every day without her is like a gaping hole in his life. When a mission leads him to Jaimie's doorstep, he's determined to get her back, still baffled that she left him.

I said that Mack nearly was hard to like at times. Well, this would be be the case without Ms. Feehan's masterful handling of him. Hugely surprising to this GhostWalker fan, but Mack is probably the most alpha hero yet in this series. He is aggressive and intensely male, take charge, and used to giving orders. At first, it's hard to see his vulnerabilities, because he's quite adept at keeping that part of himself concealed. He's not a man who likes feeling helpless or wounded, and doesn't know how to express himself emotionally. Being in control is crucial for him. Before, this was something that Jaimie was used to. Mack was the one who kept their self-formed family together. They met when Jaimie was an eight year old genius who was already in high school, and Mack took care of her from the very beginning, protecting her from bullies and watching over her, along with the rest of the guys and girl they grew up with in their Chicago neighborhood. Over time, their relationship became a romantic one. For as long as he could remember, Jaimie was his, to protect, to watch over, and to come home to, loving the fire that they had together. Mack always admired Jaimie's intelligence, and was proud of her, but he didn't like her expressing doubts about the GhostWalker program, especially on a botched mission, and his way of dealing with it turned out to be the last straw for Jaimie.

Jaimie never stopped loving Mack, although she knew they couldn't be together, because they were too different, and she didn't like the violence of what their GhostWalker abilities allowed them to do. She didn't trust their superiors when they went into a mission that could have led to the death of some of their team members. When she tried to express her doubts about it, Mack doesn't listen. Instead he dismisses her concerns. She's devastated that he doesn't trust her or take what she's saying seriously, and knows that she has to leave him. Two years later, Jaimie has made a new life for herself, but plans to set up her business so she can take care of her brothers. She knows she can't be with Mack any more that way, but she still cares about him. When Mack and his team end up on her doorstep, she isn't surprised, knowing that she's being set up to be taken out because of the information she had recovered about the conspiracy behind the GhostWalker experimentation.

This book delves further into the conspiracies behind the GhostWalker program, going above and beyond Whitney to the power players that have ties with the White House. Jaimie is a thinking woman's heroine. Her phenomenal brain and analytical skills are used to follow the trails of information to find out who is setting up the GhostWalker teams and why. This installment of the series flows seamlessly into the other books, although the only returning characters are peripheral ones, or characters we only got an intriguing glimpse of in past books. Instead, we meet a whole new group of men, who managed to claim their place in my heart. What I love about this series is that each book makes me want more.

Christine Feehan really knows how to write characters that you become attached to, and yearn to read about. You see their flaws and their pain, and you want them to be happy. This book challenged me, because men like Mack tend to rub me the wrong way. I'm not a big fan of chest-thumping type men. But I was allowed to peel back the layers to see that Mack is a simple, yet complex man who takes his responsibilities very seriously. He has to be brash and confident, because he takes the lives of his team as a powerful responsibility. His way of taking care of others is leading and protecting them. For him, his feelings for Jaimie couldn't be described with mere words. Yet, Mack had to learn that Jaimie needed more from him that he was giving her. He thought that she saw his devotion and adoration, but she felt as though her only place in his life was as his hero-worshipping, cheerleading, brainy, and nurturing girlfriend.

This book has some moments that really strike me with their emotional intensity. These moments show the profound nature of the feelings between the characters. My favorite is when Mack is finally able to express into words just how much he loves Jaimie. I love how that scene is written, and how unexpected it was. She's blown away by it, and so am I. You know that Mack will never be the type to say the three words all the time, and freely, but it's more than clear how much he does love Jaimie. The steamy sex in this novel is pretty awesome, but the emotions behind it are what really enthrall this reader. You feel the fire between Mack and Jaimie, and the powerful bond between them that goes beyond the bedroom to the deepest parts of their heart and minds.

As usual, I love all the interactions between the GhostWalker team. I already love the new characters introduced in this installment, and look forward to seeing more of them. Each character brings something different to the table. I am impressed with the incredible storyline that Ms. Feehan has created with this series. I love reading about the abilities of the different characters, and how they seem imminently plausible, but fantastic at the same time. The action scenes are well-done, and I feel that this book would appeal to a fan of techno-thrillers as much as paranormal and romantic suspense fans. But what I love about these books is how you get the octane moments, the well-thought out and often mind-boggling plot involving the GhostWalkers, the steamy love scenes, the funny and heartwarming moments, and the three-dimensional characters that you cannot help but love, all fashioned together into a beautiful package. This book ends with the evidence that there are more adventures ahead, as the groundwork is laid to follow up on some important storylines introduced in the preceeding books, and touched on in this installment. And all I can say is, I Can't Wait!! ...more

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Aug 08, 2009 Dina rated it really liked it

Shelves: series-ghostwalkers, paranormal-romance

I love the GhostWalkers series, so it was a given that I had to read Street Game even if I didn鈥檛 particularly love the previous book, Murder Game. When I heard this new book was going to be about a whole new team, I was a bit wary. Why introduce a bunch of new characters when there鈥檚 still a lot of characters from previous books whose stories haven鈥檛 been told yet? Well, there was nothing for me to do but go along with Ms. Feehan鈥檚 decision and enjoy the read鈥�

Master Gunnery Seargent Mack McKinl I love the GhostWalkers series, so it was a given that I had to read Street Game even if I didn鈥檛 particularly love the previous book, Murder Game. When I heard this new book was going to be about a whole new team, I was a bit wary. Why introduce a bunch of new characters when there鈥檚 still a lot of characters from previous books whose stories haven鈥檛 been told yet? Well, there was nothing for me to do but go along with Ms. Feehan鈥檚 decision and enjoy the read鈥�

Master Gunnery Seargent Mack McKinley is the leader of this new GhostWalkers team. Jaimie Fielding is the girl that got away, and Mack wants her back 鈥� not necessarily on the team, but mainly in his life. The way he sees it, they belong together and she鈥檇 better accept that. He was taken by surprise when she took off 2 years ago, but now that he鈥檚 found her again, he鈥檚 going to keep her for good. Jaimie doesn鈥檛 want Mack and the GhostWalkers back in her life, but she hasn鈥檛 much say in the matter when it becomes clear that someone has gone to great lengths to reunite them and her life might be in danger. So Mack and his First Seargent Kane Cannon move into her house, while the rest of the team scatter themselves in her neighborhood to protect her. One woman, surrounded by several testosterone-driven men at her service鈥� If this was a Lora Leigh book, Jaimie would be one very busy lady, LOL. Anyway, I digress鈥�

While Mack struggles to rebuild his relationship with Jaimie, he also has to figure out who set them up and catch some terrorist who, by coincidence or not, happen to have a big load of illegal weapons stored in a warehouse near Jaimie鈥檚. And if that wasn鈥檛 complicated enough, Jaimie鈥檚 also working "in the shadows" to find evidences against Dr. Whitney and his wrongdoings. It鈥檚 obvious that Dr. Whitney is still as powerful as ever, and it鈥檚 hard to tell who鈥檚 friend or foe 鈥� especially when it looks like their own CO Seargent Major Griffen can鈥檛 be trusted and there seems to be a traitor in the team.

So, have I enjoyed this read? Yes, absolutely. But I didn鈥檛 love it, and I "blame" Mack and Jamie for it. Their romance didn鈥檛 raise my temperature. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, their love scenes were steaming hot 鈥� except the one where he was "interrogating" her, which was kind of uncomfortable to me 鈥� and I had some fun with their banter, but there was no real conflict in their relationship. Simply put, there was no reasonable explanation for them to be apart. Jaimie was the one who left, so she should have a plausible explanation for that, right? Well, I doubt she knew why she had left... First, it was because she wanted a commitment Mack wasn鈥檛 willing to give; then, it was because she couldn鈥檛 stand the violence that surrounded the GhostWalkers way of life; later, it was because she was investigating Dr. Whitney鈥檚 dirty deeds and she didn鈥檛 want to put Mack and his team in danger; then, it was back to Mack鈥檚 commitment issues鈥� Lather, rinse, repeat. Get it together, woman! As for Mack, he was one of those alpha males I love to hate. He had a one-track mind when it came to Jamie, and I had no problem with that. Yes, I wanted to smack him in the head a couple of times, but I ended up understanding why he had to be so dominant. His sense of humor was key to make me more sympathetic towards him. Without it, he鈥檇 be nothing more than a big bully.

Considering how disappointing I found Mack and Jaimie, you might be asking why I gave this book 4 stars. Well, the romance was meh, but the rest was great. The whole GhostWalkers concept is very fascinating to me: even though the series has become more far fetched as it progressed, it still contains some elements that I could see happening in real life and I love this mix of PNR with a twist of reality. I also love the "tech talk". I know most readers don鈥檛 care for it, but I鈥檓 a computer geek so I can鈥檛 help it. :) Last, but not least, I can鈥檛 forget to mention the action scenes: Ms. Feehan really knows how to write them. I was on the edge of my seat, even though I knew the good guys would win in the end. Great job there, Ms. Feehan!

As expected, this book introduced a lot 鈥� and I mean A LOT 鈥� of new GhostWalkers. Two of them, Kane and Brian, should be familiar to those who have been following the series, but all the others were brand-new heroes in the making. I admit I got a bit confused in the beginning of the book, having to learn all those new names and trying to remember who was who, but it didn鈥檛 take long before I saw them as longtime friends. Kane, Javier and Gideon have already claimed a piece of my heart. Hopefully, one of them will be the hero in the next book in the series. Can鈥檛 wait! ;)
...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Cindy rated it really liked it

A good read but I didn't find it quite as page turningly intense as earlier books in this series. Maybe because it's a new team [essentially:] to the readers and you don't know them very well.

It's an interesting concept - this team was [mostly:] street kids who were mutually telepathic [and sometimes more:] who found each other and bonded together into their own 'family' - before Whitney ever started messing with them.

The plot is more relationship [second chance lovers:] than action driven. We ...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Cindi rated it liked it

I have mixed feelings about this book. Street Game follows in the path of the previous seven GhostWalker books; its H/H are genetically paired and therefore have EXTREME feelings towards each other in their mating, the action is riviting, and the good guys are out to save the world using their genetically-manipulated physical and physic talents. Yada, yada, yada. But here's my problem, and it actually stems from Ms. Feehan's enormous talent.

I got bored. In an action book. I swear, the whole firs ...more

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Jan 01, 2010 Ally rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010

I felt this story was too much for me and I really didn鈥檛 enjoy it. It wasn鈥檛 just the story line it was the characters as well. As an avid Ghostwalker fan (I鈥檝e read all the previous books in order) I was somewhat surprised that new characters hadn鈥檛 been given any background bar one. Kane who is in Ken and Mari鈥檚 book Deadly Game (He鈥檚 also a secondary character in this book) it also makes me wonder if his book will be next. All the character鈥檚 were brand new and shiny and as there was backgro ...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Eliza rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010-reads

I don't know how to give half stars here on goodreads but I think this book deserves at least 3.5 stars.

I didn't love it as much as some in the past and can't put my finger on the why of it except to say that it was too long and drawn out. I'm all for technical accuracy but not when it becomes the story more than the romance. ...more

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