I balked because I felt that Kyra let rage and vengeance dictate her actions, and Reyes and another character did not blink. I say that this works for the most part because there’s one scene in particular where I felt like the characters stepped too far away from higher moral ground for my comfort. It’s because of this code that makes him start to question whether his employer lied to him about Kyra, because in observing her, she isn’t like his usual kills. Reyes also only targets scumbags to kill. In the end, she has to use these borrowed skills with her own nerve to win some cash, which seems like a more honest swindle to me. Kyra goes to the seediest bars in town and then uses the skills of the resident best dart-thrower or pool player to win a game. A con-woman and an assassin, the hero and heroine don’t sound very nice, but it worked because they still had their own personal rules about who they targeted with their skills. They are in full force in this paranormal romance. While the steaminess is a change, the imperfect characters and interesting relationships between them, a hallmark of Aguirre’s writing, are not. I think people who enjoy a high steam factor will enjoy the story. I don’t tend to go for the steamy books, but the sex in Skin Game was well-written and not purple. This one is a lot more steamy, with plenty of explicit sex scenes, which isn’t what you’d encounter with her other series. I was most intruiged by the mysterious Foster, who is a cold and mysterious manipulator, and Gerard Serrano’s right hand man.Īfter reading this one, I think I understand why the author used a pseudonym: it’s a very different book from the science fiction romance and urban fantasy under the Ann Aguirre name. The secondary characters were also well-written. Kyra’s blase attitude towards sex (she was a one night stand only girl) and how she didn’t cling to Reyes afterward was also different. I liked that Reyes was a character of mixed racial heritage, and I loved that he was a cook. My Thoughts: The two characters had interesting back stories, with imperfect parenting, which served to bond them after their initial mostly physical relationship. While on the road, she meets Reyes, who she thinks is a drifter, but who is really a hitman charged with finding out where she hid the stolen money, and with killing her afterwards. She’s on the run after embarrassing casino owner Gerard Serrano, a man was responsible for her father’s murder.

Whenever she touches someone, she picks up their best skill. The Premise: Kyra is a con woman with a very special ability. I picked this one up because Ava Gray is the pseudonym for Ann Aguirre, who is an author I love.

Skin game by ava gray