Bea Reviews Cold Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson

Series: Crossfire #4; Cold Justice #14
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Toni Anderson Inc,
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 28th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When the daughter of the US Ambassador to Argentina is kidnapped in broad daylight on Christmas Eve, the FBI sends one of its best negotiators to investigate.

Supervisory Special Agent Max Hawthorne arrives at an embassy thrown into chaos as US and local law enforcement hustle to track the young woman. Is this a simple kidnap for ransom, or part of a political agenda? Could it be something more sinister?

Lucy Aston has something to hide. Preferring to stay in the shadows, the lowly, fashion-challenged office assistant resents being assigned to help Max. But Max can’t resist a puzzle…he’s starting to suspect Lucy Aston is not what she seems.

When rumors emerge of a suspected Russian spy operating out of the embassy, Lucy’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble. As she and Max race to rescue the ambassador’s daughter, Lucy has to do whatever it takes to keep her cover from being blown—even if that means betraying the man she’s falling for.

The Kindness of Readers

I belong to several author street teams and a couple of author fan groups on FB. Author street teams get a bad rap, and there are some that are quite horrendous in their behavior, but I researched the groups before joining. And may I say that some of them are just freaking awesome?

One such street team is the Beast Claws, the team for urban fantasy author Faith Hunter. I've read all of her Jane Yellowrock books, via my library or via review copies from her publisher, so I have not needed help acquiring copies. She has another book releasing next month, and I have a review copy. Over the weekend, some members contacted the group admin and offered to donate copies to members who needed them. It wasn't long before more members stepped and there are now over 30 copies being offered, some to members in the US and some to members outside of the US. That just blows me away. Here's the current offering, as of 2 hours before I wrote this:

Just a quick note: I have 24 copies for American distribution. I have 6 available for those not stateside. And 2 copies for Canada. I'll be going through names tomorrow night. If you are from outside the US or in Canada (this sounds weird, but hey, it's me) please contact me. I have one person from redacted for privacy reasons.

Now, I don't know how many people are donating, but I do know some people are offering multiple copies. Way to go Claws! That's a street team I'm proud to be part of.

There's a fan group, not a street team, I belong to for romantic suspense and historical romance author Pamela Clare. Pamela's had about 3 or 4 books release since I joined, and with every release, members stepped and offered copies of the books to members who couldn't afford to those who couldn't afford to buy their own copy. The donating members were generous, offering Kindle books and print books, even to other countries. During the year I was not employed, I was the fortunate recipient of several of Pamela's books. Since I've been working full-time, I purchased some of her backlist and I look forward to offering copies of one of her books in the future.

Do you have any examples of fan groups or street teams who have done something generous or kind?

The Brit Babes Street Team is Recruiting!

I'm not a member of the Brit Babes, though I am on several other teams*, but I work with one of it's members, Lucy Felthouse, on tours and I have hosted several of the other authors on the blog. So when they asked if I'd share, I agreed.

The Brit Babes are Recruiting!

The Brit Babes are eight critically acclaimed British erotica authors and we need you for our Street Team!