Review: In A Bad Way by Karin Tabke

03 November of 2015 by Deb Markanton

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

Wickedly Sexy & Suspenseful

In A Bad Way By Karin Tabke

Contemporary Romance

Released Nov. 3, 2015

Self-Published

Series: Bad Boys of the Bay, Book #4

Reviewed by Deb

National bestselling, award-winning author Karin Tabke isn’t just another author with steamy stories to tell, but a cop’s wife who has “seen it all and heard it all.” Some of the hottest stories come from behind the blue wall of law enforcement rather than from in front. Married to a street cop, now a Private Investigator, Karin is intimate with both and proves it with her provocative tales of hot cops.

Special Agent Flynn Ryker meets his match when Wild Style, a sexy little stripper with a big secret lands in his lap, literally.

Wickedly Sexy & Suspenseful

Karin Tabke was a new to me author a few weeks ago when I discovered her sexy novella, Bad To The Bone. Part of the Bad Boys of the Bay series, it is everything a novella should be, eliciting a 5-star review from me. Who doesn’t love a bad boy? Ms. Tabke has a wonderfully distinctive voice, and a writing style that will have you hating the words, The End. Her scenes come alive with a vibrancy that carries throughout the book, to include the secondary characters as well. She gives us gorgeous, dominant cops with a yummy side of overprotective assholery, and a dash of kink that will have your panties teetering on the edge of spontaneous combustion. Add to that a story that takes you on a suspenseful ride, strong heroines able to bring said gorgeous cops to their knees, sex scenes that will leave your heart pounding, and…whew, lost my train of thought there for a sec. Needless to say, Ms. Tabke did it again with her newest release, In A Bad Way, Book 4 in the series.

Isadora “Izzy” Fuentes is in over her head working her own brand of undercover at the Surf’s Up strip club in San Francisco’s seedy Tenderloin district. Since it was the last place her half-sister, Alex, was heard from she’s taken it upon herself to discover what happened. The bastard child of a senator who refuses to admit she exists, Izzy has long since broken contact with Alex. However, one cryptic, panicked phone call pleading for help was all it took for soft hearted Izzy to come to the rescue. Even if it means putting her own life in danger. Izzy is a 24-year-old college student who’s never set foot in a strip club, and the Russians who run the joint aren’t exactly good samaritans. Thankfully, her curvaceous body and pouty innocence were all Boris cared about when he hired her as a cocktail waitress. Unfortunately, her plan to keep a low profile while digging for information ended tonight when she’s “promoted” to a stripper, whether she likes it or not. Boris wants Izzy to work a private bachelor party of cops, slip one a roofie, get him in a compromising position, and make a video. What. The. Hell? How is she going to manage that let alone get away with it? Once Izzy spies the perfect mark, she realizes the job might not be too big a sacrifice. As long as she doesn’t get caught.

He stood there, blatantly giving her a long leisurely up-and-down. He was a magnificent specimen. At least six four. Thick black hair, cropped short on the sides, a little longer on top. Blue eyes that snapped, crackled, and popped with all kinds of hidden wickedness.

Special Agent Flynn Ryker doesn’t allow himself to get too close to any woman, much less fool around with strippers. A hard lesson learned from his heartless douchebag of a father. But this tiny dancer with the knockout body, full pink lips, and doe eyes captivates him, and his gut instinct insists there’s more to her than the spiky blue wig and barely-there pink bikini. Flynn didn’t expect it to be the roofie he spies floating in the water she just served him. He also never expected to be blindsided by the intense connection crackling between them. Game on, little girl. Flynn decides to play along and see what she’s up to.

In A Bad Way is a twisty, turny story that never lets up on the action. There are too many elements that, if revealed here, would spoil the story for you so I’m zipping my lip in that regard. However, I will say Izzy and Flynn are quite complex characters and, despite my frustration with each of them at times, I loved them both. As a relationship develops, the inner conflicts they each struggle with are well written and believable. Ms. Tabke skillfully reveals their backgrounds and the incidents that have shaped their personalities, thus giving us an understanding of what makes them tick. That’s not to say I didn’t want to shout, Enough already! a time or two. Despite the emotional back and forth Izzy and Flynn subject themselves to, there’s one thing they can’t deny:

Whatever they had went beyond sex. He didn’t have to touch her to feel their connection. It thrummed like a live wire around them. When they came together, Jesus, the way she made him feel. Like Superman. He’d never felt anything like it.

Not only do Izzy and Flynn share a phenomenal connection, the sexual tension between them virtually vibrates off the pages. Ms. Tabke writes sex scenes that make you feel like a voyeur. In a good way! Whether flirty and slow to build, or fast and needy, they culminate in a knock-your-socks-off crescendo every time. And trust me, there are LOTS of times in this book. If this were a paperback copy, mine would be dog-eared all over the place and the spine cracked to hell. Once again, Ms. Tabke has written a book I couldn’t put down.