Title: Sacrifice of Passion
Author: Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication date: June 15th 2012
Source: Received a copy for review from Entangled.
From Goodreads:
A tall, dark, single dad Texas rancher finds himself facing more than his stubbornly silent son when the chupacabra, a supposedly mythical blood-sucking beast, starts killing his livestock—and stalking the town’s newly returned veterinary assistant, the sensual woman who ran from the altar and broke his heart twelve years earlier. Determined to purge his sizzling memories of her from his all-too-vivid imagination, he seeks her help to get to the bottom of the disturbing animal mutilations, only to have her break through to his sullen son…and rekindle the love he’d thought was lost forever.
But her refusal to share a terrible secret sends her running straight into the lair of the chupacabra, plunging her back into her worst nightmare, and forcing them both to confront the wrongs of the past in order to stay alive for the future they desperately want.
My Review
Vic. Right from the off, I knew he was a bit of a one. The kind of dude that women would swoon over, and the kind of bloke to break women’s hearts. So, to see his character unwind before the readers eyes, as his ‘true’ characteristics became exposed was all the more pleasurable.
Then we have Delaney. A woman with whom Vic has a history. One who makes for a strong leading role due to the tragic happenings in her life she’s had no choice but to overcome.
I really enjoyed the read. I enjoyed that the circumstances under which they parted years before weren’t straightforward, and that those were something needing to be discovered by both parties as the story went on. I loved how the spanner of a child had been thrown into the works—even more so, because the lone parent was a father instead of a mother. For someone who lives in a single parent capital, this made for a refreshing change. The setting, too, was awesome to read about, and described well enough I could imagine each scene. But then, I do have a thing about cowboys and their drawl. 
And then there was Esperanza. I seriously loved this old biddy of a character. Love how I hadn’t a clue what she was saying sometimes due to her lisp; because I loved how that was portrayed through her dialogue. And, whilst I maybe wasn’t supposed to, I found the idea of this crotchety old woman sitting next to Vic in his truck when he was tearing all over the place looking for Laney and his son highly amusing. I just had visions of her bouncing around in her seat and swerving side to side. Probably not what I should have been concentrating on when there was a serious situation at hand, but there you have it.
I must admit, the red herring the author tossed in did have me looking in seriously the wrong direction for the most part of the book. Though even as I was scrutinising ‘him’ I kept thinking to myself, nah, she wouldn’t make it this easy, that’d be absurd—so I was mighty glad when it did turn out to be bait to throw us off the scent. However, once Vic ‘convinced’ me I’d been looking in the wrong place, I must admit it didn’t take me long to turn my suspicions on the right person—way sooner, in fact, than Delaney of Vic did. But hey, ho—that’s the power of sending a mind into thinking frenzy, I guess.
Oh, and I guess I couldn’t possibly lead toward the end of the review without at least mentioning the ‘HAWTness’. ‘These scenes’ were decent. I have no complaints O_O. Very tastefully done. Well written. ‘Visual’. Quiet (coz there’s nothing worse than characters who natter all through the good stuff, right?). Yep, enjoyed those aspects of the book plenty. O_o
One thing that did bug me slightly, and possibly why this is not higher than a 4, was there was a point where the pace seemed to dip quite dramatically, and there was a lull in how easily I got dragged along. This is possibly because it reached a point where it began to feel a bit repetitive—by which I mean Delaney and (more so) Vic’s inner thoughts. Because we were constant reminded that they’d been together before, constantly reminded of their circumstances, constantly reminded of how each had once felt for the other and realised they still felt as such. And it got a little too much at one point that I just wanted to tell the characters ‘I know! Now get on with the story.’
But that gripe aside, there’s no doubt that Misa Ramirez has once more entertained me and that Sacrifice of Passion is a decent read. 
Have you read this title? What’d you think?
