Logan Grey is a Range Detective, tracking some the worst criminals in Texas. He lives alone and has no intention of ever changing that. Because he seems to have a talent for sensing impending trouble, newspapers dubbed him “the luckiest man in Texas” but he knows better. When he was just a boy he was the sole survivor of a flash flood that killed his whole family and left him to be raised in an orphanage. That set what he sees as the pattern of his life---when there's trouble he escapes harm, but those around him often do not. Logan doesn't consider that lucky at all and refuses to even consider having a family of his own that he could lose to misfortune.
One day while he's waiting for a meeting at the local bank his sense for trouble tells him to get out, but before he can act on it he's caught in the middle of a robbery attempt. He's surprised and intrigued when a female hostage helps him thwart the robbers. He wants to get to know her better but by the time the situation is sorted out, she's gone.
Caroline Kilpatrick was happy to help prevent a bank robbery, but she's furious with Logan for not recognizing her from their childhood. Logan was her first love and her first kiss. Far more importantly, he was the man she married and slept with, not realizing that he had been hired by her father to participate in a fake wedding ceremony in order to gain access to Caroline's inheritance. Logan left town after their one night together and as a result he never knew that their marriage was in fact valid, that she was pregnant with his child and that two months later her father died, leaving Caroline alone and destitute.
For many years Caroline had no idea where Logan was, so she struggled to provide for their son Will on her own. By the time she learned his whereabouts she had made a life for herself and no longer wanted to have anything to do with Logan, so she never contacted him about Will. Eight years later things have changed. Ben, the man who has been more of a father to her than her actual father ever was, has gone missing. He went to Black Shadow Canyon looking for information about a murder and hasn't been heard from since. The canyon is a notorious hideout for outlaws so Caroline knows that she needs help and Logan is just the man for the job. However, she has no reason to believe that he'll voluntarily help her search for Ben, so she devises a plan. She tells him about Will and says that the boy has been taken to Black Shadow Canyon.
Logan is stunned to find out that he's a father and has no idea what to do about Caroline, but he's determined not to let his son down. Caroline refuses to be left behind, so the two of them set out on the difficult journey to the canyon. They quickly find that the emotions between them, and their tentative efforts to reconnect, are almost as difficult to manage as bad weather and outlaws. The real question is what Logan will do when he realizes that Caroline lied to him. Will he forgive her and make a home with her and his son, or will he return to his solitary life?
It was difficult for me to like either Logan or Caroline. Logan's willingness to go along with the lie told by Caroline's father was bad. It was worse for him to sleep with her believing that their marriage was a sham and knowing that he would be leaving the next day. The only excuse he had was that he was young and, as an orphan with no prospects he was desperate for the money to make a start in life. Caroline didn't even have that excuse for the lie she told Logan. She knew where he was for eight years and never contacted him to tell him about Will until she needed to use the information to trick Logan into helping her. That would have been justifiable if Will had actually been the one in danger, but Ben was a grown man who made his own choice to go on a dangerous trip. I understand that Caroline loved Ben and thought of him as family, but I don't think that made it acceptable for her to manipulate Logan into helping him, especially since she was well aware that Logan didn't have warm feelings for Ben. Logan definitely had his faults, but I found Caroline much more frustrating and annoying.
In addition to my problems with both the main characters I also felt that the circumstances that resulted in them being married were sort of ridiculous and some of the dialog rang false. In the end I wasn't able to get past those things, which made it impossible for me to enjoy what might otherwise have been an interesting plot.
Grade: C-
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Fifth Victim by Beverly Barton
Genny Madoc is a psychic who lives in the Smokey Mountains, just outside the town of Cherokee Pointe, Tennessee. One night she has a horrible vision of a young woman being sacrificed on a ceremonial alter. She calls her cousin Jacob, who's the town sheriff, for help but he isn't able to reach the girl in time. No one in Cherokee Pointe has ever seen anything like this murder and they have very few clues until FBI agent Dallas Sloane arrives and offers his assistance.
He's come to Cherokee Pointe because the murder resembles a number of others that he's been investigating. Dallas is convinced that he's on the trail of a serial killer who kills five victims in close secession and then moves on to a new location. In each group of five the first four victims are chosen at random, only the fifth victims are similar. This makes it difficult to see the pattern and Dallas' colleges are convinced that he's imagining things. His beloved niece was the fourth victim in one of the groupings and people are convinced that grief has warped his judgment. The murder in Cherokee Pointe is the first in a new grouping, which gives Dallas the best chance he's had to catch the killer.
Dallas believes that the murder is the only reason he's come to Cherokee Pointe, but Genny knows there's more. She had a vision of Dallas too, and she knows that he's her soul mate. What she doesn't know is how that will change her life, whether or not she'll be able to explain things to Dallas and how he'll feel about it if she does. Genny's concerns about the future multiply when she realizes that she has formed a link with the killer and that he has chosen her as the fifth victim. It will take both Genny's abilities and Dallas' skill to stop the killer before he completes his pattern and slips away again.
I chose this book in part because of the location. I've been to the Great Smokey Mountains and the area is beautiful, but I rarely see it used as a book setting. I also thought the premise was interesting and had great potential. Unfortunately the book failed to live up to that potential. Dallas worked well as the driven, skeptical hero, but Genny was another story.
Genny is the standard cliched psychic whose gifts are conveniently limited in exactly the way needed to drive the story. She's also a Mary Sue. Everyone loves her and she sees the best in everyone. She even uses her gifts to charm wild animals, including a wolf who she feeds by hand. At one point animals save her from the bad guy in a scene that read like an extremely violent version of a Disney cartoon. Animals helped Snow White clean house for the seven dwarfs, made a ballgown for Cinderella---and saved Genny from a homicidal maniac. I rolled my eyes so hard I'm lucky they didn't stick like that. The romance between Genny and Dallas didn't improve the situation. I'm not fond of stories about predestined love and instant connection. I don't enjoy it when a couple is seemingly in love for no reason whatsoever and this was definitely one of those stories.
The secondary plot took up a lot of the book and it was also unsatisfying. Genny's best friend Jasmine is a successful businesswoman in Cherokee Pointe. She owns the local motel and a restaurant and club. Her love life isn't doing nearly as well as her businesses. Years ago she was involved with a boy named Jamie, the scion of the local gentry. Because Jazzy's family was poor his family saw her as trash and forbade the relationship. Jamie wouldn't risk his inheritance to marry Jazzy, so he left her behind when he went away to college. He still likes to use her as a booty call whenever he returns home for a visit though. Jazzy always turns him down, but then gives in when he persists.
The problem with that isn't really that it makes Jazzy look dumb for allowing herself to be used. I understand how she could get stuck on Jamie and be unable to resist him, even as he goes through a string of fiances. The problem is that Jazzy admits that the attraction isn't just sexual. She also likes Jamie for his money. She justifies this because she grew up poor and now wants the good life. I can understand that, but it still makes her seem at best mercenary and at worst like she's trying to trade sex for cash. That makes her objections to people thinking of her as trashy or treating her like she's a whore a little problematic.
For me all of these character issues overshadowed the thriller plot, which didn't turn out to be anywhere near as compelling as I had expected. The slight paranormal twist did little to lift the villain above run of the mill. In the end this book simply failed to live up to it's premise.
Grade: D+
This is the fist book in a trilogy. I picked up all three books at the library at the same time so even though this one was bad I decided to try the next one to see if the series would improve.
The Last To Die is Jazzy's story. Genny has a vision of Jamie being murdered and the crime being a threat to Jazzy. She doesn't want to believe that her friend could kill her ex, but the vision isn't clear and she can't be sure. Genny knows that Jamie doesn't believe in her gift and won't heed any warning that she would give him. She does warn Jazzy to stay away from him at all costs and she, Dallas and Jacob create a plan to keep Jazzy safe. Unfortunately their plan fails and when Jamie is murdered Jazzy has no alibi. Her friends then have to solve the murder in order to keep her from going to prison for a crime she didn't commit.
I suspected the book would be a DNF when the big plan to protect Jazzy completely failed to do the obvious---never leave her alone. I tried to overlook that, but couldn't overlook some major problems with the real killer. To avoid spoilers I'll simply say that a person suffering from the severe mental illness Ms Barton describes couldn't possibly devise an intricate plan to commit murder, act normal enough to lure Jamie to his death and carefully avoid leaving trace evidence at the scene.
It's a shame that The Last To Die wasn't a better book because the hero, Caleb McCord, was really good. He just wasn't good enough to carry the rest of the mess.
Grade: DNF
He's come to Cherokee Pointe because the murder resembles a number of others that he's been investigating. Dallas is convinced that he's on the trail of a serial killer who kills five victims in close secession and then moves on to a new location. In each group of five the first four victims are chosen at random, only the fifth victims are similar. This makes it difficult to see the pattern and Dallas' colleges are convinced that he's imagining things. His beloved niece was the fourth victim in one of the groupings and people are convinced that grief has warped his judgment. The murder in Cherokee Pointe is the first in a new grouping, which gives Dallas the best chance he's had to catch the killer.
Dallas believes that the murder is the only reason he's come to Cherokee Pointe, but Genny knows there's more. She had a vision of Dallas too, and she knows that he's her soul mate. What she doesn't know is how that will change her life, whether or not she'll be able to explain things to Dallas and how he'll feel about it if she does. Genny's concerns about the future multiply when she realizes that she has formed a link with the killer and that he has chosen her as the fifth victim. It will take both Genny's abilities and Dallas' skill to stop the killer before he completes his pattern and slips away again.
I chose this book in part because of the location. I've been to the Great Smokey Mountains and the area is beautiful, but I rarely see it used as a book setting. I also thought the premise was interesting and had great potential. Unfortunately the book failed to live up to that potential. Dallas worked well as the driven, skeptical hero, but Genny was another story.
Genny is the standard cliched psychic whose gifts are conveniently limited in exactly the way needed to drive the story. She's also a Mary Sue. Everyone loves her and she sees the best in everyone. She even uses her gifts to charm wild animals, including a wolf who she feeds by hand. At one point animals save her from the bad guy in a scene that read like an extremely violent version of a Disney cartoon. Animals helped Snow White clean house for the seven dwarfs, made a ballgown for Cinderella---and saved Genny from a homicidal maniac. I rolled my eyes so hard I'm lucky they didn't stick like that. The romance between Genny and Dallas didn't improve the situation. I'm not fond of stories about predestined love and instant connection. I don't enjoy it when a couple is seemingly in love for no reason whatsoever and this was definitely one of those stories.
The secondary plot took up a lot of the book and it was also unsatisfying. Genny's best friend Jasmine is a successful businesswoman in Cherokee Pointe. She owns the local motel and a restaurant and club. Her love life isn't doing nearly as well as her businesses. Years ago she was involved with a boy named Jamie, the scion of the local gentry. Because Jazzy's family was poor his family saw her as trash and forbade the relationship. Jamie wouldn't risk his inheritance to marry Jazzy, so he left her behind when he went away to college. He still likes to use her as a booty call whenever he returns home for a visit though. Jazzy always turns him down, but then gives in when he persists.
The problem with that isn't really that it makes Jazzy look dumb for allowing herself to be used. I understand how she could get stuck on Jamie and be unable to resist him, even as he goes through a string of fiances. The problem is that Jazzy admits that the attraction isn't just sexual. She also likes Jamie for his money. She justifies this because she grew up poor and now wants the good life. I can understand that, but it still makes her seem at best mercenary and at worst like she's trying to trade sex for cash. That makes her objections to people thinking of her as trashy or treating her like she's a whore a little problematic.
For me all of these character issues overshadowed the thriller plot, which didn't turn out to be anywhere near as compelling as I had expected. The slight paranormal twist did little to lift the villain above run of the mill. In the end this book simply failed to live up to it's premise.
Grade: D+
This is the fist book in a trilogy. I picked up all three books at the library at the same time so even though this one was bad I decided to try the next one to see if the series would improve.
The Last To Die is Jazzy's story. Genny has a vision of Jamie being murdered and the crime being a threat to Jazzy. She doesn't want to believe that her friend could kill her ex, but the vision isn't clear and she can't be sure. Genny knows that Jamie doesn't believe in her gift and won't heed any warning that she would give him. She does warn Jazzy to stay away from him at all costs and she, Dallas and Jacob create a plan to keep Jazzy safe. Unfortunately their plan fails and when Jamie is murdered Jazzy has no alibi. Her friends then have to solve the murder in order to keep her from going to prison for a crime she didn't commit.
I suspected the book would be a DNF when the big plan to protect Jazzy completely failed to do the obvious---never leave her alone. I tried to overlook that, but couldn't overlook some major problems with the real killer. To avoid spoilers I'll simply say that a person suffering from the severe mental illness Ms Barton describes couldn't possibly devise an intricate plan to commit murder, act normal enough to lure Jamie to his death and carefully avoid leaving trace evidence at the scene.
It's a shame that The Last To Die wasn't a better book because the hero, Caleb McCord, was really good. He just wasn't good enough to carry the rest of the mess.
Grade: DNF
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale
Roderica Delamore is a nineteen-year woman with the ability to read the thoughts of other creatures, human and animal. She doesn't share her gift with those outside her immediate family, but others can tell there's something different about her. Because of the unease the ability causes and the toll it takes on her Roderica has already resigned herself to a life of isolation. She longs for a normal life, with a husband and children of her own, but knows that she's destined to be a spinster, cared for only by her parents and siblings. The only satisfaction she has in her life is using her ability to help her father with his horses. She has no reason to believe that will ever change until she meets Faelan Savigar.
Faelan is known as the Devil Earl. He's rumored to have murdered his father when he was a child and to have grown into a man who leaves ruined maidens and defeated dueling opponents in his wake. The rumors might normally have given Roderica pause if it hadn't been for a trait that mattered far more to her---she can't read Faelan at all. She sees this as her one chance for happiness and strikes a deal with him for a mutaully beneficial marriage. Roderica will get the family she wants and Farlan's remote estate will allow her to limit her exposure to the outside world. In exchange Faelan will get the money he needs to restore the estate, which has fallen into disrepair.
What Roderica doesn't know is that Faelan has been experiencing blackouts and fears that he may be losing his mind. There are hours and sometimes days that he can't remember and violence always seems to happen around the missing hours. As Roderica, and Faelan grow to know and care about each other Faelan feels unworthy of her love and tries to protect her from the darkness in his life. Roderica refuses to believe that Faelan is evil and struggles to help him discover what forces are at work in his life. Her efforts are complicated by both her brother, who is determined to save her from her husband whether she wants him to or not, and by Faelan's best friend, whose involvement in politics may cost them all their lives.
This book is set in the early 18th century. It opens in England, but the action quickly moves to Faelan's estate in Ireland. Given the set-up this story could easily have been cliched, but Kinsale's writing saves it from that. Both Roderica & Faelan were fully realized characters and their growing relationship held my attention. I did find it frustrating that they spent so much time floundering rather than simply talking with each other openly. I could understand why they each felt the need to keep secrets, but there were still a couple of times when I found myself thinking, “Oh for Pete's sake would you two just have a conversation already?” Fortunately it never went far enough to be a Big Misunderstanding, so it didn't effect my enjoyment of the book.
There were two things about the book that I really didn't enjoy though. First was the fact that we did not get to see the villain punished at the end of the book. It was implied, but didn't happen on screen. Given everything the person did to Faelan I will admit that I very much wanted to see the guilty party get the appropriate comeuppance. There's also an odd twist near the end of the book where the story veers farther into the paranormal than I expected, even given Roddy's mind-reading ability. The problem wasn't that the scene was poorly written, it's just that it felt out of place in a book billed as an historical rather than a paranormal.
Grade: B
Faelan is known as the Devil Earl. He's rumored to have murdered his father when he was a child and to have grown into a man who leaves ruined maidens and defeated dueling opponents in his wake. The rumors might normally have given Roderica pause if it hadn't been for a trait that mattered far more to her---she can't read Faelan at all. She sees this as her one chance for happiness and strikes a deal with him for a mutaully beneficial marriage. Roderica will get the family she wants and Farlan's remote estate will allow her to limit her exposure to the outside world. In exchange Faelan will get the money he needs to restore the estate, which has fallen into disrepair.
What Roderica doesn't know is that Faelan has been experiencing blackouts and fears that he may be losing his mind. There are hours and sometimes days that he can't remember and violence always seems to happen around the missing hours. As Roderica, and Faelan grow to know and care about each other Faelan feels unworthy of her love and tries to protect her from the darkness in his life. Roderica refuses to believe that Faelan is evil and struggles to help him discover what forces are at work in his life. Her efforts are complicated by both her brother, who is determined to save her from her husband whether she wants him to or not, and by Faelan's best friend, whose involvement in politics may cost them all their lives.
This book is set in the early 18th century. It opens in England, but the action quickly moves to Faelan's estate in Ireland. Given the set-up this story could easily have been cliched, but Kinsale's writing saves it from that. Both Roderica & Faelan were fully realized characters and their growing relationship held my attention. I did find it frustrating that they spent so much time floundering rather than simply talking with each other openly. I could understand why they each felt the need to keep secrets, but there were still a couple of times when I found myself thinking, “Oh for Pete's sake would you two just have a conversation already?” Fortunately it never went far enough to be a Big Misunderstanding, so it didn't effect my enjoyment of the book.
There were two things about the book that I really didn't enjoy though. First was the fact that we did not get to see the villain punished at the end of the book. It was implied, but didn't happen on screen. Given everything the person did to Faelan I will admit that I very much wanted to see the guilty party get the appropriate comeuppance. There's also an odd twist near the end of the book where the story veers farther into the paranormal than I expected, even given Roddy's mind-reading ability. The problem wasn't that the scene was poorly written, it's just that it felt out of place in a book billed as an historical rather than a paranormal.
Grade: B
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sweet Release by Pamela Clare
Alex Kenleigh is a rich English shipbuilder. As the heir to the Kenleigh business and fortune he commands the family finances and he's responsible for his younger brother, Philip. For years Alex allowed Philip to do whatever he pleased and as a result his drinking and womanizing have gotten out of control. Alex is finally forced to cut him off, leaving him with only a minimal allowance until he behaves more responsibly. The night after he makes this decision Alex's coach is attacked and he's badly beaten. Another man's body is then substituted for his and Alex is sold into a 14 year indentured servitude and shipped to Virginia identified as a criminal named Cole Braden.
Cassie Blakewell is running her family's plantation alone. Her mother is dead, her younger brother is just a child and her father is suffering from mental problems brought on by the death of his wife. In 1730's Virginia it's incredibly difficult for a woman to manage by herself, but Cassie is determined to hold onto the the land until her brother comes of age and can take over. There are both creditors and rivals who would try to take over the plantation if they knew that Cassie's father was incompetent. In order to prevent that from happening Cassie has hidden her father in a small cabin in the nearby swamp and told everyone that he's traveling on business and has left her in charge while he's gone. If Cassie is unable to keep the plantation, or her story, going her family's holdings will be seized and sold to pay off debts, leaving her family with no home.
Cassie has very limited money, but she has to have more hands to so when a ship carrying slaves and bondsmen docks nearby she attends the sale. There she sees that one of the bondsman is obviously too ill to stand, let alone work, but the traders are still beating him in an attempt to force him to obey their orders. As an act of charity Cassie buys his indenture. She also buys a slave who befriended the sick man on the voyage. She assumes that the ill man will die, but once he's off the ship and receiving medical care he soon recovers his strength. His memory of how he came to be on the ship remains hazy and he's furious that people believe that he is a criminal named Cole. He insists that he is Alex Kenleigh, but has no way to prove it. Cassie agrees to allow him to send a letter to England, but while they're waiting for a response, which will take months to arrive, he will have to work.
Alex has no problem working. In fact he finds that he enjoys the physical labor far more than he had enjoyed being trapped in an office since the death of his father left him in charge of the family business. He can't be content though because he's drawn to Cassie and she still believes that he's a convicted despoiler of women. Cassie feels the attraction too, but doesn't know what to believe about Alex's identity. He doesn't act like a criminal, but with so much at stake she can't risk making a mistake. Still, it's difficult for Cassie to resist Alex when he proves kind to her and the people for whom she is responsible, and helpful with the running of the plantation.
Cassie would be willing to simply carry on while waiting for news from England, but her life is complicated by the attentions of a neighbor who wants to marry her and won't take no for an answer. Geoffrey is being pushed by his father, who wants the Blakewell land, and by his own lust for Cassie. He becomes jealous of Alex and schemes to get rid of him. Because of their positions in society neither Cassie nor Alex have the power to stop him and word of Alex's true identity may arrive too late to save him from Geoffrey's plot.
I liked both Alex and Cassie. I especially felt for Cassie's struggle to carry a huge burden on her own in a society that didn't recognize her abilities. There were some things that kept me from being able to fully enjoy Alex and Cassie's story though. This was Pamela Clare's debut novel and it had the kind of pacing problems that seem common in first novels. The middle of the book is a bit slow and then the end piles all sorts of problems one on top of the other. In fact there is so much drama that the end seems to go on and on. Those flaws weren't disastrous, but they did make other problems more noticeable.
Clare obviously researched the time period carefully and includes plenty of period detail. I was especially interested in the way she was able to point out that in certain ways indentured servants were actually treated worse than slaves. However, in spite of the historical detail, under the surface the book has a very modern sensibility. Men stay with their wives during childbirth. The good characters are kind to their slaves, who are happy with their lot. The bad characters beat their slaves and are thought badly of because of that. This reminded me why I tend to have problems with romances set in the pre-Civil War South. On one hand it's jarring when characters are anachronistically progressive. On the other hand I have no desire to read a book where the hero and/or heroine are happy slave owners. I understand the reality of that, but I don't want to deal with it in my romance fiction.
Grade: C+
As a result of my mixed feelings I'm not sure that I'll read the other two books in this trilogy: Carnal Gift, which is the story of Cassie's brother Jamie, and Ride the Fire, which features Alex & Cassie's son Nicholas.
Cassie Blakewell is running her family's plantation alone. Her mother is dead, her younger brother is just a child and her father is suffering from mental problems brought on by the death of his wife. In 1730's Virginia it's incredibly difficult for a woman to manage by herself, but Cassie is determined to hold onto the the land until her brother comes of age and can take over. There are both creditors and rivals who would try to take over the plantation if they knew that Cassie's father was incompetent. In order to prevent that from happening Cassie has hidden her father in a small cabin in the nearby swamp and told everyone that he's traveling on business and has left her in charge while he's gone. If Cassie is unable to keep the plantation, or her story, going her family's holdings will be seized and sold to pay off debts, leaving her family with no home.
Cassie has very limited money, but she has to have more hands to so when a ship carrying slaves and bondsmen docks nearby she attends the sale. There she sees that one of the bondsman is obviously too ill to stand, let alone work, but the traders are still beating him in an attempt to force him to obey their orders. As an act of charity Cassie buys his indenture. She also buys a slave who befriended the sick man on the voyage. She assumes that the ill man will die, but once he's off the ship and receiving medical care he soon recovers his strength. His memory of how he came to be on the ship remains hazy and he's furious that people believe that he is a criminal named Cole. He insists that he is Alex Kenleigh, but has no way to prove it. Cassie agrees to allow him to send a letter to England, but while they're waiting for a response, which will take months to arrive, he will have to work.
Alex has no problem working. In fact he finds that he enjoys the physical labor far more than he had enjoyed being trapped in an office since the death of his father left him in charge of the family business. He can't be content though because he's drawn to Cassie and she still believes that he's a convicted despoiler of women. Cassie feels the attraction too, but doesn't know what to believe about Alex's identity. He doesn't act like a criminal, but with so much at stake she can't risk making a mistake. Still, it's difficult for Cassie to resist Alex when he proves kind to her and the people for whom she is responsible, and helpful with the running of the plantation.
Cassie would be willing to simply carry on while waiting for news from England, but her life is complicated by the attentions of a neighbor who wants to marry her and won't take no for an answer. Geoffrey is being pushed by his father, who wants the Blakewell land, and by his own lust for Cassie. He becomes jealous of Alex and schemes to get rid of him. Because of their positions in society neither Cassie nor Alex have the power to stop him and word of Alex's true identity may arrive too late to save him from Geoffrey's plot.
I liked both Alex and Cassie. I especially felt for Cassie's struggle to carry a huge burden on her own in a society that didn't recognize her abilities. There were some things that kept me from being able to fully enjoy Alex and Cassie's story though. This was Pamela Clare's debut novel and it had the kind of pacing problems that seem common in first novels. The middle of the book is a bit slow and then the end piles all sorts of problems one on top of the other. In fact there is so much drama that the end seems to go on and on. Those flaws weren't disastrous, but they did make other problems more noticeable.
Clare obviously researched the time period carefully and includes plenty of period detail. I was especially interested in the way she was able to point out that in certain ways indentured servants were actually treated worse than slaves. However, in spite of the historical detail, under the surface the book has a very modern sensibility. Men stay with their wives during childbirth. The good characters are kind to their slaves, who are happy with their lot. The bad characters beat their slaves and are thought badly of because of that. This reminded me why I tend to have problems with romances set in the pre-Civil War South. On one hand it's jarring when characters are anachronistically progressive. On the other hand I have no desire to read a book where the hero and/or heroine are happy slave owners. I understand the reality of that, but I don't want to deal with it in my romance fiction.
Grade: C+
As a result of my mixed feelings I'm not sure that I'll read the other two books in this trilogy: Carnal Gift, which is the story of Cassie's brother Jamie, and Ride the Fire, which features Alex & Cassie's son Nicholas.
Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
After a decade piloting interstellar patrol ships, Captain Chasidah “Chaz” Bergren, was climbing the ladder of the Federated Fleet. Then she was accused of ignoring orders, leading to the deaths of 14 of her crew. She was convicted based on manufactured evidence and sentenced to life on Moabar, a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. Chaz has no idea who set her up and in her brutal new surroundings she has no time to try to figure it out. Things take a turn for the worse when she's forced to kill a guard in self-defense and she finds herself face to face with something even more frightening---a ghost from her past.
Gabriel Sullivan is a mercenary and smuggler who supposedly died two years ago. Instead he's on Moabar to rescue Chaz in exchange for her help getting to the bottom of a plot that threatens the Empire. Someone is secretly breeding jukors, vicious creatures that were outlawed years ago because they're uncontrollable. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates Imperial space. He has information that the secret lab is on Marker, Chaz's home planet, and he needs her knowledge to find and destroy the lab. The mission means putting their lives on the line, but Chaz figures that she has nothing to lose. She didn't count on the fact that Gabriel is far more than the charming criminal she always knew him to be. He has secrets he's afraid to share with anyone, but as the attraction between him and Chaz grows he finds himself wanting to try. Chaz finds that her growing feelings for Gabriel may place her in far greater danger than what she faces from the jukors or her unseen enemies.
This is the second book that I've read by Linnea Sinclair and I liked it as much as I liked the first. It deals with many of the same themes as Games of Command. There's an outsider who has to hide his difference and a heroine with whom he has a long running competitive relationship & who he secretly loves long before she loves him. There are also questions of trust, not only between the hero and heroine, but with the larger power structure.
This isn't merely a rehash of Games though. Gabriel and Chaz are interesting characters in their own right and they have a complicated relationship. Through most of their time together Gabriel insists on keeping his secrets and demands that Chaz not ask him any questions. That was understandable, but still unfair of him and Chaz was both willing to simply trust him and aggravated by the need to. That created a dynamic in their relationship that was compelling to read.
Grade: A-
Gabriel Sullivan is a mercenary and smuggler who supposedly died two years ago. Instead he's on Moabar to rescue Chaz in exchange for her help getting to the bottom of a plot that threatens the Empire. Someone is secretly breeding jukors, vicious creatures that were outlawed years ago because they're uncontrollable. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates Imperial space. He has information that the secret lab is on Marker, Chaz's home planet, and he needs her knowledge to find and destroy the lab. The mission means putting their lives on the line, but Chaz figures that she has nothing to lose. She didn't count on the fact that Gabriel is far more than the charming criminal she always knew him to be. He has secrets he's afraid to share with anyone, but as the attraction between him and Chaz grows he finds himself wanting to try. Chaz finds that her growing feelings for Gabriel may place her in far greater danger than what she faces from the jukors or her unseen enemies.
This is the second book that I've read by Linnea Sinclair and I liked it as much as I liked the first. It deals with many of the same themes as Games of Command. There's an outsider who has to hide his difference and a heroine with whom he has a long running competitive relationship & who he secretly loves long before she loves him. There are also questions of trust, not only between the hero and heroine, but with the larger power structure.
This isn't merely a rehash of Games though. Gabriel and Chaz are interesting characters in their own right and they have a complicated relationship. Through most of their time together Gabriel insists on keeping his secrets and demands that Chaz not ask him any questions. That was understandable, but still unfair of him and Chaz was both willing to simply trust him and aggravated by the need to. That created a dynamic in their relationship that was compelling to read.
Grade: A-
Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
Nadia is a disgraced former cop who now runs a runs a lodge in rural Canada. She enjoys being an innkeeper, but the lodge isn't yet making enough money to support her. In order to make ends meet she works as a hitwoman for the Tommissini crime family. They pay well, don't lie to her and she knows that all the targets are bad guys. This allows Nadia to feel like she's still on the correct side of the moral line she was raised to believe in. Her only contact with other hitmen is with her mentor, a man she knows only by his professional name—-Jack.
When someone begins killing unconnected victims and leaving pages from the book Helter Skelter as a calling card the authorities suspect that the killer is a professional. The question is, why would a hitman kill so many seemingly random victims.? To get answers they begin arresting hitmen on any charges they can find, hoping to locate the killer or someone with information about him.
Jack realizes that this is very bad for business and asks Nadia to work with him and a small group of other hitmen to track down the killer and eliminate him before they all end up in jail. Nadia understands the stakes and feels like she owes Jack, so she agrees. In order to protect her real identity she takes the professional name Dee and travels around the country with Jack, working with other hitmen and using her rusty police skills to track down the killer.
The strength of this book is the characters. I have a certain fondness for stories about hitmen and I found both Nadia and Jack interesting. Not exactly likable, but interesting. Much more of Nadia's back story is revealed than Jack's and it paints a picture of a complex and difficult woman. For example, after the incident that cost Nadia her job most of her friends and family turned their backs on her and she resents that. Her anger would be reasonable if it weren't for the fact that the incident involved Nadia killing a suspect in cold blood. How did she expect people to react to that? Did she expect them to believe it was some sort of accident or mental breakdown? If so, she's expecting her loved ones to believe a lie, because she knows that isn't what happened. It's unclear if she's faulting them for not believing a lie or for not pretending to believe it, or for minding that she murdered someone and basically got away with it. The book seems to imply that Nadia herself isn't sure. That isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I found it interesting.
Unfortunately, the suspense plot was much less intriguing than the characters. The killer was pretty much who you would expect, his motivation was pretty much what you would expect and I didn't care much about any of it. As a result the book tended to drag. It's fairly long, and felt even longer because I never became absorbed enough by the story to read quickly.
Because I liked the characters I plan to read the follow up, Made to Be Broken. I'm willing to do that in part because, at least as of now, Armstrong doesn't seem to have any plans to write a longer series. If she does write more books about Nadia the plots will have to be much stronger for me to continue reading past the second book.
Grade: C
When someone begins killing unconnected victims and leaving pages from the book Helter Skelter as a calling card the authorities suspect that the killer is a professional. The question is, why would a hitman kill so many seemingly random victims.? To get answers they begin arresting hitmen on any charges they can find, hoping to locate the killer or someone with information about him.
Jack realizes that this is very bad for business and asks Nadia to work with him and a small group of other hitmen to track down the killer and eliminate him before they all end up in jail. Nadia understands the stakes and feels like she owes Jack, so she agrees. In order to protect her real identity she takes the professional name Dee and travels around the country with Jack, working with other hitmen and using her rusty police skills to track down the killer.
The strength of this book is the characters. I have a certain fondness for stories about hitmen and I found both Nadia and Jack interesting. Not exactly likable, but interesting. Much more of Nadia's back story is revealed than Jack's and it paints a picture of a complex and difficult woman. For example, after the incident that cost Nadia her job most of her friends and family turned their backs on her and she resents that. Her anger would be reasonable if it weren't for the fact that the incident involved Nadia killing a suspect in cold blood. How did she expect people to react to that? Did she expect them to believe it was some sort of accident or mental breakdown? If so, she's expecting her loved ones to believe a lie, because she knows that isn't what happened. It's unclear if she's faulting them for not believing a lie or for not pretending to believe it, or for minding that she murdered someone and basically got away with it. The book seems to imply that Nadia herself isn't sure. That isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I found it interesting.
Unfortunately, the suspense plot was much less intriguing than the characters. The killer was pretty much who you would expect, his motivation was pretty much what you would expect and I didn't care much about any of it. As a result the book tended to drag. It's fairly long, and felt even longer because I never became absorbed enough by the story to read quickly.
Because I liked the characters I plan to read the follow up, Made to Be Broken. I'm willing to do that in part because, at least as of now, Armstrong doesn't seem to have any plans to write a longer series. If she does write more books about Nadia the plots will have to be much stronger for me to continue reading past the second book.
Grade: C
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
Tess Monaghan lost her job as a reporter when her newspaper downsized. Since then she's spent a lot of time feeling bad about the loss of her career, but has made no real effort to find another one. She pays her bills by working part time at her aunt's bookstore and doing free-lance research for an uncle who works as a mid-level state bureaucrat. The rest of her life is as much of a disaster as her career. She has few friends and her love life consists of the occasional booty call with an ex-boyfriend, who's cheating on his current girlfriend with Tess. The only real structure in Tess' life is her commitment to rowing every morning on the Patapsco river.
One day friend and fellow rower Darryl Paxton, aka Rock, asks for Tess' help tailing his fiance Ava. She's a lawyer with a prestigious local firm but Rock fears that her job isn't the only thing occupying her time. Tess feels bad about taking money from a friend, but she needs it to pay her bills and he's determined to pursue the investigation so she agrees to take the job. Tess soon has reason to believe that Rock's suspicions were correct and Ava is sleeping with her boss, Michael Abramowich. In an attempt to be kind Tess offers Ava a chance to come clean on her own, but instead of admitting to having an affair she tells Rock that Abramowich is sexually harassing her.
Abramowich has only been with the firm for a short time. Before that he had a private practice doing criminal defense. He was famous for his tacky commercials, which made him a running joke all over Baltimore. Numerous people had reason to hate him, but when he's murdered Darryl is the prime suspect and is soon under arrest. Tess' testimony could seriously hurt him at trial so his lawyer makes her part of his defense team so that her work will be covered by lawyer-client privilege. She's supposed to do only what she's told, but she can't stop herself from digging into Abramowich's past in an attempt to save her friend from going to prison.
This book had the obvious signs of being a first novel. The mystery was interesting, but the pacing was uneven and some parts of the plot didn't fully hang together. Worse, this was one of those frustrating books where the plot is driven by the failure of any of the characters to ask the obvious question about the crime. In this case the question was, "Why would a prestigious law firm with a high-end client base hire a man whose commercials are a local joke?" As a former reporter Tess should know what to ask about a story, so her failure to do so didn't exactly fill me with confidence in her future as an investigator.
I also found it somewhat difficult to sympathize with Rock because he was written in an inconsistent way that made it difficult to know who he was. He's presented as a big dumb jock—--too dumb to realize that his fiance is a lying user. Tess even compares him to Lenny from Of Mice & Men. The problem with that is that Rock's day job is as a medical researcher at John's Hopkins. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but that would have taken too much time away from rowing so he stuck with research. Not exactly a job for a dim bulb.
I also found Tess somewhat difficult to like. She lost her job two years ago and is still just drifting. If she were making an effort to figure out her future it would be different, but she's basically just living off the generosity of her family and feeling sorry for herself. I also hated that her relationship with her ex-boyfriend was such a cliché. He's the standard lousy guy she can't, or at least doesn't, resist who's cheating on his girlfriend with her. I'm not a fan of cheaters, so that lost Tess some major points.
Grade: C-
Will I read the next book in the series?: No. I didn't like this one well enough to add it to my list of series to follow.
One day friend and fellow rower Darryl Paxton, aka Rock, asks for Tess' help tailing his fiance Ava. She's a lawyer with a prestigious local firm but Rock fears that her job isn't the only thing occupying her time. Tess feels bad about taking money from a friend, but she needs it to pay her bills and he's determined to pursue the investigation so she agrees to take the job. Tess soon has reason to believe that Rock's suspicions were correct and Ava is sleeping with her boss, Michael Abramowich. In an attempt to be kind Tess offers Ava a chance to come clean on her own, but instead of admitting to having an affair she tells Rock that Abramowich is sexually harassing her.
Abramowich has only been with the firm for a short time. Before that he had a private practice doing criminal defense. He was famous for his tacky commercials, which made him a running joke all over Baltimore. Numerous people had reason to hate him, but when he's murdered Darryl is the prime suspect and is soon under arrest. Tess' testimony could seriously hurt him at trial so his lawyer makes her part of his defense team so that her work will be covered by lawyer-client privilege. She's supposed to do only what she's told, but she can't stop herself from digging into Abramowich's past in an attempt to save her friend from going to prison.
This book had the obvious signs of being a first novel. The mystery was interesting, but the pacing was uneven and some parts of the plot didn't fully hang together. Worse, this was one of those frustrating books where the plot is driven by the failure of any of the characters to ask the obvious question about the crime. In this case the question was, "Why would a prestigious law firm with a high-end client base hire a man whose commercials are a local joke?" As a former reporter Tess should know what to ask about a story, so her failure to do so didn't exactly fill me with confidence in her future as an investigator.
I also found it somewhat difficult to sympathize with Rock because he was written in an inconsistent way that made it difficult to know who he was. He's presented as a big dumb jock—--too dumb to realize that his fiance is a lying user. Tess even compares him to Lenny from Of Mice & Men. The problem with that is that Rock's day job is as a medical researcher at John's Hopkins. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but that would have taken too much time away from rowing so he stuck with research. Not exactly a job for a dim bulb.
I also found Tess somewhat difficult to like. She lost her job two years ago and is still just drifting. If she were making an effort to figure out her future it would be different, but she's basically just living off the generosity of her family and feeling sorry for herself. I also hated that her relationship with her ex-boyfriend was such a cliché. He's the standard lousy guy she can't, or at least doesn't, resist who's cheating on his girlfriend with her. I'm not a fan of cheaters, so that lost Tess some major points.
Grade: C-
Will I read the next book in the series?: No. I didn't like this one well enough to add it to my list of series to follow.
The Island by Heather Graham
While on a camping trip on Calliope Key with her brother and his daughter, Beth Anderson finds a skull in the woods. In order to avoid frightening her niece she hides it, planning to return for it later. There are other groups staying on the island and after talking with them Beth becomes suspicious of their motives for being there. She also becomes worried that the skull she found is tied to the apparent disappearance of a popular couple last seen on their yacht near the island several months ago. When Beth goes back to the woods the skull is gone and she becomes even more fearful of her fellow vacationers.
She's especially wary of Keith Henson, a scuba-diver visiting the island with two friends. Beth finds him attractive, but doesn't quite believe his claim that he and his friends are simply diving for fun. She's also concerned that their yacht seems more expensive than any of them could reasonably afford. Her fears make it impossible for her to relax and she's happy to return to her normal life and her job at the local yacht club. Her calm is disrupted when the people from the island start showing up at the club and mysterious occurrences lead Beth to fear that someone is targeting her. In order to keep herself and her family safe she'll have to figure out if Keith can be trusted to protect her or if he's actually a modern day pirate out to silence her for good.
This book sounded fun. After all, who doesn't love (fictional) pirates? Unfortunately it turned out to be a dud. The characters weren't engaging and the story was very frustrating. Fiction tends to rely on a certain amount of coincidence by necessity, but in this case it was ridiculous. There were only 2 or 3 characters that didn't end up being tied to the big plot in some way and one of them was a 14 year old girl. The crime was also a bit too much. There were simply too many elements for it to be at all believable. I was happy to play along with the sunken treasure and the pirates, but when a missing German weapon from World War II became part of the plot Graham lost me.
All in all this wasn't worth the time it took to read it.
Grade: D+
She's especially wary of Keith Henson, a scuba-diver visiting the island with two friends. Beth finds him attractive, but doesn't quite believe his claim that he and his friends are simply diving for fun. She's also concerned that their yacht seems more expensive than any of them could reasonably afford. Her fears make it impossible for her to relax and she's happy to return to her normal life and her job at the local yacht club. Her calm is disrupted when the people from the island start showing up at the club and mysterious occurrences lead Beth to fear that someone is targeting her. In order to keep herself and her family safe she'll have to figure out if Keith can be trusted to protect her or if he's actually a modern day pirate out to silence her for good.
This book sounded fun. After all, who doesn't love (fictional) pirates? Unfortunately it turned out to be a dud. The characters weren't engaging and the story was very frustrating. Fiction tends to rely on a certain amount of coincidence by necessity, but in this case it was ridiculous. There were only 2 or 3 characters that didn't end up being tied to the big plot in some way and one of them was a 14 year old girl. The crime was also a bit too much. There were simply too many elements for it to be at all believable. I was happy to play along with the sunken treasure and the pirates, but when a missing German weapon from World War II became part of the plot Graham lost me.
All in all this wasn't worth the time it took to read it.
Grade: D+
Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare
This is book 3 in the I-Team series, following Extreme Exposure & Hard Evidence.
Sophie Alton's life is going well. She has fulfilled her childhood ambition to become a journalist and is now one of the I-Team's best investigative reporters. She also has a group of close friends that includes several of the I-Team's current and former members. Unfortunately her love life isn't going as well as her career. She has dated plenty of men, but never felt a real connection with any of them. At times she thinks wistfully of the one perfect night she had with Hunt, her high school crush and wishes that she could find that kind of magic again.
Sophie's lack of romantic prospects don't really bother her though, especially because her job keeps her too busy to worry about it. She's has been working on a piece about the plight of pregnant women in Colorado prisons. In the course of her research she became especially close to one inmate named Megan. Sophie is hopeful that Megan will be able turn her life around and have the chance to make a fresh start with her baby when she is released. Unfortunately on Megan's first visit with her child she takes the baby and goes on the run. Sophie is determined to find out where she has gone and why. As a result when she receives a message from Megan's brother, who is also in prison, Sophie jumps at that the chance to talk with him in hopes that he can tell her where Megan has gone. What Sophie doesn't realize is that Megan's brother is Hunt, her high school lover. He and Megan have different last names and she always referred to him simply as Marc.
Hunt's life after high school went very well for several years. He joined the army and served with distinction, and after leaving the service he joined the DEA. He made a home for himself and was finally able to reconnect with his half-sister, Megan. Then Megan accused his partner of being one of the men who abused her when she was in juvenile detention. When the man was killed Hunt was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
As a former DEA agent he's hated by the other inmates and because he's an accused cop-killer the guards feel the same way, so Hunt's life in prison is extremely difficult. He manages to tolerate it until he hears that his sister is on the run. He fears for her safety and is determined to find her and make sure that she's safe. In order to do that he'll have to break out of prison. He's counting on Sophie's reaction to seeing him to create an opening that he can use to make his escape.
Once Hunt makes his escape with Sophie in tow the two agree to work together to find Megan and her baby and figure out why she felt she had to run away. Their attraction to each other is as strong as ever, but Hunt knows that he has no future and can't offer Sophie anything beyond the moment. Sophie finds it hard to believe that Hunt is guilty of any crime, but she's fears that her heart is overpowering her reporters instincts. At the same time she's not sure she can bring herself to pass up a chance for even a little more of the magic she has never found with anyone else. As difficult as they are even those problems seem minor when the people who are after Megan threaten their lives and Hunt and Sophie start to fear that it may already be too late for Megan and her baby.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side the plot moves along very quickly and it held my attention. I also liked Hunt and Sophie and their interaction with each other. On the negative side Sophie does quite a few things that are extremely dumb. So dumb that if I had liked her even a tiny bit less I would have totally written her off for being TSTL. For example, when you're helping your lover, the escaped convict, and you want people to think that you've just gone off to be by yourself for a few days, getting caught on a pharmacy's surveillance video using your credit card to buy Plan B and condoms is not smart. Also, rule one when you get arrested is that no matter how innocent you are you need a lawyer. Rule two is not to say a word to the police until your lawyer gets there, even if one of the cops is the husband of your best friend. A smart reporter should know these things.
This sort of behavior seems to be a problem with the heroines in Clare's contemporaries. The second I-Team book was a DNF for me because the heroine, Tessa, was so dumb she made me nuts. I find this confusing and frustrating because the heroines of her historicals aren't stupid. I would enjoy the I-Team books more if the heroines were at least a bit smarter.
I also wish that the end of this book had felt a bit more realistic. I wanted Hunt & Sophie to have their HEA, but considering the reality of Hunt's situation the way things were wrapped up seemed far too good to be true. The total lack of realism pulled me out of the moment in a way that I really didn't like.
Grade: C
Sophie Alton's life is going well. She has fulfilled her childhood ambition to become a journalist and is now one of the I-Team's best investigative reporters. She also has a group of close friends that includes several of the I-Team's current and former members. Unfortunately her love life isn't going as well as her career. She has dated plenty of men, but never felt a real connection with any of them. At times she thinks wistfully of the one perfect night she had with Hunt, her high school crush and wishes that she could find that kind of magic again.
Sophie's lack of romantic prospects don't really bother her though, especially because her job keeps her too busy to worry about it. She's has been working on a piece about the plight of pregnant women in Colorado prisons. In the course of her research she became especially close to one inmate named Megan. Sophie is hopeful that Megan will be able turn her life around and have the chance to make a fresh start with her baby when she is released. Unfortunately on Megan's first visit with her child she takes the baby and goes on the run. Sophie is determined to find out where she has gone and why. As a result when she receives a message from Megan's brother, who is also in prison, Sophie jumps at that the chance to talk with him in hopes that he can tell her where Megan has gone. What Sophie doesn't realize is that Megan's brother is Hunt, her high school lover. He and Megan have different last names and she always referred to him simply as Marc.
Hunt's life after high school went very well for several years. He joined the army and served with distinction, and after leaving the service he joined the DEA. He made a home for himself and was finally able to reconnect with his half-sister, Megan. Then Megan accused his partner of being one of the men who abused her when she was in juvenile detention. When the man was killed Hunt was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
As a former DEA agent he's hated by the other inmates and because he's an accused cop-killer the guards feel the same way, so Hunt's life in prison is extremely difficult. He manages to tolerate it until he hears that his sister is on the run. He fears for her safety and is determined to find her and make sure that she's safe. In order to do that he'll have to break out of prison. He's counting on Sophie's reaction to seeing him to create an opening that he can use to make his escape.
Once Hunt makes his escape with Sophie in tow the two agree to work together to find Megan and her baby and figure out why she felt she had to run away. Their attraction to each other is as strong as ever, but Hunt knows that he has no future and can't offer Sophie anything beyond the moment. Sophie finds it hard to believe that Hunt is guilty of any crime, but she's fears that her heart is overpowering her reporters instincts. At the same time she's not sure she can bring herself to pass up a chance for even a little more of the magic she has never found with anyone else. As difficult as they are even those problems seem minor when the people who are after Megan threaten their lives and Hunt and Sophie start to fear that it may already be too late for Megan and her baby.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side the plot moves along very quickly and it held my attention. I also liked Hunt and Sophie and their interaction with each other. On the negative side Sophie does quite a few things that are extremely dumb. So dumb that if I had liked her even a tiny bit less I would have totally written her off for being TSTL. For example, when you're helping your lover, the escaped convict, and you want people to think that you've just gone off to be by yourself for a few days, getting caught on a pharmacy's surveillance video using your credit card to buy Plan B and condoms is not smart. Also, rule one when you get arrested is that no matter how innocent you are you need a lawyer. Rule two is not to say a word to the police until your lawyer gets there, even if one of the cops is the husband of your best friend. A smart reporter should know these things.
This sort of behavior seems to be a problem with the heroines in Clare's contemporaries. The second I-Team book was a DNF for me because the heroine, Tessa, was so dumb she made me nuts. I find this confusing and frustrating because the heroines of her historicals aren't stupid. I would enjoy the I-Team books more if the heroines were at least a bit smarter.
I also wish that the end of this book had felt a bit more realistic. I wanted Hunt & Sophie to have their HEA, but considering the reality of Hunt's situation the way things were wrapped up seemed far too good to be true. The total lack of realism pulled me out of the moment in a way that I really didn't like.
Grade: C
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Deception by Sharon Cullen
When Kate McAuley met and fell in love with Lucas Barone she knew that his job as a forensic accountant involved a lot of travel, but she never expected that one day he would leave on a business trip and simply never return. Being abandoned by the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with broke Kate's heart. When another tragedy happened shortly after Luke's betrayal it devastated her and made her rethink her life. After 18 months she has finally gotten to a place where she feels that she's in control and able to cope again. She's not the same person she once was, but she's surviving. Then one night she answers a knock on her door and finds Lucas bleeding and barely conscious on her front porch.
Kate has a million questions. Where has Luke been? Why did he come back? Who would beat up an accountant and leave him for dead? The only way that Luke can persuade her not to call the police is to promise that as soon as he's had some rest he'll answer her questions and then leave. Giving Kate the answers she wants and deserves is a huge risk for Luke because he's not an accountant. That was simply a cover he used to explain the frequent trips required by his actual job in covert operations.
In all his time undercover Kate was the only person he really loved. He never planned to stay away from her for so long, but his last op went terribly wrong and Luke ended up in a South American prison. When he finally made it back to Washington he discovered evidence that he had been betrayed by someone in his own agency. Before he could figure out who it was his enemies caught up with him. In desperation he turns to Kate because she's the only person he feels sure that he can trust. Unfortunately for both of them Luke didn't cover his tracks as well as he thought and they're soon on the run, desperately trying to prove a conspiracy that goes higher up in the government than either of them could have imagined.
I should have known that this book was going to have a lot of problems when I realized that the back cover copy must have referred to an earlier edit. It said that Luke had been gone for four years, but the book said only 18 months. I wish that had been the worst of it, but it wasn't even close. There were so many issues that it's hard to know where to start. Cullen's basic research was poor. She gets small things wrong, like the fact that virtually no one in DC calls the airport Ronald Reagan National Airport. It's just National. She also gets more obvious things wrong. Luke supposedly owns a townhouse in Georgetown. "Government operative" is not a lucrative job. Luke is likely at about a GS-11 and there is no way that someone at that salary level can afford real estate in Georgetown unless he inherited money or married it.
I was even more bothered by the fact that Luke was presented as some sort of super spy, but his tradecraft is terrible. When he and Kate make their initial getaway he steals a car from long term parking at the local airport. That makes sense since there's a good chance that no one will report it missing for quite a while. Unfortunately that's about the only smart move he makes. He keeps a hideout that's supposed to be his safehouse and he and Kate head there. They drive the same stolen care the whole way and use Luke's only “secure” fake ID for everything as they travel. It never seems to occur to Luke that if someone discovers the car missing he's creating a trail that will be a snap to follow. That's something a professional should really have considered since he has no way of being sure when the car's owner is due to return.
A professional would probably also have made different choices when he set up his safehouse. He probably wouldn't have located it in the county where his only friend from the agency is now the sheriff since anyone looking for him is going to check out his known associates. He would also not have made it luxurious enough to make people question why it's so nice when the owner is so rarely there. (Again, where does Luke get his money?) He should also have made more than a token effort to disguise himself when he's in town. Given how little Luke changes his appearance a professional questioning the locals would have very little difficulty discovering that he's the part-time resident.
Luke makes the same mistake when changing Kate's appearance. While Luke was gone Kate went through several hair styles and colors. Luke's idea of a disguise is to have her switch back to the exact way she looked when they were living together. That's not likely to fool anyone, let alone the professional spies who are supposedly chasing them. There were many other problems, including the identity of Luke's enemy, but it would be far too much trouble to list them all.
There should be a term to describe this kind of romantic suspense novel. I think “wallpaper suspense” could work. Just like “wallpaper historicals” books like this are a cheat. There's no real effort made to create believable suspense or characters whose actions make sense given their supposed jobs. The plot is just an easy way to put the hero and heroine together under pressure so that they can have hot sex. I'm a fan of the hot sex, but not the sloppy storytelling. The only thing that I can say in the book's favor is that, aside from the fact that they're incredibly stupid about birth control/STD prevention, I found both Luke and Kate likable. I would have enjoyed them if they had been in a better book.
Grade: D
Kate has a million questions. Where has Luke been? Why did he come back? Who would beat up an accountant and leave him for dead? The only way that Luke can persuade her not to call the police is to promise that as soon as he's had some rest he'll answer her questions and then leave. Giving Kate the answers she wants and deserves is a huge risk for Luke because he's not an accountant. That was simply a cover he used to explain the frequent trips required by his actual job in covert operations.
In all his time undercover Kate was the only person he really loved. He never planned to stay away from her for so long, but his last op went terribly wrong and Luke ended up in a South American prison. When he finally made it back to Washington he discovered evidence that he had been betrayed by someone in his own agency. Before he could figure out who it was his enemies caught up with him. In desperation he turns to Kate because she's the only person he feels sure that he can trust. Unfortunately for both of them Luke didn't cover his tracks as well as he thought and they're soon on the run, desperately trying to prove a conspiracy that goes higher up in the government than either of them could have imagined.
I should have known that this book was going to have a lot of problems when I realized that the back cover copy must have referred to an earlier edit. It said that Luke had been gone for four years, but the book said only 18 months. I wish that had been the worst of it, but it wasn't even close. There were so many issues that it's hard to know where to start. Cullen's basic research was poor. She gets small things wrong, like the fact that virtually no one in DC calls the airport Ronald Reagan National Airport. It's just National. She also gets more obvious things wrong. Luke supposedly owns a townhouse in Georgetown. "Government operative" is not a lucrative job. Luke is likely at about a GS-11 and there is no way that someone at that salary level can afford real estate in Georgetown unless he inherited money or married it.
I was even more bothered by the fact that Luke was presented as some sort of super spy, but his tradecraft is terrible. When he and Kate make their initial getaway he steals a car from long term parking at the local airport. That makes sense since there's a good chance that no one will report it missing for quite a while. Unfortunately that's about the only smart move he makes. He keeps a hideout that's supposed to be his safehouse and he and Kate head there. They drive the same stolen care the whole way and use Luke's only “secure” fake ID for everything as they travel. It never seems to occur to Luke that if someone discovers the car missing he's creating a trail that will be a snap to follow. That's something a professional should really have considered since he has no way of being sure when the car's owner is due to return.
A professional would probably also have made different choices when he set up his safehouse. He probably wouldn't have located it in the county where his only friend from the agency is now the sheriff since anyone looking for him is going to check out his known associates. He would also not have made it luxurious enough to make people question why it's so nice when the owner is so rarely there. (Again, where does Luke get his money?) He should also have made more than a token effort to disguise himself when he's in town. Given how little Luke changes his appearance a professional questioning the locals would have very little difficulty discovering that he's the part-time resident.
Luke makes the same mistake when changing Kate's appearance. While Luke was gone Kate went through several hair styles and colors. Luke's idea of a disguise is to have her switch back to the exact way she looked when they were living together. That's not likely to fool anyone, let alone the professional spies who are supposedly chasing them. There were many other problems, including the identity of Luke's enemy, but it would be far too much trouble to list them all.
There should be a term to describe this kind of romantic suspense novel. I think “wallpaper suspense” could work. Just like “wallpaper historicals” books like this are a cheat. There's no real effort made to create believable suspense or characters whose actions make sense given their supposed jobs. The plot is just an easy way to put the hero and heroine together under pressure so that they can have hot sex. I'm a fan of the hot sex, but not the sloppy storytelling. The only thing that I can say in the book's favor is that, aside from the fact that they're incredibly stupid about birth control/STD prevention, I found both Luke and Kate likable. I would have enjoyed them if they had been in a better book.
Grade: D
Perfect by Judith McNaught
Julie Mathison was a foster child in trouble with the system and headed for more when she was taken in by a minister and his wife. The love she received from her adoptive family gave her the security she longed for and she's determined never to do anything to make them regret the chance they gave her. She's a respectable teacher in the small Texas town were she was raised, working hard to make a difference in the lives of her neediest students and to make her family proud.
Zachary Benedict was an Academy Award-winning actor turned director, living a charmed life until his wife was murdered and he was convicted of the crime. After exhausting his options he gave up on the system and decided to find his own way out of prison. With the help of a friend he broke out, intending to leave the country and never look back. Unfortunately bad weather and bad timing force him to abduct Julie and use her and her car to get away.
Julie is first scared and then furious about being forced to help an escaped felon, but in spite of her best intentions and Zach's terrible attitude something draws her to him. The problem is that she can't be sure if he's really innocent or if he simply calls to a part of her that she left behind years ago. If he's innocent and she doesn't help him she'll regret it forever. If she trusts him and she's wrong the perfect life she's built for herself will be irrevocably damaged.
I found Zach interesting as a character, but the details about his life in Hollywood rang false. There's a lot of name dropping, but instead of lending authenticity it simply made the book feel dated (it was originally published in 1994). I understood and sympathized with Julie's reasons for valuing her reputation so highly. However, at times the fact that she was wound so tight made it difficult to relate to her.
In spite of that, the real problem with this book was that it dragged. At 677 pages in paperback, this is a long book and unfortunately there were times when it felt even longer. There was a lot of detail and story, but no surprises. Everything felt predictable, right down to Julie's inevitable crisis of faith in Zach. I was even able to figure out who the real killer was even though McNaught withheld critical information until the end.
It wasn't a bad book, but iI ultimately didn't feel that it was worth the amount of time it took to read. I would have liked it much better if it had been a couple hundred pages shorter.
Grade: C-
Zachary Benedict was an Academy Award-winning actor turned director, living a charmed life until his wife was murdered and he was convicted of the crime. After exhausting his options he gave up on the system and decided to find his own way out of prison. With the help of a friend he broke out, intending to leave the country and never look back. Unfortunately bad weather and bad timing force him to abduct Julie and use her and her car to get away.
Julie is first scared and then furious about being forced to help an escaped felon, but in spite of her best intentions and Zach's terrible attitude something draws her to him. The problem is that she can't be sure if he's really innocent or if he simply calls to a part of her that she left behind years ago. If he's innocent and she doesn't help him she'll regret it forever. If she trusts him and she's wrong the perfect life she's built for herself will be irrevocably damaged.
I found Zach interesting as a character, but the details about his life in Hollywood rang false. There's a lot of name dropping, but instead of lending authenticity it simply made the book feel dated (it was originally published in 1994). I understood and sympathized with Julie's reasons for valuing her reputation so highly. However, at times the fact that she was wound so tight made it difficult to relate to her.
In spite of that, the real problem with this book was that it dragged. At 677 pages in paperback, this is a long book and unfortunately there were times when it felt even longer. There was a lot of detail and story, but no surprises. Everything felt predictable, right down to Julie's inevitable crisis of faith in Zach. I was even able to figure out who the real killer was even though McNaught withheld critical information until the end.
It wasn't a bad book, but iI ultimately didn't feel that it was worth the amount of time it took to read. I would have liked it much better if it had been a couple hundred pages shorter.
Grade: C-
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
2009 TBR Challenge for September: Magnate's Make-Believe Mistress by Bronwyn Jameson
September Challenge" Chose one from the Author List or read a book by a new-to-you author
I won this book during a recent "Save the Contemporary" contest at Smart Bitches Trashy Books.
When it arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago I was buried in library books that needed to be read by their due dates, so I set it aside. Since I'm now caught up on my borrowed items and I've never read anything by Bronwyn Jameson this book seemed perfect for the September TBR challenge.
Cristo Véron is an airline executive living in England. He's wealthy and privilaged, but he also has problems. As is the case for many people they're mostly caused by his family. His main source of trouble is currently his sister Amanda. She's a nice enough young woman, but she's rather spoiled at the best of times and it's not the best of times. Amanda is getting married and by her own admission organizing the huge wedding has turned her into a bit of a bridezilla. Cristo initially disapproved of Amanda's fiancé Hugh because of his reputation as a hard-partying playboy. However, over time he became convinced that Hugh's love for Amanda was real and agreed to not only support the marriage, but pay for the wedding. As a result Cristo finds himself not only footing the bill, but acting as general fix-it person for all the many problems that arise with the planning.
Keeping the caterers in line is one thing, but the situation becomes much worse when Hugh comes to Cristo looking for help with a possible blackmail attempt. A woman named Isabelle Browne has called Hugh from Australia claiming to be pregnant with his child. Hugh claims that he's never met anyone named Isabelle Browne and that he's been completely faithful to Amanda. However, with only weeks to before the wedding he doesn't want Amanda to find out about the situation unless it's absolutely necessary. Cristo isn't sure what to believe. Hugh seems sincere, but Amanda's happiness is at stake so he agrees to go to Australia, track Isabelle down and find out the truth.
Isabelle works has a housekeeper for At Your Service, a concierge service for wealthy visitors to Melbourne. Cristo hires her for the week and plans to use the time to ferret out the truth about her supposed pregnancy. For her part Isabelle is suspicious of the fact that Cristo requested her by name and was willing to pay double her usual rate to get her to reschedule her vacation to take the job. In spite of their mutual distrust they're drawn to each other and enjoy spending time together. By the time the truth comes out about the pregnancy their attraction is undeniable, but some real problems remain. Cirsto has no interest in commitment and Isabelle is not a party girl. She also isn't sure how a housekeeper can possibly fit in, even temporarily, in the life of such a wealthy man.
If I hadn't won this book I probably would never have read it. In the recent discussion at Dear Author about money in romance novels I came down on the side of generally not liking books about "billionaire tycoons". I can't relate at all and it doesn't really work for me as a fantasy since I don't like the implication that huge amounts of money are necessary for an HEA. In spite of that I enjoyed this book. Cristo comes across as genuinely nice, even when he's being cynical about love. Isabelle is impressed by him, but not so much that she loses her good sense. I really appreciated the fact that the book presents their attraction as just that, attraction. Their physical chemistry isn't treated as love, it's just the thing that brings them together. They fall in love because they enjoy being together. The only thing that I didn't like was that Cristo's conversion from totally cynical to proposing marriage felt sort of abrupt, but that's one of the hazard's of category-length books.
Grade: B-
I won this book during a recent "Save the Contemporary" contest at Smart Bitches Trashy Books.
When it arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago I was buried in library books that needed to be read by their due dates, so I set it aside. Since I'm now caught up on my borrowed items and I've never read anything by Bronwyn Jameson this book seemed perfect for the September TBR challenge.
Cristo Véron is an airline executive living in England. He's wealthy and privilaged, but he also has problems. As is the case for many people they're mostly caused by his family. His main source of trouble is currently his sister Amanda. She's a nice enough young woman, but she's rather spoiled at the best of times and it's not the best of times. Amanda is getting married and by her own admission organizing the huge wedding has turned her into a bit of a bridezilla. Cristo initially disapproved of Amanda's fiancé Hugh because of his reputation as a hard-partying playboy. However, over time he became convinced that Hugh's love for Amanda was real and agreed to not only support the marriage, but pay for the wedding. As a result Cristo finds himself not only footing the bill, but acting as general fix-it person for all the many problems that arise with the planning.
Keeping the caterers in line is one thing, but the situation becomes much worse when Hugh comes to Cristo looking for help with a possible blackmail attempt. A woman named Isabelle Browne has called Hugh from Australia claiming to be pregnant with his child. Hugh claims that he's never met anyone named Isabelle Browne and that he's been completely faithful to Amanda. However, with only weeks to before the wedding he doesn't want Amanda to find out about the situation unless it's absolutely necessary. Cristo isn't sure what to believe. Hugh seems sincere, but Amanda's happiness is at stake so he agrees to go to Australia, track Isabelle down and find out the truth.
Isabelle works has a housekeeper for At Your Service, a concierge service for wealthy visitors to Melbourne. Cristo hires her for the week and plans to use the time to ferret out the truth about her supposed pregnancy. For her part Isabelle is suspicious of the fact that Cristo requested her by name and was willing to pay double her usual rate to get her to reschedule her vacation to take the job. In spite of their mutual distrust they're drawn to each other and enjoy spending time together. By the time the truth comes out about the pregnancy their attraction is undeniable, but some real problems remain. Cirsto has no interest in commitment and Isabelle is not a party girl. She also isn't sure how a housekeeper can possibly fit in, even temporarily, in the life of such a wealthy man.
If I hadn't won this book I probably would never have read it. In the recent discussion at Dear Author about money in romance novels I came down on the side of generally not liking books about "billionaire tycoons". I can't relate at all and it doesn't really work for me as a fantasy since I don't like the implication that huge amounts of money are necessary for an HEA. In spite of that I enjoyed this book. Cristo comes across as genuinely nice, even when he's being cynical about love. Isabelle is impressed by him, but not so much that she loses her good sense. I really appreciated the fact that the book presents their attraction as just that, attraction. Their physical chemistry isn't treated as love, it's just the thing that brings them together. They fall in love because they enjoy being together. The only thing that I didn't like was that Cristo's conversion from totally cynical to proposing marriage felt sort of abrupt, but that's one of the hazard's of category-length books.
Grade: B-
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