Tag Archive | suspense romance

Synopsis
John is an ex-Marine who is now wheelchair bound due to an injury. He now works at an investigative agency with other veterans.

Shannon is the office manager for the same company. When a stalker begins terrorizing her, John moves in to watch the house and her feel safer.

Opinion
This was cute in the sense that John and Shannon both had crushes on the other person. Shannon tried to be nice to John, but he was so surly all the time. She lusted after him from afar.

“The man was sex on wheels, literally, and it was all she could do not to jump into his lap.”

“The man was too sexy for her peace of mind.”

John was a total grump because he wanted Shannon but thought that she deserved better. He would rebuff her niceties but still put out the vibe to all the other guys in the office that she was his. In a way, it was good that she had a stalker terrorizing her, because it gave John something else to do than feel sorry for himself. The conflict allowed his alpha-male to manifest itself. While he maybe have been in a wheelchair, it did not prevent him from fully taking care of business.

The villain in this book was off the charts crazy. When it is revealed who all is involved, I was surprised that I did not figure it out sooner. There were a few red herrings that the author threw in along the way.

Should you buy? I think this is a good book to buy if you like suspense romance. The suspense is not too intense or gory but I think you will still be entertained. If you can figure out the villain before they are revealed, let me know in the comments. There is explicit language (should be a given considering John is ex-Marine).

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition, 262 pages
Published December 13th 2013 by J.M. Madden (first published February 1st 2013)
series Lost and Found #1

A matter of choice – Nora Roberts

Dec5

A Matter of Choice ♥♥

Synopsis

James Sladerman (Slade) is a detective sergeant that was picked for an undercover assignment to look after the Commissioner of Police goddaughter. Her antiques business is suspected of being part of an international smuggling ring. Since he is a writer, his guise is that he is going to stay at her house temporarily to do some writing.

Jessica Winslow is the daughter of a prominent New England family and is oblivious to the fact that someone is using her business to smuggle illegal goods. The suspect is someone she trusts and her life is soon to be in danger because of it.

Opinion

This is one of my least favorite books by Nora Roberts.

Jessica’s main fault was that she was so dumb and oblivious to all the signs that someone she trusted betrayed her.

As hard as I tried, I did not like Slade. Slade was so bitter over everything.

It was as if he was mad at the world-

mad because he had to take care of his family and could not work in a job he liked
mad because his novel had not been sold
mad because Jessica’s family was rich
mad because he was attracted to Jessica
mad because he had to protect her when he wanted to be far away from her

This comment from Jessica sums it up, “ I realize you might think differently, but you don’t go to hell for being kind.”

I cannot understand how or why Jessica fell in love with Slade. He was sullen or yelling at her most of the time. Even when he declared his love, he sounded angry about it.

His attitude killed the romance for me.

Additionally, consent in this book was not straightforward enough for me.

“ ‘No. This isn’t what I want’

Yes, yes it is, her eyes told him even while her hands pushed him away”.

Ick. I am more sensitive to this issue because so many women get raped when they say no, but the attacker says that they were saying yes with their body.

I do not care what signals a man thinks her body is giving him. If a woman says “no”, then the man should stop.

Should you buy? Only if you are a die hard Nora Roberts fan and have to read every book she has published. Otherwise, pass on this one. It is dark, the heroine is dense, and the hero has too many issues.

Married by Monday

Mar10

Married by Monday (Weekday Brides Series) – Married by Monday ♥♥♥♥♥

This is the second book in the series from this author. The first book Married by Monday was the story of Blake and Sam. This story is about their friends Carter and Eliza. Carter is running for governor and is the best friend to Eliza’s best friend’s husband. Eliza has taken over more of the business responsibility since Sam got married.

In the 2 years their friends have been married, they have verbally sparred so much that Eliza thinks he hates her. So when he proposes marriage as part of damage control during his campaign, Eliza thinks he is out of his mind. But then her past catches up with her and his proposal is appealing in more ways than one.

This book gets my highest score because it was an awesome story. The plot was so original with many twists and more twists. There was an unexpected suspense element that left me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath for what was going to happen. I do not think it is even possible to tell too much of the story without giving anything way. Be assured, it all ends well. I got my happy-ever-after, and the author did it all without some outlandish or ridiculous ending. It seemed farfetched but still in the realm of possibility.

I liked Married by Monday (Weekday Brides Series) even more than Wife by Wednesday and I thought that was a pretty good book. I am stingy with my 5 heart ratings, however this book deserves it. I am hooked with this series and I do not even mind. It is not like I feel I have to read the next book in the series to further the story. I like this author’s writing style and want to keep in touch with her characters because they are so great.

The right kind of kisses can be dangerous

May25

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥

There is a serial killer on the loose. Sydney (a reporter) and Jake (police detective) both want him caught, but have different ideas of how to achieve this goal. When the serial killer turns his attention to stalking Sydney, it gives them a chance to get to know each other on a deeper level.

Jake’s father was an officer who was killed in the line of fire. Jake does not want to fall in love, only to have something happen and leave behind a widow in emotional distress. Knowing he did not want an emotional involvement, Sydney is struggling to keep her heart guarded as well. But in the end both of them realizes that their kisses involve more than a little bit of pleasure. And with a crazy man on the loose, they find out quickly how much they really value what they have.

This was an entertaining read. The mystery suspense was balanced in the budding romance. In typical fashion, it takes a killer nearly succeeding to wake Jake up to how he really feels. The scary thing about serial killers is that they can be anyone. Psychopaths seemingly fit into society camouflaging their true nature this makes it difficult for police to catch them. Fortunately for Sydney, Jake is on the case.

You can buy Dangerous Kisses on Amazon by clicking any of the links in this post

Secrets? Yes. Seductive? Not sure about that

Mar12

Seductive Secrets (Secret Lives Series) by Colleen Connally

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In this romance story, Alyce is trying to find evidence to prove that her father was murdered instead of committing suicide after killing a fellow officer. If (and it is a big IF) she is able to exonerate him from this, it will also prove that her father was not guilty of espionage and treason. Julian is the grandson of Alyce’s guardian. Julian’s brother is also the man that Alyce’s father allegedly killed.

Of course, Alyce’s investigation put her life in danger. With the physical connection that she shares with Julian, he does not want her put her life at risk. He wants her to trust him while he carries out the investigation. I love stories with strong willed women and the men that try to rein them in.

While Julian is trying to keep her from the investigation, her good friend Charles is trying to help her on her fact-finding mission. When there was an introduction of what seemed to be to leading man, I thought this was going to be a love triangle. I hate to love triangles! Fortunately for me, this story has only two people in love: Alyce and Julian.

The story was so complicated, but in a good way. There were so many different people involved red herrings as it were. When the true villain is exposed, it was totally unexpected.

I like it when I’m not able to determine who did what and why. This means to me that the author has woven a complex story that keeps me engaged to the very end. Bravo. I admit that three quarters of the way through, I had to reread parts of the book to keep the story straight. Like I said, there were so many different people that I was getting confused about who was who and what role they played.

Half of the way through the book Julian and Alyce profess their love for each other. That, too, was unexpected. When I read the proclamations of love, I check how far along I am in the story. I know that will give me an indication of how soon the whole book and all of its questions would wrap up. Declaration of love halfway through the story? That does not bode well for the additional trials that the couple has to face before they get a happy ending.

In summary, this book is worth reading because it kept me hooked to the very end. I had the happy ever after ending that satisfied me as well. Additionally, there are some interesting subplots that also add to the story.

Click Seductive Secrets (Secret Lives Series) to buy on Amazon