July's Challenge - Romantic Suspense

Title: Taken
Author: Barbara Freethy
Year published: 2006
Why did you get this book? It had an interesting cover, got good reviews and I’ve read her before
Do you like the cover? Heh heh – yea.
Did you enjoy the book? It was OK
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I’ve read her before and I’ll probably read her again.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? This one is always a tough question to be honest. Since I’m a hoarder and a pack rat by nature, I keep many books I probably don’t need to. Having spent money on them, I hate to get rid of them knowing I’ll never get back what I paid. The better question for me on this one would be will you reread it. If that’s the question, then the answer is probably not.
Anything else? Amazon blurb: After a whirlwind courtship, San Francisco artist Kayla is about to fulfill her dream of marrying Mr. Right and starting a family—but on the wedding night, her dream man abandons her. Meanwhile, engineer Nick Granville returns home to San Francisco after a few months working in Africa to find his house lived in and his bank accounts plundered. Turns out these two strangers were duped by the same man: handsome, blond, smooth-talking Evan Chadwick. Unable to get the attention of the SFPD, the two marks take it upon themselves to track down Evan and get back what's theirs. As the clues accumulate, so do the smoldering glances between broad-shouldered Nick and curvy Kayla, but Freethy's sex scenes have a reportorial feel that may leave readers cold. Evan's cat and mouse game, however, should hook suspense fans and carry them into the next volume—as Evan says, "the game will be over when I say it's over," and this is just his first play
Couple of things. First on the book itself, it was pretty good. But the hero/heroine weren’t the brightest crayons in the box (love that phrase – I forget where I heard it, but I love it). They knew halfway through the book that someone was following them and then getting to where they were headed first. Yet time after time they plodded through clues and discovered something, only to find out that someone had gotten there first. Once or twice, alright, but by the third and fourth time the villain had got the jump on them I wanted to reach inside the book and knock their heads together.
Second thing. Romantic Suspense always poses a bit of a sticky wicket for me. I love the genre, but I’m an end reader. That means way before I get to the end of a book, I have to check it out to make sure it’s a HEA (d’uh – it’s romance. I know, I know but it’s a habit I can’t seem to break). But with RS – if I read too much of the end before I get there, it can really spoil the book for me. So it’s become a delicate balance not to start the end read to far in advance that it gives away too many spoilers.


Title: Thicker than Water
Author: Maggie Shayne
Year published: 2005
Why did you get this book? I don’t know. It’s one of those books that just somehow showed up in my TBR pile. I probably got it at a UBS when I couldn’t find anything but refused to leave without something
Do you like the cover? Yea, it’s good
Did you enjoy the book? Yes and no
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I’ve read her before although not for a long time. Years ago I read her vampire books – back in the early 90’s before they became popular and she wrote a couple of other books, Fairytale was one. Yes, I think I’ll read more by her
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Well, I was going to pass this one on but then our dear precious darling cat who loves all things paper got hold of it and chewed the hell out of the cover.
Anything else? Amazon blurb: Straight-laced upstate New York news anchor Julie Jones has a deadly secret: 16 years earlier, as a teen runaway named Jewel, she fled the besieged burning compound of fanatic cult leader/drug dealer Mordecai Young, with his hidden fortune and her dying best friend's newborn child. Self-proclaimed "Reverend" Young and the rest of his cult, save two other "favorite" girls, perished in the attack by federal agents-or so Julie always thought. But when a blackmailer threatening to expose Julie is murdered and two former "favorite" girls turn up dead as well, it appears the messianic madman may be after the daughter Julie has raised as her own. Her only ally is sensationalist shock-jock radio reporter Sean MacKenzie, Julie's worst professional rival.
This is the storyline and it was a pretty good book – BUT – the author tread a thin line with Julie. She made some real dumb decisions and followed the same kind of path as my most hated heroine ever (Meg from The Defiant Hero) made. She has this guy, who is sharp and willing to help her, yet she continually lies to him and refuses to let him help. Yes, yes I know she is doing whatever it takes to save her daughter, but still – time and again she makes the worst choice possible. I found it very frustrating. It ends with a bit of a cliffhanger and there is another one after this one and I think I might track it down.