2014 – Book #76

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Well this past weekend was certainly a busy weekend. The Terryville Fair was this past weekend and as I am a member of the Terryville Lions Club, who puts on the Fair, it was go, go, go from sun-up to sun-down. For some of the weekend I was helping my Mom in the quilting section, you can see her post on the Fair here: http://joanne94w.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/fair-weekend/

The seventy-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Fatal Fortune by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the fourth book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/22/14. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

When Gwen discovers that one of her employees has become the victim of a “protection scam” she decides to figure out the problem herself. Thinking she can complete this investigation on her own, she at first is reticent to involve Zac. She wants to prove to him that she can do this on her own. When people start disappearing and her employee starts being blackmailed though, she knows that its time to call in the big guns.

While trying to go through this investigation, Gwen encounters an old boyfriend, Rick. Rick decides that he wants Gwen back in his life, and he’ll do anything to get her there. Rick’s character was very creepy and unsettling. Zac’s character in this story was shown at a different angle, since most of the time we see his jealous side but in this story we saw how much he trusts Gwen and trusts in their relationship.

Overall this was a good story. I really liked the plot and I thought it was well-paced. I liked that all the stories in the series didn’t really get too deep into things. They were all around 150 pages so they were easy to read and at the same time interesting. I wish there were more in this series. I really like Gwen and Zac!

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

Link to author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Fortune-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HQQ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408989907&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fatal+fortune

22Aug2014

2014 – Book #75

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-fifth book I read in 2014 was The Sinister Touch by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the third book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/21/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

Gwen has a friendly aquiantance with her window neighbor across the street. He is an artist and though they’ve never met in person, they wave to each other some mornings in passing. Zac doesn’t enjoy this ritual. Zac has been very busy with a prominent client in recent weeks, though, so there’s no one around to tell Gwen not to wave at her artist neighbor. On this one particular morning though she notices something odd with one of his paintings, it looked like someone defaced the painting and sliced it through. Once the artist neighbor sees this too, he holds up a note asking Gwen to meet him downstairs for coffee.

Turns out the artist’s name is Mason. He asks Gwen if she saw who did this to his painting. She didn’t but she decides to ask Zac for advice on what Mason should do. Zac doesn’t like the idea of Mason and Gwen becoming even friendlier. But with his current client trying to pay him for his genes, i feel like he can’t really say much. What follow is a funny story of intrigue and greed. Zac helps figure out who is behind the attacks on Mason, and unfortunately Gwen since she sticks her nose in everything, in the nick of time and saves both of them from being killed (sacrificed).

I liked this story but I don’t think I liked it as much as the first two books in the series. The plot in this story felt more forced than it did in the last two. It was still a good and entertaining story though and I like seeing the progression of Zac and Gwen’s relationship. I also like seeing the different intricacies of Gwen’s sister Carla’s character that are being introduced through each story.

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinister-Touch-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HRQG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sinister+touch

14Aug2014

2014 – Book #72

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Buchanan/Renard/MacKenna series (FBI), Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-second book I read in 2014 was Fast Track by Julie Garwood. This is book 12 in her Buchanan / Renard / MacKenna series (mostly FBI thrillers). I finished this book on 8/14/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Cordelia Kane and Aiden Madison (Cordelia is best friends with Aiden’s sister Regan, who is the heroine in book 4 in this series – Murder List).

Cordelia’s dad has had his third and final heart attack and he isn’t going to get any better from this one. He makes a deathbed confession to Cordelia and tells her that he’s lied to her for her whole life, her mother isn’t actually dead. She is in fact alive and living in Sydney Australia. He confesses that he waited all this time for her to come back, that he should’ve given up on that dream long ago but couldn’t seem to move on.

Cordelia knows exactly how that feels. She’s been in love with her best friend’s older brother Aiden since she was five years old. Not wanting to follow in her father’s footsteps, she decides to make some big changes to get Aiden out of her life and out of her mind. First thing she needs to do though, is confront the mother who abandoned her so long ago. As she plans to travel to Sydney, Australia, Aiden decides he needs to tag along to keep her safe. He’s just starting to realize that Cordelia is really the one thing that’s been precious to him all along.

Overall I really liked this book. I liked the heroine’s character and to be honest I loved the hero’s character, as bad at communicating as he was. I also liked the connection to characters from previous stories in the series. This was a great read, I couldn’t seem to put it down!

Link to author website: http://www.juliegarwood.com/index.asp

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Track-Julie-Garwood/dp/0525954457/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408032916&sr=8-1

11Aug2014

2014 – Book #68

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-eighth book I read in 2014 was The Witness by Nora Roberts. I finished this book on 8/11/14. I rated this book 4,25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Elizabeth Fitch, prodigy child who at 16 has already been accepted into Harvard medical school. Elizabeth’s controlling mother has decided that Elizabeth will follow in her footsteps and be a neurosurgeon. But Elizabeth’s real passion is computers, and she hopes to someday work for the FBI. One night of rebellion turns Elizabeth’s life around completely, and the few months that follow as she waits in a safe house for a trial to begin turn out to be better than all her years living with her heartless mother. A plot to eliminate her as a witness though leaves her doubting who she can trust, and so she goes on the run for the next twelve years.

Elizabeth (now calling herself Abigail Lowery) settles in a small town in the Ozarks, thinking that in this quiet town she can finally find a semblance of safety and peace. But what she finds is that the Chief of police in this small town of Bickford is an extremely annoying man. He seems to be always butting into her business, and for a woman who just wants to be left in peace this can be extremely trying. Abigail comes to find though that Brooks can’t be avoided, and as they grow closer she discovers that he may be the one person she can trust with her secret. Brooks also has to deal with multiple different side stories in his role as town police chief. The addition of the side stories make it so that there is never a dull moment in this book.

Overall I very much liked this book. Even though it was a longer book for me (488 pages), I even thought that there could have been more added to the end. I felt like the ending was cut off a little too quick, I wanted to find out what happened with the bad guys. I absolutely loved the heroine in this story though, she was utterly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book, it was a great, interesting read and I was hooked throughout the whole story!

Link to author website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Nora-Roberts/dp/0425264769/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1407786512

4Aug2014

2014 – Book #66

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Chilling Deception by Jayne Castle. This is the second book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/4/14. I rated this book 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5.This book continues the story of Guinevere Jones and her investigator boyfriend Zac Justis. Gwen is concerned about her current client, Mr. Vandyke, and his current stress level. She convinces Zac to offer his security services on Mr. Vandyke’s upcoming buisness trip to the San Juan islands.

Zac is not thrilled about being a bodyguard to Gwen’s client. Especially when it means being at Mr. Vandyke’s beck and call and not getting any alone time with Gwen. Gwen was hoping to get some alone time this weekend as well, but not for exactly the same reasons as Zac. Gwen was hoping that she might be able to talk to Zac this weekend about their relationship status. But things seem to keep getting in the way.

Overall I thought this was a good story. It was a quick read at only about 165 pages and the plot was interesting and well-paced. The climax was riveting and well done, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. As I said in my post on the first story in the series though, the hero in these stories is a little too heavy-handed for me. He was almost mean in this story, calling the heroine names and stuff. I’m excited to read the next in the series!

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chilling-Deception-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HV9E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407191209&sr=8-1&keywords=the+chilling+deception

3Aug2014

2014 – Book #65

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-fifth book I read in 2014 was The Desperate Game by Jayne Castle. This is the first book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/2/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book introduces us to Guinevere Jones, the owner of a small-business temp agency. While covering one of her assignments, she encounters a man named Zac Justis, who she discovers has been looking for her.

Zac has been hired to get to the bottom of some equipment shipment thefts that were discovered due to a new inventory computer program. Starr Enterprises is Zac’s first big client of his brand new investigation/consulting firm and he wants to make sure this customer walks away happy. He decides to use Gwen to infiltrate the computer programming division of Starr Enterprises and find out who is behind the thefts.

Gwen’s not thrilled about being blackmailed into helping Zac, but what forms as a result is an unlikely alliance. But after Zac begins to doubt whether Gwen is actually involved in the thefts. Gwen is hurt by Zac’s accusations and sets out to prove him wrong.

This was a really a very good story. It was well-paced and the plot was interesting. I very much liked the heroine, but i did find the hero to be a little heavy-handed. Since this story was originally published in 1986, the alpha-male character is a little different than those of today. For instance, at one point in the story the hero knocks the heroine over the back of the head (thinking she is someone else) and the heroine never brings this up later on and the hero never even apologizes. I found this to be an issue. Other than that though I did enjoy the book!

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Game-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HZFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407032368&sr=8-1&keywords=the+desperate+game

29Jul2014

2014 – Book #62

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Full series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-second book I read in 2014 was Full Bloom by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes. This is the fifth book in their “Full” series. I finished this book on 7/29/14 (partly due to the parking lot that was Highway 84 W traffic this morning). I rated this book 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about small-town B&B homeowner Annie Fortenberry. Annie is extremely stressed out due to the high-profile upcoming wedding being held at the eccentric B&B she inherited from her grandmother. The last thing she needs to add to her to do list is clear herself of murder charges!

Wes Parker shows up at Annie’s B&B to try and find out what happened to Annie’s missing husband. And it takes Wes all of 5 minutes to realize that Annie couldn’t have murdered anybody. After the gardener finds Annie’s husband’s body buried out by the carriage house though, the police turn they’re eyes towards Annie. Wes has to figure out who actually murdered Charles before Annie gets put away for a crime she didn’t commit.

Overall this was an ok book. It was funny, witty, and a quick read but I thought that the ending could’ve been better. There wasn’t really a villain in the end, the killer turned out to be someone we already knew and honestly liked. I felt like it would’ve been better with a real villain in the end. And whatever happened to all the side characters? Many of their stories were left open, like Norm and Donna Schaefer’s. And I thought it was a little weird that Wes got there so fast after Annie called him. So while I thought the ending could’ve gone a little better, the book overall was a quick and entertaining read.

Link to author website: http://www.evanovich.com/

Link to “Full” series page: http://www.evanovich.com/novels/romance-novels/co-authored-romance-novels/charlotte-hughes/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Full-Bloom-Janet-Evanovich/dp/0312934300/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1406652406&sr=8-1

2Jun2014

2014 – Book #47

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The forty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Low Pressure by Sandra Brown. I finished this book on 6/1/14. I rated this book 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Bellamy Lyston Price and how 18 years after the fact, she is still trying to recover from the murder of her older sister. Her family has never quite been able to move past her sister being found dead after a tornado, only to find out that Susan (the sister) was killed by another person instead of the twister. Dent Carter was Susan’s girlfriend when she was murdered and they had a fight the morning she died, making him the police’s first suspect. He had an alibi though, and once the police found out Susan was screwing around they arrested the other guy she was sleeping with and he was convicted and sentenced for Susan’s murder.

Fast forward to 18 years later, Bellamy has written a published a book about her family’s tragedy, labeling it a fiction book and writing it under a pen-name. A reporter discovers her true identity however, and it doesn’t take long for Bellamy to become the most famous author in America. Soon after that she receives a threatening package. Thinking it might be Dent showing he’s unhappy with her book, she gets in contact with him only to find out that he hasn’t even heard of her book. Now that he has though, he’s furious.

Dent’s airplane is soon after vandalized, and it seems to be the same person who vandalizes Bellamy’s house. Bellamy and Dent decide to team up to try and figure out who is attacking them. Since Susan’s killer was convicted only on circumstantial evidence, it would seem that Susan’s actual killer is the one attacking them.

Be forewarned, the amount of twists and turns in this book was just astounding. Overall, this was just an awesome book. It was riveting and thrilling. I couldn’t tear myself away from the book, I was glued to the story for the whole story. I felt like I was trapped within the story. I loved this book and I would highly recommend it to other readers!

Link to author website: http://sandrabrown.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Low-Pressure-Sandra-Brown/dp/1455525189/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1401667603&sr=8-1

7May2014

2014 – Book #36

Posted in Book reviews, Historical Romance, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The thirty-sixth book I read in 2014 was Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick (which is a pen name of Jayne Ann Krentz). I finished this book on 5/6/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Amity Doncaster and Benedict Stanbridge. They met on a ship bound for New York when Amity found Benedict shot and bleeding badly in an alleyway. She manages to get him back to the cruise ship, and thankfully she has some medical training from her doctor so she is able to stitch up Benedict and care for him through his fever and subsequent recovery. After passing through New York though, Amity is heading back home to London and Benedict is heading to California before then heading home to London later on. Benedict promises to call on her when he returns to London.

Some time later, Benedict finally shows up in London and pays a call to Amity. Unbeknownst to him though Amity was recently attacked by the killer they call the Bridegroom due to her friendship with Benedict. The story that follows is really Amity and Benedict, along with Amity’s sister Penny, assist Scotland Yard’s Inspector John Logan in hunting down this killer. One of the interesting things about this book is the heroine’s weapon of choice, something called a tessen, its a Japanese iron war fan. The heroine uses this as a weapon against the Bridegroom in order to escape his clutches. If you’d like to read more about tessens, here is an article about them on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_fan.

Overall I thought this was a very good story. It was interesting to go along on the journey to search for the killer. Some of the conversations felt a bit awkward though. But the plot was fairly well-paced and I liked the characters. This wasn’t my favorite book by this author but it was enjoyable.

Link to author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Otherwise-Engaged-Ladies-Lantern-Street-ebook/dp/B00FX7R5QM/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399486343&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=otherwis+engaged

4May2014

2014 – Book #34

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The thirty-fourth book I read in 2014 was Night Diver by Elizabeth Lowell. I finished this book on 5/1/14. This was the first book I’ve read by this author. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book was about Kate Donnelly and Holden Cameron. Kate Donnelly had a tragic experience as a teen and has been running from her family and her old life ever since then. The last thing she wants is for her brother to drag her back home to St.Vincent’s to clean up his mess. Kate’s brother Larry signed a dive contract (Kate’s family owns a salvage diving business) that is going to end up putting the family business into bankruptcy. Kate can’t leave her family to fail though, so she comes to the rescue and flies down to St. Vincent’s to meet with the consultant coming in from AO, the company that owns the dive contract.

And that consultant is none other than Holden Cameron, a former British military diver who is consulting for AO. Holden can’t figure out why Kate fascinates him so much but the more he gets to know her the more he seems to like her. Holden was sent from AO to assess whether or not the diving project should be shut down. There hasn’t been quite enough results from this project to satisfy AO but Larry is sure there’s more down there. Holden thinks there’s a possibility that someone on the dive is stealing and keeping the treasures for themselves. And the deeper he gets into his investigation, the more Kate starts to suspect that there may be something going on as well.

But what neither of them realize is that they are getting elbow deep in issues that are turning deadly. Kate tries to protect her family and Holden tries to protect her. One of the things I liked about this book was the growth of the heroine during the story, she overcomes her fears of the water as her relationship with Holden matures. Overall this was a great story and had an interesting plot. A couple parts were a little dry/slow but the love story was sweet and heart-warming and the danger was palpable at points. It was also interesting to learn about diving through the story.

Link to author website: http://www.elizabethlowell.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Diver-Novel-Elizabeth-Lowell-ebook/dp/B00ENGU6MO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399243847&sr=8-1&keywords=night+diver