2015 Book #9 – Heartbreaker by Julie Garwood

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, Buchanan/Renard/MacKenna series (FBI), Reading Challenges, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Title: Heartbreaker
Author: Julie Garwood
Date finished: 2/2/15
Genre: Romantic suspense
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: July 1, 2000
Pages in book: 423
Stand alone or series: Buchanan / Renard / MacKenna series Book 1

Blurb from the cover:

In the still shadows of the confessional, the penitent kneels and makes a bone-chilling disclosure: “Bless me father, for I will sin….” Slowly, tauntingly, the man describes his murderous past — how he stalked his victim, worked his way into her life, and then took that life in a violent rage — and his plan to kill again. Only this time, he has raised the stakes in his twisted game, daring authorities to catch him if they can. This time, he has revealed the name of his next intended victim. “I’m a heartbreaker. And I do so love a challenge….” Agent Nick Buchanan has come face-to-face with society’s worst monsters and depraved minds in his work for one of the FBI’s most elite units. He’s about to take a much needed vacation from his high-stress job when he’s called on to stop the killer who has mockingly confessed to the deadly crime he’s to commit. Nick can’t refuse –for this time the threat has hit close to home. The intended victim is his best friend’s sister. Soon he is caught up in an intricate chase with one of the most devious psychopaths of his career — in a case that suddenly, unexpectedly, pulls him in like no other. Laurant Madden found a home and a sense of security when she moved into the small Iowa town of Holy Oaks — but her contented life is shaken to the core as a cagey predator closes in on her. Her brother, Tom, insists that she turn to the only man he trusts to help her: Nick Buchanan. As an electrifying attraction grows between Laurant and Nick, so does the danger — and one false move will cost both of them everything that matters.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “over 400 pages” square. This series is one that I enjoyed reading in the past and I have decided to re-read through the series. I liked the story line in this book a lot, there were just enough twists and turns to keep you interested without making it seem like a farce. The characters felt a little bit outdated and honestly didn’t really seem that well matched. I liked the murder mystery piece of this one more than the romance piece. Mystery plot line was thrilling.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book. I like the overall series as well.

Author website: http://juliegarwood.com/
Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Heartbreaker-Julie-Garwood/dp/0671032992/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1422996587

18Jan2015

2015 Book #4 – Trust No One by Jayne Ann Krentz

Posted in Book reviews, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, Reading Challenges, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Title: Trust No One
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Date finished: 1/18/15
Genre: Romantic suspense
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Pages in book: 327
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Working for a guru of positive thinking couldn’t be a better experience for Grace Elland. Used to bouncing from job to job, she’s finally found stability and success with the Witherspoon Way. Her marketing and social media skills have made Sprague Witherspoon the top motivational speaker in the Pacific Northwest.
Then Grace finds Sprague murdered. A vodka bottle on his nightstand is a terrifying reminder of the horrors of her past, a message to Grace that can be no coincidence.
When Grace retreats to her childhood home, Cloud Lake, to regroup, she suffers through sleepless nights and nightmares. She turns to breathing exercises, mantras, and meds to quell her fears. She tries to put everything she’s learned about positive thinking into practice – a process that is seriously challenged on a blind date. “Awkward” doesn’t begin to describe her evening with venture capitalist Julius Arkwright. She has nothing in common with a man who lives to make money, by any means necessary.
But the intense ex-Marine has skills that Grace can use – to figure out her future. Living by a simple set of rules – Trust no one and Everyone has a hidden agenda – Julius is the perfect man to help Grace, when it becomes clear that she is being stalked.
And as Witherspoon’s financial empire continues to crumble around them, taking a deadly toll, Julius will walk Grace step by step into her past to uncover a devious plan meant to destroy not only Grace, but everyone around her as well….

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Free Space” square. I am a big fan of Jayne Ann Krentz (as well as her other pen names) and I really have been looking forward to this new release. I really enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t want to put it down. I did find the plot to be a tiny bit predictable, but there were some surprises thrown in there. At no point was I really thrown for a loop though. My rating would’ve been closer to a 5 if I had in fact been thrown for a loop.
Other than a slight lack of surprise, the book was quite good. I liked Grace’s character alot, she was strong-willed but also honest and genuinely cared about those around her, even the not so good guys. Julius was a pillar that Grace could lean on when she needed him most, and best of all he was smart. Some romance novels, the hero ends up being a glorified body-guard but Julius was such a successful and brilliant businessman and his company helped the police figure out the embezzlement of Sprague’s revenues. Julius was the strong, silent type and even when Grace protested he still was there to support her.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book!

Author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/
Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Trust-One-Jayne-Ann-Krentz/dp/0399165134/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1421602723&sr=8-1

2Oct2014

2014 – Book #87

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The eighty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Mean Streak by Sandra Brown. I finished this book on 9/30/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book was about Dr. Emory Charbonneau, pediatrician and marathon runner who decides to complete a training run up in the mountains of North Carolina. While in the midst of her run, she is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant.

Emory wakes up in a stranger’s cabin. She has no memory of how he got there. And the man staring back at her looks far from gentle. Worried about why this strange man has brought her to his cabin, she shrinks back at first. However, after the stranger proves again and again that he won’t hurt her, she begins to relax around him. As he nurses her back to health, he tries to ignore the sparks that start to fly between them.

The thing that scares Emory the most is that this mystery man won’t tell her anything about himself, even his name. What is she supposed to tell her husband when this strange man finally returns her to her normal life? Does she even really want to return to her normal life? And then a crisis comes up and Emory and the mystery guy end up having to work together to help someone in need.

Overall I liked this book a lot. This wasn’t my favorite book of hers but the plot was interesting, it was well paced, and was even a little scary in the beginning, a good thriller novel. My only complaint is that the plot was a tad predictable. I usually can’t figure out this author’s plot twists but this one I did see coming a little bit. Was still great and I would definitely recommend!!

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Streak-Sandra-Brown/dp/1455581127/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1412207014&sr=8-1

15Sep2014

2014 – Book #81

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The eighty-first book I read in 2014 was The Collector by Nora Roberts. I finished this book on 9/13/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Lila Emerson, international house-sitter and young-adult paranormal author. While house-sitting in New York City, she witnesses a brutal murder in the apartment across the street from her. Then when she happens to meet the suspected murderer’s brother at the police station (artist Ashton Archer), she hears a new side of the story that makes her questions what she originally believed happened in that apartment. Ashton asks her to help him figure out what happened to his brother.

As they investigate, Ashton realizes that Lila is everything he’s been looking for and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. When the police realize that the person after Lila and Ashton is a woman wanted is sever countries for murder, they have to come up with a good plan to try and keep Lila safe. As they delve deeper into the investigation, Ashton uncovers a piece of art that his brother was killed over, a Faberge egg. More specifically, one of the lost Imperial eggs.

Overall I was not a huge fan of this book. The hero was FAR too heavy-handed for me and I just couldn’t manage to get involved in the story line. Some parts of the book were interesting but by the time the climax of the book came around I had pretty much lost interest. It was ok but I’m not sure its worth reading the whole 480+ pages.

Link to Faberge Imperial Eggs: http://www.faberge.com/news/49-imperialeggs.aspx

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Collector-Nora-Roberts/dp/0399164456/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410793306&sr=8-1&keywords=the+collector

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

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

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