Sybil’s Review of Caught (Gemini Men, Book 1) by Jami Alden
Romantic Suspense released by Brava 1 Oct 08
I first became interested in this series back when Jami Alden told us about her new Brava trilogy. The excerpt grabbed me. What can I say? I am a sucker for a smartass heroine. I know, this shocks you.
Toni is a computer geek used to using her keyboard kungfu to get what she needs where as Ethan is more used to using his smile. They are brought together when 17 year old Kara Kramer turns up missing. As the daughter of one of Gemini’s clients, Ethan is called in to help. Toni shows up with the recent ex Mrs. Karmer (Toni’s PI services helped her become a wealthy ex). Both Toni and Ethan have their own pasts to color their view of Kara’s disappearance, neither really knowing if there is anything more here than a kid looking for attention, trouble or if she has found it. Her parents swear she is a good kid, with good grades and a good web page on FacePlace called V-Club, where she has promised to stay a virgin until marriage. While the dad blames it on the mom for being a drunk and the mom blames dad for being too busy screwing his assistant, Ethan takes charge, or tries too.
What follows is an interesting, fast paced tale with a twist, a ‘ripped from the headlines’ feel to it, and a heavy dose of nothing ever dies on the Internet. So you know those nekkid pictures? Yeah, don’t post them or at least make sure she really is over age. I am pretty sure there was something of a plot hole regarding the FacePlace posting but I am not really familiar with Myspace or Facebook so I could be wrong and my kungfu is so not that good. So I just nodded and went with it. Computer geeks of the world might not. The photo stuff is cool though, but again, totally over my head. It did what I like in a good suspense story, which means it kept me turning the pages and made me think.
The characters are grand and might be one of Jami’s strongest points. She does amazing men. Really I would say Ethan, Derek and Danny are all great male characters who get along like brothers and sound like men. When they are together there is a serious lack of hand holding and tea, the language is more than a bit rough and something you might expect from ex-military men. Jami Alden has a great way of giving you their history without a bunch of info dumping or allowing the other brothers to over take the story. You want to know more about them but they don’t steal the show from the romance.
And the romance was good and the h/h are given a nice amount of time together, something that is often lacking in romantic suspence but it is still the weakest part of the a strong story. She had a great set up. A strong female, and a yummy hero who falls hard. It is grand. Downfall is Jami Alden has four days to work with so it is a tough sell and the push/pull does get tedious. The love scenes are smoking and when they are together they click, but it is hard to buy why it is love over lust. In the end though I have to admit I wanted to believe and I’m really happy to have Kept to start next.
On a final note, I was amused because when I closed the book I thought it reminded me of Shannon McKenna’s older books and on the cover of Caught there is a quote from… Shannon McKenna. Are you paying attention McKenna fangirls?
Grade: B-
Summary:
Got an investigation situation? Call the Gemini Men: Ethan and Derek Taggart. Yeah, they’re twins. Double the trouble and twice as sexy—women can’t get enough of them or their older brother Danny, who keeps ‘em in line when things get wild. The three Taggart men are hot, hard, and ready to take on all comers…
Ex-military. Tall. Chiseled. Intelligent and arrogant. And so hot he’s on fire. That’s Ethan Taggart. Male to the max. Toni Crawford, computer genius turned PI, can’t stop looking at him and Ethan’s returning the favor. Nice and slow. Those piercing blue eyes of his are about to melt her down but…nothing doing. Toni has to stay cool. Focus on the assignment: the teenage daughter of a multimillionaire just vanished in plain sight. Chasing down leads, investigating every freaky angle, pushing past the boundaries of a hellish underworld of sex and drugs, Ethan and Toni are forced to work closely to stalk an unseen enemy with a taste for cruel games. Risking their lives to save the missing girl is only half the battle. Their blazingly sensual attraction grows every second, until there’s no turning back. Their passion is about to explode…and Ethan and Toni soon find that danger breeds the hottest desire of all…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in The Gemini Men trilogy:
, Book 3: Unleashed by Jami Alden (29 Sep 09)
