Sandy M’s review of Something About You by Julie James
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 2 March 10

This is my first Julie James book. Therefore, I was surprised to learn, when reading the blurb about SAY, that the story revolves around an Assistant U.S. Attorney and all the legal aspects that go along with that. In my career as a court reporter I’ve worked with hundreds of attorneys, including my fair share of AUSAs, so this book intrigued me in a different way, other than the fact it’s a romance. I haven’t yet found that many romance novels that feature attorneys as either hero or heroine and I’ve always felt if it’s done right, there’s some good books waiting to be written.

And Ms. James has proven my point now with three books published featuring our legal system as their backdrop. Using SAY as a gauge, even not having read her first two books yet, she’s written the perfect combination of mystery, danger, love and romance, and legal procedure and jargon that any lay person can understand and have them come back for more.

AUSA Cameron Lynde is taking a much needed respite from her job by checking into a local hotel where she can unwind without interruption. The interruption she does get is one she could never imagine and one that throws her life into chaos for the foreseeable future. She ends up being a witness to a murder committed in the room next to hers, and of all the luck, the FBI agent in charge is a man she’s spent the last three years despising.

What are the chances the first case Jack’s given since his return to the Chicago office throws Cameron Lynde smack dab in the middle of his life again. She’d been the cause of his transfer to Nebraska – after she’d decided not to prosecute a crime boss Jack had spent years working undercover for to bring the scum to justice. But here they are, forced to work together in a case that involves a U.S. senator and his sexcapades.

With virtually no evidence to go on, Jack and Cameron work their way through both this case and their past while dodging a killer who’s intent on making sure Cameron can never identify him. I really enjoyed Jack’s dilemma of wanting to keep his dislike of Cameron front and center and fighting to keep his growing attraction to her in the background. It’s a fight he has no chance of winning. Cameron is an intelligent and witty heroine, and he soon learns that not all is as it seems concerning their current case and the one in their past.

I also enjoyed their banter when they’d get irritated with one another and bring up old news. The sexual tension between them grows slyly and slowly, building until neither of them can deny it any longer, and that tension eventually gives way to hot and sizzling lovemaking. Jack stole more of my heart when doing everything in his power to protect Cameron, castigating himself when he thinks he’s failed to do so. Throwing himself through a window to keep her safe is pretty dang heroic to me.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable story. The action doesn’t stop for a breath once it starts. And though we know who the culprit is early on, you never know what he’s going to do next. Jack and Cameron are terrific together. They’re one of those couples you’d love to see in an ongoing series. But, then again, maybe that would ruin what’s so special about them.  You just shouldn’t mess with perfection.

Grade: A

Summary:

FATE HAS THROWN TWO SWORN ENEMIES. . .

Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…

. . .INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS

Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it’s no joke: the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension… Read an excerpt.