Sandy M’s review of Woman on the Run by Lisa Marie Rice
Contemporary Romance published by Ellora’s Cave 1 Oct 05

We haven’t had one of our A Duckie Looks Back reviews in quite some time. I’d been wanting to read this Lisa Marie Rice book for a while, so I’m killing two birds here. (I said birds, not ducks!) If I’d had more of this author’s books handy after devouring Pursuit, which she wrote under her pseudonym of Elizabeth Jennings, I would have been reading them too. This woman can write. She pulls you in immediately, gives you characters, especially heroes, you love (at least for me), and a storyline that won’t let go of you until the very last word is read.

Julia is in the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time, witnessing a mafia hit. She’s scheduled to testify against the mob boss who pulled the trigger, but in the meantime she’s been tossed in the Witness Protection Program. She’s now Sally Anderson, an elementary school teacher in Simpson, Idaho. She can’t get any further away from her life in Boston, all of it upscale.

Cooper is also sort of in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s looking for his best friend’s son’s teacher to talk about Rafael and the problems he’s having in school, because the boy’s father lately spends his time soused. However, it’s after school and Julia is in her room alone when she hears someone outside in the hallway. Arming herself with the only thing available — a Jack o’lantern the kids made just that afternoon — scared spitless, she wallops the intruder when he dares breach her sanctum. Needless to say, these two don’t hit off at first glance.

But there is a pull between them, and when Coop volunteers to shuttle Rafael from his ranch to Sally’s during the week for tutoring, they begin to learn about each other and their attraction can only grow. They have their moments in between, though, some contentious and some hilarious. But when they both finally give in to the feelings and lust, this is one explosive couple.

Of course, Coop is one of those dominant alpha males that I love to read about. He’s a former SEAL (which comes in handy later), and Julia makes him hard instantly and he stays hard for her no matter how often they have sex. Talk about explosive. He can’t control himself to go slow and easy when it comes to Julia. That’s what I love about Ms. Rice’s heroes. They don’t need a lot of words (and Cooper sure doesn’t) to let their heroines know how they feel about her and how she affects them.

While all of this excitement is going on, a professional assassin is very logically hacking away at the FBI’s computer system and figuring out where Julia is. He, and plenty of other wannabes, are out for the 2 mil on the pretty teacher’s head.

Cooper is determined to keep Julia safe when he discovers her secret and how inept the FBI has been at her protection. He takes over and when all hell breaks loose, thank goodness he’s around. But when relief settles on Julia in place of her fear, she can’t wait to get home, which causes Coop to say goodbye. But can he really walk away? Will Julia let him? Or will the killer get their job done after all?

Vintage Lisa Marie Rice. From sassy heroine to alpha hero to quirky secondary characters — who are all hoot — along with a twist at the end you don’t see coming, this hit the spot for my LMR fix. Now I want another.

Grade: A

Summary:

What’s a girl to do? Sophisticated urbanite Julia Devaux loves her life. What’s not to love? A fabulous job in publishing, wonderful friends, gorgeous apartment, the company of her beautiful though temperamental Siamese cat, Federico Fellini, she’s got it made. And then Julia has the bad taste to witness a Mob murder and her life goes straight down the toilet. Under the Witness Security program, Julia is relocated to the boondocks, a hundred miles from the nearest bookstore and Estee Lauder outlet, where the only fast food is deer and the only entertainment is sex with a laconic local rancher. Luckily, talking isn’t what Sam Cooper does best…

Former SEAL Sam Cooper can’t believe his luck when mystery woman Sally Anderson hits town. Simpson, Idaho, can’t even offer a decent cup of coffee let alone gorgeous new grade school teachers. The instant Cooper sees Sally, he stakes her out as his own. Granted, he’s not much good at talking, but he does his best to keep her happy. When he discovers her life is in danger, he’ll stop at nothing to keep her safe and with him. He’s not alone. The whole town of Simpson wants to keep her.

No excerpt found.

Shannon C.’s review of Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
Science fiction romance released by Bantam 25 Oct 05

I understand that Linnea Sinclair is quite popular among readers of science fiction romance. Which, of course, explains why I haven’t read her until now. I am the absolute last to know about this stuff, I swear. Anyway, I started with Gabriel’s Ghost because it has sequels that I will be reviewing soon. And I’m glad I read it. Ms. Sinclair has a great gift for storytelling, and I was entranced from the beginning. Despite its flaws, I will definitely eagerly read the rest of the series.

Chasidah “Chaz” Bergrin has been exiled to a prison planet for a crime she didn’t commit. A long-time captain in the Fleet, this has been pretty devastating for her, but she finds herself rescued by none other than Sully, a man she spent years of her career chasing through the galaxy, a man she has always been attracted to. Sully wants Chaz’s help to stop the breeding of an alien monster. Along the way, they face danger, and their attraction grows.

This story is told in Chaz’s first-person POV. This was both a strength and a weakness for the book. I liked Chaz’s narrative voice, since it was pleasant and relatively snark-free, but I really didn’t get a very good sense of who she was. I have my ideas, but I don’t feel I got to know her as well as Sully or the others, and that’s a shame, because I did like her. Except for the times that I thought she should have picked up on a few things a lot faster than she did.

The true star of this book, though, is Sully. Sully has a huge secret, the extent of which is not revealed for quite a while. It’s a secret that has deeply influenced the kind of person he’s become, and he totally had me from the beginning, mostly because, as I’ve said before, I love me some emotionally repressed tortured heroes. The chemistry between Sully and Chasidah was obvious, and though the sex scenes were more lyrical than explicit, there were definitely more than a few squirm-in-my-seat moments reading them.

The other characters we meet are equally well drawn. Sully’s crew is made up of fascinating people, and I hope we get to see more of them as the series progresses. Even Chasidah’s ex-husband, featured near the end of the book, is painted sympathetically. There are villains, too, but their motives aren’t simply maniacal and evil, and I really appreciated that.

The plot moves along at a brisk pace, which kept me reading as quickly as I could. I also liked that the romance arc and the more action-packed sci-fi arc really couldn’t have existed without each other, which, to my mind, is what creates believable science fiction romance. I do think some of the world-building could have been better — I felt at times like I was reading something just a shade too derivative of Star Trek — but that’s a minor quibble, because I liked the rest of what I was reading.

Overall, this was a good introduction to Ms. Sinclair. I hope that, in the sequels to this book, she has chosen to provide more insight into Chaz’s character so that I can fall in love with her as much as I did Sully. Other than that, though, I think fans of science fiction romance and Star Trek should definitely give this one a go.

Grade: B

Summary:

A life-and-death battle where giving up the ghost has a whole new meaning…

After a decade of cruising interstellar patrol ships, former Captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime Pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn’t commit—and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows.

Gabriel Sullivan—alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue—is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz’s past is offering her a ticket to freedom—for a price. Someone in the Empire is secretly breeding jukors: vicious and uncontrollable killing machines that have long been outlawed. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates imperial space. For Chaz, it’s a matter of survival. For Sully it means facing the truth about who—and what—he really is. The mission means putting their lives on the line—but the tensions that heat up between them may be the riskiest part of all.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Limecello’s review of When the Lights Go Down by Heidi Betts
Contemporary Romance released by Silhouette Desire on 1 Oct 05

I love romances where opposites attract. That and Plain Jane stories. This is a great book that has both, and is extremely well written. I’ve been on a Heidi Betts kick – well, I went and got my hands on all the Heidi Betts books I could after a recommendation, and this book is by far my favorite thus far. I think it’ll keep its place.

Gwen Thomas is turning 31, and she’s giving herself a man as a present. Well, actually, she’s determined to see how “the other side” lives -and she only has 24 hours to do it. She’s a librarian, who has a simple but satisfying life, but… she’s never had sex. She’s determined to change that before letting yet another year of her life slip by.

Generally, the premise of such a book would irritate me. It’d be too fake and contrived. Not so with When the Lights Go Down. Gwen’s transformation is very realistic, and she remains true to herself. That is, just because she gets new hair, new clothes, a new look, her personality remains the same. She doesn’t suddenly turn into a vamp or sex kitten. Her beauty doesn’t suddenly strike the NFL quarterback walking into the club and he doesn’t sweep her off her feet. No.

What happens is she gets a bit schwily, and almost goes home with the wrong guy. Luckily, the owner of the club she’s in has noticed the smarmy guy putting his tired routine on her, and saves her. Ethan Banks actually owns the night club the Hot Spot (cheesy name, but that’s okay). He’s pretty happy as a play boy, but something about Gwen just attracts him. He knows she’s different from the usual hookup he has, but the tables are turned when after one night together, he wakes up to an empty bed. He doesn’t really like that, and decides to follow up on his mystery woman.

For her part, Gwen is in limbo. She’s finally had sex, and with someone she considers way out of her league – but Ethan seems to actually and earnestly want a relationship with her. She thinks he’s after the sexy sophisticate she appeared to be that night in the club, but doesn’t realize that he easily and immediately saw through all of that.

This is a terrific book, sweet and simple, romance in it’s purest form describing the budding and random relationship between two (relatively) normal people, living their normal every day lives. As a quick plug, I have to say I love Georgetown. I will say however, that it sticks in my head more as a “younger” hang out – but then maybe that’s because of the whole college town mentality. The fact that this book is set in Georgetown is just an added bonus.

After reading this book, I wished it was a person, or a plushie so I could hug it. Seriously, this book put a huge smile on my face and I just wanted to stay up and read more books to continue the book joy, regardless of the fact that it was 3 AM and my body sorely protested. I highly recommend reading this book. If you’re a book snob and don’t read Harlequin romances, you need to get off your high horse, read this book and see what you’ve been missing.

Grade: A-

Today is Gwen Thomas’s 31st birthday. She’s given herself T-minus 24-hours to change her life.

8 a.m Call out sick from the library
8:01 Scour yellow pages for Emergency Beauty Technicians
10 – noon Hair. Good-bye mousy. Hello, auburn.
noon – 1 p.m. Nails. Be bold!
2 – 3 Makeup. Nix au naturel for Notice-Me.
3 – 5 Shopping. Trade dated look for date-able.
10 Arrive at The Hot Spot. Pretend you’ve gone clubbing before.
11 Fight polyester lizard’s advances-and the disappointment of a failed mission
11:30 Revel in being rescued by Ethan Banks. Don’t let the sexy club owner’s chivalry prevent mission completion
When the lights go down Lose virginity…finally!

In the light of a new day, something had indeed changed for Gwen: She was in over her head…

Read an excerpt here.