Category / Simon & Schuster

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dream Man by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Dane Hollister
Heroine: Marlie Keen
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 24, 2009
Started On: June 15, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This book signifies romantic thrillers at their best. Linda Howard has done an awesome job in creating the story of a vicious serial killer who targets female victims, rapes them and butchers them up like nothing Detective Dane Hollister has seen throughout his career. With no forensic clues left behind by the killer, Dane and his partner Trammel are at a loss on how to proceed.

Help comes in the form of psychic Marlie Keen, who has had a troubled past with her gift. Six years has gone by since she has had a vision, and though she knows the drill of coming out to cops as a psychic, she can’t help herself but show up at the police station to describe the heinous crime committed which she sees through the eyes of the killer.

Dane who is a pretty smart detective, a little bit rough around the edges bristles and scoffs at the mere idea of the psychic business. But chills run up and down his spine and a fierce unwanted longing for Marlie crops up within him right from the first moment he lays his eyes on her. Though Marlie is accustomed to hostility from the police force before she is able to prove her abilities to them, she can’t set aside the burst of anger within her at first the dismissive way Dane treats her and then as a suspect the next.

After searching up on Marlie and learning about the her violent past, Dane sets aside his doubts and starts believing in Marlie and decides to give into the intense feelings he feels for her. Though Marlie is resistant at the idea of starting a relationship with anyone, she is no match at resisting the fierce heat that is between the two.

Before long, Dane realizes the toll each psychic vision has on Marlie and though the second murder doesn’t yield any clues to who the monster might be, the third murder yields a sketch of the killer. Without Marlie knowing, Dane sets her up with the media to grab the attention of the killer, which Marlie attracts in spades. Devastated by the ultimate betrayal by the man she has come to love, Marlie refuses to move to a safe house but reluctantly agrees to move into Dane’s house where the killer comes into finally end Marlie’s life once and for all.

This book is intense, creeping me out at certain scenes where the thoughts of the vicious killer made chills run up and down my spine. The characters are well developed, the passion scorching HOT and the romance just the right level that it made me feel like I was actually reading a romantic thriller and not just a thriller.

Great read the second time round. Loved the epilogue! And loved the larger than life Dane Hollister! Sigh!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Kill & Tell by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: John Medina Series, Book 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Marc Chastain
Heroine: Karen Whitlaw
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1998
Started On: June 14, 2010
Finished On: June 15, 2010

I went on a Linda Howard reading spree a long time back and am now re-reading some of her books, books that have made an impression on other readers and books that I remember being good enough and worthy enough for a re-read. Linda Howard is an amazing writer, her writing style never lets you down and her heroes are to die for. With the right mixture of romance, mystery and sensuality, her books always rate highly in my opinion.

Right from the start of the book, the reader is drawn into the web of mystery that surrounds the murder of two soldiers who served in the Vietnam war, one being the estranged father of Karen Whitlaw and the other the father of the larger than life CIA operative John Medina, who gets his own story in the book All the Queen’s Men published in 1999. I remember being quite disappointed with John Medina’s book since my expectations for him were at an all time high after reading about just how dangerous a hero John would turn out to be.

Anyhow, Karen learns about the murder of her father from New Orleans’s homicide detective Marc Chastain when he calls her up to tell that her father Dexter Whitlaw who had lived on the streets had been killed under suspicious circumstances as far as Marc could tell. Reeling from the sudden death of her beloved mother a couple of months back, Karen had always nursed a deep resentment for her father who had abandoned both of them when Karen was quite young. However Karen quickly makes arrangements and fly off to New Orleans where she comes face to face with Marc, the man whose velvety voice had made quite an impression on Karen, and the quick hot attraction that flares between the two is something to savor.

The slow seduction that takes place where Marc woos Karen and the scorching passion these two create with one another made me want a Marc of my own. Sigh! Unbeknown to Karen, something in her possession that her father had mailed to her mother a few months before his demise marks Karen as a target and her life quickly unfolds into one filled with danger and pitfalls wherever she turns.

A story that has an intriguing mix of politics gone awry, jealousy, murder and two characters a reader would definitely relate with, this is another book that is in the “un-putdownable” category by the author.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Jack Russo
Heroine: Daisy Minor
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: July 17, 2001
Started On: June 13, 2010
Finished On: June 14, 2010

Daisy Minor, small-town librarian has just turned 34 years old. She is single, frumpy looking at best and well on her way to attaining spinsterhood when she realizes that she wants more out of life than living with her mom and aunt. So Daisy decides to change everything about her, from her appearance to moving out and getting her own place.

Chief of Police Jack Russo was a brusque, hard-nosed Yankee who had served in the SWAT in New York and Chicago when his great-aunt back in Hillsboro dies leaving him her place, a place where Jack had spent his summers as a child. Suddenly tired of all the pressures of working as a cop in the city, Jack moves to Hillsboro and finds himself smiling at the verbal sparring matches he has with the town’s frumpy librarian.

Once her make-over is complete, Daisy decides to hit the night clubs to scout for a husband, and is delighted by the appreciative attention she receives. However to Daisy’s  horror she becomes the source of the start of a brawl in the club and in a matter of seconds finds herself being escorted out of the club by Jack who continually seems to invade her personal space.

The second night Daisy decides to visit the club, she unknowingly witnesses the murder of a man and this puts her in grave danger to which Jack is alerted to when he receives a suspicious call from the mayor who is  involved in the business of smuggling young girls into the country to sell them at a high price to prostitution rings.

Explosive passion and romance are intrinsically woven together with a plot of danger with an interesting cast of characters that makes this book one you cannot put down. The witty banter between Daisy and Jack right from the beginning makes you smile and the ease with which they fall in love will remain with you for a long time.

Linda Howard can always spin a tale where her male characters are to die for and Jack Russo is no exception to the rule. Reading this book the second time round was as good as the first and readers who love romantic thrillers wouldn’t be disappointed in this tale.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Blue Bayou by JoAnn Ross

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Callahan Brothers, Book 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero:  Jack Callahan
Heroine: Danielle Dupree
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 2, 2002
Started On: March 12, 2010
Finished On: March 13, 2010

This is JoAnn Ross’s first book that I have ever tried out and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at how good this story is. I think I picked up the “scent” of this novel in some discussion forum in Amazon and this book certainly does seem to have got its fair share of good reviews which the story certainly deserves.

This is the first book in the “Callahan Brothers” series. The Callahan brothers are Finn, Jack and Nate, three of whom have individual stories of their own. I don’t think I am going to venture into the stories of Finn and Nate’s, because most of the time when a series starts off with a big bang like this one where the reader is really captivated by the story, the rest of the books in the series seem to pale in comparison and rarely gives the satisfaction that the reader craves from the series.

Though I may or may not read the rest of the books in the series, I bet that its Jack’s story that has enthralled readers the most because there is a history between the hero and heroine in the novel. Danielle or Dani is the daughter of the town’s judge. Jack’s father was the town sheriff who was shot and killed whilst trying to save Judge Dupree from being killed. Ever since then Jack’s mother Marie has worked as a housekeeper and surrogate mother for the Dupree family at their home.

Ever since the death of Jack’s father, Jack has always been a bit of a hell raiser which finally lands him at a sort of rehabilitative jail for youngsters. Having done his time and learnt his lesson, he returns home to find that Dani was still after him even though he had told her several times that she was too young to know what a guy like him would need and want. Pretty soon these two are hot and heavy in an affair which ends up in no good when Judge Dupree discovers the fact that Jack and Dani were having the time of their lives without his knowledge. Suddenly these two lovers are wrenched apart and by the cruel manipulation of the Judge, these two lose so much more than just the kind of love that people search for a lifetime looking, but rarely find.

Its years later and Dani returns home with her son Matt, older and wiser than ever before. With her father, the judge in jail, Dani is surprised to find that Jack had also returned home and is now the owner of her previous home. Sparks start to fly between the two as soon as they meet one another. Though Jack tries to deny that he still loves Dani, it is inevitable that these star crossed lovers would eventually yield to the red hot passion that flares between them every time they are within each other’s vicinity.

However, secrets from the past tends to  haunt these two, until they both learn to trust one another, to forgive and let go. Beautiful love story with enchanting characters and steamy sensuality that’s sure to be a winner for any romance novel lover.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Smash Cut by Sandra Brown

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Series: Standalone
Hero: Derek Mitchell
Heroine: Julie Rutledge
Date of Publication: August 11, 2009
Started On: November 29, 2009
Finished On: December 1, 2009

Sandra Brown has always been a favorite author of mine. With her first book ‘Relentless Desire’ which was published in 1983, she started off her career as a romance book author as most of my favorite authors. Later with the book ‘Slow Heat in Heaven’, she started on the genre of romantic suspense, some of which have been pretty great stories. Smash Cut, her latest such thriller is no exception to this rule. With two great characters and a complex plot with enough twists to keep us going, Smash Cut delivers on all fronts.

Derek Mitchell is a criminal defense lawyer with a reputation well-earned for preventing society’s scum from ever having to see the walls of a prison. Julie Rutledge, the mistress of millionaire Paul Wheeler, is the owner of an art gallery who witnesses the murder of her lover right in front of her.

Entering the story that unfolds of course is the slightly off-balance family that every rich guy leaves behind. Paul’s brother Doug and his wife Sherry with their son Creighton Wheeler who is very rich in his own right without having shed a drop of sweat to show for it and spoiled rotten to the core has a passion for movies unlike anyone has ever heard of.

From the start, Julie accuses Creighton of plotting and executing the well-laid out plan of murdering Paul, as Creighton was the sole beneficiary of Paul’s will, though the motive seems to be a weak one in the face of all the millions that Creighton has already inherited from another set of his grandparents.

Derek is hired by Creighton’s father, in case the need for a defense lawyer arises, though Creighton has a rock solid alibi for the day of the murder. Julie, wanting to prevent Creighton from walking free of this heinous act, tries to prevent Derek from being Creighton’s lawyer, which somehow in the end backfires on her.

Creighton’s evil streak is slowly revealed, while Julie and Derek join forces to out run the brilliance of a plan well laid out by a master of evil planning, to free Julie from the knot that slowly seems to tighten around Julie, pointing all fingers at her for the murder of Paul.

Ultimately in the end, Creighton is caught in the act of ‘tying up one of the loose ends’, and with a huge surprise in the end, which I am not going to spoil for everyone here, ties things up.

Although this book is of the genre ‘Romantic Suspense’, there is actually very little romance involved, but rather a great story of how pure evil can thrive in the minds of people society never thought capable of.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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