Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Workout Wednesday: Huffin' and Puffin' My Way Through Leave Me Breathless


Ok I wasn't really out of breath while reading Leave Me Breathless by HelenKay Dimon, but I did break out into a good sweat and I thought it was a clever tie-in with my read-n-ride challenge this week.
(BTW this graphic is a good depiction of life imitating art LOL!)



♥♥♥♥

The results are in:
Pages read 269
Riding Time 3hours 6minutes
Calories Burned 1287
Distance Peddled 61.50 miles


For My Thoughts

I actually finished the book before the deadline this week. Hallelujah! So does that mean the book was sooo good and a great read that I raced through it? Or that I made it to the gym enough days in a row to to get it finished on time? The truth is actually a combination of both.

I love Helenkay Dimon's style of writing. Snappy, witty dialogue, complicated family dynamics, a hot alpha male and a take no prisoners heroine collide for a combination that can't go wrong in Leave Me Breathless.

Callie Robbins ex-FBI agent, is a firecracker with a smart-aleck mouth, a quick wit and attitude out the ying-yang. Judge Bennett Walker never stood a chance once Callie was assigned to protect him after a threat on his life.

Bennett Walker may be the cock-o-the-walk around the courthouse, but he's met his match in Callie. She's not the least bit intimidated by the Judge or his formidable black robe (what do Judges where under those robes anyway O_o?) and she lets him know it just about every chance she gets. Ben is dead set against a bodyguard and a woman no less (sheesh he's an ex-marine - he can look after himself!), but his protests fall on deaf ears as Callie just shuts him up with a volley of one-liners and verbal zingers. She's stuck like glue on the good Judge whether he likes it or not...and surprisingly he likes it!

Just a little sample of one line delivered early on by Callie to Ben that had me snickering: "I was going to call you a douche and the bag you came in, but I thought you'd have me arrested." Something about that line just struck my funny bone.

In fact the night I started this book at the gym, someone commented to me that the book must be good since I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading it. Certainly a good sign that this book was going to be an enjoyable read and make peddling all those miles a little less arduous.

I wasn't 100% sold on the suspense plot and who the threat turned out to be or their reasons for going after Ben, or Emma or Callie whoever the intended target turned out to be (you are going to have to find out for yourself by reading the book if you want to know), but it served it's purpose and brought Callie and Ben together and I can live with that.

The real draw for me in Leave me Breathless was the relationship between Callie and Ben. It's what kept me hooked and reading till the end. The secondary romance featuring Ben's brother Mark - Mr. Homeland Security Agent with no time for a personal life was a nice added bonus. That poor boy was a commitment phobe if ever there was one. Once he got his head out of his ass and embraced the love of his own good woman, it was nice to see him get his HEA as well.

You really can't go wrong with a HKD novel....at least I haven't been disappointed yet!

Back Blurb

PERMISSION TO APPROACH
According to Judge Bennett Walker, trying to kill him is a dumb idea. They might make him wear a big black nightgown to work, but it covers a lot of muscles, and he’s definitely packing beneath it. He’s also an ex-prosecutor and an ex-GI Joe. So when his brother brings in Callie Robbins to protect him, Ben has a few issues. First, he doesn’t need a bodyguard. Second, she’s a 130-pound girl—more smoking hot than smoking gun. And third, what if his body wants her guarding the night shift?

Callie has no problem brushing aside Ben’s disbelief. She left the FBI to escape the boys’ club, but she can be deeper undercover and twice as lethal as any beefy John Doe. As for whether someone’s after Bennett or not, the death threats and car bombs look pretty convincing to Callie. Of course, she might get distracted, sitting inches from the sexiest judge in DC for ten hours a day. Keeping him safe is no picnic. Keeping it professional—that might be impossible.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, I didn't realize you have a blog too!! I wondered if you finished this book. I finally got through it, it was a little slow. I had just read 3 other HK Dimon trades and they're all similar. I liked them, loved them, not really. I agree though I could give this one a 4 star rating. She was a new author for me and she just isn't as fast-paced as I was used to. It's great you can exercise and read too! I also have a fitness membership, but it bothers me to read and do the treadmill. I haven't been doing much for twitloss, and not even reading the blog posts lately. I've been having back-aches and knee pain so exercising has been out. I was off-line a lot the last couple weeks and too busy to read much too. By any chance are you near the MI border in Ontario?? Would you believe "I can see Canada from my house", well I can from the downtown area.LOL!!
See ya around Twitter, Sue ( QLady48)

WEIGHT LESS NOT MORE said...

Hi Sue thanks for visiting my blog. I am about 3 hours from the Windsor-Detroit border - that makes us almost neighbors! I can only read while riding no way could I do it while on the elliptical or treadmill (I watch my daytime talk shows while I am doing that). You sound like me your knee and back injuries - and it sucks. Hope it calms down for you soon so you can get back to reading!

HelenKay said...

Thank you for the lovely review!

It's all about us! said...

Cute Picture LOL!!!! I don't know how you can read and bike at the same time. I went out for my first bike ride and thought I was going to puke my guts out. I'm sitting down drinking a Smirnoff Ice so much for all those calories I burned.

Erotic Horizon said...

I read this a few weeks ago and just did a review by my place as well - I agree with you, Kay did not disappoint me with this book..

I will admit I was sucked into the bonus story of Mark and Emma - I love tortured heroes and Mark played it so well..

I didn't mind the weak suspense - as the other stuff were so much larger and was not overly weight down by the mystery..

Great review..

E.H>