Review: A Lot Like Love

The FBI wants her cooperation.

As the daughter of a billionaire and the owner of the city’s top wine store, Jordan Rhodes is invited to the most exclusive parties in Chicago. But there’s only one party the FBI wants to crash: the charity fundraiser of a famous restaurateur, who also happens to launder money for the mob. In exchange for her brother’s release from prison, Jordan is going to be there—with a date supplied by the Bureau.

Agent McCall just wants her.

As the top undercover agent in Chicago, Nick McCall has one rule: never get personal. This “date” with Jordan Rhodes is merely an assignment—one they’re both determined to pull off even if they can’t be together for five minutes before the sarcasm and sparks begin to fly. But when Nick’s investigation is compromised, he and Jordan have no choice but to pretend they’re a couple, and what starts out as a simple assignment begins to feel a lot like something more. .

Making the Grade: A+

For My Thoughts

Julie James could write about the periodic table and I would buy the book, read it and totally enjoy it. Yes I am a big fan of Ms. James and yes she is that good. My one complaint? I wanted more. I needed the story to go on. I wasn’t ready to say good-bye to these characters *sniffle*. And now the long wait begins until the next Julie James offering is available *sigh*.

Her latest release A Lot Like Love is her fourth book and she just keeps getting better. This book features a beautiful, sophisticated, refined, wine shop owner and billion heiress (well she will be one day) Jordan Rhodes and a don’t f*&k with me (and he has a really good face to go along with it too!), scruffy, just finished an undercover assignment, take charge, Cro-Magnon FBI agent Nick McCall. You can see where this is going right? Oil and water? Opposite ends of the spectrum? No matter how different Jordan and Nick are it doesn’t take long before the sparks are a-crack-a-lacking between these two.

Jordan would do anything for her twin brother Kyle who just happens to be incarcerated and that includes getting “into bed” sorta speak with the FBI if it means getting an earlier release for her brother. How hard can it be to carry on a "fake" relationship for one evening? Harder than you think Ms. Rhodes!

I, like Nick don’t know anything about wine, care nothing about wine and all it subtleties and when he was asked how an expensive glass of wine smelt - he replied like I would: “Like wine”. Ms. James takes the wine world and makes it interesting and so fun with her sarcastic dialogue and witty storytelling. She takes a simple scene about educating Nick in the fine art of wine tasting and makes it totally sexually charged...with no sex at all. Spit or swallow anyone?

Nick is gruff, rough around the edges and puts his don’t f*@k with me face to good use whenever he thinks it will get him what he wants. But we also get to see a gentler side of him when he has to explain to his old world Italian Ma why he can’t make it to her sixtieth birthday party and then there's a small crack in his armour when the “fake” boyfriend routine with Jordan starts to get on his nerves. It was fun to see the big, I'm-in-charge agent get taken down a notch when he realizes he wants more from Jordan than a “fake” anything. It’s something he’s never experienced before in his relationships and it was good to see him have to work through his feelings for the beautiful heiress.

Ms. James uses pop references in her books that make me laugh. This time in A Lot Like Love she incorporates Twitter and breaking it for 2 days, she references the character Sawyer from the TV show Lost and then the coupe is mentioning Dancing With The Stars (in Something About You it was The Bachelor). These are all things I, as a reader relate to and love. These small mentions really enhanced my reading enjoyment and I am sure I had a perma-grin on my face the entire time I was reading A Lot Like Love.

And finally Julie James provides the answer to that age old question of why men really do watch Dancing With The Stars with their significant others. Makes me wonder if Mr. James enjoys the Monday/Tuesday night viewings?