Workout Wednesday: I'm a Fool if I Think I'm Golden

Here I am riding my bike this week in my read-n-ride challenge as I finished Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery. The lead male character Josh Golden and I have a lot in common. He's famous, gorgeous, rich, a world class athlete and Tour de France Champion, admired and respected by all the people in his home town of Fool's Gold.  I...ummm...am a world class athlete cycle while I read a book. Ummm...ya lots of similarities.


Racing results this week

♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 376
Riding Time 3hour 10minutes
Calories Burned 1,119
Distance Peddled 52.19 miles




For My Thoughts

Chasing Perfect is all about small town living…where everybody knows your name...and gets all up in your business. Ohh! And there seems to be a shortage of eligible men of marrying age.

Charity Jones is Fool’s Gold new City Planner. Hopes are high that she can recruit some new businesses to locate in Fool’s Gold and along with new jobs bring some much needed bodies of the male persuasion to town. Work aside Charity’s pretty pumped to be setting down roots in this small, friendly community, something she’s always dreamed of doing as a young girl after being dragged around from town to town by her mom. Charity longs for stability, friends, a sense of family and a simpler life after a few failed relationships.

Josh Golden is the town’s local Golden boy. He’s famous, he’s gorgeous, he’s an athlete, he’s got a reputation as a ladies man and women of all ages are gaga over him. This is totally understandable since men are in such short supply, but his reputation may be more speculation or wishful thinking on the women’s part than based in fact. From the first moment Charity meets Josh after her first big presentation literally goes up in flames – her laptop that is - and he comes to her rescue, she can’t deny the sparks she feels whenever he’s within spitting distance. Controlling her hormones is going to be a big challenge, but Charity knows she doesn’t want to be the next notch on this playboy’s bedpost.

Chasing Perfect is at its core a good old fashioned love story about relationships. Under the watchful eye of the entire town, Josh and Charity explore and develop their budding romance. There are lots of interesting characters in Fool’s Gold from Mayor Marsha who has her own special relationship with Charity, to Pia the party and event planner to Ethan Hendrix the now estranged, but once best friend, fellow racer and closest thing to a brother Josh has ever had. These relationships are the foundation of Fool’s Gold and what Chasing Perfect is all about. There are no guns or car chases, things getting blown up, or bad guys out to kill anyone. The only drama happening in this city is between two rival sisters who for 25 years have had a battle over who has the best hair salon. I kind of wish more had been made of the man shortage problem, but maybe that is coming in one of the follow-up books in the series.

Finally, for anyone who follows Susan Mallery on twitter or facebook, then you know she is a big American Idol fan. I laughed at the mention of the show in Chasing Perfect when one of the city council meetings had to end on time so everyone could make it home to watch Idol. It’s fitting then that I am posting this review on the finale night as American Idol crowns a new champion. Go Crystal or Lee, whoever you are voting for, both are deserving of the title of American Idol.


Back Blurb:

Welcome to Fool’s Gold, California, a charming community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There’s lots to do and plenty of people to meet, especially women. Because there’s just one tiny problem in Fool’s Gold: the men don’t seem to stick around. Maybe it’s the lure of big-city life, or maybe it’s plain old bad luck, but regardless of the reason, the problem has to be fixed, fast. And Charity Jones may be just the city planner to do it.

Charity’s nomadic childhood has left her itching to settle down, and she immediately falls in love with all the storybook town has to offer — everything, that is, except its sexiest and most famous resident, former world-class cyclist Josh Golden. With her long list of romantic disasters, she’s not about to take a chance on another bad boy, even if everyone else thinks he’s perfect just the way he is. But maybe that’s just what he needs — someone who knows the value of his flaws. Someone who knows that he’s just chasing perfect.

Workout Wednesday: If You've Got The MONEY, HONEY I Got The Time

I`ve discovered you can find just about any image riding a bike and a dollar bill this week seemed appropriate. I wish someone would pay me money to ride-n-read.





Show Me The Money Results

♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 293
Riding Time 3hours 3 minutes
Calories Burned 1,210
Distance Peddled 55.54miles








For My Thoughts


I swear I wasn’t two chapters into Money, Honey by Susan Sey when it struck me that it reminded me of a combination of two of my favourite TV shows. White Collar (yummy Matt Bomer) meet Castle (Nathan Fillion). If you haven’t watched either of these shows, you should check them out. The eye candy alone is reason enough.

Career thief gets recruited by the FBI (to prevent his sister from heading to the slammer) to use his particular skill set to catch other criminals (White Collar) and is now a bestselling novelist (Castle). So the premise had me hooked plus I had a nice visual in my head of leading man Patrick O’Conner and I was ready to rock-n-roll read-n-ride.

Suave, sophisticated, debonair Patrick O’Conner has not seen FBI agent Liz Brynn for 3 years since their “working” relationship ended (read he paid his debt to the FBI in full) and he’s never forgotten the beautiful agent who was married to her job then and now and is still wearing her stuffy, buttoned-up, bad polyester suits...some things never change. Patrick’s back in Grief Creek Minnesota to help his sister, Mara solve a little counterfeiting problem she’s having at the Brightwater Casino and Restaurant she runs. Watch out Agent Brynn cuz I think some grief is headed your way!

It's just like old times in Grief Creek when Patrick and Liz are forced to work together again as a team. Only this time around, Patrick is hired on as an FBI consultant and that makes him a contemporary to Liz rather than a subordinate. Liz has a few problems with their new "working" relationship and try as she might to keep her professional distance from Patrick, he's just as determined to work his magic and get at least a few of those darn buttons on her suit undone. Patrick may not have the best track record when it comes to personal relationships, but he’s always had the hots for the no-nonsense Agent and he knows she’s the one who got away. He plans on rectifying that oversight this time around.

One of the things I loved about Patrick was how his relationship with his sister Mara developed. He’s keep his distance from Mara and his adorable niece Evie for the past three years partly for their own protection and partly because he doesn't do warm and fuzzy family reunions. His scenes with the incorrigible Evie, sticky fingers and all were a test of wills to see who would break first. Made for some cute, funny scenes.

Patrick and Liz have a lot of sexual chemistry, flirting and innuendo of things to come. Liz is determined to hold out against the very persuasive reformed thief, but a girl only has so much willpower plus they both have a lot of old history, family baggage and personal issues to work through. So its down to business first for this duo because there’s a case to solve, a villain out for revenge against Patrick and said villain is willing to hit Patrick where he’s most vulnerable and those closest to him are in more danger than they realize.

In the end there was a pretty creative plot hatched to catch the bad guy and thank goodness for a blatant disregard for the law as a little "break and enter" opened the door for a HEA.

This is Susan Sey’s first book and I liked it. What makes me pick up a new author? Well in this case, I loved the title Money, Honey – it’s cute and catchy; the cover art hints at a sexy duo inside and of course the back cover blurb sounded just like the type of book I like to read. Win win all around.

Next up for Susan Sey is Money Shot and it sounds like Ranger Rush and Special Agent Maria “Goose” di Guzman (we meet her in Money, Honey) are going to be another fun read (n-ride).

Back Cover Blurb

WHEN A LAWMAKER...

FBI Agent Elizabeth Brynn has dedicated her life to her job, having earned her position through hard work and a firm belief in law and order. She played strictly by the book until she recruited a notorious jewel thief as an informant-a professional criminal who used his wicked ways to tempt her into something more personal...

BETS ON A HEARTBREAKER...

Patrick O'Connor assisted the Feds for three years before going legit. Now a successful crime novelist, he wheels and deals his way around Hollywood, getting anything and everything he desires-except a certain federal agent who remained immune to his charms...

THERE'S MORE AT STAKE THAN JUST THE MONEY, HONEY.

Cop and robber are unexpectedly reunited when Patrick agrees to go undercover to help bust a counterfeiter-but his true motive is to get Liz under the covers, and she's not sure she can keep her hands to herself this time....

Workout Wednesday: Visions of Sugar Plums? Nope Ninjas!

Yay! Made it again under the wire this week and completed True Vision by Joyce Lamb for my weekly read-n-ride challenge. (In case the significance of my graphic is lost on you it's a happy eyeball - vision get it?).





The Visual Results
♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 321
Riding Time 3hours 35minutes
Calories Burned 1,374
Distance Peddled 65.82





For My Thoughts

True Vision's got a little bit of sumin’ sumin’ for everyone. It’s a combo platter of romance, suspense and it's even got a paranormal element.

Lamb doesn’t waste any time getting right to the action. Small town reporter Charlie Trudeau is the lone witness to a nasty hit and run accident right outside the paper where she works. The resulting death of the young woman, who called out to Charlotte by name just before being struck down in the crosswalk has shaken Charlie to her core for more than one reason. While comforting the injured woman, we get a little glimpse into the “special abilities” that have previously been dormant in Charlie and have now been turned on big time with megawatt intensity when Charlie has a strange reaction while holding the woman’s hand. The death of Laurette Atkins has also brought Noah Lassiter, a police detective from Chicago to Charlie's doorstep as he investigates the death of his good friend.

Noah is attracted to Charlie right from the get go and he’s determined to find out the connection between Laurette and Charlie (cuz you knew there had to be one right?) and he does have some inside info that Charlie is not aware of. I might have been skeptical about Noah’s instant attraction and lust at what some might consider inappropriate times..like on the run from a Ninja (I’ll get to that in a minute), but the author does explain to my satisfaction his fascination with her.

As for Charlie's "special abilities"...pretty sure not something I would ever want to experience. There seemed to be a definite downside to her newly awakened empathic abilities and some pretty debilitating side affects. Experiencing someone else's intense pain or grief through skin to skin contact with no controlling the sensations I'm thinking is not such a good "ability" to have. That being said, during more intimate moments, it did seem that skin to skin contact was a double whammy for Charlie and her reactions were off the charts.....yowza!

Now to the Ninja. Let me just say that should I ever be the target of a Ninja-clad assassin, I hope he is inept as the one after Charlie. Ninja boy had more misses on Charlie's life than a batter at the plate - dude 3 strikes and you're out!

Charlie's mom was a real biotch! I had to wonder why the family put up with her abusive behaviour especially Dad Trudeau. Not sure that I received a satisfactory explanation as to her nasty disposition especially towards her own daughter. I wish Ninja boy would have gone after her because she needed a good beatdown.

I was never sure who was out to silence Charlie or why, what all the family secrecy stuff was all about but it keep me hooked til the end.

Next up for Joyce Lamb is True Colors which is sister Alex's story.

Back Cover Blurb:

Newspaper reporter Charlie Trudeau is living an ordinary life, until witnessing a fatal hit-and-run accident gives her an intense psychic power she has no clue how to handle—and brings a Chicago police detective to her doorstep...

Noah Lassiter wants nothing more than to find the driver who killed his good friend. But his only lead is the beautiful Charlie Trudeau, who gets prickly when he starts nosing around town. Charlie’s clearly hiding something, but Noah needs her help unraveling the mystery of his friend’s death—even if the electricity between them complicates things.

But the more Noah and Charlie uncover, the more they realize they’re looking for a desperate killer—and the more danger they’re in. And if Charlie can’t gain control over her psychic powers, they may not survive long enough to explore the full sizzling potential of their desire…

Secrets and Lies But No Videotape

Shhhh! Can you keep a secret? Well there's lot of secrets, lies, politicians and blackmail pictures but no videotape in Our Little Secret by Starr Ambrose.






The Not So Secret Weekly Results
♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 356
Riding Time 3hours 17 minutes
Calories Burned 1,360
Distance Peddled 68.47 miles




For My Thoughts

Starr Ambrose's debut novel Lie to Me was one of my favorite reads in 2008. It was funny and well written, had great characters and was an easy, quick read so when I saw Our Little Secret was available, I was really looking forward to reading it for this week's Read-n-Ride challenge.

Welcome to the live styles of the rich and famous in D.C. where mistaken identities, blackmail, corruption, foreign dignitaries and politicians are the order of the day. Mmmmm sounds just like every other regular day in Washington. The only thing missing was Chris Matthews from MSNBC's Hardball.

Identical twin sisters Lauren and Meg Sutherland couldn't be more different. Where Lauren is the responsible, reliable, practical twin, engaged to an equally boring man, Meg is promiscuous, lives life on the wild side and is now newly married to her boss and a man twice her age US congressman Harlan Creighton. And it turns out instead of enjoying wedded bliss and a honeymoon get-away, the newlyweds are in fact M.I.A. and on the run.

With her sister missing, Lauren Sutherland hightails it to Washington D.C. where the first person she encounters is Drew Creighton, ski instructor and son of the missing congressman. Drew immediately mistakes Lauren for her twin sister and thinks she's a gold-digging hussy interested only in his father's wealth and power. The sparks immediately fly between Drew and Lauren with a close call involving a hair pulling incident and a well-placed kick to the shin (I'll let you figure out who did what).

Since Lauren was an engaged woman at the start of the book, I was interested to see how Ambrose would develop the relationship between Drew and Lauren. Turns out Jeff the fiancé was a bit of a dud and I could see why Lauren would dump his ass in favor of the gorgeous, irresistible ski bum...or someone she thinks is a ski bum. You know what happens when you ass-u-me and both are guilty of jumping to the wrong conclusions about each other.

As Drew and Lauren put their amateur detective skills to work, they are actually a good team once they get past their initial misunderstandings (ohh and Lauren dumps the BF), then the hot and steamy action really heats up between them. But they've got a job to do as they dodge bullets, an attempted kidnapping (Drew's not the only one who mistakes Lauren for her twin sister), and car chases while trying to figure out the good guys from the bad.

At this point the suspense plot involving the political blackmail plot, doctored pictures, secret service agents and foreign nationals was a bit long winded and tedious and I was ready for it to be over. To Lauren's credit she was surprisingly strong and smart and really held it together at the end when she was faced with some uncomfortable circumstances.

Our Little Secrets had it's moments with funny clever writing, some madcap adventure and great chemistry between Drew and Lauren. Although I enjoyed the story, it wasn't in the same league for me as Lie to Me and as is sometimes the case, I think it suffers from the sophomore jinx.


Back Cover Blurb

Lauren Sutherland tries to set a good example for her twin sister, from her practical job to her dependable, if boring, fiancé. So when impulsive Meg elopes with her boss, a U.S. senator twice her age, Lauren hops on a plane to talk her into an annulment...but comes face-to-face with the senator's handsome son, Drew, instead.

Demanding to know what she's done with his father, Drew is as infuriating as he is annoyingly irresistible. But he's not the only one who mistakes Lauren's identity. A relentless foe is on a deadly hunt for the missing newlyweds -- unless Lauren and Drew can find them first.

Venturing into the elite Washington social scene, they discover an elaborate web of explicit photos and blackmail, but the biggest surprise is the fiery attraction they can barely control. The clock is ticking, and while the sparks between Lauren and Drew burn hot, the trail of clues is growing cold....

You Can Fool Some of The People Some of The Time....

You'll get the significance of this week's graphic in a minute. Sometime I wish I had a big wind behind me to help me blow through my workouts!




Blown Away by my Results?
♥♥♥
Pages read 368
Riding Time 3hours 29 minutes
Calories Burned 1,385
Distance Peddled 68.85 miles






For My Thoughts

Blown Away is the 1st book in a new trilogy by Sharon Sala. I haven't previously read any books by Ms. Sala, but this book looked like it had an interesting premise so I decided to take a chance on a new (to me) author (like I don't have enough books in the TBR pile O-o).

The next time you think you're having a bad day and your life sucks, I'm pretty sure the heroine of Blown Away Carolyn North has you beat by a country mile.

While on a walk near her home, Carolyn stumbles across Lance Morgan, ex-boyfriend and owner of the neighboring farm burying a body wrapped in a carpet in woods. This actually is the highlight in what is to become the worst day possible in the life of Carolyn North and in fact probably saved her life. As Carolyn flees (Lance has every intention of silencing her before she can expose his crimes), back at the North homestead a tornado has made landfall totally demolishing Carolyn's home, killing her parents and her visiting cousin Susan (who coincidentally looks enough like Carolyn that they could be twins) and gravely injuring Carolyn herself. I told you she was having a bad day.

And yet even after all these traumatic events, somehow Carolyn has the presence of mind to think that if she doesn't leave the area immediately that Lance will track her down and kill her for what she witnessed him doing in the woods. Good thing her cousin Susan's car was unscathed during the storm so Carolyn buckles up and beats a hasty retreat deciding to assume her dead cousin's identity until she can prove that Lance is a murderer.

Well you can fool some of the people some of the time, but when Carolyn passes out at a traffic light and is hospitalized and “Susan’s” contact information is her boss Mike Beaudreaux, once he arrives – she ain’t fooling nobody, especially Mike.

Mike Beaudreaux is a smart, savvy, sexy businessman, who once he learns the true nature of Carolyn’s story is most compassionate and agrees to carry out the charade as he invites her into his home to recover from her ordeal. Although the relationship between Mike and Carolyn was quick to develop considering they only knew each other for a couple of weeks, it was sweet and loving and Mike being a southern gentleman does treat her with the utmost respect. Considering what Carolyn endured, the romance isn’t too hot and heavy but it seems Mike was just what the Dr. prescribed for Carolyn's road to recovery.

While I did finish Blown Away I did have some issues with the logic/storyline that made me shake my head and roll my eyes a few times.

I admit to knowing next to nothing about tornadoes other than they are very scary and windy - but shouldn't there have been some tornado or wind warnings that day before Carolyn decided to go for an afternoon stroll in the woods? Can a tornado really form that quick that you have no inkling one is just minutes from striking?

Why not just go to the police immediately and report what she saw Lance doing in the woods? For some reason Carolyn thinks she needs to amass evidence against Lance or no one will believer her. For such a smart guy, why would Mike go along with her harebrained plan (with his help and resources of course)? Lance as the bad guy was kind of lame. He was more like a spoiled, selfish brat who got himself into a heap of trouble and then couldn’t deal with the consequences.

The set up for the next two books in the series sounds intriguing (a missing little boy and prison escapees from the tornado wrecked jail) and while I had some minor issues with Blown Away, I will in all likelihood read them as well.

You'll Need More Than Your Lucky Charms to Woo This Lass Boyo!

Straighy Up by Deidre Martin was this week's read-n-ride challenge. In honour of the Irish setting for the book, I needed a little Luck O' the Irish myself to get it completed on time....but I did!

♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 340
Riding Time 3hour 9minutes
Calories Burned 1,336
Distance Peddled 55.19 miles



Back Blurb

Even a man on the run can enjoy the thrill of the chase...

After getting on the bad side of New York's Irish mob, Liam O'Brien thought he could weather the storm back in Ireland. Working as a bartender in his parent's old village of Ballycraig, he's not looking for any trouble. But he could use a bit of fun.

Aislinn McCafferty has already been scorned by a man once at the wedding altar. Now, any man who tries to woo her is quickly and coldly dispatched. The unknowing Liam soon learns this the hard way--and is immediately intrigued.

Eagerly accepting a wager from the pub's owner, Liam begins a determined pursuit of the stubborn and beautiful Aislinn, who in turn uses all of her wiles to rid herself of the charmingly determined Yank. But neither of them expects this donnybrook of the sexes to turn into an unlikely love...


For My Thoughts

I can honestly say that Aislinn McCafferty – or “The McCafferty” as the townsfolk like to refer to her as “because it’s nicer than calling her the Bitch” is unlike any female lead I’ve read in a long time.

She’s a sheep farmer for goodness sake. She is one hard-working, fiercely independent, prickly as a porcupine tough cookie (hence the nickname from the townsfolk) and should come with a “Beware The McCafferty” sign. She speaks her mind to the point of being harsh and the people who hang out at the local watering-hole she frequents are often on the receiving end of her biting, caustic tongue especially the three local men she refers to as the “Holy Trinity of Arseholes”. And now the new bartender in town, Irish-American Liam O’Brien has arrived to try her patience, but he’s going to need more than his lucky charms to woo this lass. The scenes at the pub were among my favorite in the book.

The first half of this book was great. There was a sense of impending doom as the anticipation just kept building. A bet made by Liam and then a bad decision on his part due to his pigheadedness had me waiting for the other shoe to drop. You knew it was coming and that it was just a matter of time before the fireworks or “The McCafferty” exploded. And she didn’t disappoint.

Watching Liam try to woo Aislinn back and redeem himself while he enlisted the help of the locals as well as Aislinn’s sister Nora was at times comical. I did find this part dragged on just a wee bit too long for my liking. The last half of the book just didn’t pack the same punch for me as the first half did.

Straight Up is a good, solid read with lots of laughs and was worth it just for all the new words I learned: goolies (use your imagination), eejit (idiot) – this was used a lot, wellies and lots of other quaint Irish expressions. I am pretty sure the voices in my head were speaking with a lovely Irish lilt while I was reading this book.

Workwork Wednesday: No Pain No Gain

Ok I thought this week was going to be easy to finish off my book for the read-n-ride challenge. But once again I managed to just squeak it in under the wire. I mean seriously it was only 243 pages and I was actually delusional enough to think that I might even read 2 books this week. Wrong! There were a couple of reasons I didn’t get as much time on the bike this week as I would have liked. First off I decided to try a different bike and that was my first mistake. My buttocks hurt for 2 days and just the thought of hopping back on that bad boy had my butt cheeks quivering in pain. I also had a few stomach issues this week that caused me to miss a few days. But I did complete the book so all-in-all it was a success.


♥♥♥ 1/2
The book: Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry

Pages read 243
Riding Time 2hours 20minutes
Calories Burned 839
Distance Peddled 49.60 miles

Back Cover Blurb
What's a girl to do when she's secretly in love with a friend and he's married to someone else? She gets over it. That's what Amy Parker has done. Rather than lose her best bud Quinn Whitfield with an ill-timed, crazy confession of affection, she's taken the smart route. She's eased away from him. Just enough to get past the unrequited bits. And you know, it's working.

Until the day Quinn announces he's now single. That's right. He's single. And he wants to hang out. With her. Get reconnected the way they used to be.

Oh, this is so not good for Amy's equilibrium. Daily doses of Quinn remind her of everything she loves about him. But if he's free…and she's free…well, maybe the time has come for one of those crazy confessions

For My Thoughts

First of all let me say that I love that Sarah Mayberry writes stories that take place in Australia. While reading, I always imagine the dialogue in my head with an Aussie accent (at least for the hero) and there is just something so hot and sexy about a guy with an accent.

Her Best Friend raises a very interesting question. What do you do when you find out your BFF is getting divorced and you’ve been in love with him since you were fourteen? That’s the dilemma facing Amy Parker when she discovers her childhood friends Quinn and Lisa are estranged and in the final stages of a divorce.

Can friends become lovers? Quinn and Amy spend most of the book dancing around this question. They have a fun, playful, easy-going relationship borne from years of being best friends. They know everything there is to know about each other except for how they really feel towards one another. Is wreaking a great friendship worth the risk of a few minutes tangled up in the sheets together? Neither Amy nor Quinn is willing to cross that line between friends and lovers to find out. Then one night one of them has a bit too much to drink and in an alcohol induced stupor reveals their true feelings. The circumstances surrounding the true confession were actually pretty funny and embarrassing and I did let out a little laugh.

This is a pretty tame book as far as smexy action goes, but there are a couple of close encounters only to be coitus interruptes by Amy’s mom who it turns out has impeccable timing.

If you have a spare couple of hours and want a fun, easy read then you won’t be disappointed with Her Best Friend.

Weigh in on the Friends Vs Lovers debate.

Next week’s challenge Leaves Me Breathless by HelenKay Dimon.

Windy City Showdown: It's The Librarian Vs The Former Marine

First of all Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope the Easter Bunny was very good to you today.

Now down to business.


♥♥♥
I’ve read all of Cathie Linz’s previous books and quite enjoy her as an author. Mad, Bad and Blonde was not one of my favorites.

Dumped at the alter by text message. A sign of the times? This takes social networking to an all new low.

That’s what happened to poor Faith West on her wedding day when her fiancé Alan decided that he wasn't ready to tie the knot with a dull, boring librarian. Faith doesn’t let his rejection get her down though; no way she’s off on her Italian honeymoon solo to have a good time and forget about her cowardly fiancé.

Former Marine Caine Hunter just happens to be in Italy the same time as Faith and it doesn’t take long for this hotty to sooth and comfort the recently jilted Faith. But appearances can be deceiving and Caine is not the lawyer from Philadelphia he is pretending to be and after a hot and steamy night of sex, the morning after discovery of who Caine really is sends Faith racing right back home to Chicago. It doesn’t take long for Caine to cross paths with the newly blonde Faith once again as it turns out he's right from her very own backyard and is a resident of the windy city himself.

Once back home Faith quits her job at the library and goes to work for her father’s P.I. firm West Investigations. Time and time again she “runs” into Caine, who just happens to really be a P.I. for a rival investigation firm of her father’s. Caine is determined to prove his father did not commit suicide and Faith is just as determined to prove that her father did not botch the investigate that ultimately led to the death of the elder Mr Hunter.

So this sounds like it should have been a good beginning to a fun contemporary romance and it did have a few cute moments. Unfortunately I just found myself trying to get through it. I didn’t care if Caine and Faith ended up together or killed each other. There was lots of talk about libraries and landmarks around Chicago and other information that seemed like filler and had little relevance to progressing the story. I found myself doing a lot of skimming.

There was very little romance between Caine and Faith after their quick initial hook-up in Italy, mostly they fought and their arguments were like rapid-fire staccato gunfire. I am sure the dialogue was intended to be witty and fun, but I just found that it made reading the book faster.

Here’s an example:

“I know a shortcut.”
“I bet you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That I was an idiot to ever get in this car with you. Stop right now.”
“Why? We’re only two block from your condo.”
“I’ll walk.”
“With those?”
“If I have to.”
“You don’t have to. Just stay calm. Don’t panic.”
“I don’t panic.”
“Right. See, here we are. At your front door.”

This is a fast, quick contemporary read and if that's what you are in the market for then you should enjoy Mad Bad and Blonde.

PS: Don't forget to come back and visit on Wednesday for a workout update on my Read-n-Ride challenge!

Oh What Tangled Webs We Weave....

♥♥♥
I became a fan of Christy Reece when I discovered her first trilogy last year featuring the men and women of The Last Chance Rescue organization.

I had high hopes for Reece's latest entry, but have to admit to being disappointed.

No Chance is billed as a romantic suspense, but the suspense portion never had me thinking Oh My God I can't put this book down; or anxious to turn to the next page or make me want to stay up all night reading. As for the romance, the relationship between Skylar and Gabe left me feeling probably as frustrated as the two of them. Finally the villain never felt truly evil, but more like a dirty, sick pervert.

The story begins 8 years in the past where an innocent, 20 year old, wealthy socialite and famous model, Skylar James chances to meet Gabe Maddox on a South Pacific island get-a-way. Gabe is recovering from a horrific ordeal during which he was held captive for a year in Africa where he was treated little better than a dog. He's emancipated, weak and has developed a raging case of claustrophobia.

The attraction between the two is evident from the start and within a few days, they fall madly in love and get married. Skylar makes a conscious decision to keep her true identity from Gabe and this action signals the beginning of the end for the two lovebirds. Skylar's father the wealthy, powerful Jeremiah Jones who is unimpressed with the news of his daughter's marriage then perpetrates a series of lies that shatters the course of true love for Gabe and Skylar (no spoilers here, if you want to know what he does, you are going to have to read the book).

Fast forward eight years where we find out Gabe is a recluse, working as an elite undercover operative for LCR (which is still being run by Noah McCall, from Reece's previous books) and Skylar has been kidnapped by unsavory characters who plan to sell her into sex slavery until they realize who she is and decide to ransom her for 10 million dollars instead. Enter the Last Chance Rescue team hired by Jeremiah James and the hero to the rescue is none other than Gabe Maddox. As in another of Reece's previous books, white slavery and sexual exploitation plays a major role in No Chance.

So the Gabe/Skylar reunion is not one big happy family gathering; both are bitter and harboring feelings of betrayal toward each other. Even though they haven't seen each other for the past eight years (each for their own specific reasons - cue Daddy's lies), neither has forgotten the other (nor apparently had sex with anyone else either o_O).

I wanted to feel for these two but something was missing. Maybe I wanted some playful sexual banter instead of the: I love you, but I don't want to love you, but I've always loved you, but you lied to me and betrayed me ad nauseum. Skylar cries and tears up repeatedly and is just an emotional mess. Gabe is busy casting furtive, longing glances in her direction and on no less than four occasions, Gabe catches Skylar in a skimpy towel after she has exited from the shower...and nothing happens. Just get it on already!! You both know you want to. They tortured not only themselves, but each other and then me in the process.

I really really wanted to love this book, but now I see I had No Chance of getting my wish. I already have book 2, Second Chance on pre-order which is Cole's story and I am hoping it lives up to its expectations (the excerpt certainly intrigued me).