Mia Zachary

I got this one, signed, a while ago in a charity auction--I don't remember which one. Charity auctions are a great way, by the way, to both help out a worthy cause and discover new authors.

Stevie Madison has been lusting after her boss, P.I. Emilio Sanchez, for months. But with all the women around him, she doesn't want to be one of the crowd, so she writes him anonymous, sexually explicit notes, signed "yours in black lace."

Then she gets surveillance photos of herself, and asks Emilio for help investigating. He recognizes someone in the background of one of the photos and realizes she's in danger, and decides to stick to her like glue to protect her. While he's doing that, he discovers she's the anonymous letter writer.

The romantic suspense part of the story was... well, romantic and suspenseful. Stevie and Emilio had both been attracted to each other for a while, so the fast-paced romance made sense, and alternately running from and chasing the bad guys kept the tension high. I enjoyed that part very much.

But there were two things that kept me from really loving this book--one was the anonymous letters. Even though we know he enjoyed them, and they worked, anonymous letters in general squick me. It's stalkery. And the letters themselves were embarrassingly cheesy, though I wouldn't be surprised if that's just me and everyone else thinks they're hot. I have a low tolerance for that sort of thing.

The other thing was Emilio's secret. I'm not going to give it away, or even say what kind of secret it was, but it needed to be either expanded on or left out entirely. As it is, it's interesting, but there was really no point to it, as far as the plot goes. If it had connected to the suspense plot in some way, or if it had been something Stevie wondered about, it would have made more sense, and would have made the book feel more layered.

At any rate, I have one or two more of Mia Zachary's books in my TBR pile, and if they're as entertaining as this, I'll be happy.… (altro)

Under His Spell by Julie Elizabeth Leto was a bit of a disappointment to me because she is one of my favorite authors. I'm trying to figure out why I didn't much care for this story and am having a hard time of it. The heroine was strong; though I thought her motivation for having faith in the hero was a bit weak. The hero was sexy, and a bad boy. But I think I disliked his gullibility and glibness. The villian was well crafted and would have scared the crap out of me if I'd been there. But overall, I just didn't like the story. (2.5 stars)

Disenchanted? by Rhonda Nelson was a story that I really liked. The attraction of the hero and heroine was magnetic and made you believe in their magic. The plot was predictable but it was a sexy read that lived up to Rhonda Nelson's reputation and my liking of her other books. (4 stars)

Spirit Dance by Mia Zachary made me grit my teeth more than once at the obtuse hero, but I was supposed to. :) The heroine was amazing, and the hero's son a charmer, but I have NO clue why the heroine would be romantically drawn to the hero. He downgraded most of her beliefs and seemed pretty oblivious to his son. The romance stretched my credibility a bit far. Not a favorite, but well plotted and well written. (3 stars)… (altro)

Wow. For all those people out there that htink category writing is trite and unengaging, read this one and say that again. The characters are well-drawn, the prose flows easily and pleasantly, and the setup is cute and engaging. At first I thought, "Get fucked, not ANOTHER cancer/life list combo", but the book was so well written that I could forgive her the plot device. Which just goes to show, anything can work for you if you are fantastic. This is the book I'll give to people who want to know about catgory. Or Blaze. Or good sexy romance writing.… (altro)