"Stuart Bad Boy is a real keeper"
Warning up front for people who haven't read and admired
the brilliance of author Anne Stuart before - her books
are
strong. She asks you to dance on the razor's edge, plays
the Pied Piper and commands you to dance into the fire.
She pushes the reader to go where most writers won't ask.
I always wanted to write heroes like Stuart, but I get too
intrigued with the complexities of males, adore them, and
love what makes them tick, how they react differently to
given situations than we do. I fear only Stuart can
conjure and breath life into a Stuart Bad Boy. I also
fear some writers write men as we'd like them to be, not
as
they are. Stuart gives us pure gamma rogue males. These
males are beyond laws, beyond morals, often beyond
kindness. They are Dark, Dangerous and Deadly. What your
mama warned you to stay away from. They are
heartbreakers. They are Stuart's Bad Boys. She gives you
men that are not heroes by most standards, yet with the
power of a sorceress, she compels you to love them. We
are
a poor moth to her males' flames. So if you cannot take
your males raw and unvarnished, then you might want to
give
Stuart a pass, because you will come away mesmerized,
shaken. Stuart holds up the mirror and forces the reader
to look deep into oneself, and that rattles some. She is
a
brilliant talent few writers ever achieve. At home
equally
in Historicals or Contemporary Romances, Stuart has taken
use into the fire, now wants us to be cold as ice. The
Resident Genius of Romance strikes bull's-eye again in
this
edgy tale. Genevieve Spenser is tired. A nice get away for Costa
Rica
lies ahead. Only there is one more thing she must do
before she can kick back - get papers signed by Harry Van
Dorn. He is a wealthy client of her firm, so she knows
there is no getting around running this chore for them.
She is quickly on route to his yacht, and hopes to pick up
the papers, then be on her way to sun, beach and cabana
boys fetching her funny drinks with paper hats. Only, Harry Van Dorn isn't just a wealthy businessman;
he's
a merchant of chaos, and its Peter Jensen's job to stop
him
from executing plans he's set in motion that could
devastate the world. Genevieve's arrival is untimely for
his plans, so he wants her gone. When he cannot get rid
of
her, he accepts he will have to kill (a theme Stuart made
us face and accept in the brilliant Moonrise). Peter is a
killer, an assassin. Again, Stuart delights in giving
us "heroes" who are not heroes by any fashion we know. He
is a gamma rogue, a male who lives by his own rules, that
can kill, cheat, lie and steal to do what must be done.
However, Peter is finding dealing with Genevieve
troublesome, to say the least. Genevieve is a strong heroine, so much fun, and Peter is
one of Stuart's Bad Boys that evokes the heroine -- and
the
reader - to walk on the razor's edge. Stuart delivers,
yet
again, one strong read that dazzles from start to finish.
Highly recommended for those who like strong tales, with
vivid writing.
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted January 26, 2007
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Never get in the way of a mission The job was supposed to be dead easy—hand-deliver some legal papers to billionaire philanthropist Harry Van Dorn's extravagant yacht, get his signature and be done. But Manhattan lawyer Genevieve Spenser soon realizes she's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the publicly benevolent playboy has a sick, vicious side. As he tries to make her his plaything for the evening, eager to use and abuse her until he discards her with the rest of his victims, Genevieve must keep her wits if she intends to survive the night. But there's someone else on the ship who knows the true depths of Van Dorn's evil. Peter Jensen is far more than the unassuming personal assistant he pretends to be—he's a secret operative who will stop at nothing to ensure Harry's deadly Rule of Seven terror campaign dies with him. But Genevieve's presence has thrown a wrench into his plans, and now he must decide whether to risk his mission to keep her alive, or allow her to become collateral damage . . .
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