Book Review - Too Good to be True by Kristan Higgins

First off, I love this author. I've loved all her books so far and this one didn't disappoint. Well, except for the very tippy end.

Grace Emerson was engaged to Andrew Carson for two years before her baby sister Natalie came home from college and blahmy (as Higgins puts it) they fell for each other. Grace knew something had occured, but didn't want to believe it, so when Andrew comes to break off their engagement she doesn't mention her sister. Both her sister and Andrew fought a good fight, but after watching them avoid each other for her sake, she finally talks to each of them separately and gives her permission for them to be together.

This is what Grace does. She loves her little sister and the feeling is mutual, so instead of going nuts she makes them feel better about the situation. Unfortunately, the rest of her family believes she is still pining for Andrew and make every social occasion hell for Grace. So, fed up with all the looks and sympathy, Grace makes up a boyfriend. Wyatt Dunn, pediatric surgeon. For most of the book, Wyatt is "not" around - he's tending emergencies, he's at a medical conference and so on. Grace just wants everyone to leave her alone and is glad she made him up once Natalie tells her that if she didn't have a new man in her life, Nat would never get with Andrew from the guilt.

Grace is a history teacher at a prep school in New England and is also a Civil War re-enactor on the weekends. She loves her job, and her little doggie Angus. Other than the whole Andrew thing she's doing okay, although a bit lonely. When her gay high school friend Julian tells her they both have to get out and get someone, she tries internet dating and some other solutions, but no one stands out. Except, that is, for her new neighbor.

Callahan O'Shea has just moved into the old house next door. When they first meet Grace mistakes him for a burglar and he spends the night in jail before it is figured out that he now owns the house. Naturally Callahan doesn't think too much of Grace and she is embarrassed. It's a shame, though, cause Callahan is a major hottie.

Callahan has just gotten out of prison for an embezzlement conviction and is trying to get his life back on track. So when the looney neighbor and her yappy dog keep doing stupid things to him, he becomes resigned to the fact that Grace is goofy but sweet. Although we don't get into Callahan's POV, that's okay, 'cause we can tell what he's thinking by the description of his expressions, and the things he says.
The tiny quibble at the end involves Callahan stonewalling Grace over the made-up boyfriend. It didn't ring true for me and I didn't think he was that judgmental, so that was the only false note in the book.

All of Higgins books have been first person and it really is done well. At different points in this book I laughed out loud and also teared up. Grace is nice and deserving of a decent man and Callahan is the right man for the job.

The sex is not explicit, but it totally fit the tone of the book and I enjoyed the book very much.

Book Review - Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens

I still read Ms. Laurens but I could really just skip a few books and I bet I could tell you the plot, more or less. They all seem interchangeable, but I am still hooked into reading them. She has a way with words, for certain.

This is part of, but not part of, the Cynster series. Barnaby Adair, a friend of the Cynster's and a private investigator is the hero. He is the third son of an earl and likes solving crime.

Penelope Ashford, Portia Cynster's sister from another book, is a spinster by choice - she wants no part of marriage as she would lose her freedom. She works at the Foundling House for orphaned boys by choice. When four boys that were to come to the House on the death of their ill parents are kidnapped before they can arrive, Penelope goes to Barnaby for help.

Intrigued by the case and by Penelope, Barnaby aids her...not realizing that she is a much different kind of woman. Instead of sitting back and waiting for answers, Penelope involves herself in every aspect of the case, from interviewing persons in the slums to talking to Scotland Yard. She's sort of a woman's libber waaay before that was even thought of.

Barnaby finally decides that they are a good match for one another...now the hard part will be convincing the relationship-shy Penelope of the same thing.
Along the way we also get to witness Scotland Yard inspector Basil Stokes finally get his own true love. Nice.

Nothing new here, and even though the plot is recycled and the characters the same old, I still liked it. Good amount of sex and romance balanced.

Book Review - Ultimate Weapon by Shannon McKenna

This book has been out for awhile but I just got to read it. Wow, what a great book - with some minor quibbles.

Tamara Steele has had an impossibly hard life that started when she was 15 and her family was killed by madmen. She was used by horrible men and after they were done she has used her looks and body to climb out of the despair she was in and is a clever assassin. When she helped break up a black-market organ donor ring she ended up adopting Rachel, a three year old. During her time as an assassin, she killed Kurt Novak, a psycho path whose father is even worse. For the last five years Papa Novak has thought that the woman who killed his son was dead, but now he has found out she's alive...and he wants her so he can torture and kill her.

Val Janos is an operative for a covert company. He has been hired by yet another nutjob, Georg Luksch (Papa Novak's former #2 man and now his rival), to find and bring Tamara to him - Georg is convinced they belong together. As Val observes Tam and her daughter Rachel, he is only doing his job, but the more pressure that is put on him to abduct the kid and use it to bend Tam to their will, the more he feels it is wrong.

Before he can act either way, his mentor/oldest friend Imre is taken ill. He rushes to Budapest - Imre is Val's only weakness. When Val's bosses at PSS give him up to Novak, Imre is kidnapped and Val is forced to do their bidding if he wants Imre to remain alive. Part of that bidding is to bring Tamara to Novak instead of to Georg...this all sounds confusing but it really is not. To get Tamara to cooperate, he must seduce her, but he's done that many times before. He, too, was used as a 12 year old for horrible things before he got smarter and before Imre came into his life.

This is a story of two completely damaged souls that somehow made it through to end up in the same place. I really, really liked both characters and was rooting for them the whole book. McKenna is really an excellent writer, but as I mentioned before I have one quibble.

Rachel, the child, has been through a lot. However, it seemed that in every scene, in every mention, the child is said to be screaming her head off. I have a three year old granddaughter and I think that if she behaved as badly as this kid does, I'd have to give her Benadryl 24/7/365 just to cope. I know it was for the plot, but come on. No kid can maintain that much angst all the time.

Other than the kid stuff, the book was really good and I highly recommend it. Lots of sex but in a good way and not in a squishy way.