Howard is, I must acknowledge, a pretty talented writer. There were some legitimately humorous moments and her characterizations of the interaction between Blair and her family was remarkably genuine. Even some of the byplay between Blair and Wyatt was funny at times – funny, but ultimately not very memorable. Blair is an engaging character, although Wyatt is a bit of the stock romantic cipher. Their battle of the sexes, while not incredibly original at times, nonetheless offered a few entertaining sparks. Subordinate characters like Blair's parents or sisters (or even Wyatt's mother and sister) were moved about at times but not used as effectively as they could have been.
Personally, I wish she'd spent a bit more time on the relationships and less on the sex; it ultimately overshadowed the rest of the story, and not in a good way. Plus, it made the discovery of the bad guy almost an afterthought, an anticlimactic resolution at best. It wasn't the result of anybody's investigation; it was just wrapped up because, well, Wyatt and Blair had had enough sex to decide that they ought to get married, and that just isn't as exciting. So it was time to end the book. Or something like that.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
Nice job again Bill. All too often an interesting premise can breakdown into a sex or (even more often in films) chase or shoot-em-up fest. I think especially with your standard mystery/romance, an author has to work very hard to keep the story fresh.
This book review has been selected for Advance.net. You’ll be able to find this and other Blog Critics reviews at such places at Cleveland.com’s Book Reviews column.
2 - Laurie Hockema
My mother and I both laughed so hard reading this book that I had to let Ms. Howard know that we enjoyed it to it's fullest. Thank you, there is never enough laughter is this world.
3 - patriotboy
My wife loves mysteries. She'll read 2 or 3 a week sometimes--that's with an overload teaching schedule. Every few weeks, I like to freak her out by looking up a review for a book she's reading and make an offhand comment about it--that's what brought me here. For instance, just a few minutes ago, I stopped typing and said, "Do you think Wyatt will drop his detective gig and help Blair out at the Great Bod if they decide to marry?" Mrs. Patriotboy, as always, dropped her book, gave me a funny look, and then laughed like hell." I love that woman.
Yeah, it's stupid, but, hey, we like it.
4 - ckbeck
I love Linda Howard and was really looking forward to reading this until I turned to page 1 and found it to be in 1st person. I HATE 1st person. Hopefully, this is not a style Ms. Howard adopts for future writings.
5 - bruce wiltshire
This was the worst book ever. Not only did I dislike the SHALLOW character Blair Mallory, but the writing was Terrible. Only made it to page 20 befoer I could take it no more. I DO NOT recommend this book to anyone who can read.