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paulabrandon's review against another edition
2.0
Well, that was a....thing.
While not as bonkers and illogical as something you might expect from Sandra Brown, this is definitely a similar case of a romantic thriller being about 150 pages longer than it needs to be. The story involves Sophie Rose, the journalist daughter of some sort of modern-day Robin Hood, Bobby Rose, who is constantly hunted by the FBI for questioning (not for any actual crimes, or something. Apparently.) So Sophie is not too trusting of FBI agents.
Her latest journalist assignment is to cover the achievements of rich boy William Harrington, who has won twenty-four 5K races and has entered his 25th race. She suffers through an interminable interview with him, as he is completely self-obsessed, yet on the day of the race, he is nowhere to be found. When Sophia searches for him, first she's told he's in England. But then comes the news that his remains have been found in Alaska after being eaten by a polar bear!
Sophie is intrigued, and wants to chase this story up. But with her father now a suspect in the misappropriation of a high profile company's retirement fund, Sophie is in the spotlight again, with the FBI interested in her. This brings her into contact with her best friend's husband's FBI partner Jack MacAlister, who is both interested in Sophie as an attractive woman, and also would like to know the whereabouts of her father. But because of his actions in an unexpected bank robbery that wound up on YouTube (!), his boss wants him to stay out of the spotlight, and he winds up accompanying Sophie to Alaska to follow up on Harrington's death.
Interspersed with all this are diary entries from a member of a team in Alaska studying the family relations of a pack of wolves, involving some sort of serum or drug.
That was actually a lot of plot description for a book that didn't really have much of a plot! I also wonder if some of it could be considered spoilers, since Sophie and Jack don't even get to Alaska some more than 200 pages into this 375 page book. But it's all there on the back cover blurb, I guess!
Most of the book just seems to be her best friends, some of the FBI, her boss and her father worrying about her health and safety and zzzz. Although I'm assuming this is meant to be romantic suspense, it all felt very try-hard screwball romantic comedy (much like something Cassie Miles might write for the Harlequin Intrigue line), with much romantic sparring between Sophie and Jack, who of course annoy each other no end despite being attracted to one another.
And what can I say about the romance? Not much, really. Each thinks the other is hot, they bicker light-naturedly, have sex and eventually decide they're in love. About as convincing as about half the Intrigue books, I guess. At least those books are shorter!
Harmless fluff, really. Easily read, easily disposable. I've got another Julie Garwood book lying around somewhere, though I'm in no hurry to read it based on what I felt about this one. The website Fantastic Fiction seems to suggest her last published book was in 2017.
While not as bonkers and illogical as something you might expect from Sandra Brown, this is definitely a similar case of a romantic thriller being about 150 pages longer than it needs to be. The story involves Sophie Rose, the journalist daughter of some sort of modern-day Robin Hood, Bobby Rose, who is constantly hunted by the FBI for questioning (not for any actual crimes, or something. Apparently.) So Sophie is not too trusting of FBI agents.
Her latest journalist assignment is to cover the achievements of rich boy William Harrington, who has won twenty-four 5K races and has entered his 25th race. She suffers through an interminable interview with him, as he is completely self-obsessed, yet on the day of the race, he is nowhere to be found. When Sophia searches for him, first she's told he's in England. But then comes the news that his remains have been found in Alaska after being eaten by a polar bear!
Sophie is intrigued, and wants to chase this story up. But with her father now a suspect in the misappropriation of a high profile company's retirement fund, Sophie is in the spotlight again, with the FBI interested in her. This brings her into contact with her best friend's husband's FBI partner Jack MacAlister, who is both interested in Sophie as an attractive woman, and also would like to know the whereabouts of her father. But because of his actions in an unexpected bank robbery that wound up on YouTube (!), his boss wants him to stay out of the spotlight, and he winds up accompanying Sophie to Alaska to follow up on Harrington's death.
Interspersed with all this are diary entries from a member of a team in Alaska studying the family relations of a pack of wolves, involving some sort of serum or drug.
That was actually a lot of plot description for a book that didn't really have much of a plot! I also wonder if some of it could be considered spoilers, since Sophie and Jack don't even get to Alaska some more than 200 pages into this 375 page book. But it's all there on the back cover blurb, I guess!
Most of the book just seems to be her best friends, some of the FBI, her boss and her father worrying about her health and safety and zzzz. Although I'm assuming this is meant to be romantic suspense, it all felt very try-hard screwball romantic comedy (much like something Cassie Miles might write for the Harlequin Intrigue line), with much romantic sparring between Sophie and Jack, who of course annoy each other no end despite being attracted to one another.
And what can I say about the romance? Not much, really. Each thinks the other is hot, they bicker light-naturedly, have sex and eventually decide they're in love. About as convincing as about half the Intrigue books, I guess. At least those books are shorter!
Harmless fluff, really. Easily read, easily disposable. I've got another Julie Garwood book lying around somewhere, though I'm in no hurry to read it based on what I felt about this one. The website Fantastic Fiction seems to suggest her last published book was in 2017.
katyanaish's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a great romantic suspense ... I loved Sophie and her dad (poor guy gets a bad rap, but I think he's pretty great), and Jack was wonderful.
It has been a long time since I read the earlier books in this series, and I don't really remember the secondary cast much... which meant they were a little thin in the characterization - I think it would play much better had I read the other books recently, and in that case, I'd be annoyed if a lot of time was wasted filling out their character, because I'd already know them and it would feel like a rehash. So no points deducted for that.
I wish we'd gotten more detail on what those scientists were doing - what that stuff was - and I also would've loved more of a resolution with Sophie's dad. But that all said, really enjoyed the book.
It has been a long time since I read the earlier books in this series, and I don't really remember the secondary cast much... which meant they were a little thin in the characterization - I think it would play much better had I read the other books recently, and in that case, I'd be annoyed if a lot of time was wasted filling out their character, because I'd already know them and it would feel like a rehash. So no points deducted for that.
I wish we'd gotten more detail on what those scientists were doing - what that stuff was - and I also would've loved more of a resolution with Sophie's dad. But that all said, really enjoyed the book.
asdhleydg83's review against another edition
3.0
I felt the love story lacked depth. At least in my reading.
laprofedelengua's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
novelesque_life's review against another edition
3.0
3 STARS
"Sophie Rose, a tough and determined newspaper reporter, is the daughter of Bobby Rose, a suave, charming, and handsome gentleman who also happens to be a notorious big-time thief sought by every law-enforcement agency in the country. When the major Chicago daily where she works insists she write an exposé about her roguish father, Sophie refuses, quits her job, and goes to work at a small newspaper. Far from her onetime high-powered crime beat, she now covers local personalities such as the quirky winner of several area 5K runs whose trademark is goofy red socks.
Those red socks-with Sophie's business card neatly tucked inside-are practically all that's found after runner William Harrington's shredded corpse turns up in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the victim of a mysteriously dramatic death by polar bear. With an unerring nose for a good story, Sophie heads north to Alaska.
What she doesn't realize is that her father's infamous reputation has spread even to the far reaches of Prudhoe Bay. Sophie's assigned a bodyguard-Jack MacAlister, a sexy FBI agent who grudgingly takes the assignment while recovering from an on-duty injury. But they will soon be fighting more than growing passion." (From Amazon)
Not my favourite in the series and the chemistry between Jack and Sophie was just meh.
"Sophie Rose, a tough and determined newspaper reporter, is the daughter of Bobby Rose, a suave, charming, and handsome gentleman who also happens to be a notorious big-time thief sought by every law-enforcement agency in the country. When the major Chicago daily where she works insists she write an exposé about her roguish father, Sophie refuses, quits her job, and goes to work at a small newspaper. Far from her onetime high-powered crime beat, she now covers local personalities such as the quirky winner of several area 5K runs whose trademark is goofy red socks.
Those red socks-with Sophie's business card neatly tucked inside-are practically all that's found after runner William Harrington's shredded corpse turns up in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the victim of a mysteriously dramatic death by polar bear. With an unerring nose for a good story, Sophie heads north to Alaska.
What she doesn't realize is that her father's infamous reputation has spread even to the far reaches of Prudhoe Bay. Sophie's assigned a bodyguard-Jack MacAlister, a sexy FBI agent who grudgingly takes the assignment while recovering from an on-duty injury. But they will soon be fighting more than growing passion." (From Amazon)
Not my favourite in the series and the chemistry between Jack and Sophie was just meh.
staceyliu95's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75