Steele Street and Tara Janzen presents to us another crazily exciting romantic suspense packed with guns, cars, gorgeous military men, a thrill ride, romance, and steamy sex.It's absurdly ridiculous how much I enjoyed this book despite it's flimsy plot, choppy progression, messy narration, and almost non-existent resolution. But the Steele Street boys are hunks, our heroine is somehow a refreshingly unique brand of airhead that I found endearing and weirdly funny, and the tone of the entire story was somehow wonderfully comedic... in a good way.The Story in Brief:Thirteen years ago Christian Hawkins and Katya Dekker spent an amazing month of romance together before Christian was arrested for murder. He was then pardoned two years later and went on to go from being a car thief to a military man. Now as a special force secret operative working out of Steele Street under the guise as a car salesman, Christian has been pulled away from a current Colombian assignment to play bodyguard for Katya Dekker at the behest of someone who has high up connections.Katya Dekker has lived in her mother's shadow for her entire life, but has managed to make a success of herself as an art dealer. But events transpire when she returns to Denver to host an art show for local talent, Nikki McKinney, ranging from exploding trees to the death of an old acquaintance and reuniting with Christian "Superman" Hawkins (How much do I love the nicknames of the Steele Street boys in this series?). And now, the murder of Jonathan Traynor III from thirteen years ago that had landed Christian in prison has resurfaced with a new death and new dangers and both Katya and Christian are caught up inside it all.My Thoughts:The murder mystery was pretty straight forward, even if not entirely predictable. Which is why I had a little trouble finding a connect between how we could have gotten off track of the main conflict so easily (or so readily). For a good portion of the book after the midpoint, it was almost as if the murder mystery of present (that was connected to the murder of thirteen years ago) was completely forgotten. Sure, the sex scenes were steamy and the entire side tangent with Kid and Nikki were welcome... but for that one long moment, it felt like we were in an entirely different story.Then we proceed back into the main conflict, but as the book comes to an end, everything just spirals out of control.But the fact is, I was entertained. Very much so.It never occurred to me that Christian Hawkins could have a comedic tone of narration, but he did and it worked. I found his entire situation with Katya Dekker very amusing--the descriptions of how much of a slob Kat turned out to be while she eats crackers and drinks tea in the passenger of his muscle car; to her incredible transformation from wildly untamed vagrant to sophisticated princess within ten minutes of locking herself in the bathroom.Sure, Katya was a bit of a pushover and possessed every quality of weak damsel in distress that would normally annoy the heck out of me. But her innocent honesty and sincere responses and strange behavioral antics makes her a lot more lovable than I would have expected.Yes. There was a bemusing comedic touch to the narration that I don't remember reading from the first book, Crazy Hot. Sure, it was haphazard, messy, sometimes unfocused, but it was entertaining all the same.And you know, I really appreciated that.This wasn't the most inspiring book in the world (nor did it really have much of a plot), but it was definitely lots of fun.
2.5 stars.This book was all over the place...It's basically a romantic suspense but apart from a flimsy suspense plot,its an out and out romance and that would have been ok with me if it was a bit more developed The story goes like this..13years ago Kat, our heroine, on her prom night was saved from a group of her so called friends who turned to be rapists by this unknown street kid Christian, who was also a car thief.. They fell in love at first sight,and thereafter spend an entire month living together in a hotel...you see Katya's mother was a paranoid senator who was so busy with her campaign at the time that she thought it was a brilliant idea to have her daughter stay at a hotel complete with room service.. anyway so during this time katya's ex-boyfriend who was one of the gang of to be rapists, was murdered and Christian was convicted of murdering him..however he was pardoned after 2years whereafter he joined some top secret government group working as an agent,assassin, bodyguard... I am still a bit confused .Katya,on the other hand was sent to a Paris loonybin by her wonderful mother as she thought that her daughter by loving Christian has gone insane... great. Our story begins 13 years after this, when Katya has returned to her home to open up her own art gallery at an auction gala event and Christian has been pulled from again a top secret mission to act as her bodyguard.. because someone from a high authority has specially asked for him..And thus these two meet after 13 years and within a few hours there's bombs blasts hither and thither slightly injuring our heroine which prompts our hero to gear up to his bodyguard mode, another member of that gang killed and all evidence again points to Christian.. someone really wants Christian to be put away to prison for good this time.. Thus begins the thriller...I found it somewhat unbelievable that Katya and Christian rekindled their love within a span of 1day.. It's harder to believe that Christian let go of the grudge he held against Katya for so long because she didn't come forward when he was convicted.. It felt like there was more to their story than solving the case and rekindling their love.. I felt cheated out of that story mainly because there were so many subplots going on and bingo!! we got to get inside each of these character's heads..for example :we got inside Alex,Katya's secretary's head, Travis's head,a super minor character, we got pages after pages of Kid's point of view.. i see he has a book of his own now..it totally took the focus out of the main story..Another thing i found funny was here most of the major characters fell in love at first sight..Kat and Christian did,so did Kid and Nikkie, bit over the top..Lastly, the murder plot had no meaning.. I kept asking myself Why frame Christian, and why include katya? Why go through all the dramatic flair of photographs and torn bloody prom dress..it made absolutely no sense at all.. so overall 2.5 star read for me.. I kind of liked this authors writing style, so will definitely check out some of her other books but not anytime soon.. First I need to recover from this wreckage of a story. :(
What do You think about Crazy Cool (2005)?
The next installment in the Steele Street series. Still sexy and dangerous…This time around, Hawkins finds himself face to face with Lady Luck, Lady Bad Luck. She’s the reason he was found guilty of murder 13 years ago. And somehow, she must be the reason he was pulled out of Columbia to keep an eye on a Garden Party, because there was an explosion and a murder there. And now, he has to protect the Prom Queen all over again. But this time, he knows better. Or not… The question is, how long will it take them to rip each other’s clothes off. All the while, investigating a thirteen year old murder conspiracy, as they try to find the guilty and clear the name of the innocent.At the same time, we pick up where we left off with characters from the previous book, such as Nikki and Kid Chaos. We also get introduced to new members of the team (and some potential future members). Some aspects are very predictable; certain stories are kept open for the next books. But overall, it was very entertaining. A real page-turner. Onto the next!
—Jessica
Okay, I'm going to try to not gush.....this book was amazing. I loved it, loved it, loved it. I really don't know where to start. I'd like to say "JUST BUY IT AND READ IT FOR HEAVENS SAKE", but I'll try to give a few reasons why you should. First off, this book is second in the "crazy" series. A series about a group of top notch special force operatives. All these men, (and "woman", I won't spoil it with any more info) are just larger than life, sexy, brave, talented soldiers and are all stuff that dreams are made of. I loved Crazy Hot, but I think Crazy Cool is even better. Katya and Christian are a couple that you soon will not forget. They have a past, in fact, Christian was falsely accused of murder and imprisoned after protecting her when they were younger. Now fate has brought them back together and this is their story. This is a story of mystery, revenge, and of deep enduring passion. It is a page turner and one that I finished in no time flat. We also catch up with Kid and Nikki in this book, (the secondary couple in Crazy Hot), and again they steal the show. They alone are worth the price of admission and I can't wait until they get their own book. The steam leaps off the pages whenever they are on them. If your looking for mystery..this book will satisfy, if you're looking for passion and romance, this book will blow your mind. It's just that good. I will read this whole series...probably again and again. Do not hesitate. Buy this book now. Wait. You might as well but the whole darn series. If you're like me, your only regret will be if you don't have the next book in the series on hand to start after you finish reading this one.
—Crista
Where do I start. I really couldn't put this book down. I even did my washing one handed so I could just keep on reading. I think I have a new all-time favourite male lead. Christian was my perfect man. Hot, loving, slightly tortured, sense of humour and everything else I want in a fictional character. Plus he is a little car mad, just like me.We got to read a bit more about Kid Chaos, from the first book, and these are the parts that actually had me with a few tears. Strong men hurting is just too sad.Not a lot about Quinn from the first book, but enough for you to enjoy the fact that this is a series of books you are enjoying.Oh and there was a female that Christian spent some time with. I don't care about her, except that for the fact that she has my perfect partner. Lol. No, Tara Janzen write females that don't annoy me, and that is a rare and wonderful treasure. Will have to go and buy some more of these stories.
—Awilk -never sleeps-
