Guys the grouchy reclusive bear of a brother of Dr. Michelle Renard - John Paul Renard in Mercy...has fallen for an equally stubborn FBI analyst Avery Elizabeth Delaney. This one also involves quite a lot of ground chasing through the forest...trying to elude a professional killer named Monk who is out for Avery. Yes the elusive Monk has once again made an appearance here and this time his character took on more of an active role. Avery's past especially one named Jilly Delaney has come back to destroy her life and her aunt Carrie. The woman was Avery's biological mother but she is not right in the head. She was quite frankly a sociopath and has extreme narcissistic personality it boggles my mind and have no problem manipulating people esp. men to do her selfish desires and bidding. She is just evil and cold. I was not satisfied that she just end up behind bars after all the deaths and horrible traumatic things she put her own family through. Like i have said she is not really right in the head. But Avery,i think in the end just find her pitiful for she is the way that she is and she can't help it that she will never be normal.It took me awhile to get to the idea that John Paul who is an ex-marine and isn't a game player and hates bureaucrats might have chemistry with someone like Avery who is working for FBI as an analyst and is a total game player. But somehow during the intense cat and mouse chase in the forest slowly unravel their reservations and prejudice towards each other. It was surprising that it was John Paul who was more open and became amiable of acknowledging his feelings for Avery towards the end rather than Avery who was stubborn and held on the notion that she is not meant to get married and have a long range relationship with John Paul once they catch Monk and find her missing aunt. I was also quite surprise that Avery in the end decided to change career and settle down in the swamp town of Bowen with John Paul. I guess she finds that she is not cut out after all for the gritty and cynical side of her current job. I also enjoyed the moments that three kidnapped women Sara, Anne and Carrie were able to bond even for a short time during their time in that ticking bombed house. Their banter among each other were sometimes funny. Poor Anne i think she was totally in denial and i am glad even after that terrible fate, she got her justice with the help of Carrie and Sara who survived the ordeal. Noah Clayborne made another appearance here but a short one, but his character really shines through and he just loves pushing people's buttons esp. John Paul.Over all another engaging installment to this series.
I think this is my favorite from the series so far ^^- I liked both main characters, and since the last book I was reallyyyyyyyyyyyy curios about John Paul and when I looked through the series to see when he will have his book I was glad it was the third one. - I liked that the heroine got spunk, I expected no less from any heroine of Ms. Garwood, they are just not the type to stand back and do nothing, her heroines are fighters. Plus I also liked that she kept surprising the hero, he just stereotyped her for the spoiled type since their first meeting was at a spa, so every time she surprised him I had the urge to laugh and tell him that he doesn't know everything. And she's smart, of course all of Ms. Gsrwood's heroines are but in here with her deduction skills and all it was nice and intriguing.- I liked the family connection and reliance in here, even though they are hundreds of miles apart they still helped and looked out for each other.- The main villain in the whole story was creepy and a true psychopath, I hated her on the spot, how self-centered she was. And the way she used me disgusted me, I used to think of Monk as the responsible scary precise assassins you see in movies, but he so fell in to her trap that he was pathetic and she was the only reason for him downfall. Plus I hated how she blamed everyone for anything that went wrong and shes the perfect who deserves the world type.- I liked how Ms. Garwood kept us on our toes about most things, like I knew about the villains from the start but at the end I still got surprised after knowing some facts that I didn't expect. Ok there is a character that I thought badly of since the beginning then I felt sorry for him and started to like him and then the shocking info came.- Btw I never thought using sugar as an endearment was appealing but John Paul certainly changed that, s I guess the basic element that made me accepts it was the southern accent, it just made me melt XDOverall, *thumps up*
This is the installment of the series with Jean Paul (Michelle's older brother from Mercy). In this, we have Avery, who is a typist for the FBI whose aunt is kidnapped. She was supposed to be with her, but missed her plane, which probably saved her life. She discovers the guy's name is Monk (again from Mercy) and Jean Paul has been tracking him and that's how he runs into Avery. They have to work together to save Avery's aunt and track down Monk, but their styles don't mesh very well and Jean Pa
—Maura
This is my favorite so far out of the Buchanan series. Filled with action/adventure, romance and suspense, it was a perfect book IMO. John Paul is ex-military and hates all that is related to the government. The one thing he wants more than anything is to find the paid killer Monk and catch him before he kills anyone else. When John Paul first sees Avery walking into a spa, he thinks she's nothing more than a California fake blond. He thinks she might be able to lead him to Monk's whereabouts, so he suffers to talk with her.Avery arrives at the spa thinking she is meeting her Aunt Carrie for a nice week away. And is distressed when she learns that not only has her own reservation been canceled, but that Carrie never made it to spa either. Avery knows that she is missing and is determined to find her. When John Paul tells her that he thinks the assassin Monk may have already killed her, it only makes her more determined.The first step, is to find out who would have wanted Carrie dead. Avery can think of many people, and some might be in her own family.I've read some other reviews that state that there is a drag in Garwood's stories, I don't think that's the case with this one at all. It's very fast paced, and the characters are on the move from the beginning. What was interesting about this book, is that you know who is behind everything. It's not a matter of figuring out who is doing it, but it's a matter of catching the person. I think that this made the book more suspenseful because instead of trying to determine who the bad guy was, I was caught up in the action right along with the characters.I have to go harass my local library for the next book, because I want more action!
—Jess
Mediocre romantic suspense. I'm getting real tired of heroes and heroines falling in love within a couple of days just because they have good sex. It's called lust people, not love. Also, I had a hard time buying the whole story line of the hit man falling for Jilly and doing some of the stupid stuff he did. The first night they sleep together, he tells her all about himself. He also rushes what he's doing to please her. You don't get to be a top notch hit man by rushing. As for telling her who he is when they first meet, you don't get to be a top notch hit man by doing that either. It doesn't matter how pretty the woman is. A hit man who the FBI cannot catch should be very smart. He sure wasn't acting like it. And if the bad guy isn't acting smart, yet the cops can't catch him, that makes the cops appear stupid. The plot was good but a lot of the backstory to tell me how evil Jilly was kept throwing me out of the story. I also had most of the storyline figured out without much in the way of surprises. Just a hint writers, if you want to pretend someone is dead, don't kill them in a fiery crash. (I'm not giving anything away here. The crash was announced in the first chapter and by about the third you knew the person didn't die. Most readers will assume it in the first chapter.)If you want an easy read without much in the way of surprises, this is a good book for that. There's great detail in the way of description. Ms. Garwood puts you in every scene very well. There were actually times I felt I could smell some of the descriptive detail. However, the suspense wasn’t very suspenseful.
—Kathryn Bain
