Close Contact (Book Review)

Title: Close Contact, A Body Armor Novel
Author: Lori Foster
Publication: Harlequin Paperback, November 2017
Genre: Romance

Plot: After inheriting her grandmother’s isolated farmhouse, Maxi Nevar is trying to make it her home despite some odd events that make her wonder if she has a poltergeist. But when she wakes up in a nearby field with no memory of how she got there, she is smart enough to realize she needs professional help. Unfortunately, the logical choice, Miles Dartman, is the man with whom she had several one night stands, then ignored, so it is more than a little awkward to pursue him to his new employer. It turns out that Matt, a former Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Fighter, has just become a bodyguard with Body Armor, a personal security agency, run by the glamorous Sahara Silver. Although Miles is still angry that Maxi blew him off, he is immediately protective of her, plus can’t wait to have sex with her again, so is all too willing to move in with her. From that point, while the stalking and other dangerous events keep on coming, at least Maxi is pleasurably distracted by her own personal martial arts expert while they try to figure out who wants her to disappear. . .

Audience: Fans of romantic suspense. Enter the Rafflecopter Sweepstakes for a chance to win a copy:
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Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound

My Impressions: Lori Foster is one of those authors I always meant to read so I was pleased when TLC Book Tours invited me to participate in this tour. This was a fun, quick read with appealing characters, who have abundant chemistry, and a dramatic denouement. Although a big sports fan, I had to look up MMA and am amused by the concept of a bodyguard company consisting of martial arts experts, somewhere near Kentucky (given this is a series, there is clearly a lot more going on in this part of the world than I would have guessed to occupy this group of excessively attractive men!). In this instance, a private investigator would have been more useful in determining which of the people in Maxi’s life was tormenting her - although he might not have been as sexy as Miles (tell me, however, why it is considered appealing for a man not to wear underwear?). Where Foster is most successful is in depicting the friendship among this group of guys, most of whom appear to be former fighters and were featured in previous books in the series (you may want to go back and start this series in proper order but it stood alone fairly well).  Foster did a good job in creating motives for several potential bad guys although the real perp was fairly obvious to me, if not to Miles and the oddly named Maxi. While the haunted house/stalker plot was not very exciting, the book passed the test of making me want to read more of the series – Sahara was the most intriguing character in the book, both her personality and her determination to find her missing brother, and I will definitely read her story when it comes out, next in the series!

Source: Thanks to TLC Book Tour for providing me a pre-publication copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes. Please check out other stops on the tour below:

Monday, November 20th: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, November 21st: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, November 22nd: Recommended Romance

Thursday, November 23rd: Books, Coffee & Passion

Friday, November 24th: What Is That Book About – excerpt

Monday, November 27th: Evermore Books

Monday, November 27th: Books a la Mode – excerpt

Monday, November 27th: Stranded in Chaos

Tuesday, November 28th: Cara’s Book Boudoir

Tuesday, November 28th: Sultry Sirens Book Blog – excerpt

Wednesday, November 29th: Reading Reality

Thursday, November 30th: Thoughts of a Blond

Friday, December 1st: Smexy Books

Monday, December 4th: The Sassy Bookster

Monday, December 4th: Natalie the Biblioholic

Tuesday, December 5th: OMG Reads

Tuesday, December 5th: Of Pens and Pages

Wednesday, December 6th: Jathan & Heather

Thursday, December 7th: All Things Bookaholic.

Friday, December 8th: Cheryl’s Book Nook

Monday, December 11th: Moonlight Rendezvous

Monday, December 11th: Nightbird Novels

Tuesday, December 12th: Books & Spoons

Wednesday, December 13th: Mystery Suspense Reviews

Thursday, December 14th: Books and Bindings

Friday, December 15th: Becky on Books

The Black Cabinet, a mystery by Patricia Wentworth

Title: The Black Cabinet
Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publication: Trade Paperback, 2016, Dean Street Press; originally published in 1925 by Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Golden Age of Mystery

Plot: Poor but honest, not to mention lovely, Chloe Dane works for a dressmaker and tries to avoid the affluent friends from the world she was born in; she knows she can’t afford their amusements and won’t accept charity.

The Last Chance Matinee (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Last Chance Matinee: A Hudson Sisters Novel
Author: Mariah Stewart
Publication: Gallery Books, Trade Paperback, March 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Description: When Hollywood agent Fritz Hudson passes away, he leaves families on each coast who didn’t know of the other’s existence. His first wife was an over the top movie star, now deceased, with whom he had two daughters. Allie Hudson, divorced and having just lost her job, is stressed about finances and sharing custody of her pre-teen daughter in Los Angeles. Her sister, Dee, is a former child star, now living quietly in Montana, with a few close friends, spending most of her time as an animal volunteer. After his first marriage fell apart, Fritz fell in love with a calm and affectionate woman in New Jersey, who gave him one daughter, Cara. Cara runs a new but successful yoga studio, and has just suffered heartbreak when her husband left her for a close friend, not long after her mother’s death.

Law and Disorder (Book Review)

Title: Law and Disorder, Book 1, The Finnegan Connection
Author: Heather Graham
Publication: Harlequin Intrigue, paperback, January 2017
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Plot: Kidnapped while visiting her family home in Florida, Dakota “Kody” Cameron has no one to turn to – except the unexpectedly attractive man holding a gun. Outnumbered and trapped in the deadly Everglades, she has little recourse, but something in this captor’s eyes make her believe he is not as evil as the other men threatening her. Does she dare trust him?

Undercover agent Nick Connolly met Kody briefly in NYC where they both work and is afraid if she recognizes him the bad guys will kill them both. Though determined to maintain his cover, he can’t let Kody die. And his decision to change his own ruls of law and order are about to cause all hell to break loose. . .

Audience: Fans of romantic suspense; readers who like Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, and Kay Hooper.

My Impressions: This fast paced and, at times, humorous story begins on a historic estate in Florida, once owned by a 20th century mobster named Anthony Green. Kody, an aspiring actress in New York, is home briefly visiting her family, who nominally own the Crystal Manor, when she is kidnapped by a group of thugs dressed up as historic gangsters. Their leader, going by the name Dillinger, believes Kody can find lost treasure, reputed to have been hidden by Green years ago. He threatens to kill Kody and the staff managing the estate if Kody, who has always been fascinated by the history of her home, cannot locate the treasure.

Kody is a very resourceful heroine who doesn’t back down to thugs, but perhaps it’s a little over the top – given that people have been searching for 80+ years – how quickly she deciphers Green’s papers to deduce where the treasure is buried in the Everglades. Personally, I think having a gun being pointed at me while I researched lost treasure might inhibit my creativity! Add the fun of a kidnapper whose “deep, dark, blue and intense” eyes engender trust and make Kody yearn to get to know him better, even when he seems to be threatening her and her friends. While the reader assumes Kody will be rescued or save herself, this is a romp of a book that reveals Heather Graham’s love of history and her home state. So long as Heather doesn’t make me stumble about in the Everglades hunting for treasure amongst snakes, alligators, and goodness knows what else, I will continue to enjoy her books from the safety of an armchair.
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About the Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels. She’s a winner of the RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. For more information, check out her websites: TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com, eHeatherGraham.com, and HeatherGraham.tv. You can also find Heather on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Source: I was provided a pre-publication copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes.

Please join Heather Graham, author of Love and Disorder as she travels with TLC Book Tours.

Tuesday, January 17th: The Sassy Bookster – excerpt

Wednesday, January 18th: A Holland Reads

Thursday, January 19th: Bewitched Bookworms

Friday, January 20th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, January 23rd: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, January 24th: Mama Vicky Says

Wednesday, January 25th: Books a la Mode – excerpt

Friday, January 27th: Books and Spoons

Monday, January 30th: A Bookaholic Swede – excerpt

Tuesday, January 31st: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Wednesday, February 1st: Stranded in Chaos 

Monday, February 6th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy – excerpt 

Monday, February 6th: From the TBR Pile 

Wednesday, February 8th: Dog Eared Daydreams 

Friday, February 10th: Not in Jersey 

Monday, February 13th: Becky on Books 

Wednesday, February 15th: Reading Reality