Quickie Book Reviews

I am alive and kicking. And I can delay these reviews no further. When I went home over the Holidays, I found a whole boxful of my old paperbacks. A big box; and I mean old old--the quickies! So I browsed each one of them so I can weed out whatever's not worth keeping so that I'll make another trip to the UBS yet again. It wasn't a hardship since these were quickie books. So after finding those that were given to me as gifts over the years as well as some sure keepers, the UBS got a good number of books.

I also meant quickie as I'm just gonna be doing short reviews on only three books that I enjoyed rereading as much as I did the first time I read them years and years ago. Besides, these were the quickie 180-page-or-so Harlequin/Silhouette reads.


The Groom Who (Almost) Got Away by Carla Neggers

Completely got away is more like it. Max Slade just up and left Calley Hastings without a word. But now, three little Slades suddenly send for her...

What she learns:
1) Max left her to raise his orphaned brothers on their Wyoming ranch.
2) The boys figured Max would smile more if Calley came to marry him.
3) Max still isn't smiling.

Now, Calley's in love with four Slade cowboys. and the tall , good looking one in the Stetson isn't getting away again...


This was a light and a funny read from Carla Neggers. I love it when kids play nasty. And the young Slade boys did it to perfection by pretending to be a widow with three little kids and after living all 'her' life in a ranch, she really wanted to know a lot about New York City. And authentic New Yorker Calley Hastings couldn't believe she actually for the sob story as she exchanged e-mail messages with the 'widow.'

Max Slade broke his engagement with Calley four years ago and left New York--without telling her why. It was thanks to the boys for finding his unfinished letters meant for her, trying to explain why he left. But even with Calley already in his Montana ranch, he still couldn't ask her to leave New York permanently and help him take care of his three orphaned brothers. But that didn't stop Calley from realizing that she belonged with Max.

Personally, I haven't come to that point in my life wherein I have to make a choice to leave everything that's familiar and be with that special someone. But I guess home is really where the heart is--and it doesn't have to be a place.

Final verdict: 7/10. Good read.


Another Dawn by Lynn Turner

Her love could beat the odds . Photographer Jan St. Clair knew the risks involved in loving author Nick Alexander. An old injury threatened Nicks life. Surgery would give him only a fifty-fifty chance to live. But Jan was stubbornly determined that nothing would mar their newlywed bliss. Nothing.

She drew her courage from Nick's embrace, strength from the fiery warmth of his lips. And from the force of their passion, so long denied, she found the will to make each moment last a lifetime...


Let me put this question out to you: Will you do something to save the life of the person you love the most knowing that he may hate you for doing it? I think I will. At least, he'll be alive, right?

Because that's what Jan did to save the man she had loved since she was a girl of ten. They had married to keep Nick's first wife from coming back. And Jan decided that he she was going to have a real--and long--marriage.

The main reason why I loved this book was the friendship between the two main characters. It's always fascinating to read about friends before they become more than that--and have that friendship remain after two people have made that significant 'big step.'

Final verdict: 7.5/10. Great read.


Zeke by Annette Broadrick

Need Protection?

Agent: Zeke Daniels
Hometown: Harlingen, Texas
Assignment: Investigate a drug lord
Complication: The man's gorgeous niece
Declaration of Independence: From the moment I first set eyes on Angie De la Garza, I knew she was trouble. She's unaware I've been sent to bust her uncle; she thinks I've been hired to protect her! Try as I might, I can't keep my hands off her, but what do I need with an innocent like Angie? And now I'm supposed to get her on a plane and out of Mexico? What happens when we get back to the States--and she discovers the truth?


(This book cover is sincerely dedicated to fellow cover snob, Dee. No, make that all three of these book covers, girl. LOL!) I really can't explain the appeal of this book. I somehow even think that it was too hokey. Undercover stuff is in a million romances and marrying the heroine to save her from certain danger is also a common ingredient in romance plot-making.

My only guess is that Annette Broadrick wrote the book in a fast-paced tome and made it in a way that even common cliche plots can become like a new twist. I think that's what I found in this book

Final verdict: 7/10. Good read.