No surprises here, but the faithful won’t care. Plus, the appealing hero pretty much makes up for the clueless heroine.
In this tough, sensual romantic mystery from the prolific and popular Robards (Ghost Moon, 2000, etc.), a drag queen and beauty queen fall in love . . . but can they escape the hit man who’s been hired to murder them both?
Hey, cop-turned-private investigator Mac McQuarry isn’t really a drag queen; he got dolled up in a platinum-blond wig, fake boobs, and stilettos to get the goods on a cheating husband with a taste for transvestites. He recognized the former Miss South Carolina the second he saw Julie Carlson sprawled on the asphalt of the sex-club parking lot crying her eyes out. Her Jaguar just got carjacked—happens all the time in Charleston’s roughest neighborhood. But what’s Julie doing there in the middle of the night wearing only pink satin tap pants and matching camisole? Mac wants answers, so he drives her to his apartment, where he slips into some faded jeans and nothing else. Wowed by his muscular bare chest but still thinking he’s gay, Julie explains that she impulsively decided to follow her cheating husband, who’s been sneaking out at night. Although Julie doesn’t know it, Sid Carlson is Mac’s worst enemy. The vicious, cold-hearted scion of a rich, mob-connected family undoubtedly got Mac kicked off the force and probably had something to do with big brother Daniel McQuarry’s disappearance years ago—at about the same time Sid’s first wife, Kelley, vanished. Despite all these suspicious circumstances, naive Julie isn’t sure she wants a divorce. What if she has to go back to the trailer park she came from and give up her lucrative beauty-pageant dress business? How can she possibly be in love with a man who calls himself “Debbie”? By the time she figures out Mac is straight, a cat-and-mouse chase with a shadowy killer is underway.
No surprises here, but the faithful won’t care. Plus, the appealing hero pretty much makes up for the clueless heroine.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2001
ISBN: 0-671-78653-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2001
Don’t let the cover fool you: This romance is as steamy as it is self-empowering.
A young woman fakes a romantic relationship with her brother’s best friend in order to show her family she’s worthy of respect.
At 23, Georgie Castle is a proud business owner, but she hates that her family refuses to treat her like a responsible adult. When an injury tanks his baseball career, Travis Ford returns to their Long Island hometown. He mopes, drinks, and licks his wounds, but Georgie is determined to keep him from hiding. She has been in love with Travis for years but assumed she’d be forever stuck in the friend zone. Both of them are shocked at the now undeniable chemistry between them, and for Travis those feelings are accompanied by confusing and overpowering possessiveness. When Travis realizes his womanizing reputation (his nickname, "Two Bats," hints at his prowess both on the field and in the bedroom) might prevent him from landing a coveted job as a broadcast announcer, Georgie suggests a mutually beneficial fake relationship. Georgie will make him look like a responsible boyfriend, and Travis will prove to her family that she’s all grown up. Bailey (Runaway Girl, 2018, etc.) populates the novel with a lovable cast of meddling secondary characters who help and hinder Georgie and Travis. A charming subplot describes how Georgie and her friends create the Just Us League, which is dedicated to helping women reach their goals. The club having captured something in the zeitgeist, soon every woman in town clambers to be a member, and Georgie wryly tells Travis, “You should all be seriously alarmed how many women showed up.” The sexual relationship between Travis and Georgie is sizzling, but the emotional journey from fake relationship to true love is just as compelling.
Don’t let the cover fool you: This romance is as steamy as it is self-empowering.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-287283-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
A paint-by-numbers thriller by bestselling romance writer Garwood.
Dr. Ellie Sullivan has had her fair share of trouble: At 11, an older boy stalked and nearly killed her, sending her into hiding. Now that she’s finished her medical residency at a St. Louis hospital (she’s a brilliant surgeon) and her stalker Evan Patterson has been released from an institution, she’s not sure where to turn. To make matters worse, while jogging she is witness to the attempted murder of an FBI agent and is soon involved in the case. The Landrys are husband-and-wife weapons dealers (as well as murderers and kidnappers) that the FBI has been trying to nail for years. Unfortunately, their witnesses keep disappearing. Ellie witnesses the failed sting and is soon being guarded by Agent Max Daniels. Happily, both feel an immediate, uncontrollable passion. Max is ruggedly handsome, forthright and a little bit controlling. Ellie is any man’s dream come true: gorgeous but laid back, brilliant, but a little insecure, and the kind of girl who wants to end the evening watching SportsCenter with a cold beer. And absolutely no post-coital snuggling. Amid the danger, they begin to fall in love, even though neither is up for a commitment. When Ellie needs to go home to South Carolina for her sister’s wedding, Max soon follows; it seems one of the witnesses to the shooting has disappeared. And it is just as well—psychotic stalker Evan Patterson has been sighted in town at the local gun shop. With the Landry’s hit man driving to South Carolina and Evan Patterson on the loose, the question is who will to try to kill Ellie first. Undoubtedly Garwood is a pro—the pacing is taut, the characters are swiftly drawn and she even throws in a few surprises before the obligatory happy ending. But everything is too formulaic to be truly suspenseful, too clichéd to be truly romantic.
Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-525-95225-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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