Does She Really Need An Introduction?

I read much of today and finished Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart!

At first I was thinking something was off (as in although it was a keeper, it wasn't going to be one of my favourites) but then WHAM, she sucker punched me!!

I friggin' love this book!!!

So yeah, get ready for it -

KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER!!!!

Cindy Blurb: So, this is a final in a series about assassins for 'good' and by that I don't mean these people are even remotely healthy in the morals department but hey, they aren't stone cold killers just for kicks. They have a purpose when they kill - wait, uh, okay, I should mention these are pretty dark books with those anti-heroes / heroines (just in case you are new to Stuart - LinnieGayl I'm talking to you!) that just make me happy.

Jilly is the sister of Summer (a heroine from another book) who is 20 and even though she is young and yes, she even acts young, she's I guess a genius but you know, in books cause not so much in social ways. She met Reno (the cousin of Taka, Summer's man) two years ago and started crushing something fierce. Reno, poor bugger, fell also but didn't realize it. Summer and Taka see it all and keep these two apart.

Reno, meanwhile, is 28 and a disgrace to his well respected family. Hair down to his waist, dyed bright red, rides Harleys and doesn't take anything too seriously. At least, that's what we are led to believe and yeah, I totally bought it.

What happens?

Jilly makes a mistake and runs to her sister who just happens to be in extreme hiding with her hubby Taka. Jilly, not realizing she shouldn't be in Japan ever, steps into the middle of a turf war and Reno is sent in to save her.

And then there was love.

Stuart style baby!!

Let's see, what can I tell you about this one?

I went into Reno and Jilly's story not truly convinced I was going to buy these two falling in love. I guess their ages threw me off and then Reno hadn't really acted all that mature in the previous books. He's a biker dude (okay, he was called something else in the book but whatever) who worked with extremely skilled, deadly guys and they all seemed to make him look like, uh, well, a pansy.

I'm just saying.

Didn't feel like hero material to me.

HOW COULD I HAVE DOUBTED!!???

My love for Ms. Stuart now knows no bounds. I'm telling ya, she made Death sexy in a novella umpteen years ago, had me fall in love with a dead gangster in a Valentine's Day anthology - let's not even talk about Simon ( *MY* Simon) the conman wizard in a historical of all things!!

How could I have thought that she wasn't going to pull this one out of the fire?

The beginning was choppy for me but it was because of all these preconceived notions I had about Reno and well, Jilly is young. Like, young. She was practically jail bait when she first met Reno and Ms. Stuart usually writes characters that are well seasoned with age.

But OMG it just gets fabulous as you continue reading.

What did I love? I loved that Reno and Jilly *were* young cause even though Reno had that edge (you discover it later) these two made mistakes because hey, they haven't been chased by killers everyday of their life like Takashi or Bastien . So of course the baddies are going to get the drop on them and more than once!

In the end I really felt like these two were on an equal footing and that is not something you come across a lot in Stuart's work. The hero is usually so much more dangerous and yes, Reno is dangerous but he isn't quite as broken or cast in iron like a man much older and jaded by his work. So Jilly is able to break through many more times than any of the previous heroines with their own heroes in this series. Jilly is all youth and yet, she has power over Reno even though she isn't quite aware of it.

Then there was that joyful neediness of the young (Jilly's side) mixed with a Fuck You attitude. At times, Jilly would get all pissy and say things that A) get her in dangerous trouble and B) scare the piss out of Reno. The older heroines in previous books don't get as sassy with their heroes because with age comes wisdom - or, uh, fear - so they tend to keep their mouths shut at times you wish they would say something, anything to get the hero to react.

Now for me the book was perfect although I know there is a scene late in the story that would have most readers going 'Oh c'mon!!' but I don't care, I loved it and hey, other authors write scenes like it and don't even acknowledge that someone could have got a bullet in the ass.

I'm just saying.

I could go on - Hey, I heard that! - but I'm going to try and stop now.

It's an A for me for sure.

Now trying to be objective for other readers I would say this one should rate fairly high up there. I'll say a B to B+ for most readers because there isn't as much darkness or angst in this one.

I finished this one this afternoon and yelled down to Bob.

Me: I just finished my book *small sob*

Bob: Uh, oh. You have any other Stuarts?

Me: Are you kidding me!? (okay I do but I'm so not cracking that safe right now! I'm saving them for a time when she might think about retiring. *pleaseNOpleaseNOpleaseNO*)

Bob: Are you going to be blue?

Me: *glare*

Bob: Thought so.

My man doth know me well.

The good news though is that although I had that little pang in my heart for a few hours I'm really excited about reading the next book I can get my mitts on!

Kiss it Slumpville!!

Edited: HELP!! There is a short story on Stuart's website but for some reason I can't download it - it keeps sending me to buy the book. NOOOOOO!! I want the short story!!!

12 Days of Duidecimal

The Duckie Ladies are having a ball over at Sybil's with their 12 Days of Duodecimal!

In case you haven't been checking through the lists (some are hysterical while others are very helpful in growing the TBB list!) here is my little contribution.

Not that I'm a fangirl or anything.

Nope.

I'm the real McCoy - a stalker rabid fangirl.

Off to see if I can find a Secret Santa gift for my family's White Elephant gift exchange we do on Christmas Eve. So far, I haven't seen a thing!

The Fantastic Book Blues

I finally made the time to read my book!

Ice Storm by Anne Stuart has now been read, hugged and lovingly placed on a shelf.

I can't tell you much cause I'm going to be doing a guest review over at Sybil's - I'll let you all know when it goes up.

I *just* finished reading and it's 12:30pm so obviously I stayed up way past my bedtime and I know I can't write anything coherent right now. I'll see if I can come up with a Cindy review tonight for Sybil.

Bob is up (of course) and has been doing more demo and such and he kept telling me I didn't have to finish the book in one sitting. Does he know me at all? So yeah, I finished and came in hugging the book. Bob understood it was a book not yet out and said, 'what are you going to do when the book finally hits the shelves? You won't be excited because you have already read it.' To which I replied 'I'm still going to buy a copy'. Bob being a good guy smiled and said 'you should, maybe it'll be different.'

What a sweetie. I can't imagine anything will be different unless Stuart does an epilogue but it's rare for her to end a book with too much gush.

So I'll be all gushy for her.

Squueeeeeeeee!

Okay, off to try and wind down although really, I'm just too happy and spazzy.

Ice Blue by Anne Stuart

I have no words.

You all know I'm a fangirl but - Oh. My. God. - I loved this book!

This book is the epitome of all that is Anne Stuart and holy crap I'm happier than a pig in shit, if you don't mind me saying.

The hero, Taka was perfect and sure Summer has those TSTL moments but it just doesn't matter when you get such a great sexy romance.

So, yeah - KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER!! but I would also say this one is an A. I'd throw a plus on there but hey, TSTL moments have to have some sort of consequence but then, without those moments you would have a completely different story.

I just want to grab all my Stuarts off my keeper shelf and re-read every single one. Just to relive all those moments that make me sigh.

*sigh*

I'm really too happy to talk coherently about this book and I'm really trying not to gush.

Hey! I'm trying here!

Okay, I'm going to tell you this but you can't use it against me at a future date.

Pinky swear.

See, Bob is now in Burlington, Vermont (I guess it's just a few hours over the border) on business and when I got to the end of the story I flipped through the rest of the pages, you know, looking for a hint of what would be coming next. Nothing. I then see Stuart's picture at the back and start to read the little bio.

Anne Stuart lives in Vermont.

I think I know what I want Bob to bring back with him.

*dreamy sigh*

Right. Sorry. Snap out of it!

I'm just not that crazy.

Okay, I flirt with 'that crazy' but really, I'm not that bad.

Shut up.

So to recap, I think this book is one of the best Ms. Stuart has to offer (so of the three in the series this is my favourite), I'm wondering if I can claim TSTL as a defense for kidnapping and I'm trying to remember I'm not that crazy.

*chants* I'm not that crazy, I'm not that crazy, I'm not that crazy...

*sigh*

The Great Book Blues are going to be KILLER!!!

Cold As Ice by Anne Stuart

Let's face it, we all know this is a keeper for me being the Anne Stuart fangirl that I am.

That said, I think this is one of her better stories and I loved the heroine. It is rare that Stuart gives us such a strong and likable heroine and I am so voting for Genevieve Spenser as my Favourite Heroine of 2006 at AAR.

Cindy Blurb: Genevieve Spenser is one high powered attorney and she has the bling to prove it. She was once down and dirty in the world of law but she was attacked one night by a battered woman's husband. Having survived the attack she learned how to protect herself, moved to a safer part of the city and thus a new line of work and lost herself in a world not her own.

Genevieve has finally decided to take a vacation but she needs to get one of the firms 'huge' clients to sign some paper work. This puts her on a yacht of a billionaire that she wishes she could thumb her nose at but is forced to be civil to. Civility forces her to stay over night on the boat and thus, her movement into the line of fire.

Peter (The Ice Man) Jensen is an undercover operative for a collection of agencies trying to keep world order. Or peace. Whatever. He is serving as the billionaire's aide in order to discover what kind of maniacal plans he has in store for the world. The night Genevieve steps on the yacht turns out to be the night of reckoning for the billionaire and the lawyer is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now if only the Ice Man can do as ordered and kill the innocent who has stumbled onto the scene.

*sigh*

I love me some Anne Stuart.

Onwards!

I'll say what I noticed as a problem for the story. Peter was almost too much of an Ice Man. In other words, he was able to bait Genevieve and reply coldly to her to the point where I started to wonder if he did find anything about her appealing. He said he did but he was also able to convince himself that murdering an innocent had never been part of his job before. Turns out I found this quite convincing so the idea that he was falling in love with Genevieve (he starts to call her Genny) was hard to find in his own mind!

Another thing was that the villain of the piece was really evil. Really, really evil and had one hell of a plan that was scary in it's scope. Now this is perfect for someone who likes to see villains who are not cartoon characters. The problem came when all his plans were foiled, he decided he needed to kill Genevieve. Somehow this would make him feel better.

Yeah. Not exactly as scary as it could have been.

As to the rest? Loved it!

Stuart finally gave one of her contemporary heroines some skills and it was wonderful. Genevieve wasn't afraid to try and keep escaping and was able to make decisions on the fly about her own survival. Not only that, she was lippy and since I tend to have a mouth I liked that she didn't back down from a fight. She is probably one of my favourite heroines so a huge thank you to Ms. Stuart.

I tried to figure out how someone who wasn't an Anne Stuart fangirl would rate this book and it just wouldn't gel with me. For example, there was a book years ago called The Widow that I still own and it's on the keeper shelf but I think it would be rated at a C if it was lucky. Cold As Ice, however, had everything I liked in a Stuart book so I think it sits firmly in the A range which would still make it a keeper.

So there you have it.

KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER!!

Great Book Blues

Anne Stuart.

The Devil's Waltz.

I just finished this book and the great book blues are settling in so fast I already have tears in my eyes.

Funny how I have never written her a fan letter but, I'm not sure if Ms. Stuart would consider 'I am a slut for your books!!!!!' a compliment.

Her next book isn't out until Novemeber.

My heart bleeds a little.