The James Logan Courier

By Jessica Stewart, Courier Book Editor


Normally, I would begin my review with a quote I feel is important to the book, whether it explains it, gives off a mood, or summarizes it. But for this book no quote really hit me like one normally would. Usually, that would mean that it’s a lame book. In this case, it just means it’s a romance novel. Actually, it’s a romantic suspense, but more romance than not. If the very word romance just caused you to stick up your nose or roll your eyes, this review probably isn’t for you. If it made you think to yourself “Finally, someone is reviewing a good ol’ cheesy romance,” then all I can say, is I agree.

Now that that’s over with, let me tell you about the book. Basically, Desdemona Wainwright caters a wedding where the groom, Sam Stark, gets stood up. She is then faced with the problem of somehow getting him to pay for the catering. They end up spending the night with her catering crew, who are made up of pretty much just her family of actors. There is immediate attraction (of course), but Stark, as he prefers to be called, ignores it. Weeks later, he sets up a contract with her and her business. The sparks fly, and they end up together.

Soon, though, it’s sparks of tension and frustration that are flying. Someone tries to break into Stark’s computer to steal some software he’s creating, and Stark suspects that the suspect was a member of Desdemona’s own family. Luckily for him, Desdemona isn’t insulted, she just wants to get to the bottom of it. So she hires Stark to investigate it (since he owns a computer security company, this makes sense in that that-wouldn’t-happen-in-real-life-but-makes-sense-here sort of fashion). Stark agrees, and that’s where the plot picks up a bit.

The novel is very well written (as it usually is when it’s by Krentz), and everything makes sense. It kept even me guessing until the end, but it wasn’t because the clues didn’t point in the right direction. It was because Krentz is a genuinely talented author (a hard thing to find in the romance genre, as I’ve found out the hard way). I couldn’t put the book down, and have now actually read it three times.

I definitely recommend this novel, especially if you’ve actually bothered to read the review about it. It is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end, and my only issue with it was that the end was a bit rushed. All in all it was a great read, and, in my opinion, one of Krentz’s best yet. (At least out of the ones under her name Krentz. The ones under Amanda Quick are often even better, in my opinion.)