2 people posted their 2 cents:

Kat Latham said...

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. In fact, I named it one of my contemporaries to covet in December. It's funny because some of the things you reacted strongly against are the things that rang truest for me.

The visceral reaction Amelia and Hugh have for each other when they're stuck in the rubble felt so powerful to me. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my own body, with all the fear and, yes, excitement mingling together, so I totally got why there was all kinds of tension between them, including sexual tension.

Like you, I usually hate major subplots, but I don't hate them so much in romantic suspense. I think they can serve an important purpose: cranking up the tension. And I think the author did a great job of that here.

It's always interesting to see how something that works so well for one person really doesn't for another.

Thu Dec 01, 12:22:00 PM 2011

Lynette said...

@Kat
LOL. Yes, I can see where that would've worked for you, because they WERE great characters. I guess the whole thinking about sexual attraction/ sex while trapped didn't work for me because while it's cool on television, it doesn't really work like that in real life. At least not in my experience.


I should've stated in my review that my strong EWWW reaction is probably due to my real life experiences. I HAVE been in an intense life/death situation (not an earthquake or anything, just people brandishing guns at me overseas where I didn't know the language) with a guy I was attracted to (we were dating) and the last thing I was thinking about was oh, he's hot. I can't wait to get out of here to do him. LOL.

Also, I've worked for a police department and know many of the officers (and a lot of them are married to each other in the same department) and they often work side by side. While your in the moment, you're in the zone so to speak and adrenaline/training take over and not your hormones. I understand afterward, but in the moment. NO!!!!!!

I also beg to disagree about the subplots. While I understood the Major's purpose, even his story and how he used humor to diffuse the stress (I worked in Casualty and Mortuary Affairs in the Army and WE ALWAYS used humor/jokes to deal with the tension in the office especially when we were dealing with the death of an active duty soldier), his story did not add to the overall story arc and seemed like just an excuse to set up another book.

I did like the writing. Like I said, I just couldn't buy into the romance or the predictable suspense. Didn't you figure out what was going to happen right away? Or is that a weird quirk I have? Or just one of the weird quirks I have, I have many!

Thu Dec 01, 12:42:00 PM 2011