Rowena’s review of The Ideal Man by Julie Garwood.
Hero: Agent Max Daniels
Heroine: Dr. Ellie Sullivan
Dr. Ellie Sullivan has just completed her residency at a large urban hospital. While jogging in a park nearby, she witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter’s face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. Agent Max Daniels takes over the Landry case. A no-nonsense lawman, he’s definitely not the ideal man that Ellie has always imagined, yet she’s attracted to him in a way she can’t explain.Ellie heads home to Winston Falls, South Carolina, to attend her sister’s wedding. Shortly after she arrives, though, she receives a surprise visitor: Max Daniels. The Landrys have been captured, and she’ll be called to testify. But they’ve been captured before, and each time the witnesses are scared into silence-or disappear before they can take the stand. Max vows to be Ellie’s shadow until the trial, and it isn’t long before sparks fly.
It’s been years since I’ve read a new to me Julie Garwood book. I haven’t touched a contemporary of hers in a long while but reading this book brought me back to why I’m such a huge JG fan. She writes interesting characters and hot heroes and I can’t help myself. I’m noticing the same storyline in the romantic suspense books that I’m reading lately. The FBI Agent falling for the victim/witness that they’re in charge of keeping safe until the trial.
In this book, we have FBI Agent Max Daniels who has been investigating a case involving a baddie couple and he wants them put behind bars. The case takes him away from his home in Honolulu, Hawaii and sends him to St. Louis, Missouri where he meets Dr. Ellie Sullivan. After a bust goes bad in a park across the street from the hospital that Ellie works at, an agent is shot and because Ellie witnessed the whole thing, she’s now got a target on her back.
Ellie was one of those heroines that had a lot going on in her life. She had issues from her past that had her looking over her shoulder everyday and she had family issues that I wouldn’t wish on anyone but she was making the most of her life. She had a job that she was really good at and she had some decisions to make. Her residency with the hospital she was working at was ending and she had a wedding to attend (that she really didn’t want to attend) and the last thing she needed was the added worry that a killer might be after her.
Max Daniels is an FBI Agent that has been chasing lead after lead trying to put Cal and Erika Landry behind bars for selling illegal weapons. When Max and Ellie are thrown together because of the case, Max is interested. He’s drawn to Ellie because the more he gets to know about her, the more he likes her. When she goes to South Carolina to be with her family for her sister’s wedding, Max finds out that a killer might be on they’re way to SC to get Ellie so Max flies over there himself to help protect Ellie while she’s in harms way.
Once they get there, it’s hard to not fall in love with the both of them. Despite being a freaking genius and a doctor, Ellie was so freaking normal. She reacted the way a normal person would react when she was betrayed and not like the perfect romance novel heroine would react. She got mad, she held grudges when she was wronged and she tried to live as normal a life as she could despite the fact that she had a childhood stalker on the loose, a killer coming after her and the selfish sister that betrayed her was getting married and forcing her to be in the wedding.
There are a lot of things that pop off in this book and while it made for an entertaining read, there were a few things that got on my nerves. I didn’t understand why Ellie’s parents sent her away when she was younger. Why didn’t they move the entire family 800 miles away? Why was Ellie banished from her family, forced to live without them because some douche decided he couldn’t live without her and then got mad when she rejected him and decided that if he couldn’t have her, nobody could?
Ellie’s family annoyed me while I was reading this book. Wait, I take that back because Annie didn’t annoy me. I liked Annie but she was the only one. While I didn’t doubt that Ellie’s parents loved her, I didn’t like that they sent her away and she had to grow up without her family because of the stalker. I wish that the family would have stayed together and Ellie wouldn’t have had to grow up thinking she was too much of a burden to be with her family. Another thing that annoyed the snot out of me about Ellie’s family was her sister Ava. Man, I wanted to bean that bitch in the head more than once throughout this book and even at the end of the book when all was said and done, I still didn’t like her. Selfish tramp.
Moving on to Max, I adored him. It was easy to fall in love with him because he was strong and sexy and just everything that a woman wants in a man. His confidence and the easy way that he fell in love with Ellie made this story sweet. It would have been nice to get to know his family more. I wanted more Simon and his other brothers. I wonder if JG is planning on writing any of their books, I hope so because I’d like to get know all of them and see more of Max and Ellie.
Overall, the story was great. The pacing was good, the characters kept me invested in the story but the secondary story with Annie and her baby daddy felt as if it was thrown in at the last minute. Not enough page time was dedicated to building that story up that when the end comes and it’s thrown back into the story, I was confused. Another thing that felt abrupt was Max and Ellie at the end when they meet up again in Hawaii. The way Max declared himself to Ellie wasn’t at all what I was expecting and I wanted more than that for Ellie but other than that, the story was enjoyable. It’s not one of my favorites but it’s still a read that I enjoyed and zipped right through.
Grade: 4 out of 5
This book is available from Dutton. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
My Ideal Man? Hmm…well, if we’re just reaching here, I’d have to say Prince Harry. I have a soft spot for redheads. 🙂 Plus he sort of has the bad guy vibe going for him.
I’m so glad that this got a good review! Is it worth the hc price? JG is one of my fave authors although her recent books aren’t so great.
My ideal guy would be tall, dark, and handsome! Jk. I would settle for good looking. Lol. I prefer dark hair cut really short, tall enough, smart but doesn’t have to be brilliant, be nice, and have a sense of humor! Oh and have some direction in life. I can’t stand a man who isn’t motivated. 🙂
Alpha (gentle) Man with a soft heart…. Dark Hair, amazing eyes, tall, athletic…I loved Henry Cavill as Charles Brandon in the Tudors.
My ideal man is an alpha with a few beta tendencies, medium to tall height, muscular, intelligent, good sense of humor, kind heart and a hard worker.
My ideal man…tall, muscular, smart, dark hair, integrity…
My ideal man would be intelligent and have a sense of humor. Looks wouldn’t hurt either.
Tall, dark hair green eyes :). Fun, great sense of humour, tough with a warm heart. Head over heels in love with me :).
Thanks for your review. This sounds like a good book and I just love the cover.
My perfect guy is tall, dark and handsome. The strong, quiet and stoic type with a kind, gentle and compassionate heart and soul. He must be trustworthy and honorable with a sense of humor.
rjofus(at)gmail(dot)com
Hmm, dark hair, green eyes (like me), good sense of humor, nice bod, is honorable, tall and handsome of course, kind to all including children.
patoct at yahoo dot com
I like my guys Tall, Dark Hair, Dark/light eyes (either one), great smile. Not too muscular but well defined. Thanks for the giveaway!
jcross719 at yahoo dot com
My ideal man has a warped sense of humor, is intelligent, is unafraid to show how much he loves me, is physically and mentally strong and is ethical. Tall, dark, and handsome wouldn’t upset me at all, either.
Thanks for the giveaway.
kacbooks at hotmail dot com
The traditional tall, dark and handsome. Moderate muscles, no facial hair except maybe a little stubble. Handsome is so subjective, just nice all around with a good personality and moderate or better brains. (The body on the cover is pretty good.)
acm05atjuno.com
My ideal man has a sense of humor and is able to cook
mce1011 AT aol DOT com
My ideal man is tall with dark blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He’s smart, sensitive, passionate and has a great sense of humor.
marieimy (at) gmail (dot) com
My ideal man is tall, with dark hair and blue eyes, wiry but muscular build. He’s smart, funny, loyal, and loves to cook.
Barbed1951 at aol dot com
Tall, muscled but not bulgy, with dark hair and as far as eye color I don’t really have a preference. He has to have a sense of humor and a little bit of a tortured side is ok too.
Ideal man = someone to be my best friend.
Personality: sense of humor, good with kids & animals, kind & caring, hard-working
Physically: Tall, lean but muscled, blue eyes
not too much to ask is it?
sallans d at yahoo dot com
I can’t wait to read this. I am a fan of the tall, dark and handsome type. He must also be smart, funny and trustworthy.
Strong, kind and not too hard on the eyes. A good sense of humor is always a plus – someone who can make you laugh is a great trait.
Natalie’s Mama
My ideal man is smart, has sense of humor (I love a great smile), likes to have fun and being cute doesn’t hurt either.
ANYTHING in a uniform!!!! blue eyes, dark hair, fun personality, sense of humor…
mickey3214 at aol dot com
I have a soft spot for red heads with blue eyes. Well built, over 6 feet tall, strong, protective, loving, with a wicked sense of humor
marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com
My ideal man would be tall, black hair, dark eyes. He would be strong and smart with a soft side to him. Also with a sense of humor.
ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net
Tall, dark and handsome with a kind heart.
gmapeony@yahoo.com
T,D & H of course with a good sense of humor and honorable.
jvigma@gmail.com