Review: Merciless by Diana Palmer.

Posted November 7, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Rowena’s review of Merciless by Diana Palmer.

Hero: Jon Blackhawk
Heroine: Jocelyn Perry

Can she convince a man to let down his defenses when he’s set on guarding his heart? Tall, dark and eligible? That’s all that matters to the women of Jacobsville when it comes to handsome and aloof FBI agent Jon Blackhawk. But if it were up to him, he would never settle down. Luckily, Jon has the best gatekeeper: his efficient and reliable assistant, Joceline Perry. Without her help, he’d be at the mercy of husband hunters—but the more he comes to rely on her, the more he notices how invaluable she really is… While Joceline can’t deny that her boss is attractive, as a single mother with responsibilities she’s determined to be professional. But when Jon is accosted by a criminal seeking revenge, she comes to his aid—fueling the spark that is growing between them. As the attempts on Jon’s life increase, Joceline stands by his side. But when the smoke clears, will the man who avoided love realize that all he ever needed was right there all along?

I’ve never read anything by Diana Palmer and I’ve been meaning to so when this book came up for review, I wanted to give it a go. It didn’t take too long for me to read this book, it was easy to jump right in and that’s exactly what I did.

This book follows Jon Blackhawk as he finds himself falling for his secretary, Jocely Perry. She’s a very capable secretary (administrative assistant if you prefer) but she’s been going through some stuff lately, having to do with her son and so it’s been getting in the way of her work schedule and Jon is starting to worry. It’s not like Jocelyn to take the day off without calling him to let him know but when she does, Jon knows something is wrong.

The thing about this book was that even though it wasn’t hard for me to follow along with what was going on in the book, I never really connected with any of the characters in this book. It bummed me out because the story itself isn’t a bad story but the characters were hard to connect with. The way that this story is told, it doesn’t leave much for you to want to connect with. The story is told at you, not once did I feel like I was a part of the story.

Far too many times while I was reading this book did I shake my head at one thing after another. The way Jon’s Mom treated Jocelyn, with all of that hostility, the way that Jon forgives Jocelyn so fast after finding out the truth about Mark, the way that they all instantly became a family with no kind of well, anything. There was plenty of conflict but I didn’t feel like any of the conflicts were actual conflicts because they were all written away so fast. It was like, the story was told in a, this happened and that happened and then they lived happily ever after. I kept reading the book, hoping that it would get better and it never really did.

Everything happened, everything wrapped and then the story ended. I wanted more from this book. I wanted to connect with the characters, I wanted a little more groveling from everyone before everything wrapped up nice and tidy at the end. I never got that and my enjoyment of the book suffered because of it. When I closed the book, I felt like the book could have gotten better if I was more emotionally involved with the characters but because I wasn’t, the book just turned out to be okay.

Grade: 2.75 out of 5

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

2 Comments

Tagged: 2.75 Reviews, Contemporary, Diana Palmer, HQN, Reviews, Rowena's Reviews

Dev

I used to love Diana Palmer’s books years ago – they were my crack! I haven’t read her in years; I keep thinking I might pick her up again, but then again I think I may just skip this one. Great review as always, Wena!

November 8, 2011, 1:04 am

Portugal

I can’t really describe the feeling I got reading it…most romance fiction is unrealistic at best, some of the dialogue and main character situations were corny(?) far-fetched(?) not sure if that’s the right words either…not sure why the book was titled the way it was and the cover with a cowboy on a horse threw me for a loop. All I could say as I read the last few words and closed it was “stupid”. I guess I was hoping it would get better-just seemed like a patched together book.

May 22, 2012, 2:34 am