Series: FBI/US Attorney

Throwback Thursday Review: A Lot Like Love by Julie James

Posted February 18, 2021 by Rowena in Reviews | 11 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: A Lot Like Love by Julie JamesReviewer: Rowena
A Lot Like Love by Julie James
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: March 1, 2011
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Third Person
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 304
Add It: Goodreads
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four-half-stars

Previous edition for this ISBN found here

The FBI wants her cooperation. As the daughter of a billionaire and the owner of the city's top wine store, Jordan Rhodes is invited to the most exclusive parties in Chicago. But there's only one party the FBI wants to crash: the charity fundraiser of a famous restaurateur, who also happens to launder money for the mob. In exchange for her brother's release from prison, Jordan is going to be there—with a date supplied by the Bureau.

Agent McCall just wants her. As the top undercover agent in Chicago, Nick McCall has one rule: never get personal. This "date" with Jordan Rhodes is merely an assignment— one they're both determined to pull off even if they can't be together for five minutes before the sarcasm and sparks begin to fly. But when Nick's investigation is compromised, he and Jordan have no choice but to pretend they're a couple, and what starts out as a simple assignment begins to feel a lot like something more.

This review was originally posted on February 23, 2021.

Julie James has written another contemporary romance novel that I thought was fantastic. This book follows Special Agent Nick McCall and billionaire heiress Jordan Rhodes as they go undercover as a couple to try to bring down more of Roberto Martino’s minions who are trafficking his drug money through legit businesses and the guy that they’re targeting and going after is Xander Eckhart, a business friend of Jordan.

How did they get Jordan to take part? They offered her a deal that she couldn’t and wouldn’t walk away from.

Once again, James has written a heroine who is both strong, smart, and totally capable and I adored her. I thought Jordan was a great part of this book, her character might have been totally loaded but I connected with her dilemma and I connected with her as a person. Watching her fall in love with Nick was a delight to read about and she was a fun person to get to know.

Then there’s Nick. I’m a sucker for the name Nick. If you want me to love your hero, you’ll get off to a great start by naming him Nick because there’s something about that name that totally gets me. Nick McCall was a sexy beast that I enjoyed getting to know. I loved his manly man attitude and while some might find him a little over the edge (because of his refusal to drink anything pink, haha), I adored him. I loved his overt manliness and I adored that he called Jordan, Rhodes. The way that he said Rhodes, got me each and every single time.

Julie James does such a great job of making the reader feel like they’re apart of the stories she writes and this book was no exception. When everything is going down, I can see it all coming together like I’m apart of the action and I appreciated that. I loved that I could feel Jordan and Nick falling for each other. I was right there, anxious and nervous when Nick and Jordan arrived at Xander’s party. My heart was pounding when the shit hit the fan and I was annoyed as all get out Lisa came back into the picture.

Another thing that I absolutely loved about the story was the inclusion of Jack and Cameron. They were a part of the story but they didn’t take over the story and I liked that. It was so good to see them again and see how they’re doing so I loved that James included them.

I’m a blood-thirsty bitch and I wanted something to happen to Lisa. I wanted to see Nick tell her where to shove her love for him and I wanted to see Nick with his Mom. It would have been nice to see Nick with his family but aside from wanting those things, I still enjoyed the book quite a bit and am sure that fans of Julie James will not be disappointed with this new book. Julie James wrote another winner for me and it was such a fast read that I’m already anxious for more from Julie and I cannot freaking wait for Kyle’s book. Holy goodness, I was so excited to see that Kyle’s story is next. Woo hoo!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

FBI-US Attorney

four-half-stars

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Throwback Thursday Review: Something About You by Julie James

Posted April 26, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 17 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Something About You by Julie JamesReviewer: Rowena
Something About You by Julie James
Series: FBI/US Attorney #1
Also in this series: About That Night (FBI/US Attorney, #3), A Lot like Love (FBI/US Attorney, #2), Love Irresistibly, It Happened One Wedding, Suddenly One Summer, Suddenly One Summer, Suddenly One Summer, A Lot Like Love
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Publication Date: March 2, 2010
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 307
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Fate has thrown two sworn enemies...

Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends with a death. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and for nearly ruining his career.

Into each other's arms...

Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it's no joke; the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension.

Every Thursday in 2018, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books.

This review was originally posted on February 24, 2010.

It just keeps getting better with each and every book. James has shown that she is definitely no one hit wonder with this latest installment into her backlist. Something About You was an entertaining read from cover to cover. It had everything you could want in a great contemporary setting. Characters that leaped off the page, a storyline that kept you interested and a hero that was just to smexy for words.

The chemistry between Jack and Cameron was crazy good. Even when they were hating each other, the chemistry was evident. They worked well together and they were just great characters that I came to love over the course of the book.

Cameron Lynde is an assistant U.S. Attorney who had floor troubles at home so she treated herself to sleeping in an upscale hotel room instead of on her friend’s couch or guest bed or something. She thought she was treating herself but she was actually treated to the loud sex going on in the room next door. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, the loud sex that was keeping her up all night stopped….only to start up again about an hour later. Fed up with all of the noise going on over there, Cameron calls the front desk and complains. She puts the phone down and waits for the security to come up and take care of her little noise problem but she hears thuds coming from the room, noises she didn’t hear before and then she hears the door open so she peeks through the peep hole and sees someone walk out of the room.

Turns out that she witnesses the murderer of the woman in the other room walking out after the murder and so the FBI turns up on her doorstep. One of the FBI agents that shows up to interview her is the one guy that she’d love to forget for the rest of her life. It’s none other than Jack Pallas, the FBI agent who told the entire nation that she had her head up her ass. They’re not fans of each other and Jack holds her responsible for his transfer to Nebraska. So when Jack shows up on Cameron’s hotel doorstep, to say that she’s annoyed is putting it mildly.

…and of all the hotel rooms to show up at, Jack had to land on Cameron Lynde’s hotel doorstep. Jack cannot stand Cameron because he felt like he wasted two years of his life gathering evidence and she wouldn’t prosecute. It pissed him off but he was a professional so he was going to get this job done, even if it killed him or he killed someone. Either or.

Watching these two battle their feelings and then come together was such a treat! First they hate each other and then they grow soft on each other and then their together. The transition from hating each other to loving each other made for an enjoyable ride that I was absolutely adored.

Jack was a great hero who was stubborn, arrogant and yet lovable. He was such a man. A man’s man who did man things and thought man things and I ate him up. He wasn’t the cookie cutter perfect hero because he assumed the worst in Cameron at every turn and yet I never once hated him. I never once thought, oh get over yourself because he the way that he protected Cameron was just too hot damn sexy that I’d forgive him anything. He was normal and the way that Julie wrote him made his character real. He was a very three dimensional character and I absolutely loved him.

Cameron was one of those heroines that I can appreciate. She was smart and she was capable but she wasn’t one of those heroines who thought she could do everything and tried to do it too. She didn’t need to prove herself to anyone, she knew her strengths and she did her best to let the professionals do their jobs. I loved that about her. She wasn’t the kind of heroine who hid from the bad guys and let everyone run her life but she wasn’t a pushover either. She didn’t think she needed to tell the FBI how to do their job and she trusted them enough to protect her and I admired her for that. She wasn’t that heroine who did the most. She did what she was supposed to and I loved her for that.

Overall, this book was really good. It was perfect for what I was in the mood for and I trusted Julie to entertain the socks off of me and I’m so happy that she did. She’s going to do big things in the publishing world and I’m so excited for her. The villain wasn’t scary or anything but as far as villains went, he fit the bill and I was pretty bummed that we didn’t get to see any scenes with Jack and his sister and nephew. Jack mentions that he wanted to spend more time with his sister and nephew now that he was back in Chicago but we didn’t get to see any interactions with them, I thought it would have been nice to get to know her since the only people on Jack’s side that we got to meet was his partner and his boss. It would have been nice to get some personal interactions but aside from that, I loved the book. I thought it was a great way to spend a few hours. James did a great job of keeping me interested in the romance budding between Jack and Cameron and she kept me entertain throughout the entire story which is exactly what I like in a book.

So really, kudos to Julie James on another winner and I think this is my favorite book by her so far. Would I recommend this? Heck yes!

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

FBI/US Attorney

four-half-stars

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Guest Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

Posted June 16, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie JamesReviewer: Tracy
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
Series: FBI/US Attorney #6
Also in this series: About That Night (FBI/US Attorney, #3), A Lot like Love (FBI/US Attorney, #2), Love Irresistibly, It Happened One Wedding, Suddenly One Summer, Suddenly One Summer, Something About You, A Lot Like Love
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 2nd 2015
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford....

Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…

Tracy’s review of Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

Victoria is a family lawyer who has seen her share of divorces – including her parents. She’s positive she doesn’t want to get married and she’s happy with the “casual” dates and sex that she has. That’s until she ends up moving in temporarily next door to Ford Dixon. She’s not thrilled with her neighbor at first but what starts as friendship and moves into casual soon becomes more than she thinks she wants.

Ford is dealing with his father’s death as well as his sister’s new baby. He is frustrated by the beautiful yet incredibly uptight woman who moved in next door. Despite his frustration he can’t seem to keep his eyes off of her and ends up wanting her more and more.

When Ford and Victoria start working together to try and find the father of Ford’s sister’s baby the pair get to see another side of each other that they hadn’t previous seen and actually become friends. But each of their relationship hang ups might mean that they end before they ever really begin.

Julie James is one of my favorite contemporary authors because she writes such strong characters. In Suddenly One Summer she wrote them again and I really enjoyed reading about both Ford and Victoria. I loved how they were both judgmental about the other one at first but still so curious about the other. The way the author brought up and then dealt with each of their personal issues, and those issues with each other, really worked for me. I really loved Victoria’s sessions with her shrink. They made me laugh even while I my heart was hurting for what she’d been through in life.

The romance in this story kind of took a back seat to Victoria’s panic issues as well as Ford’s sister’s baby daddy issues which was a bit disappointing. While Ford and Victoria were together most of the book I missed that deep connection that I normally feel when reading one of James’ books. It was still good but not as good as I know James can do. The ending issue that split the couple apart was a bit of a “big mis” which was a bit frustrating but it all worked out in the end.

Overall a good book and one I really enjoyed.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

Posted June 2, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie JamesReviewer: Rowena
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
Series: FBI/US Attorney #6
Also in this series: About That Night (FBI/US Attorney, #3), A Lot like Love (FBI/US Attorney, #2), Love Irresistibly, It Happened One Wedding, Suddenly One Summer, Suddenly One Summer, Something About You, A Lot Like Love
Publisher: Jove
Publication Date: June 2nd 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 291
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Wedding comes a novel about a man and a woman whose summer is about to get very, very steamy…

Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford…

Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…

This book is loosely related to the FBI/US Attorney series by Julie James since it features Brooke Parker’s (heroine from book 4) best friend Ford Dixon but neither the hero nor the heroine worked for the FBI or the US Attorney’s office so it can actually stand on its own as well.

So this book follows Victoria Slade, a divorce lawyer who doesn’t believe in marriage and hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time and Ford Dixon, a journalist who is always the rebound guy. The hot rebound guy, but still. They’re both not looking for a relationship and when Victoria moves in next door to Ford, things get interesting.

Ford can’t believe that the girl he was eyeing at the bar is his new next door neighbor. When he first finds out, he’s excited until she opens her mouth and basically hands his ass to him because she’s not a fan of the revolving door that is his apartment. She assumes the worst in Ford and Ford is immediately not a fan of Victoria’s right back.

The back and forth with these two was too funny. I loved seeing them give each other a hard time, at the same time that they were battling their attraction to one another and when Victoria lends a helping hand to Ford’s sister, watching these two melt for each other was entertaining.

Julie James is well known for writing strong heroines who mean business and know what they’re about but it was good to see that while Victoria was large and in charge at work, she was kind of a mess personally and seeing her work through her issues throughout the book was interesting. Her background kind of made my heart hurt and I was a little bummed that we didn’t get too much interaction with her mother. I loved seeing her fall in love with Ford though. I loved that she wasn’t expecting or even wanted the feelings that cropped up where Ford was concerned but once she realized what they were, she didn’t waste a lot of page time trying to make things right.

Ford was everything that I expected him to be. I loved getting to know more about him, seeing the Ford that Brooke knew and loved. I loved his family and was really glad to see that got to see him wrap up his story, the way that I was hoping it would wrap up.

The entire book was just flat out good. I loved seeing the recurring characters come through, I enjoyed Ford’s family and Victoria’s best friends, oh and Ford’s friends too. This book was filled with a great cast of characters that were just a lot of fun and I definitely recommend this book to fans of the FBI/US Attorney’s series. It’s a treat!

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

This book is available from Jove. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

Posted June 1, 2015 by Holly in Reviews | 4 Comments

Review: Suddenly One Summer by Julie JamesReviewer: Holly
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
Series: FBI/US Attorney #6
Also in this series: About That Night (FBI/US Attorney, #3), A Lot like Love (FBI/US Attorney, #2), Love Irresistibly, It Happened One Wedding, Suddenly One Summer, Suddenly One Summer, Something About You, A Lot Like Love
Publisher: Penguin, Jove
Publication Date: June 2nd 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 304
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Wedding comes a novel about a man and a woman whose summer is about to get very, very hot...

Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford....

Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…

"If you need a great read to throw in your beach bag, make sure Suddenly One Summer is one of your choices." --USA Today

From the Paperback edition.

James is a go-to for smart heroines, and Victoria Slade is no exception. She’s witty, sarcastic, independent and in charge of her life. Her unexpected friendship with her next door neighbor made for some sweet, poignant moments, and also a lot of snickering and laugh-out-loud moments.

Victoria’s house was broken into while she was home. After having a couple panic attacks, she decides she needs a change and buys a new condo. While she’s waiting for the sale to go through, she sublets another condo and ends up sharing a bedroom wall with Ford Dixon. She’s already sleep deprived thanks to the attempted robbery, and his nighttime antics don’t do much to help the situation. Things finally come to a head when she jumps down his throat, and they vow to stay away from each other (despite a rather sizzling mutual attraction). Until Ford’s sister decides to find the father of her baby and Victoria inadvertently volunteers her services as a lawyer. Ford is determined to help his sister. so Victoria is forced to partner up with him.

The more time they spend together, the more they realize their initial impressions about each other were wrong. Neither is really in the market for a long-term commitment, but a summer fling might be just what the doctor ordered. If they can keep their hearts out of it…

Victoria was sarcastic and witty. Ford was charming and fun. Together they were a great couple. I loved the way their romance developed, and their unexpected friendship. Neither was good at being vulnerable, but they both ended up leaning on the other. The plot featuring Ford’s sister was interesting, and I loved the glimpses we got of their respective careers. One thing I think James excels at is giving us well-rounded characters. Too often in contemporary romance their main characters focus on each other to the exclusion of all else. That isn’t the case here. Victoria had her work, and so did Ford. He had his friends, and so did she. It wasn’t hard to immerse myself completely in the story, since I felt like we lived their lives with them.

This was everything I’ve come to expect from James; fun and flirty, with the unexpected bonus of a lot of spice.

4.0 out of 5

four-stars

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