Tag: Linda Howard

Throwback Thursday Review: Shadow Woman by Linda Howard

Posted September 10, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Shadow Woman by Linda HowardReviewer: Rowena
Shadow Woman by Linda Howard
Publisher: Ballantine
Publication Date: December 26, 2012
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 352
Add It: Goodreads
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three-stars

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From Linda Howard comes a thrilling and sensual new novel of romance, suspense, intrigue . . . and memories that can kill. SHADOW WOMAN  Lizette Henry wakes up one morning and makes a terrifying discovery: She doesn’t recognize the face she sees in the mirror. She remembers what she looks like, but her reflection is someone else’s. To add to the shock, two years seem to have disappeared from her life. Someone has gone to great and inexplicable lengths to keep those missing years hidden forever. But the past always finds a way to return.   Strange memories soon begin to surface and, along with them, some unusual skills and talents that Lizette hasn’t a clue about acquiring. Sensing that she’s being monitored, Lizette suddenly knows how to search for bugs in her house and tracking devices in her car. What’s more, she can elude surveillance—like a trained agent.   Enter a mysterious and seductive stranger named Xavier, who claims he wants to help—but who triggers disturbing images of an unspeakable crime of which Lizette may or may not be the perpetrator. With memories returning, she suddenly becomes a target of anonymous assassins. On the run with nowhere to hide, Lizette has no choice but to rely on Xavier, a strong and magnetic man she doesn’t trust, with a powerful attraction she cannot resist. As murky waters become clear, Lizette confronts a conspiracy that is treacherous and far-reaching and a truth that, once revealed, may silence her and Xavier once and for all.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Linda Howard's Running Wild.
Praise for Shadow Woman  “Dazzling . . . From the opening line, [Shadow Woman] will grab readers and take them on an exhilarating and terrifying adventure!”—RT Book Reviews   “Fast-paced, intricately detailed romantic suspense . . . Readers won’t want to put it down until the extraordinary conclusion. . . . Highly recommended.”—Fresh Fiction   “An intriguing plot and captivating characters [with] lots of drama, tension, intrigue and suspense.”—The Star-Ledger

This review was originally posted on January 23, 2013.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book by Linda Howard.  I don’t even remember the last book that I read by Howard but whatever it was, I read it a while ago.  I was kind of wary going into this read because I read online that a chunk of readers were disappointed in this book and I also read that the hero and heroine don’t even come together (like talk to each other) until more than halfway through the book.  So yeah, I was scared to start this one.

Having read it from cover to cover now, I can say that the readers were right that the hero and heroine talk to each other (as love interests) for the first time at about the 70% mark on my Kindle copy.  But I wasn’t too mad about that, I was actually very interested in what was going on in the story that I didn’t mind too much.

This story takes place in DC and follows Lizette Henry as she tries to remember the life that brought her to where she is today.  She wakes up one morning and doesn’t recognize the face that is looking back at her in the mirror.  Things aren’t adding up to what she knows and she starts to remember how to do things that she can’t remember learning so a huge chunk of this book is trying to find out what happened to Lizette that brought her here and so on and so forth.

Lizette is known as Subject C to the people that are monitoring her.  Her entire life is bugged.  There isn’t a part of her life that isn’t carefully monitored and Lizette doesn’t have any idea why.  When flashbacks start coming in, Lizette starts relying on old habits that she doesn’t remember but knows how to do anyway.  When the bullets start flying, Liz is on her own until the guy that she’s been dreaming about, X shows up and at first she doesn’t trust him because he shows up with guns and he’s chasing her and blah blah blah but that changes after they finally talk.

I enjoyed this story but I will admit that it was really slow in the beginning.  It took me a while to really get into the story but by about the fifth or sixth chapter, things picked up and things got interesting.  I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the putting the puzzle pieces together.  This book was kind of like The Hangover, the Secret Service edition.  Lots of action, not a lot of romance but still an enjoyable read.  I would have liked to get to know Xavier a bit more but aside from that, this was a good read.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

three-stars


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Sunday Spotlight: Diamond Bay by Linda Howard

Posted August 4, 2019 by Casee in Features, Giveaways | 17 Comments

Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

This is an oldie, but goody. Kell Sabin is smokin’ hot and Rachel is a strong, capable heroine. This book has everything. Romance, suspense, hot sex. If y’all haven’t read this book, what are you waiting for? It’s a gem that you don’t want to miss out on!

Sunday Spotlight: Diamond Bay by Linda HowardDiamond Bay by Linda Howard
Series: Rescues #2
Also in this series: Heartbreaker, Midnight Rainbow (Rescues #1)
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: November 24, 1997
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 247
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Series Rating: four-stars

Rachel Jones wasn't looking for trouble, much less a man, but in Kell Sabin she found both. On a hot summer's night Kell is washed up - barely alive - on a Florida beach and into Rachel's life. Her instincts tell her to help him, and their love blossoms as he recovers from his injuries. But by falling in love with Kell, Rachel has put her own life in danger from the forces that want him dead. Once fate has brought them together, can they learn to live apart?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Excerpt

“Have we been sleeping together?”

Her breasts had tightened painfully, begging for that touch to be transferred to them, for him to claim them as he had before.His question destroyed what little concentration she had left.”This… there’s only this one bed. I don’t have a couch, only the love seats – ”

“So we’ve been in the same bed for four days,” he interrupted, stopping a flow of words that she had felt edging toward incoherency. His eyes were glittering again, but this time with a different fire, and she couldn’t look away. “You’ve been taking care of me.”

She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Yes.”

“All alone?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been feeding me.”

“Yes.”

“Bathing me.”

“Yes. Your fever – I had to sponge you with cool water to keep it down.”

“You did everything that had to be done, took care of me like a baby.”She didn’t know what to say, what to do. His hand was still on her, his palm warm and hard against the softness of her flesh.

“You touched me,” he said. “All over.”

She swallowed. “It was necessary.”

“I remember your hands on me. I liked it, but when I woke up this morning I thought it was a dream.”

“You did dream,” she said.

“Have I seen you naked?”

“No!”

“Then how do I know what your breasts look like? How they feel in my hands? It wasn’t all a dream, Rachel. Was it?”

A hot, wild blush colored her face, giving him an answer even before she spoke. Her voice was stifled, and she looked away from him, her embarrassment at last freeing her from his gaze.

“Twice, when you woke up, you… uh…grabbed me.”

“Helped myself to the goodies?”

“Something like that.”

“And I saw you?”

She made a helpless gesture toward her neck. “My nightgown drooped when I bent over you. The neckline was hanging open….”

“Was I rough?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Did you like it?”

Rescues

Giveaway Alert

We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.

Sunday Spotlight: August 2019

Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!

About Linda Howard

Linda Howard is the award-winning author of many New York Times bestsellers, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, and Dying to Please. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two golden retrievers.


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Throwback Thursday Review: Cry No More by Linda Howard

Posted October 4, 2018 by Casee in Reviews | 8 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Cry No More by Linda HowardReviewer: Casee
Cry No More by Linda Howard
Publisher: Ballantine
Publication Date: April 27, 2004
Format: Print
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 392
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars

Fueled by an obsession to fill the void in other people’s lives, Milla Edge finds lost children—all the while trying to outrun the brutal emotions stemming from a tragedy in her past. Traveling to a small village in Mexico on a reliable tip, Milla begins to uncover the dire fate of countless children who have disappeared in the labyrinth of a sinister baby-smuggling ring. The key to nailing down the organization may rest with an elusive one-eyed man. As Milla’s search for him intensifies, the mission becomes more treacherous. For the ring is part of something far larger and more dangerous, reaching the highest echelons of power. Racing into peril, Milla suddenly finds herself the hunted—in the crosshairs of an invisible, lethal assassin who aims to silence her permanently.

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

This review was originally posted on October 2, 2009.

When I first read this book, it was only a year or so after I first discovered Linda Howard. After the Night, Shades of Twilight, Son of the Morning; I loved them. I wanted Gray, Web, and Niall to be real b/c I wanted to marry them. Going from that to Cry No More is not an easy transition. In fact, it’s kind of like the lights going on after you spent two hours in complete darkness. Now it’s clear that Linda Howard evolved as a writer. At RWA a few years back, a friend and I were in LH’s line. My friend had brought her hardcover of Cry No More. LH laughed and said that she didn’t think anyone would be bringing that book to sign. I was silently thinking the same thing. Now I wish I had brought my copy.

This book is the journey of Milla Edge. When her infant son is ripped out of her arms in Mexico, Milla almost dies trying to get him back. Her quest for answers and her relentless search for her son destroyed her marriage. She became a different person after Justin was kidnapped. Going through something that no mother wants to imagine made Milla harder. If she never would have lost her son, the core of her personality would have been the same, but she wouldn’t have gotten the edginess she has now.

After ten years pass, Milla starts losing hope but still won’t give up. When she finally gets a lead, she ruthlessly follows it even knowing that it could lead to her death. Diaz is a name that is whispered throughout Mexico. He’s thought to be an assassin. Milla doesn’t care who he is if he can help her find Justin. And that’s exactly what he does.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. There is little to no humor. The whole thing is very raw. Linda Howard did such an amazing job of writing Milla that I felt that I was Milla. I felt her anguish. I felt her heartache and her regret. I also felt her hope and despair. The whole thing was just very powerful.

Milla’s only goal is to find Justin, however that is not all she finds. Together, she and Diaz uncover an adoption smuggling ring and an organ smuggling ring. The path they travel will lead them to Justin, but it will also lead them somewhere that they weren’t prepared to go.

There is romance between Milla and Diaz, but it took a backseat to telling Milla’s story. Even then, it was still powerful stuff. Pure LH.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

five-stars


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Review: The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard

Posted September 28, 2018 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: The Woman Left Behind by Linda HowardReviewer: Casee
The Woman Left Behind (GO-Team, #2) by Linda Howard
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Series: GO-Team #2
Also in this series: Troublemaker (GO-Team, #1), Troublemaker (GO-Team, #1), Troublemaker (GO-Team, #1), The Woman Left Behind (GO-Team, #2), The Woman Left Behind (GO-Team, #2)
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: March 6, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 368
Length: 11 hours, 35 minutes
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three-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Jina Modell works in Communications for a paramilitary organization, and she really likes it. She likes the money, she likes the coolness factor—and it was very cool, even for Washington, DC. She liked being able to kick terrorist butts without ever leaving the climate-controlled comfort of the control room.

But when Jina displays a really high aptitude for spatial awareness and action, she’s reassigned to work as an on-site drone operator in the field with one of the GO-teams, an elite paramilitary unit. The only problem is she isn’t particularly athletic, to put it mildly, and in order to be fit for the field, she has to learn how to run and swim for miles, jump out of a plane, shoot a gun...or else be out of a job.

Team leader Levi, call sign Ace, doesn’t have much confidence in Jina—who he dubbed Babe as soon as he heard her raspy, sexy voice—making it through the rigors of training. The last thing he needs is some tech geek holding them back from completing a dangerous, covert operation. In the following months, however, no one is more surprised than he when Babe, who hates to sweat, begins to thrive in her new environment, displaying a grit and courage that wins her the admiration of her hardened, battle-worn teammates. What’s even more surprising is that the usually very disciplined GO-team leader can’t stop thinking about kissing her smart, stubborn mouth…or the building chemistry and tension between them.

Meanwhile, a powerful Congresswoman is working behind the scenes to destroy the GO-teams, and a trap is set to ambush Levi’s squad in Syria. While the rest of the operatives set off on their mission, Jina remains at the base to control the surveillance drone, when the base is suddenly attacked with explosives. Thought dead by her comrades, Jina escapes to the desert where, brutally tested beyond measure, she has to figure out how to stay undetected by the enemy and make it to her crew in time before they’re exfiltrated out of the country.

But Levi never leaves a soldier behind, especially the brave woman he’s fallen for. He’s bringing back the woman they left behind, dead or alive.

I’m relatively new to listening to audiobooks. I’ve listened to four audiobooks in my life. I listened to a Harlen Coben books (weird, huh?) about 20 years ago when he was super popular. In more recent times, I’ve listened to the first two Harry Potter books and this book. I adored the narrator of the HP books. I am on the fence about this narrator. I admit, some of it was me. She talked super slow. Like super slow. I didn’t know I could speed it up. My bad. So I did that and it wasn’t so bad.

Jina Modell works in Communications for a paramilitary organization. She likes being safe in an office. Her life changes when a test that she didn’t even know she had taken shows that she has an aptitude for field work. She’s put into training with a GO-Team and a year of heaven and hell commences.

She’s immediately attracted to Levi Butcher, the GO-Team leader, but knows it can’t go anywhere. For one, he’s her team leader. For another, it’s clear that he doesn’t think much of her. As a woman, Jina thinks that she has to prove herself more than any man would. So she pushes herself harder and farther than she ever thought she could go.

Levi wants her. He has wanted her since the first time he heard her raspy, sexy as hell voice. But she’s off limits. To him and to the guys on the team. If he breaks his own rule, it would kill the trust he has with his team and he is not willing to do that, not even for Jina. So he pushes her harder that he’s ever pushed anyone. He doesn’t cut her any slack, hoping she will quit, knowing that she’ll quit. Except she thrives like he doesn’t expect. Soon she’s a member of their team and Levi knows he might never have her.

When a mission takes them to Syria, they have no idea that they’ve been setup. When the mission that Jina is directing the drone from explodes, Levi is sure that he’s dead. He can’t go back for her body until he gets his injured men to the helicopter. When he does and he turns to go back for Jina, he’s astounded when he sees her running toward the helicopter.

They left her. That’s all Jina could think. She ran five hours in the desert. Five hours until her feet were nothing but raw meat to get to the helicopter before she was left in the desert. Logically she knew that Levi thought she was dead and was going to come back for her. He had to take care of the two injured teammates. But it doesn’t help. He left her.

I’m not really sure how I feel about this book. LH’s writing has changed drastically. I’m just not really emotionally invested. There was so much of the book that concentrated on Jina’s training, it got boring. Like I know that she’s honed like the blade of a knife. She’s a kick ass woman. Hear her roar. I really admired her. I also admired Levi for his restraint. The tension between the two was off the charts. Still, there was something missing for me.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

GO-Team

three-stars


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Summer Reading Challenge Review: Midnight Rainbow by Linda Howard

Posted August 29, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 8 Comments

Summer Reading Challenge Review: Midnight Rainbow by Linda HowardReviewer: Rowena
Midnight Rainbow (Rescues #1) by Linda Howard
Series: Rescues #1
Also in this series: Heartbreaker
Publisher: Mira Books
Publication Date: February 1, 1986
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 256
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating: four-stars

Grant Sullivan had been one of the government's most effective agents, and he's agreed to rescue Jane Hamilton Greer, a wealthy socialite possibly engaged in espionage. In the time they spent together, questions of guilt and innocence began to fade against the undeniable reality that two people from such different worlds should never have met.

This is the second book that I read for our Summer Reading Challenge and while there were things that I didn’t like in the book, overall I really enjoyed the story.

So retired government agent Grant Sullivan is approached by a really rich guy with a job offer that he can’t exactly refuse. Grant just wants to be left alone so that he can work on his farm and live out the rest of his life in peace but when Jane Hamilton Greer needs to be rescued in Costa Rica, Grant knows that he’s the best person for the job because nobody can move in the jungle the same way that he can. The money from this job will pay off his mortgage and he’ll be set for life so why not?

Jane doesn’t make rescuing her easy. When Grant gets to her, she messes up his plans by attacking him and then trying to run away from him. When their escape plans go wrong, they are in each other’s company for longer than they anticipated and their relationship changes fast. They’re running from the man who kidnapped Jane in the first, the man with all kinds of bad guy connections and their ride off the island doesn’t work out so they’re on their own. Grant is grumpy, Jane feels guilty and emotions run high.

As far as characters go, I really liked Jane. She was smart, she was strong and she wasn’t one of those annoying heroines that spend most of the time in the jungle complaining about how much walking they did. She tried to help Grant with whatever she could help him with and she didn’t try to make things more difficult for the two of them. I really liked the person that she was and at times, I didn’t think Grant deserved her.

There were times when I wanted to kick Grant in his junk because he was so mean but boy did I end up loving the heck out of him in the end. I loved when he went to his Mom in the end and told her that he was getting married. I thought that was adorable.

I will say that a couple of things kept throwing me out of the story. The lack of protection, the lack of communication about protection (they just kept having unprotected sex after unprotected sex without any kind of discussion on anything) and how dated the story was. Also, Jane fell in love way too fast with Grant but despite those minor issues, I still really enjoyed this one. Haha, go figure. I read this one pretty fast and was invested in what was happening so I know that I’ll probably read this one again.

Overall, the story itself was pretty basic. Hero rescues heroine because heroine was taken by the bad guys, the bad guys chase hero and heroine all over Costa Rica, they make it out alive and fall in love but I really did come to love both Grant and Jane. Jane was my kind of heroine and Grant was gruff and tough but he didn’t have any afro puffs. Still, he rocked on with his bad self. This is classic Linda Howard and if you’re a fan of her older romantic suspenses then you’ll enjoy this one. Thanks for the recommendation, Holly & Casee.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Rescues


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