Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Review - Dangerous Secrets




Title: Dangerous Secrets
Author: Lisa Marie Rice
Publishing Date: 2008
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Nicholas Ireland is an undercover operative. His mission is to get close to Charity Prewitt, Parker Ridge’s local librarian. Unbeknown to Charity, her close friend Vassily Worontzoff is actually the head of the Russian mafia. The hope is that by Nick getting close to Charity he might be able to wrangle an invitation into Worontzoff’s compound. Of course what Nick, the “Iceman” doesn’t plan on is his attraction to Charity. She completely blows him off track with her beautiful looks and sweet demeanor.

Dangerous Secrets has a lot going for it; a great hero who is a complete badass when it comes to protecting his lady love, a smart heroine that readers can relate too and sexy love scenes that steam up the pages. It also has a decent suspense plot with a villain who was very vividly drawn. So why didn’t I like the book more?

Well, I think the main reason was the constant barrage of monologues from the characters, most especially Nick. It seemed to me that he kept continuously repeating the same thing over and over again. The book could have been written minus a 100 pages and it wouldn’t have been lacking at all. Being privy to the constant head talk made the story drag out unnecessarily, making the pacing of the book seem to slow. I wanted more action. When the characters were actually doing and not thinking, the book was really good. I am on the fence about this one. I guess I’ll give it a grade somewhere in the middle.

Here is what others had to say:

The Good, The Bad, The Unread

4 comments:

Christine said...

Repetitious internal or spoken dialogue can totally turn me off of an otherwise well thought out novel, too. This happened to me with The Best Within by Lisa Renee Jones. I wanted to love the story, but after awhile, I just got annoyed with the repetitiveness and it took away from my reading experience.

Jill D. said...

Christine, Sometimes I wonder if I am more critical now, than when I first started reading romance. I have read other Lisa Marie Rice novels and I liked them. I don't remember the repitition. I don't know if it was there and I just didn't notice it, or if it is just this book.

Shannon said...

Hrm. See, I would have read the blurb and put it down based on the names of the characters. Silly, I know, but that can kill a story for me. And his nickname is Iceman? I would think of Val Kilmer the whole time. I am def more critical than I used to be. (And this exact reason is why I angsted over naming the hero of my NaNoWriMo project. It took forever to find a name I liked... I'm still not pleased with his last name.)

Jill D. said...

Shannon,

Yes, sometimes the characters names can make me question the quality of the writing. Good luck with your NaNo project! It's great to see so many friends participating in it!