Killjoy

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A continuation from Heartbreaker and Mercy Julie Garwood has created another wonderfully suspensful novel.. We get to see the rascal Noah again.. can't wait to see him in his own book.. especially if the others all have a good laugh over it.. there are two more Buchanan Brothers and Remy Renard and of course the delightful Noah.. so I hope Julie doesn't stop here...
I love John Paul.. he made me laugh in Mercy and in this one too with his irritable image what a fake... Avery was sweet.. and tough in the right places... she was just the right match for John Paul...in many way they were both as bad as each other... I could say more but I shall not.. because that would spoil the plot to new readers.. I love Julie's books with her sence of homor that is found amongst the lines. Yeah I agree she is on power with other Romantic Suspence great but I never compare because they are all idividuals.

Rating:
Summary: 12 hours of boredom
Review: I thought this book sounded interesting when I read the plot summary but I'm on CD 7 now and not a single interesting thing has happened yet. It's basically an Iris Johanson book done badly. I say this because it's the typical Iris Johanson material - big strong man in charge of delicate helpless woman. I haven't been able to care one fig about what happens to any of these characters. If the CD is 12 hours long, I hate to think about how big the book must be and of all the people suffering through it when they could be working on something much more interesting. The movement of the story is extremely predictable and very much on the corny side. The only think I like about this book is that the main character isn't an FBI field agent or profiler - as the female characters in way too many books are these days. Instead, she works on a data entry team and I think it's a refreshing change to see a character in a realistic job. In sum, avoid this 12 hour monster and stick with the abridged version if you really feel you can't miss this book.

Rating:
Summary: What Happened???
Review: I have all of Julie Garwood's previous historical romance books. And for the last 3 years i have been waiting for her to realise that everyone has a special talent and one should stick to them, and that her talent is writing historical romances, and that she should leave contemparies for people who specialise in it. Not that itz unreadable or anything, but she shouldn't be wasted on something that she's ok at, she should do osmething that shez BRILLIANT at, like writing more historical romance, to save me from bending the spines of my books from too much re reading.For the last 3 years i have re-read her previous books countless times, i probably have them memorized by heart!! It is sucha disappointment!!! What happened to her idea of wanting to write a sequel for Saving Grace?? And perhaps a new historical romance??? What happened??? What happened????

Rating:
Summary: The third in the FBI series...
Review: Really 3.5 stars..."Killjoy" is the third installment in Julie Garwood's FBI series. In this story we are still looking for Monk (the hired assassin) who wrecked so much havoc in "Mercy", and it is Jean Paul who is chasing him.

The story is a bit farfetched and not as good as the first in the series "Heartbreaker". But, there is a lot of action as well as suspense in the story.

The story starts with the background about Avery and her crazy mother who has done nothing but abandon her and wreck havoc in everyone's life that she touches. She is pure evil.

Avery (heroine) is on the way to the spa to meet with her Aunt for some much needed R&R only to find out her Aunt is missing and all the reservations have been cancelled. Jean Paul is there looking for Monk as someone has used a credit card that they shouldn't have.

Avery's Aunt wakes up in a house that has 2 other women and they find out that it is wired to explode and there is no communication to the outside.

All these story lines come together to lead you on the chase through the mountains. It is an enjoyable listen and I do recommend that you listen tot eh unabridged version as I am sure you would get lost in the abridged.

Rating:
Summary: A little boring
Review: I am an avid Garwood fan of both her historicals and her contemporaries, but I felt Killjoy came up short. It was hard for me to like John Paul after thinking he was an inconsiderate, unlikeable brut in Mercy. Overall, I felt the plot was decent but the romance aspect was clearly lacking. I felt that Avery, as a character, was portrayed as a weak individual who was so overwhelmed the entire time. I felt this was quite a contrast to Garwood's past female leads who are strong-willed and witty. My advice - borrow it from a friend who buys it in paperback.

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this one
Review: An easy fast paced read. I enjoyed this one. Well written and I cared about the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sunday afternoon read!
Review: Killjoy is another treat for Garwood's fans. For many of us, making the leap with Garwood from historical romantic suspense to contemporary romantic suspense was a bumpy transition with her first effort, Heartbreaker. Mercy was much better, and I was expecting more stories featuring the Buchanan Brood. I was pleasantly surprised to meet some new characters in Killjoy and learn more about an enigmatic character from Mercy.

Avery Delaney, the heroine of Killjoy, is a very likable FBI analyst, who has overcome a troubled past. John Paul Renard, the hero, has his own demons and is desperately in need of someone like Avery in his life. Readers will remember John Paul, the mysterious older brother of Dr. Mike from Garwood's previous contemporary, Mercy. After meeting him in that book, I was interested in finding out where this cynical man's story might go. I was glad with the direction in Killjoy.

Readers will also be pleased to see old friends, like Noah Clayborne, and catch up on the folks in Bowen, LA, but don't expect a repeat of Mercy's down home, bayou vibe. Set in and around the fashionable Aspen, CO mountains, Killjoy has as many twists and turns as the roads and rivers described in the book.

Garwood's well on her way to a dual career in contemporary and historical romantic suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Uh uh
Review: I didn't care for this book at all. After Mercy, and her other earlier novels, which were good, this was a real letdown. Compared to other authors mystery/romance novels, this was a disappointment. Garwood's characters and plot were not believable. I hope her next novel gets back to her norm.

Rating:
Summary: Same old, same old
Review: I usually love Julie Garwood and I was really looking forward to this book. The John Paul character is just so, well, blah. He is described as really good looking and easily intimidates others around him, I never really get him. Why would he just fall in love so easily if for all intents and purposes he is so aloof and unapproachable. I know, I know, the love of a really good woman, but that's not what I felt. I felt this was just the standard Julie Garwood plot, girl meets boy, boy doesn't want to get involved with girl, girl is in trouble so boy MUST help girl and then realizes at the tidy end that he is in love with girl and will accept no other answer than that she will marry him and live happily ever after. Sorry, I just didn't buy this story.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but Lacking Compared to Other Two Previous....
Review: This is the third installment following, 'Heartbreaker' and 'Mercy'. It was good and lots of fun, but seemed to be lacking somewhat in the excitement department. 'Mercy' was so fun and had depth, 'Killjoy' was a bit disapointing. It seemed to be rushed and 'missed the boat' so to speak.
The characters were okay, but I didn't feel attached to them in anyway and forgot about them as soon as I closed the cover when I finished.
I don't know what happened, but it didn't seem as though she had as much fun writing this one. I gave it four stars because the plot was unique and the dialog was great, it moved fast and kept me turning the pages. But if you're looking for another 'Mercy', this missed the mark.

Avery Delaney has grown up knowing she had it hard. Her mother abandoned her when she was three and left her to be raised by her grandmother and Aunt Carolyn. Things seemed to not be on her side when at the age of eleven she witnessed her grandmother's violent murder and she herself shot and left for dead.
Miraculously she survived, but not without the scars that are deep inside. Not able to leave the past behind, she grows into a beautiful woman unable to get close to anyone except her loving Aunt and makes her seek a career in law and order.

Her sharp mind enables her to secure a job as a crime analyst for the FBI. She soon needs this knowledge when her aunt contacts her to join her at a mountain spa retreat (after recieving the invitation from her soon-to-be-ex-husband)called the Utopia Spa in the Colorado wilderness for a vacation.
Avery arrives but Carolyn never arrived. She was taken to some isolated retreat on false pretenses by a handsome stranger and Avery cannot find her. In fact, NO one remembers her.
Panicking, she uses her wits to backtrack and scour the area with the help of another stranger who claims to have personal reasons for going after this man who has her aunt for that man is a hired assasin named Monk...
Can Avery stop a hired killer from murdering her only family she has left? Can she trust this stranger who demands to know about Carolyn and is trying to help her find Monk's hideout?

Lots of action scenes and some tense-filled moments, but could've been alot better in my opinion. The gunplay and running in the wilderness should've lasted longer. The romance betweem Avery and John Paul(the brother to Michelle from 'Mercy') should've been more drawn out and in depth, it just wasn't convincing.

Tracy Talley~@