Smoke in Mirrors

Rating:
Summary: Return to the JAK style
Review: For the last several books, Jayne Ann Krentz (who also writes as Amanda Quick) has been ignoring current romance trends to shift her style more and more toward romantic suspense. As she's done so, her writing style has become a bit more aloof, leading to less development of her main characters and the romance between them. Quick's "Slightly Shady" was somewhat of a disappointment for me; the characters and romance seemed almost incidental to the plot.

"Smoke in Mirrors" retreats somewhat from that aloof style, giving us good character and romantic development and appealing secondary characters. In addition, the mystery here is well integrated with the characters.

Leonora is a good Krentz heroine, with the loyalty and spunk we've come to expect. Thomas is another brooding Krentz hero, complete with large scary (but appealing) dog. The romance between them seems natural and easy, and the development of a secondary romance between Thomas's brother and his yoga instructor is handled well.

That said, the pacing of this book was a little off. While the initial build-up of suspense worked well, the conclusion seems rushed, and the eventual unmasking of the "villain" doesn't seem to make all that much sense. All is explained, but it would have been clearer if the conclusion had gone a slightly different direction.

Still, this is good Krentz, with all the hallmarks her fans have come to expect of her. A good read! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: She's baaaaaaaack!
Review: I'd just about decided to stop buying recent JAK books, and I'm really glad I bit the bullet and bought this one, because I snickered, hooted and giggled all the way through while remaining involved with the mystery as well.

I've read JAK in all her guises (Amanda Quick, Stephanie James, Jayne Castle, etc), and I probably have most of her books, and love them dearly. However, recent books seemed to just repeat what she'd written before, which was why I was getting discouraged.

This one feels very different from the last few. The heroine is not as cutsey, the hero is more of a regular guy, less wierd (not that I don't appreciate these JAK icons ... but I have *lots* of books featuring those characters).

I have to say that one of the things I most appreciate about her writing is the affectionate fun she pokes at life, society and peoples' foibles, especially romantic foibles. She's never cruel, but she can help me regain my sense of humor about things which I normally would take far too seriously. I also have noticed that she goes out of her way to bring marginalized people (elderly, gays, lesbians, psychics) into her books as strong and likeable secondary or sideline characters. Good for her!

A fun read, a not too challenging but fun mystery, and characters I liked a lot.

Rating:
Summary: JAK does it again!
Review: This was a good one. It had my spine tingling in a couple of spots & I loved the romance between the lead characters. The dialogue was just too fun; I smiled through out most of the book. The secondary characters added a lot to the story & there were a couple of romances on the side. The plot moved along pretty good & had a really interesting development, although I will have to admit it was not wrapped up real well. It was kind of rushed & I didn't understand the reasoning behind the villian's decisions at the end. That aside, I was reminded of the reason I love JAK's writing. If you like JAK, I think you'll definitely like this one.