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Summary: This Book has it All.
Review: "Tangerine Dream" opens with a nail-biting, breath-holding suicide attempt by a young woman, a non-hoper, but who eventually becomes the strongest character in the story. A large cast, all inter-related or inter-connected, fleshes out into real and memorable characters, while a seemingly non-stop series of convoluted occurrences and horrendous accidents keeps the reader's interest at boiling point. This book is one helluva ride, but it's not all tough going; a couple of heart-break tragedies, two (or is it three!) love stories, with hot, sexy scenes and tender interludes, unfold throughout its pages and at the end of the book there's a surprising twist in the tail. Read this book: you will remember it --- you'll even find yourself thinking about the characters in the book and wondering where they've got to now!
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Summary: I Just Loved "Tangerine Dream"
Review: But my mother, who was such a big fan of rock and roll in the '60s, hated it. Oh she liked it at first, but those love scenes, well, apparently they were just a little too much for her. She says she's not a prude, but her idea of a love scene in a book is having the couple in question enter the bedroom and close the door at the end of the chapter, then have the next chapter start with them at breakfast.She couldn't get this book out of her house fast enough, guess she was afraid my dad might read it. I mean, doesn't she remember how I came to be? And you know, the love scenes in question are actually quite tame, for me anyway. My mom doesn't have cable, won't let it in the house. So you can see how she might get upset when she reads about a famous politician having a fling with a nineteen-year-old girl of the evening, not to mention a love scene involving, horror of horrors, two women. Seriously though, I love my mom and I love her more for giving me this book when she came to visit, even though she said it was her duty just to get it out of the State of Texas. Really, I was born in Dallas, raised there as well, and, let me tell you, it'll take a whole heck of a lot more than this lovely book to shock those people there. It might make them cry though, because it has some very sad moments, but it's full of hope too. It shows how if you want something bad enough and are willing to sacrifice for it, that you'll come out all right in the end. Oh, by the way, my husband liked "Tangerine Dream" too.
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Summary: Hidden Secrets and Forbidden Feelings
Review: Eighteen-year-old Gina Seely is despondent, because she believes she is responsible for the death of her parents and younger brother. She can't face herself any longer and decides to commit suicide by jumping to her death from the 15th floor of the new Sterling Hotel in Long Beach, California. Sandford "Sandy" Sterling, is Gina's psychiatrist, and it is his family that owns the Sterling Hotel chain. When he gets word that Gina is about to jump, he rushes to the scene. Stacy Sterling, Sandy's half brother, is a United States Senator from California and he is running for the presidency. He also seems to be on a quest to bed every underaged hooker in the Golden State. Taylor and Dylan are Stacy's twin daughters. Dylan is in New Zealand with her mother Gayle, who Sandy is in love with. Haley Harrison, the girl with the alliterate name, is Taylor and Dylan's best friend and neighbor. Haley has been in love with Sandy her whole life, despite the fact that he is years older than her. She is eighteen, he is in his middle thirties. Haley is black as is Sandy, because he is the product of his father's second marriage to a black woman. All the above we learn by the third chapter. Sandy saves Gina in Chapter two, by the way. Haley and Taylor watch it on CNN. Taylor is so mushy in love with him. And they do seem perfect for each other. However, this story refuses to go where you think it should. Dylan dies in New Zealand and everybody's life is thrown out of control. Family secrets, some long buried, some not so old, come crawling out of their hiding places to wreck havoc. The clan, Stacy, Taylor, Sandy and friend Haley rush to New Zealand to comfort Gayle, who was severely injured in the accident that took Dylan's life. Stacy, slime bucket politician that he is, wants to use his daughter's death to further his campaign. Sandy, sees and seizes the opportunity to stay down under to be with and comfort the woman he loves, his brother's wife. And strange and forbidden feelings bring Haley and Taylor together and eventually sets them on a sailing voyage in the South Pacific, a voyage that will test and forever change them. And then their is Gina, come back to make everything right in the end. But even she, with the tough shell she's developed, cannot save them all. This lovely story touched my heart and made me cry. Had I not known better, I'd have sworn this was written by a woman. How can two men write like this? I've not read anything else by Mr. Douglas or Mr. Stewart, but from what little I know about them, I would not have expected this, rather I would have expected car chases, bodies galore and desperate women in trouble, certainly not a tender and touching story with an ending that I'll never forget. Sophie Cacique Gaul
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Summary: Almost a Forbidden Book
Review: Gina Seely is saved from suicide at the last instant and winds up becoming the driving force in this book about teenage girls in love, tragedy, hope, hopelessness, family, friends and adventure in the South Pacific. The story starts and ends with suicide, one successful, one not. We are privy to the private lives of a political family and we wonder how much of what is portrayed here really goes on, more than meets the eye I think. You know, this book might wake up some hidden feelings. It's almost the kind of story my mom might call forbidden.
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Summary: Lies, Deception, Secrets and Lots of Tears
Review: Haley Harrison sees the love of her life on CNN, Psychiatrist Sandford "Sandy" Sterling jump from one balcony to another on the fifteenth floor of the Sterling hotel his family owns in a daring rescue of one of his patients. Haley has been in love with Sandy ever since she was a little girl. He is her best friend Taylor's Uncle. She is still in exhilarated shock over what she's seen on TV when the phone rings. Taylor's twin sister and mother have been in an awful accident in New Zealand and nobody can find her father. Haley, Taylor and Sandy get the first flight out.
Taylor's sister dies right after they arrive and Sandy pushes Haley away by arranging for the girls to go on a sailing trip. Meanwhile he falls in love with Taylor's mother, who is his brother's wife. And while on the sailing adventure, Haley and Taylor fall in love with each other. And lurking in the background is a newsman from California who wants to expose them all. Oh, I forgot to mention that Taylor's father is a United States Senator, who is running for President. He has secrets and issues of his own and the last thing he needs is news of his daughter and her lover to get out, or worse, a story about his wife and his brother.
There is plenty of action, lots of lies and deception, heartache and joy in this book. I cried when Dylan's sister died and again at the end, so the book is an emotional roller coaster. I loved the girls Haley and Taylor and thought they were very well drawn. I sympathized with Sandy and didn't like Taylor's father at all. But even though I didn't like him, I loved this book and I'll keep it to read again.
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Summary: Guaranteed to Make You Cry Big Crocodile Tears
Review: I don't read that many mainstream novels, preferring mostly chick lit and Harlequin Blaze, however I do stray away from my preferences on occasion. I may be an airhead, but I did manage to struggle through college, so when I come across a book like Sue Monk Kidd's "The Secret Life of Bees," or "Tangerine Dream," I'm perfectly capable of appreciating fine writing. That said, "Tangerine Dream" came to me by way of my sister-in-law, another Harlequin Dreamer girl, who thought I'd enjoy a different kind of love story. And yes, I'll give her that, this is a different kind of love story, and you know what, romance girl that I am, I loved it. I cried at the end, then after a cup of coffee and a cigarette (that I bummed from my neighbor, because I only smoke when I cry), I started the book all over again. I just loved this story and I think you will too, but beware, because I guarantee you that it'll make you cry big crocodile tears.
Rating: 
Summary: It took two people to write this book?
Review: I have seen the other "I used a whole box of kleenex on this book" quotes and all I can say is: you had a sinus condition? Dumb plot with characters designed to titillate; incest between girl twins; black and white lovers; lesbians! All that and sailing jargon, too. How can this book be so popular? Bleech.
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Summary: Different, But I Couldn't Put it Down!
Review: I'm a big reader of inspirational romance, as you can tell by checking out the kind of books I review. However, I also like a good thriller on occasion. So when a romantic book comes out by a pair of thriller writers, especially when I've loved and reviewed one of the author's books, well, I just had to give it a read. Okay, is the romance here inspirational? I don't know, as it's not the kind of romance I'd ever thought about before. A couple girls in love? With each other? Well, it's different, for me at least, I mean to read about the love scenes and all. However, I've read stranger stuff and enjoyed it immensely. Just check out Jeffery Eugenides for example. "Middlesex" was certainly different, but I couldn't put it down. I couldn't put "Tangerine Dream" down either. The love scenes were, as one reviewer has said, tender and touching, but just not for me, if you know what I mean. But it wasn't off-putting and, you know, maybe it actually was kind of inspirational.
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Summary: Went Shopping for a Thriller and Found a Masterpiece
Review: I'm a girl that loves to read thrillers and I was thrilled to pieces by the author's other book, DIAMOND SKY. I'd also been thrilled plenty by Ken Douglas' DEAD RINGER and Mr. Stewart's SCORPION, so can you blame me if I thought TANGERINE DREAM was a thriller as well. Well, maybe it kind of is, it's sort of written like one, but it's so much more. My favorite all time book is THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans. Books like that only come around once in a blue moon. Well, I'm pleased to say that the blue moon has arrived again and it's shining brighter than ever. Like with Mr. Evans' masterpiece, I will read and reread TANGERINE DREAM again and again, probably on into my dottering old age. These are the kind of stories that make you cry, touch your heart, inspire you and live in your dreams. TANGERINE DREAM is about betrayal, love, death and sacrifice. It starts out with a fast pace, like a thriller, and one might think that's the kind of book the authors intended when they began, but then they got all gooey, the book changed direction and one could almost believe that a woman took over the helm. I simply can't believe my good fortune in finding another novel like this. I loved it and I'll keep on loving it for a long time to come. Reviewed by Olivia Louise Lewis
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Summary: I Used all of the Kleenex I had in the House!
Review: I'm a sucker for a sailboat story and I got sucked right into this one. I knew from the get go that it wasn't going to be a thriller, like the others the authors had written, but I suppose if Messrs. Grisham, Patterson and Baldacci can deviate from their norm then Messrs. Douglas and Stewart can as well.
This story opens in New Zealand, where Gayle Sterling and her daughter Dylan are in a tragic accident with a drunk driver. Gayle's husband Stacy, a no account, but very wealthy louse, is back in America running for the Presidency of the United States. He's also running up large bills with underage hookers.
The authorities in NZ call California, where Dylan's twin sister Taylor is lounging around the pool with her best friend Haley. The girls cannot locate Stacy, who is funning around with one of his teenage pals, so they fly to NZ with Stacy's brother Sandy. Dylan dies shortly after their arrival. Sandy falls in love with his brother's wife. Haley and Taylor fall in love with each other. Sandy discovers there are some rickety skeletons shaking around in the Sterling closet, plus a couple young girls in love does not bode well for a Presidential campaign. And then there is Nick Nesbitt, ace newsman, sniffing around them bones.
Throw all of the above into a story and make it just about the biggest tearjerker you've ever read and you really have quite a book. I thought I was all cried out when Dylan died, but the funeral was worse and the ending took all the Kleenex I had in the house. Just a superb book. Really.
Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
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