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High Energy

High Energy

List Price: $5.99
Your Price: $5.39
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tyber Evans is my favorite romance novel hero!
Review: Tyberius Augustus Evans is gorgeous, brilliant, rich, kind to animals, small children and kooks, sexy, eccentric, and secure enough in himself to fall utterly and completely in love. This is a fantasy hero - no real man could ever compete with Tyber. There's no angst here, no dark and brooding secrets, simply the perfect man.

When an author writes a romance with a hero such as this, the heroine has to be handled correctly. I mean, what we've read before tells us that if she falls too hard and too fast, there will be no conflict and therefore no story. Did Dara Joy follow that steadfast rule? Not on your life. The set-up for Zanita, our heroine, is that she's never experienced fulfillment because she's always held herself back, never allowed herself to become befuddled. Her best friend has advised her that she'll know when it's the real thing when she jumps in feet first.

Which is precisely what happens; Zanita falls for Tyber asap, and before she knows it, she's completely befuddled. Ah, you say, if she's befuddled, does that make her too stupid to live? Well, I certainly didn't think so. She didn't get herself into situations she couldn't get out of, although the hero's mastery prevented many of the situations from getting out of control (just another reason to love him!)

Humorous romances require quirkiness of character. Zanita, as Tyber puts it, is a genius in non-linear thinking. Perhaps I relate to her; my husband says I get from A to C via Q. My synapses fire differently than most. So do Zanita's (okay, so her name is a bit on the zany side, but I can live with that!).

So, does her befuddled-ness annoy our hero? In many romances, it does, and that's where the humor generally is found - think Bewitching or A Basket of Wishes. In this book, Tyber knows Zanita's non-linear thinking is what is drawing him in to her and he's secure enough to go along for the ride. She knows he's eccentric but is living her friend's advice - she's jumped in without thinking, and for once, her love life is working. There's great humor there.

So we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor. . . did I mention great sex? Well, sort of, because Zanita, who never experienced fulfillment, is fulfilled quite a bit. From what I gather, Dara Joy's other books are quite a bit more explicit than this one, but, believe me, Tyber's brilliance isn't limited to the laboratory. Not only that, he knows Zanita is the one for him, and the way he brings her along is masterful.

So, we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor, great sex. . . where's the conflict? We all know that there has to be conflict for a romance to work. Without that tension, it's a bore, right? I mean, haven't we read books where the hero and heroine get along so well that it's like talking a walk in the garden? Well, it's a lovely walk, but after about an hour, you start to wonder, "Okay, this is fine, but what else is there?"

Dara Joy created a small amount of conflict for Tyber and Zanita by creating conflict within Zanita, who has a hard time taking Tyber's commitment to her at face value. And, the author created external conflict as well - a problem and a mystery for the two characters to resolve that falls outside their relationship. It is, in essence, what keeps them together initially. The author also creates a bit of extra fun in the characters of Mills and Gregor, whose one meeting is filled with some of the best bickering I've ever read - I look forward to reading their romance one day!

This romance is a wonderful piece of fluff, and if you have the requisite sense of humor to enjoy fluff, I strongly recommend High Energy.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance

(This review drawn from the October 20, 1991 issue of Laurie's News & Views column now known as At the Back Fence, at All About Romance)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh, boy, if this guy really existed...
Review: I just can't say how much I loved this book! It was all you could ask for in a romance: funny, sexy, to-die-for hero. The heroine was a little ditzy, yeah, but we have to consider that not only strong, feminist-oriented, completely self-reliable women can find romance. I liked her very much and found her to be appropriately complex. I enjoyed this book immensely and have reread it twice. It was a light read, which is wonderful. It's great to just spend a few hours on a funny, sexy book and not take it so seriously. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, easy-to-get-lost-in book. Buy it. Enjoy it for what it is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who said "Geeks" can't be SEXY?
Review: Well written, Fast Paced,Sexy Romp! Ohhh, just my cup of tea. Wonderful, interesting cast , from the cook to the cat. Ty has a wonderful generous heart, is a sexy, rich hunk & Oh so clever, in his seduction(s). Zanita is a dear sincere woman, who can't spell, & falls asleep at the drop of the hat & just happens to be "The Women" for Tyberius Augustus Evans. Plenty of sizzle. enJOY!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: HIGH ENERGY was one of the first of Dara's books I read and it has great story content funny original and heartwarming this book as do all of Dara's books bring a smile to your face when your feeling sad KEEP IT UP DARA AND KEEP THEM ROLLING -I HAVE ALL OF YOUR BOOKS AND WOULD LIKE TO READ LOTS MORE

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Low Energy
Review: I bought 'High Energy' because I thought it would be as good as Dara Joys other books. I was completely disappointed.

Like some other reviewers, I felt that the story ended less than half-way through the book. There was just nothing exciting going on at all.

Sure, they get together, but that happens right off. The rest of the book is just about them trying to catch a phony psychic healer, with some humor and romance mixed in. But after Tyber called Zanita 'baby' like 1,000 times, I thought I was going to scream!

No offense to Dara because I LOVE TrillionStars/Rejar/ and Mine to Take...but this book just wasn't for me.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun, but something was missing.
Review: This is one of those books where the couple gets together... and that's about it. I kept thinking, Well, now they're together - some kind of conflict will arise. There has to be *something* wrong, after all, or why bother, right? Well Dara Joy seems to think not.

Besides having zany (read: totally unrealistic) names, Tyber and Zanita are blessed -- they lead amazing lives and meet each other and fall in love. Then End. Except, this is like 50 pages into the book, and there are about 200 left. Sure, stuff happens after this point -- namely they have great sex, they have good dialog, they investigate a charlatan psychic, they have more great sex. But there's just no conflict.

Maybe it's that I like my heroes and heroines to have something to *do* during their stories (these seem to be searching for something to do with their time). Or maybe it's because I'm addicted to tortured heroes (Tyber seems to have led a charmed life). Or maybe I just don't like zany names. But this book just didn't do it for me.

Tyber was way sexy, but I kept waiting to find out what his faults were. There had to be something. Zanita had one fault, but it wasn't that big, and it went away pretty easily. Plus, we never really understood why she had it in the first place - it was just there to keep the couple from being *perfectly* happy until the end of the book (instead of almost perfectly happy, as they were 50 pages in).

Which is not to say I didn't like the book. Tyber, as I said, was very sexy. Zanita was interesting. They just didn't seem very ... deep, I guess. I look forward to High Intensity because it looks like that couple will have some definite sparks (at the end of this one they already don't much like each other, so that's a good start). Given some faults and a few conflicts, High Energy could have been a much better book. Without them, it was kindof a disappointment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: FUNNY
Review: What can I say. It was the cover that first caught my eye. And so I decided to get the book. And I am very happy that I did. Well written, funny story. And told us the man's feelings as well. I definetly want to read her other books.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I really liked this one
Review: I've heard a lot of folks criticizing the characters in this book for being unrealistic, even as they rave about what a great guy Tyber is. Well, the thing I loved about this one is that I KNOW this guy, in a dozen different forms (including my husband of 14 years). I've spent much of my life surrounded by wonderful, eccentric geeks, and was really happy to see one portrayed in a more-positive-than-usual light. Geeks are NOT all blind, balding, pasty-faced, and out-of-it, and I'm glad SOMEONE out there besides me knows it. Yeah, Zanita's a little ditzy, but then, so am I. Two thumbs way up for an entertaining read!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Most favourite romance book
Review: I love reading this book very much. The hero is so loveable and the heroine is very unique. The story is very interesting and fast turn-page. Whenever I finish reading this book I always feel good. I have read all books of Dara Joy and this is my most favorite.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One fab read!
Review: I loved Tyber--sexy, smart and wonderful. A little trouble with Zanita. She just didn't quite ring true. Still, Dara Joy is one of my favorite authors and even when she's so-so, she's still miles ahead of most romance authors. If you like to laugh and are looking for a hero to sink your teeth into--this is your book!


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