Rating: 
Summary: they just don't work
Review: Are these actually Michele Jaffe's first books, published now because of the success of the WATER NYMPH, et.al.? Both books are set in Renaissance England (circa 1590), but they don't ring true. For example, one character speaks of "five broken engagements." Persons of rank were "bethrothed" not engaged; these were legal contracts that one did not simply walk away from. At another point, three guards whip out pistols, ready to aim and shoot. These guns weren't available at this time. Another character wonders about the media market for his crimes.
These read like books that were originally set in another time period and were changed to capitalize on the success of her earlier published works. But someone should have EDITED them.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good, not great, but really good:
Review: I bought this book to read on a long plane ride I'm taking in a few weeks but it is so good I can't wait that long to read it. I just started skimming it because of the weird format (two books in one, one upside down when the other is rightside up), but I got immediately caught up in the plot of the first novel. It is really suspenseful, a real page turner, with a great heroine. I guess I'll have to find somethng else to read on the plane because at this rate I'll be done with both books before I go on my trip!!
Rating: 
Summary: Cannot put it down!!
Review: I bought this book to read on a long plane ride I'm taking in a few weeks but it is so good I can't wait that long to read it. I just started skimming it because of the weird format (two books in one, one upside down when the other is rightside up), but I got immediately caught up in the plot of the first novel. It is really suspenseful, a real page turner, with a great heroine. I guess I'll have to find somethng else to read on the plane because at this rate I'll be done with both books before I go on my trip!!
Rating:
Summary: Two great books from Michele Jaffe!
Review: I feel like I've been waiting forever for a new book from Michele Jaffe to come out, and to get two at once is an incredible treat. All of the qualities that distinguished The Stargazer and The Water Nymph are back in Lady Killer and Secret Admirer -- fascinating, fun characters, great dialogue, fast-moving plots, and lots of romantic tension. I tore through this double volume in a couple of days -- can't wait for the next one to come out this summer. Two must-reads for lovers of romance and historicals!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Exhilarating
Review: I have enjoyed Michele Jaffe's writing style in her first two books. By far The Water Nymph is still my favorite book by her, but these two lived up to my expectations of them. They were suspenseful and spinetingling. While spinetingling is not a word that is usually associated with romance Michele Jaffe makes it so by her masterful descriptions of the ofthen bloody crimes that her characters thwart or solve.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Renaissance Romantic Mystery!
Review: I picked this book up without knowing anything about the author and needless to say I am so glad that I did. These two books are great and I read both books in only a few days - the pages just fly by! I can't wait to read the rest of Jaffe's books. Jaffe transports you into another time and place and gets you hooked on the characters and the mystery as well. I am so pleased to have found a fresh, new, interesting author in Michele Jaffe.
Rating: 
Summary: A miss, not a hit.
Review: I too really liked Michele Jaffe's earlier books and was eager to read these. But they are not of the same caliber. SECRET ADMIRER is set during the Renaissance, yet the characters behave and speak like modern people. They do not behave true to their time period. It's disconcerting. And the action is abrupt, moving from point to point without taking the reader along. Where oh where was the editor?
Rating:
Summary: Two great books!
Review: I was so excited to see another book by Michele Jaffe. I absolutely loved her first two, but somehow Secret Admirer and Lady Killer were even better. They are really suspenseful and exciting, but best of all they have great characters and fabulous dialogue. I highly recomend them both!
Rating:
Summary: Jaffe does it again!
Review: I've been waiting forever for this double book to come out, and when it finally arrived, I ripped through Secret Admirer in one (late) night. SA has all of the qualities I've come to expect from Michele Jaffe -- great, charming characters, tight, deft plots, and lots of romantic tension. I can't wait to start on Lady Killer this weekend. It's such a treat to have the two books at once and not to have to wait for the next one to come out. And it looks like there's a third one coming out this summer, too.Thanks, Ms. Jaffe, for another great book. Keep 'em coming!
Rating:
Summary: Two great books from Michele Jaffe!
Review: LADY KILLER. Lady Clio Thornton finds the corpse of a young woman with vampire bites on her neck. Numerous witnesses observed Miles Loredon kill the vampire three years ago. As Clio and Miles work closely together to uncover the identity of the culprit they fall in love. However, he is not sure he trusts his sleuthing partner as he has doubts about the evidence though he would risk his soul to keep her safe. This is a tremendous historical romantic mystery that contains two wonderful protagonists and a hint of supernatural elements. SECRET ADMIRER. Lady Tuesday Arlington paints her nightmares as her only way of coping with Death visiting her every night. When someone kills her spouse in an identical manner to a portrait done by Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth's Special Investigator Lawrence Pickering sees the paintings and believes Tuesday killed her husband. As he digs deeper into her life, he falls in love with her. In spite of the proof provided by the paintings, his heart insists she is innocent, but how will he prove so. This is an exciting historical romance and psychological suspense mystery starring a wonderful duo. This combo book is the bargain of the year as the readers obtain two superbly written Elizabethan romantic mysteries with indications of the supernatural in each one. Either novel selling solo would be worth the price as Michele Jaffe provides triumphant stories that are winners for the audience. Harriet Klausner
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