Ice Princess

Rating:
Summary: A keeper!
Review: Catherine Snodgrass's voice is fresh and unique. All her books are keepers! Don't miss this one or QUEST FOR GILLIAN'S HEART!

Rating:
Summary: Passionate, Intense, and a Wild Romantic Ride
Review: One of the best things about 'Ice Princess' is that familiar characters from 'Always Faithful' (the previous book in the trillogy) are the main characters. The hero and heroine are great! They struggle against their love throughout the book, which is always entertaining, but passion and devotion are difficult forces to fight. The book's plot focuses upon the issue of spousal abuse, and the authors' sensitive and honest look at this terrible act is refreshing. The hero, Zach Taylor, and the heroine, Claudia Stuart, are forced to team up in order to stop the abuser and solve a murder mystery. They become targets themselves and the excitement builds! The book is set on a Marine Corps base in the California desert (Twenty-Nine Palms) and the scenery and local bits of color really make the book entertaining. I really enjoyed this book, it is an entertaining story and well-written. I can't wait for the final book in the series! I recommend this series to everyone who enjoys romances.

Rating:
Summary: Viva Las Vegas
Review: This is the second book of a story that began with "Always Faithful" which starred the heroine's brother.

Zach Taylor has always had a crush on Claudia Stuart, his best friend's younger sister. Claudia's not really immune to him either but they've hidden the attraction behind constant bickering until they day they get rip roaring drunk and end up married in Vegas.

Both of them had the time of their lives on their wedding night although neither really remembers the details. Zach isn't all that unhappy with their marriage but Claudia is still in bickering mode and wants a divorce asap, so Zach goes along with it.

Zach is a lawyer with the US Marines and Claudia is an undercover reporter. Claudia stumbles on a body while jogging which happens to be that of a marine. Guess which lawyer is assigned the case? Give this reader a cigar! For one reason or other, both of them want in on this mystery and they end up using their marriage as a cover for some investigation, moving in across the street from the murder suspect --- the wife of a high ranking officer.

While well-written overall, the love story gets rather overpowered by the battered wife issue that is being explored here. Romance also takes a back seat to solving the mystery, it seemed, because I remember more details about the clues they researched than anything about the hero and heroine's relationship.

As readers of "Always Faithful" may remember, Claudia has a self-centered, Machiavellian father. Due to his interference with Claudia's early love life, she has been emotionally scarred, which explains why she is wary of relationships. Still, it felt like Claudia and Zach's resistance to their attraction to each other was dragged out a bit too much and for no solid reason.

Lastly, the constant, well-meant meddling by Claudia's brother and sister-in-law just annoyed me rather than warmed my heart at their concern.

It kept my attention but at the end I was left feeling rather flat --- a promising story that didn't quite follow through.

Rating:
Summary: Viva Las Vegas
Review: This is the second book of a story that began with "Always Faithful" which starred the heroine's brother.

Zach Taylor has always had a crush on Claudia Stuart, his best friend's younger sister. Claudia's not really immune to him either but they've hidden the attraction behind constant bickering until they day they get rip roaring drunk and end up married in Vegas.

Both of them had the time of their lives on their wedding night although neither really remembers the details. Zach isn't all that unhappy with their marriage but Claudia is still in bickering mode and wants a divorce asap, so Zach goes along with it.

Zach is a lawyer with the US Marines and Claudia is an undercover reporter. Claudia stumbles on a body while jogging which happens to be that of a marine. Guess which lawyer is assigned the case? Give this reader a cigar! For one reason or other, both of them want in on this mystery and they end up using their marriage as a cover for some investigation, moving in across the street from the murder suspect --- the wife of a high ranking officer.

While well-written overall, the love story gets rather overpowered by the battered wife issue that is being explored here. Romance also takes a back seat to solving the mystery, it seemed, because I remember more details about the clues they researched than anything about the hero and heroine's relationship.

As readers of "Always Faithful" may remember, Claudia has a self-centered, Machiavellian father. Due to his interference with Claudia's early love life, she has been emotionally scarred, which explains why she is wary of relationships. Still, it felt like Claudia and Zach's resistance to their attraction to each other was dragged out a bit too much and for no solid reason.

Lastly, the constant, well-meant meddling by Claudia's brother and sister-in-law just annoyed me rather than warmed my heart at their concern.

It kept my attention but at the end I was left feeling rather flat --- a promising story that didn't quite follow through.