Virginia Elizabeth Middlebrook's first marriage had been a short taste of hell, making her vow to never marry again. A.C. Ryerson had married too young and swore off love. When A.C. and Virginia first met, they knew thay could become friends. Soon, they overcame Virginia's fears and become lovers. Marriage, however, is another story entirely. Then A.C. wins a stunning emerald and diamond bracelet in a poker game, unleashing a series of suspicious accidents.

Another delightful tale by JAK. A.C. and Virginia are not as driven as some of Krentz's usual heroes and heroines. They are comfortable with each other from the first, only shying from committment. The legend behind the bracelet is intriguing. Wonder if there are other books about it?

Jayne Ann Krentz continues to produce powerhouse plots in her new novel Joy. Virginia had no plans to ever marry again. She seriously doubted that she would even get involved with another man after her disasterous marriage. Ryerson's first marriage didn't work out so well, and his most recent affair, with Virginia's younger sister, sizzled before the flame was even ignited. So when Virginia and Ryerson decide to attempt a relationship, things get pretty wacky. Virginia and Ryerson agree that they have all the time in the world, and so decide to take things slowly. After the first month though, Ryerson is wondering if he won't spontaneously combust before things get exciting. To further their raltionship, Ryerson books a little trip for them, to a nice tropical island. Not only does their relationship get further development, but Ryerson wins a gorgeous and old emerald braclet in a lucky game of cards. Unfortunately, the former owner of the braclet wasn't exactly the most truthful fellow, leaving Ryerson and Virginia in a dangerous little adventure. Ms. Krentz blends a wonderful mix of passion, adventure and humour to create an exotic tale of two people learning to trust love again. By the end, we all wish that we had Virgiunia's luck in men!

Virginia Middlebrook and A.C. Ryerson had both been burned in painful marriage.Neither had any desire to relive the past-they'd take things slow.

A Caribbean trip seemed like the perfect way to test the waters of a new relationship...until A.C. wins a breathtaking emerald bracelet with a mysterious past. Suddenly their days-and nights-become a become a reckless roller coaster of adventure, desire...and deadly peril. Not the best of JAK's books but still an excellent book!

I don't know how she does it, but Jayne Ann never manages to get out of the same old rhythm: girl meets boy (usually in business). Girl likes boy, finds out about ulterior motive, tries to change boy. Fight, make up, and are threatened by someone out of one of their pasts. Usually the recent past. I find Jayne Ann getting flatter and flatter as she writes, get the older books, because their stories are better and more realistic. Reissues are the way to go, ignore the new ones.

I have had a bone with many of JAK old Candlelight and Temptations series being giving new cover and a BIG BOOK PRICE.
I do not object to them being reprinted, as many of her fans, including me, enjoy her earlier works and may have missed some; this give a chance to catch up on them. However paying full price for these very THIN novelettes sort of make me think they are milking fans for all they are worth.

I applauded last years efforts of putting out the Stephanie James series at a lower price. Now this made sense and showed consideration for the reader.

So here is the chance for you to catch two old JAK's James temptations Wizards and the Challoner Bride at the price of one. Good move!!

They are wee bit dated, but one overlooks that, as JAK's writing is fresh and sparkling and show the fire of the love of writing for the genre that said seems to be missing in her last few works.

I highly recommend these for those JAK fans that missed her Stephenie James works.

I thought the plot was very interesting. Sharing dreams of a past life would certainly make me want to hold onto the one I'm sharing them with. The thought of starting a family at, what then was considered an advanced age was handled well. The love scenes were rather glossed over, but I didn't really miss the detail. I thought the ending left the opportunity for a part three. If there is one, I have not yet come across it. Great book!

This novel that is written by Terrance Dicks is very good. it is a science fiction novel that keeps you reading. it is not like others in where it is hard to understand due to complicated wording or procedures. I think that is one reason why it is so enjoyable to read. The two main characters are always into things so it forces you to continue reading to find out what happens next. Sometimes it seems so hard to defeat his enemies but yet he somehow is able to stop them and keep them from taking over and ruling with ruthlessness. I recommend this book for reading just for the enjoyment and getting away from normal life.

WOW it was hard to rate this as a whole because the tales are very different. This is a trade side reprints of stories that have been reprinted several times.
(the weakest of the three) JAK's The Waiting Game is not one of her best earlier works. Still a good read, but the female character is really stupid at times and it hurts the rest of the book. The male character more than makes up for the silly female, but he can only do so much. This has been reprinted several times by itself so I suggest you check you old series romance and recent JAK's before you buy this one.

Delinsky's Montana Man is one of her best early works. She shows a strong hand in male-female attraction and it was riveting.

Anne Stuart ( one of my favourite writers) gives us a touching story of second chances. And as usual, Stuart is the BEST at the bad boy being redeemed by love. Emerson Wyatt McVey was a ruthless corporate executive that destroyed hundreds, maybe thousands of lives by closing factories. On a Wintry holiday night, his car goes off the road and he dies, but he is given once chance to come back as another man and make right three lives he destroyed. Carrie Alexander is one of those he destroyed and it is through her love McVey will be redeemed or not. A beautiful holiday tale, with Fallen Angel being a special special Stuart tale.

It is very unusual in a collection of stories to enjoy all 3. I definetely enjoyed all three. TOo Wild to Wed by Jayne Ann Krentz was great! Montana Man by Barbara Delinsky was super as well, but I kept thinking that I had read it or a story just like it before. Falling Angel by Anne Stuart was also good - but not quite a believable.

Jayne Ann Krentz and Barbara Delinsky deliver their gifted tales of strong female characters who create their own dilemmas. Krentz's professor, Letty, and Delinsky's hitchhiker, Lily, both meet her own Mr. Wrong who worms his way into each heroine's heart by trying to rescue her from a risky situation to become her Mr. Right. I always enjoy both of these authors and have added Anne Stuart to my "must read" list. Anne Stuart brings Gabriel, a beautiful angel of slippery status, back to Angel Falls, Minnesota, with 30 days to right the wrongs he visited on 3 people before he died. His new visage enchants Carrie Alexander when he arrives at her door Thanksgiving day after his truck slides into a ditch during a blizzard. Gabriel's attraction to Carrie makes him wonder how he will correct his sins against her and two other unnamed people in time to make it back to heaven, when all he wants to do his stay with her at the risk of eternity in Hell. The ensuing interaction between Gabriel and the people he meets results in an entertaining love story.

I loved the humorous banter between Filomena and Trent. He's a "big buffalo" and she doesn't like people "looming over" her. I read this book several times and laughed every time.

A small town woman returns home with the trimmings of success
and decides to show off in front of her ex-husband's friends.
But she never counted on Trent Ravinder casting potent charms
at her heart. Fast paced, a little dated by today's standards.
But funny, witty, --basically Amanda's lovable stuff.

I utterly adore Jayne Ann and have all her books, but many of the Stephanie James were fading yellow and falling apart, so I was delighted when Silhouette began putting this SJ's out at a reason price.

But this one just really made me almost hate the female lead. Starts off interesting. She is on a plane that crashes. A high powered business executive with a hotel chain, she is used to giving orders and having every one follow. However, from the first, Lucas Kinkaid declares he is the leader. Quickly, he pulls her aside and explains in order for them and the others to survive, there has to be one leader and that is him. She grudginly backs down and accepts his alpha male leader role, even to the point of surrending herself to him the night before they are rescued.

But she sees the surrender, the fact she gave up the power to snap her fingers and have people jump as a deep wound, and when Lucan comes to find her again, she makes him PAY. When he follows her on board a cruise ship, she coldblooded sets about to have an affair with him, just so she can put a chokechain about his neck and yank it everytime she wants him to come to heel. She is arrogant, smug and condescending. She sneers at the fact he eats steak and pototoes, is not a polished dancer, owns a pet store and wear cheap polyester pants, while she dresses in designer clothes, loves lobster and brie and its quite at home in the penthouse of the cruise liner. She spends nearly half of the book making this poor guy jump through hoops just to salvage her ego and frankly, I just really did not empathise or care about this woman. And I seriously wondered just what he saw in her.

Jayne's talent as a writer is the only thing that makes this one readable. She is a joy with the written word, but this one just really turn me off.

There are so many great JAK's out there, so unless you are into a woman that not only wants to walk on a man with spike heels, she wants to grind them in cruelly just to prove 'she can handle him'..... forget it and try Wildest Hearts or Absolutely Positively....you will have a much better time.

The Silver Snare introduces us to Jessie and Lucas and the concept of being out of control. Unfortunately, I found myself with little sympathy for Jessie, who was having enormous difficulty dealing with her need for Lucas versus her need to be in control. I wanted her to either tell him to get lost or take him to bed - don't dither about. Of course, if she had, there would have been no story! So I guess this means that the plot here had some loose fibers and the characters didn't quite involve me enough to overlook them. If you like romance, start with vintage Jayne Ann Krentz (try "Deep Waters") instead of her earlier Stephanie James novels. Once your taste for Krentz has developed then come back to these earlier books - the beginnings of her writing style are clear and fascinating to discover!

I have read all of "Stephanie James'" books and while they are similar in many ways, I always learn something interesting and I always enjoy her books. A good read, always!

After thoroughly enjoying the first two books of this series, I eagerly grabbed Summer off the shelf and settled in for an entertaining read. But Nick and Octavia never came alive like the Madison men and Harte women of the previous books. JAK continues her wonderful cast of secondary characters, human and non (especially Winston who she portrays so strikingly in just a few sentences that he becomes a major figure). However, even the two family patriarchs lost some of the punch of the earlier books. Did JAK lose interest in this group? After foreshadowing the main characters in the earlier stories, did she find they didn't work out as planned? Count me in as a devoted reader, however....although I may check out a few pages more carefully next time before making a purchase. Summer ended up in the library/charity shop pile.

We've returned to Eclipse Bay, home of the much-talked about Harte-Madison feud and the surprising romances in earlier books, Eclipse Bay and Dawn in Eclipse Bay.

This time a stranger has come to town - Olivia Brightwell, who hides a secret purpose in opening an art gallery in the little seaside town. The older generation might have a suspicion about why she's in town. But Nick Harte's main worry is whether he'll spend the entire summer collecting rejections from the new girl in town, or whether his 5-year-old son Carson will blame him for messing up Carson's relationship with his friend Olivia.

Soon enough everyone's worried about other things, like Nick's love them and leave them reputation, a valuable missing painting, and whether or not Nick has given Olivia The Talk (a lecture about keeping things light that has become famous among the females of Eclipse Bay).

This book has all of Ms. Krentz's signature touches -- family ties, down-home atmosphere, a dash of mystery, and a couple who spends enough time worrying about what the other one might do that it takes a while to figure out that they're falling in love. Highly recommended.

The conclusion of the cheerful Eclipse Bay trilogy ties things up nicely. The hero and heroine, Nick Harte and Octavia Brightwell don't have quite the richness of the earlier book's characters (especially the delightfully droll Gabe Madison of Dawn in Eclipse Bay, the best of the series) but they are more than adequate. The best thing about this series (and many of Jayne Ann's books) are the quirky,almost Capra-esque supporting characters. The grumpy grandpas, the deliciously loony Arizona, the dumb-as-dirt n'er do wells who pick a fight with Nick and his pal Jeremy, Winston the World's Classiest Schnauser, all make the book worth reading. The plot is practically non-existent, but Jayne Ann excels at making nothing into very entertaining nothing.

I have read almost all of Ms. Krentz's books under all her names. The very best thing about her stories is that either you wish the heroine was one of your best friends, or you hope you are like her. This Kate Inskip (what an uncomfortable name to read) is just a whining, nosey, spoiled creep. This is no-one I would ever want to know. At one time, I laughed out loud at how unreasonable she was, and wondered what Jared could POSSIBLY see in this woman. I hope this isn't a new trend, since no matter the quality of the story, you can always like the characters in Jayne's books. (Oops, I'm forgetting some ridiculous creature named Philadelphia Fox. That was the one and only Krentz novel that I didn't finish, and can barely remember). The Pirate is not a great book by any standards. I've been reading it for a couple weeks, it's so easy to put down.

The Pirate is the first in the reissue of Jayne's "Ladies and Legends" trilogy. The story reminds me of "The Taming of the Shrew". Jared meets his match in Kate, a thirty something historical romance writer. This is a good series to begin reading Jayne. Those who have become accustomed to Jayne's more recent books should keep in mind this book was originally written long before Jayne became the popular writer she is today.

I don't know what book the rest of you guys were reading, but I LOVED this book! Jared and Kathryn were just hilarious together. Kathryn wasn't too hard-edged--she was stressed out! That was the whole point of the vacation that starts the whole plot moving forward. Jared pushes all her buttons and their "arguments" are pure romantic comedy. Kathryn de-stresses really quickly--like by day 2!--and then it's just romance and and lots of excitement with just enough sexy banter to keep me grinning. Sure, it's not a "deep" read, but I can't think of a better way to spend a couple of hours.