by
Traci Hunter Abramson
Synopsis:
When
CIA agent Janessa Rogers meets the royal family of Meridia on
assignment, she expects to use her skills in linguistics and security
detail to protect and serve, but she doesn't expect to find herself
engaged to Prince Garrett Fortier, Meridia's most eligible bachelor,
as part of the security plan. And she certainly doesn't expect to
fall in love with him.
Janessa resists her
feelings, fearing conflicts in her personal and professional life,
yet when the Prince admits his feigned affection has become genuine
she can no longer pretend. Matters of security, society, and
spirituality make their unlikely romance even more complex, and
escalating political intrigue gives Janessa an excuse to ignore the
questions in her heart. But when a terrorist plot against the royal
family endangers them both, Janessa and Garrett must face the
challenges of loyalty to family, to country, to God — and to love.
I
picked this up on CD at the library because it looked interesting
(sort of), and it was only 5 discs long. The last few books I tried
to listen to on CD were like 18 discs long, so I wanted something
short.
I
only read the first paragraph above, and was not expecting an LDS
novel. Surprise to me. And since I'm not a huge fan of LDS fiction
(yes, I'm a sinner) parts of the review may be a bit bias.
Why
did I read this book again?
After
reading the fist paragraph of the synopsis, I was expecting a spy
novel. This really wasn't a spy novel. It was a romance. So the hook
was good, but I felt a little bit lied to.
3
out of 5
Characters
The
girl, Janessa, tows a very straight line, but the author keeps her
believable, which was nice. The prince should have been charming,
and probably was in the author's head, but that never totally made it
to the paper. I only sort of cared about them. The girl was
wishy-washy about pretty much everything, which doesn't seem okay for
a CIA agent supposedly in charge of royal security. Although there
is no love triangle, so an extra point for that.
3
out of 5
Did
I care what happened?
Mostly.
But not because the author drew me into the characters or the
conflict, I cared more about complaining about the writing style to
my poor roommate than anything else.
The
complete lack of any real emotional reactions longer than a single
line of text, and leaving out important things like, “And how did
Janessa feel when the price kissed her?” pretty much killed me.
Okay, their lips touched...then what? That explosive, electricity
feeling? Weak knees? The “Oh crap, what have I done?” None of
that is in the text. Sure, I can supply it myself, but as a reader
I'm not supposed to have to. Please show me what's going on!
Instead the author would go on... “The queen came to say dinner was
ready. Janessa and the prince moved inside.”
Oh,
and the bad guys were only sort of bad. Real bad guys would have
amped the tension level way up, but it feels like this author is shy
of having a large body count, which I'm okay with I guess, but if
felt contrived.
2
out of 5
Plot
Holes
Okay,
the plot was sound. Lots of little tendrils of story got wrapped up
nicely in the end. Each character did get a chance to do what they
needed to do. I can't be harsh here, because the story worked.
Oh,
I do have to say that someone in the story actually alludes to the
fact that the bad guys only killing one guard was a warning about how
serious they were. If only he'd been wearing a red shirt.
4
out of 5
How
many times did I yawn?
No
yawns. Too busy yelling at the CD player in my car about lack of
reactions, sensory input, character depth and how fast the reader was
going!
3
out of 5
Cool
Factor
Having
expected spy stuff, and getting mostly frilly romance, I was
disappointed. Granted, I've not read anything else by this author,
and wasn't expecting an LDS fiction story AND I prefer explosions you
can feel and taste to the ones that happen off screen, so my
expectations in this area are a little high.
2
out of 5
The
End
After
a culmination of everything that happened in the story, the end was
fine.
4
out of 5
Overall
Enjoyment
I
really hate railing on books, but this one just didn't do it for me.
Every single conflict was resolved with a distinct lack of effort,
and when I wanted to know what was going through a character's head,
we were off to walking down the hall or the next scene. Maybe I'm
not the right audience. Or maybe I'm a bit more harsh than usual
because I just went to a very cool writing conference in which my
class would have had quite a few constructive items to talk about
concerning this book...and how it needed a prose overhaul.
2
out of 5
Score=23
That's
a Purple Belt
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