I have a confession to make. I don't really read contemporary or romantic suspense. Yes, I said it. I've never touched Linda Howard and I rarely read la Nora; I wouldn't know a Brockman SEAL from the kind that flops around in the water. For some odd reason, I tend to stick to my historicals. But I do have a soft spot in my heart for Anne Stuart. I picked up one of her books while in Africa (you may get sick of hearing this, but it was a great way to introduce me to authors I might not have otherwise read). It was called Moonlight and the combination of suspense, sexual tension, dangerous bad-boy hero and on-the-run plot managed to really get my attention. I made a mental note to check out more by this author when I made it back to the States, the land of endless books.Funny thing is, I've read Stuart books since Moonlight and as of yet, none of them have quite measured up to that initial experience. I'm not sure if it's them or me. In any event, I am sad to say that the trend holds true for Ice Blue.
I was jazzed to find that the hero of the book was not Caucasian, or at least not totally white. Takashi O'Brien by name, he's half-Japanese, and all lethal weapon. Like all Stuart heros, he is silent, taciturn and deadly and knows that he "ought" to be fulfilling his mission and taking care of the heroine (in a permanent manner) but for some odd reason, he just can't go through with it. Hmm, where have I read this before?
Summer Hawthorne is a museum curator who owns an old Japanese ceramic dish that some psycho cult leader really wants. Really, really wants. So much so that he's willing to have her off'ed in order to get it. Takashi saves her from one off'ing attempt and then we're off on the run. Will he kill her himself and thus keep the secret location of the ceramic dish safe for all eternity? Or will he be unable to resist her spunky innocence and surrender to the inevitable? Most importantly, will they save the world from apocalyptic doom as meted out by the psycho cult leader?
Well of course, I cannot tell because that would constitute spoilers. *cough cough* But I think you might be able to guess.
I dunno. I'm starting to think that maybe I really am not cut out for romantic suspense. Because this probably was a good book. I just felt, so....bored. And that's too bad because I wanted to like it. Dammit, I really wanted to fall for the half-Asian hero because Lord knows, we get so few of them. Oh well. Better luck next time. I give this one a C, although it gets an A in the cover art department.
