Customer Reviews

A Summer Smile (Loveswept)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is another wonderful Iris Johansen romp through the desert. Daniel (huge barbarian mercenary, VERY sexy) is sent to rescue Zara (sweet innocent college graduate) from terrorists in Said Ababa. He mistakenly believes that she is David's lover (David, hero from Touch the Horizon). However, she is not and her secret past causes some miscommunication that almost tears them apart.

If you have followed her Sedikhan series, this is a must have. This also sets up Philip & Pandora's story in ....And the Desert Blooms (#126). Great sex, fun characters and exotic locales...what more can you ask for?

The book's plot first tells us about some kidnappers... and you'll get zilch about that story.
Then the love story starts so abrupt... that you won't believe it.
After that you'll hear of her problem... and you'll read a dull story.
And then you'll finish the book and that will be perfect because you'll not have to open it again.

Many reviewers are rating this Johansen novel quite poorly. Please realize this novel is reissued from 1985. It is one of several related to the Sedikhan series in the line of Loveswept books. Iris Johansen was not able to adequately develop characters and storyline due to space constrictions involved in writing romance novels for Loveswept. These books were of a stipulated number of pages and followed a rigid format. It is only later in her career that Johansen was able to break away from the Loveswept "mould" and establish herself as the writer she is today. I enjoyed A Summer Smile while taking into consideration it's original year written and the fact that it is a Loveswept "novelette". I only wish I could read And The Desert Blooms to continue the relationship between Philip and Pandora...

Like most of this author's earlier romances, this is Category-short, sprinkled with humor, filled with characters that you can invest in, and laced with an intensity that tends toward melodrama, yet always manages to please.

I love these old Loveswepts off Johansen's backlist going digital, but I only buy them when they are on special. The prices are usually ridiculous: two and three times what they cost when I first bought them 25 years ago. They are double what they would be if they were a new Category being published today! If she and her publisher would drop the ebook prices to reasonable, I would re-buy every single one of them.

Long before Iris Johansen became a best-selling author, she wrote romances for the Loveswept line. Hers stood out from the others with her spirited women, exotic settings and dramatic love scenes. This is part of series set in the desert country of "Sedikan" and starts of with the rescue of Zilah from the kidnappers who were holding her in an airplane. Her rescuer, Daniel Seifert, may seem a rough character at first but he shows a tender side as he tries to win Zilah's heart.

I first read this book in 1985 when it was first released. It was as good than as it is now. I reread it because I just finished reading Blue Velvet where Daniel first appears. In that book you get Daniel's background. Blue Velvet was a good book too and was a sequel to White Satin. All 3 books were 5s.

Really great book. But, of course, I love reading romance stories/novels and with Iris Johansen writing it it is even greater!

Another in the Sedikhan series..worth the time to read...I love the reissues of books published in the 1980's. They are guaranteed good reads.

I had never heard the term of a "summer smile" but learned that it's "wise and warm with the sweet promise of joy and fulfillment to come." Interesting depiction that summer is a time when things are renewed instead of spring but Johansen indicates that summer is that time.

Johansen writes a decent romance novel but I prefer her romantic suspense books that she has recently written. A Summer Smile was a quick read, as it's only two-hundred-twenty pages so it was a nice reprieve from my hectic world. I'd recommend this for some down time in which you don't want to have to think too hard and want to just sit back and enjoy the escapades of Zilah, Daniel and Pandora. It was very enjoyable.

I have been a keen reader of Iris Johansen over the years. I love her strong and human characters, their relationships, and the story lines - especially the Eve Duncan series.

I was extremely disappointed in the quality of this book.

Kind regards