9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High octane romantic adventure, July 30, 2009
Suzi Toussi and Dax Killian are the romantic leads in the latest hit in the Crazy and Loose series. They and a bunch of bad guys are in Paraguay to authenticate, the purported magical and know only in rumors, myth, and stories, Manned Sphinx of Sesostris III. The Sphinx is said to grant: unlimited power; the ability to see the past, future, and present locations remotely; as well as immortality and resurrection when held up into the moonlight on the third full moon in the year of Horus. Easy to see why everyone wants it and will kill to get it, and guess what happening tomorrow night? Yup, that full moon. When the showing to the potential buyers goes bad - mayhem and death ensue - the race is on to find the still missing Sphinx. And so Tara Janzen's trademark twenty four hours of action, romantic adventure and suspense begins. As always the Special Defenses Force team achieves their goals, which may or not be those they have been tasked with...
"Breaking Loose" is the tenth book in this awesome series and is another excellent work of pure entertainment. This book like all the others can be read alone. But, for the full wonderfulness of the adventures and romance featuring these fabulous Steele Street chop shop boys read them all. Tara Janzen delivers her signature style of an action packed, thriller-diller, special ops; romantic adventure and suspense. Her characters are well drawn; there is plenty of romance, and great dialogue as well as fast action. As is true in all these books, the first part is a build up to the ending that goes out with a bang, and this one's a total cliff hanger too! There are interesting side characters, plots and sub-plots, more of past characters and of characters that will star in the next book.
Suzi and Dax were set up as the romantic interest in the previous book ("Loose and Easy"). We last saw them having just missed each other for a breakfast date at the conclusion of the last book's action (about six months ago). They have not seen each other since then, but have been obsessing on each other. They have both indulged their obsession by doing a deep background check on the other, so our information about Suzi and Dax's pasts is revealed via their thoughts, comments, and actions to each other related to this research. That could have been weird, but it worked for me as it helps emphasize their regret about missing the breakfast date, the two ships passing in the night thing, and that they both locked in on the other as "the one". That, great sex, and the HEA are essential for a excellent romance, and this one is that and more.
Although Suzi and Dax are not my most favored of the couples in this series, that does not diminish this book for me at all. Ms. Janzen stays true to form and all the aspect of these books that I love are there. Like, there is a continuing thread about the women's underwear in these books, I think that's cool and I liked what she did with Suzi's underwear. Also, learning about Suzi's rescue projects we get a glimpse of what some of the other Steele Street gals are doing helping with that - a great touch. As these two are cast as operators set to obtain the Sphinx for different ends, we see that dynamic play out as they dodge bullets and connect romantically. Very nicely done.
Ms. Janzen's attention to detail and skill in describing the locations, sights, sounds, and colorful characters (love the transvestites at Dax's hotel) make me feel like I'm there. It's apparent she has done her homework on locations, guns, cars, boats, and jargon; and writes that into the book with a smooth style. Anyone that breezes through her books and misses the details needs to slow down. Of all the series I have read, especially romantic suspense, these stay consistantly within the bounds of the original setting and atmosphere, and the characters ring true in every book.
For those that have read the other books, we get a lot more of our chop shop boys, and it's always a thrill to see them in action. Dylan, Creed, Christian, and Zach are on the job in the area tracking the much damaged Conroy Farrel, who may be the lost J.T. - the most lost chop shop boy ever. At the end, when all the players still standing come together for the final scenes, the interaction between these four over their communications network is a joy to read. One of the best, and must be a classic line, is Dylan's comment to Creed, "Don't worry sweetheart. I'll have you home before dawn."
The next book should be J.T.'s story, and I'm so looking forward to this poor guy getting a happy ending. By the end of "Breaking Loose" we know a lot more about where he has been and have the set-up for where he will have to go to find "his girl".
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Lost interest, October 27, 2011
Tara Janzen seems to have a pretty efficient book-writing system as she has published several over the last few years in the Steele Street series, most of which I think I've read.
Breaking Loose was the first that I was unable to finish. I gave up halfway, hoping to get some enthusiasm after a break, but whenever I picked the book up again I found my mind wandering.
For this reader at least, the story took ages to get going. Suzi Toussi, our heroine, is sent out to Paraguay to authenticate and recover a Sphinx which has (supposedly) supernatural powers. But Suzi's not the only one after the relic - Dax Killian, whom she met several months before, is also tasked to get it, as are several other characters.
There's a fair amount of action in this story but I found myself really struggling to keep up and even to care about it. Action scenes are great, but they need something more to hold them together than I was finding in this story.
I found I was pretty much bored whilst reading it. Although the locations were interestingly described and there were some good scenes, the overall book just didn't hang together for me and I felt disinclined to spend any more time on it.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2011
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