Customer Reviews

Close to You (Lost Texas Hearts Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this book as soon as I saw it and read it as soon as I finished what I was reading, read it in one day. The first book in this series was my first book by Dodd but not the last. I now have a collection, which this book will be added to.
I loved this book. It had the right amount of everything. Tension, suspense, love and laughter. Although the author gives away more to the readers and the readers figure out what is going on way before the characters. Thats the good tension.
This was a wonderful third story and I only have one complaint. This story seems to be the end of the series. But I am hoping it is not as we still have the foster brother Gabriel, who really needs his own story. So, this just cant be the last, but the tone says it is. It wraps up most issues in the story, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I likes most everything else and cant think of anything else to complain about. Wonderful story. 5 stars and highly recommended!! Enjoy

This was a really great book, though I was a little disappointed that the villain was revealed early on, and the romantic conflict was a bit weak. Kate's story is the third in a trilogy (?), tracking the fate of four children, orphaned by the death of their parents and scattered to the wind in the wake of their parent's alleged embezzlement.

The story begins when Kate lands a new job reporting on Capitol politics in Austin for a local TV news station, but bodyguard Teague Ramos is soon enlisted when a stalker's attention turns violent. The heat between Kate and Teague is immediate and stays strong as the stalker's threat is replaced by a lascivious senator and his ties to the small town where Kate's birth family was divided.

Teague was an impressive hero, big, brooding and sexy; he also came across as smart, and fell in love with the standard reluctance Dodd's hero's usually display. Kate was likeable, intelligent, and assertive enough to be admirable without being too aggressive. The villain was appropriately slimy, though he was not developed in any depth.

But at times throughout the novel the hero's big brood seemed a little manufactured--he claimed to be hung up on an incident in his past (surprise), and worried revealing it would send Kate running. The incident itself was moderately inventive, but it just didn't seem bad enough to keep the two at odds; and Teague did very little to fuel the separation throughout the book (unlike in Pepper's story where Dan did asinine things throughout the book just to keep it interesting). So the conclusion to the romance was a little anti-climactic.

Likewise, while I was glad to finally learn a little more about the mystery surrounding the death of Kate's birth parents, the little glimpses into the villain's mind peppered throughout the book undermined the suspense and the ending was not particularly surprising. Also, the book was written like the end of a trilogy, and I would be a little disappointed if we never get a chance to hear Gabriel's story.

Overall, however, it was a very entertaining book with snappy dialogue and loveable characters; a satisfying end to a wonderful series.

Christina Dodd did a great job with CLOSE TO YOU - but then, I love books where the hero is a bodyguard for the heroine. It wasn't a mystery because we know who done it, but the suspense to see if the bad guy gets Kate is riveting and the ending tied up all the loose ends left in the oother two books. That scene in the graveyard is positively spooky - I got chills. Teague was a great hero, a bodyguard with a past. He's intense, handsome and driven, and the love scene during the storm was the hottest I've ever read. I recommend this series. Start with JUST THE WAY YOU ARE, then ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE, then CLOSE TO YOU.

STORY BRIEF:
Caitlin's parents are killed in an auto accident when she was a baby. She is adopted by the Montgomerys who are told she was abandoned at the door of a church. Her siblings are sent to foster families. The Montgomerys name her Kate. 22 years later Kate is a TV news reporter. She knows she is adopted but doesn't know anything about her parents or siblings. Someone is stalking her and tries to hit Kate with a car. Teague has a private security company. He stays with Kate as a bodyguard due to the stalker. Although Senator Oberlin is married, he is intensely attracted to Kate.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I really liked the first half, but the second half seemed a little more ordinary to me. I didn't want to stop reading it. I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Kate and Teague, but I did not like the methods used to create conflict between them, described in spoilers below. It was still a good book, but it could have been better.

DATA:
Story length: 396 pages. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 17. Setting: current day Austin, Texas. Copyright: 2005. Genre: romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I've read one other book by Christina Dodd. My 4 star review for "Danger in a Red Dress" copyright 2009 was posted 3/8/09.


CAUTION SPOILERS:

I was disappointed with the following.

Pages 102 and 105: A man attacks, and Teague fights him. At the end of the fight, Kate sees a stark, soulless look in Teague's eyes. Kate and Teague had been drawn to each other previously, but after she saw the look in his eyes, she backs away, is wary and won't touch him. I didn't buy it. He just fought a bad guy. He shouldn't have a warm, fuzzy look in his eyes.

Page 180: Kate and Teague are in lust with each other and are on their way to have sex for the first time. They are interrupted by something. During the interruption, Teague decides that they should not have a relationship because she will be happier without him, and he leaves her. Then he avoids her for 3 weeks. This combines two of my pet peeves: denying one's attraction for someone and inaccurate assumptions.

Pages 315 and 318: Teague is worried about Kate's safety and asks her boss to assign her to safer assignments for a couple of days. Kate is mad at Teague when she hears this. She had agreed to call him every four hours for security reasons. But because she is mad at him, she doesn't call him, and she turns her cell phone off. She is driving to a dangerous place, the bad guy is on his way to that place, she doesn't tell people providing security where she is going, and she cuts off their ability to communicate with her. I hate it when the heroine does something stupid merely for the sake of the plot. Come on dear author, you can do better than this, just give it a little more thought. You did such a good job on the first half.

When Kate's mother sees a famous person on TV, she realizes that he was the mystery person who gave her the baby to adopt. Why didn't she see his face earlier? She's lived in Texas for awhile, and he is a well publicized politician in her area.

I thought this book was great! Ms. Dodd combines romance and suspense with a very deft touch, offering the reader the best of both worlds. Teague was a totally hot hero and I loved Kate. I thought her relationship with her adoptive mom was really touching, too. This brings an end to the Prescott siblings and I was thrilled to see them all get the happy endings they deserved. Can't wait for the next Christina Dodd book!

This book is a phenomenal way to end the series. Romantic with suspense expertly blended in. If I had to pick a favorite Dodd book, this might just be it.

I liked knowing who the real psychotic villian was before the time that the book characters discover this-Put a new and different twist to these types of books. I really liked the ending where it was not super-sappy, but realistic. Kate never turns away from her adoptive mother-nor should she. The siblings were, in essence, strangers to her. It was a good reunion. The "heat" was really good. The suspense good. Read this in less than 2 days - But, now, what about Gabriel?

I as other readers eagerly awaited the finale in the Texas series. However, I truly must say I was disappointed. The whole storyline seemed a bit rushed. The author's mistake was in unveiling the villain so early in the book so by then you had a sense of how the book was going to end. Out of the three books in this series; the first two were the best. Hopefully you will enjoy it more than I could.

I was so blown away by this book. It's the best thing Christina Dodd has ever written! The two lead characters had incredible chemistry, and they were both so smart and compelling. Whenever they were together, I was mesmerized. To me this book had the perfect blend of romance and suspense. Not one false note, not one bit of filler . . . just page after page of wonderful writing. What a fantastic story!

I enjoyed this book overall and felt it was better than the second book in the series, but I agree with some of the problems noted by other reviewers. The tension/pacing between the two main characters seemed to be a little off. Although there were a couple of great sizzle scenes, the dilemma that caused the hero to be reluctant to delve wholeheartedly into the relationship was weak. But the plot and action overcame the weaknesses in the book and I enjoyed it overall.