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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another hit by Stuart, October 31, 2006
This review is from: Cold As Ice (Mass Market Paperback)
Genevieve Spencer was on her way to Costa Rica for a much needed vacation when her law firm sends her to get legal papers signed by their very wealthy client, Harry Van Dorn. Knowing she can't refuse, Genevieve reluctantly agrees to be taken out to the client's yacht, hoping that she can leave within a few hours.
Peter Jensen is on a mission to bring down Harry Van Dorn before he can bring chaos to the world with the seven tragedies he has planned. When Genevieve comes aboard unexpectedly, Peter wants nothing more than to get her off the yacht. When he is unable to get rid of her, Peter reluctantly accepts that he will have to kill her. Though he is used to having collateral damage during his missions, he is confused by his reluctance when it comes to Genevieve.
Anne Stuart doesn't dissapoint in COLD AS ICE. If you are a fan of her work, you won't be dissapointed by Peter nor by Genevieve. Peter is a classic Stuart hero...emotionless and frighteningly effcient. The twists and turns of this book in regard to the suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat. Actually, the romance will keep you on the edge of your seat, as well. Genevieve's confusion in relation to her feelings about Peter really make you sympathize with her as a woman.
I feel the need to address the review(s) below regarding Peter's bi-sexuality. Peter is not a bi-sexual character. There is absolutely NO sexual explicit content of him with another man. The bottom line in regard to his sexuality is that in his job, he does what needs to be done. He can turn is emotions on and off at will, which is what makes him as good of an operative as he is. Please don't let that turn you away from this book. It is barely worth mentioning.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Resident Genius of Romance at her top form, November 6, 2006
This review is from: Cold As Ice (Mass Market Paperback)
Warning up front for people who haven't read and admired the brilliance of author Anne Stuart before - her books are strong. She asks you to dance on the razor's edge, plays the Pied Piper and commands you to dance into the fire. She pushes the reader to go where most writers won't ask. I always wanted to write heroes like Stuart, but I get too intrigued with the complexities of males, adore them, and love what makes them tick, how they react differently to given situations than we do. I fear only Stuart can conjure and breath life into a Stuart Bad Boy. I also fear some writers write men as we'd like them to be, not as they are. Stuart gives us pure gamma rogue males. These males are beyond laws, beyond morals, often beyond kindness. They are Dark, Dangerous and Deadly. What your mama warned you to stay away from. They are heartbreakers. They are Stuart's Bad Boys. She gives you men that are not heroes by most standards, yet with the power of a sorceress, she compels you to love them. We are a poor moth to her males' flames. So if you cannot take your males raw and unvarnished, then you might want to give Stuart a pass, because you will come away mesmerized, shaken. Stuart holds up the mirror and forces the reader to look deep into oneself, and that rattles some. She is a brilliant talent few writers ever achieve. At home equally in Historicals or Contemporary Romances, Stuart has taken use into the fire, now wants us to be cold as ice. The Resident Genius of Romance strikes bull's-eye again in this edgy tale.
Genevieve Spenser is tired. A nice get away for Costa Rica lies ahead. Only there is one more thing she must do before she can kick back - get papers signed by Harry Van Dorn. He is a wealthy client of her firm, so she knows there is no getting around running this chore for them. She is quickly on route to his yacht, and hopes to pick up the papers, then be on her way to sun, beach and cabana boys fetching her funny drinks with paper hats.
Only, Harry Van Dorn isn't just a wealthy businessman; he's a merchant of chaos, and its Peter Jensen's job to stop him from executing plans he's set in motion that could devastate the world. Genevieve's arrival is untimely for his plans, so he wants her gone. When he cannot get rid of her, he accepts he will have to kill (a theme Stuart made us face and accept in the brilliant Moonrise). Peter is a killer, an assassin. Again, Stuart delights in giving us "heroes" who are not heroes by any fashion we know. He is a gamma rogue, a male who lives by his own rules, that can kill, cheat, lie and steal to do what must be done. However, Peter is finding dealing with Genevieve troublesome, to say the least.
Genevieve is a strong heroine, so much fun, and Peter is one of Stuart's Bad Boys that evokes the heroine - and the reader - to walk on the razor's edge. Stuart delivers, yet again, one strong read that dazzles from start to finish.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a dangerous game, October 28, 2006
This review is from: Cold As Ice (Mass Market Paperback)
Anne Stuart is known for her bad-boy heroes, but in Cold as Ice it's the heroine who steals the show. Genevieve Spenser is a wonderful character - she grew up nouveau pauvre, in a family that insists on keeping up appearances despite the fact that the money's all gone, and it gives her a unique mix of effortless cultivation and real toughness. Peter Jensen admires her because she never gives up - she always fights back, even though she doesn't stand a chance against a team of trained professionals. She doesn't lose her cool, she keeps her dignity, she doesn't whine or have hysterics.
Peter is the Iceman - the perfect operative, conscientious, careful, totally dedicated to his job. First he's just upset that he hasn't managed to get Genevieve out of danger - he's never killed an innocent before, and he doesn't want to. Then he toys with her, testing the limits of her resilience; he taunts her and she doesn't break down, he teases her with the possibility of escape, and he's full of admiration when her reaction is just to listen and learn. Ultimately, Peter finds out that he wasn't just toying with her after all.
The plot is well-paced, and I liked the twists and turns; each shift in the villain's dastardly plans ends up making emotional demands on Peter and Genevieve in a way that propells their relationship forward. I could have wished that the novel were longer, took place over a greater period of time, so that their relationship could develop into something more solid, but I believed the connection between the two.
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