Customer Reviews

Dark Valentine (Dark Vista Romance Thriller)

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

 

 

As a long-time fan of Jennifer Fulton, I anxiously awaited the release of `Dark Valentine' and was not disappointed. Her writing gets better with each new publication and this is no exception.

Here, Fulton introduces two characters who seem extremely familiar. They have many of the characteristics one encounters in this genre. One - an attorney named Jules - is physically strong and wise in the ways of the world and women. However, she's emotionally weak and lives an unfulfilling life. The other - a key witness named Rhianna - is less experienced, but makes up for it with enthusiasm for life and sees the good in everyone. After experiencing an incredible night of unexpected passion, these two women find themselves on seemingly opposite sides of a courtroom battle that promises to change both their lives. As the trial continues and life "happens" outside the courtroom, the women learn more about themselves than they ever thought possible.

Don't miss this incredible tale of intrigue and passion, delivered in an unbelievably mature and engaging fashion. The characters are well developed and likable, as is the overall story. Fulton's writing style is exciting, drawing the reader in and holding her attention until the last page is read.

Well written, fast paced, interesting.....and then the book crashes. Jules, a shrewd, womanizing defense attorney who specializes in defending sex offenders (yuck!) picks up "Kate" in a bar in Palm Springs. Kate is really Rhianna, a woman who has changed her identity and hiding in a remote town in Arizona after being stalked & raped by a creepy stalker who thinks he can do anything, because he comes from an influential wealthy family. The savvy Jules manages to pick up Rhianna - neither wanting anything more than a 1 night stand.

During the sex, Jules recognizes that Rhianna often seems to become physically detached and displays signs of being "damaged", but regardless she's moved by the sex and after their night together, she proposes they meet up in Palm Springs again sometime. Rhianna flatly turns her down, which intrigues Jules even more, since apparently no one ever says no to her.

Jules goes back to LA & assigned the task of defending Rhianna's rapist. She does not know that "Kate" who she just spent the night happens to be her client's victim, but she does know that her client is WAY over the top guilty. Still, she takes the case because that's what her firm does, she's the best, and her client's mother will give her a 2 million dollar bonus if she wins the case for her son.

Meanwhile, Jules cannot stop thinking about "Kate" and using some tricks, tracks her down to the small town in Arizona and they agree to meet again in Denver, because, surprise! They'll both be there at the same time, although neither connect that they're both involved with the trial...Jules as the defense attorney for Rhianna's rapist and Rhianna as the key witness for the prosecution. All this is great stuff and heightens the tension & conflict in the book.

In Denver, Jules & "Kate" have 2 days of mind blowing sex before the trial. Jules is now thinking "Kate" might be "the one" and wants to talk about something permanent. Kate's liking the idea too. Imagine Kate's surprise when she shows up to the trial and lo and behold Jules is the defense attorney for her rapist! Good exciting stuff here!

Jules goes to her boss and tries to recuse herself (as any self respecting lawyer would do and SHOULD do) as she just spent 2 days having sex with the key witness for the prosecution. Her boss talks her out of it and says she can use it against her. Plus Jules doesn't want to give up her 2 million bonus AND she feels her boss will rip Rhainna apart even WORSE than she would. This makes no sense to me because I can't think of anything worse or equally violating than to have your lover, who supposedly thinks you're "the one", publically rip you to shreds on the stand to let your delusional RAPIST go free, a man she KNOWS is a sicko and will go after her again once he's free.

NOW the book starts to unravel for me. I could almost forgive this part of the book, if Jules had a better reason for destroying her lover, or if this trial had happened after their first one night stand and Jules didn't really know Rhianna yet. I was still willing to let it go thinking....Okay, now there's going to be some really good follow up confict where Rhianna will reject Jules and Jules will have to prove her love and win her back. But that doesn't really happen. Yes, Rhianna rejects her at first although thinking the whole time during her angry rejection of her, how "wet" Jules makes her, so you know her rejection is weak at best. I couldn't help thinking in outrage...."are you effing kidding me? Where's the outrage?! You're actually going to forgive her...just like that?!! She's your girlfriend and she just violated you again on the stand and got your RAPIST OFF!!! She KNOWS he RAPED YOU!!! How could you forgive that?!!" Frankly, I would never speak to her again.

Thankfully, Rhianna rejects her...but alas, only for a moment. Jules immediately tracks her down & apologizes again, and Rhianna quickly forgives her with barely another thought because apparently all she can think of is having sex with Jules which apparently trumps everything that Jules did to her. Frankly the whole thing made me sick and it ruined the book for me. I got so frustrated I almost couldn't finish the book and in fact skimmed the rest (which wraps up the stalker part) because it wrecked how I felt about the characters.

Of course, I expected them to get back together. I mean, it is a romance novel, but not without Jules having to do a lot of soul searching, groveling, and proving herself to Rhianna. And frankly it was totally unethical and unbelievable that Jules did not recuse herself from the trial. She would be disbarred.

Another scene which bugged the living sh** out of me, was after the devastation of the trial, Jules flees to Arizona and stops at a Denny's in a small town along the way While sitting in Denny's waiting for her food, in walks "Mr Notorious" a street "pimp" from Denver and dresses like one (hired by her stalker to follow her)who sticks out like a sore thumb in this tiny white bread town. He immediately zeros in on her and starts coming onto her and then asks if he can sit down and join her. Maybe it's just me, but If I'd just lost my rape case, knew my terrifying perverted stalker was going to come after me, and then some pimp started harassing me, I would be of the frame of mind to get the hell away from him. But nope, she invites him to sit down. Un-believable.

So 4-5 stars for the first 3/4 of the book and then 0 stars for the end.

It's an interesting, well written book. Moves along at a good pace for a thriller. However, the final conflict between the good guys and bad guys was a little disappointing, especially after the buildup.

The other problem is a small one because, fortunately, the character was minor, so we didn't have to read too much of his dialogue. I'm referring to how she wrote the black "urban" character. His dialogue was really laughable. The author wrote as though that's how white people seem to think black people speak. I understand she's not from the states, so I'll cut her some slack there. But it was truly atrocious, laughable dialogue.
Next time, she'll make her "urban" character white so there'll be no need for her to guess at how the character should speak.

I have read all of Jennifer Fulton's published books under her various pen names, and her storytelling has gotten so much richer in the last few years. Her most recent release, Dark Valentine, is no exception. Fulton has written a solid, believable, and erotic romance.

Fulton's stories usually carry subtle social messages that are largely ignored by the mainstream. She combines these nicely, respecting the reader will "get" it without being bashed over the head. Dark Valentine focuses on the issue of stalking. The main character, Rhianna Lamb, has to bury her identity and live under the radar to escape her stalker. The book illustrates succinctly how stalking can rob a woman of everything and forces the victim to live in fear of being discovered. Fulton also delves into how the court system doesn't understand the dynamics of this debilitating threat.

While tackling the social message, Fulton does not cut corners on the romance. Writing about love is what this author does best. Rhianna has an accidental first meeting at a Palm Springs resort with a woman, Julia Valiant, whom she instantly falls for, but figuring out how to act upon those feelings while hiding poses a seemingly insurmountable problem. That's the least of Rhianna's concerns as the reader soon finds out.

This absorbing novel was read quickly, but the messages that Fulton imparted left its mark long after the book was put down. I highly recommend this book, and also the first in the Dark Vista series, Dark Dreamer (Bold Strokes Books April 2007).

I have come to expect great stories from Jennifer Fulton, and I was not disappointed. Dark Valentine was definitely a page turner until the very end!

I've read a few of Jennifer Fulton's books by now, and I've always been taken in immediately by her clarity of characterization, the strength of her narrative voice, the focus of her plots and the strength of their message, and her creative use of words and phrasing to avoid so many of the clichéd phrases you find repeatedly in so much of this fiction these days (a product of roots in online fiction perhaps?). I could not put this book down. Apart from (or perhaps integral to) the quality of the writing, it was the suspense the author created in the situation that drove this reader to devour page after page, commiserating with the angst of the main characters, and the cruel turns circumstance drove them to. The characters react in reasonable and understandable ways to circumstances, and therefore it was satisfying to be able to just read and experience circumstances through their eyes: competent women who refuse to be cowed by events. Both points of view are vividly presented, and competently juggled so that the reader receives a multi-dimensional view of these women.

I can understand the quibbles of the other reviewers, and they aren't off base, but the strengths of this entertaining read out weigh its weaknesses. I'd perhaps give it 3-1/2 stars versus 4, but I'm comfortable bumping it up. I've been impressed with each of Jennifer Fulton's offerings that I've read to date. The book was beautiful, heart-wrenching, and an all-around riveting read that I'd recommend to anyone who wants to read a nice, straight-forward romance spiced up with a plot twists and a kick of suspense, action and drama.

..but this isn't up to her usual standards. The plot hinges on a very unbelievable set of circumstances, with absolutely unethical behavior from lawyers -- and despite popular opinion, the vast majority of lawyers are extremely well-behaved. It felt like the author had a topic in mind, and wanted to educate the public -- this book gives me the impression that it was thrown together hastily and just to cover a subject of some importance to her. I wish she had taken the time to write about it in depth, as she did for polygamists in her other series.