Customer Reviews

Dirty Little Secrets

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Julie Leto has been one of the top writers to emerge from Harlequin's Blaze line.

She is a sassy, sexy author that loves people, loves her characters. She likes to dance on the razor thin edge of the envelope, is unflinching in her sexuality of those characters, so you could see Leto would soon want to spread her wings and walk on the wild side with a wee bit more 'elbow room'. She gets it with this Downtown Press title Dirty Little Secrets. On the ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) I received, it has a neat red and black Chit Lit style cover. I see they have updated it to give you a female James Bond feel. Whatever the cover, the package within is dynamite!

Leto is launching a new series, featuring a sexy, kick (...), Latina bounty hunter. She is not the stay at home Chiquita, but loves danger and chases it with a passion. She is also passionate about ex-boyfriend Francisco Vega. She hasn't seen her old love for ten years. A broken heart that never healed, sees her going after Frankie when he skips out on bail. Now, he's in the cross-hairs of her target for more reasons than one. She tracks him down to one of their old haunts, a Tampa dance club, and sets about to seduce the lad into her clutches.

Only, Frankie is on his own agenda. He's world is dangerous, deadly, as he moved through the underworld of arm dealers, killers and dirty dealings on the major level. Marisela is a complication he didn't need, only there is no shaking her. Not that he really wants to, mind you. So Marisela is pulled into Frankie's shady side of town, she has to prove there is more than one way to get her man.

This book sizzles with Leto's sharp writing. However, fans of Leto, understand this is not typical romance. This is adventure series where manhunting is literal!! The romance between Marisela and Frankie is typical Leto singe your fingers because the pages are too hot, but this is not category romance.

Kudos for gusty Leto for stepping up to the challenge and leaving the safe nest of Harlequin Blaze to deliver this outstanding novel!

Marisela Morales is a Cuban-American bounty hunter with a checkered past. When she's hired to keep her old lover, ex-con Fransisco Vega, from skipping bail, Marisela decides its the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one bullet: she'll make a little cash and deliver a bit of payback to Frankie for breaking her teenaged heart.

But Frankie has other plans. Now an undercover agent for a private investigation company, he's been sent to recruit Marisela for their latest assignment, one that will propel the tough-talking chica into a world of glamour, intrigue, and international terrorism.

The first book in Leto's exciting new adventure series features relentless pace, dazzling settings, breathtaking action sequences and her trademark sensuality. Her portrayal of Tampa's Cuban community is spot-on, and her descriptions of my home state left this Florida girl more than a little homesick. Frankie and Marisela burn up the pages, and Marisela's new boss Ian provides some heat of his own.

In Marisela, Leto has created a strong, passionate, no-nonsense heroine with a heart of gold. The author portrays her Latina heroine with authenticity and expertise. Despite Marisela's rough edges (and gang member past), she is sexy, smart, and extremely moral. Unlike many of the action heroines in books today, she never comes across as cartoonish or invincible, but as a real woman who just happens to be very good at her dangerous job. Marisela may be kickass, but if you cut her, she bleeds scarlet.

I highly rcommend this series to anyone looking for thrilling, sexy read. I can't wait to read Marisela's next adventure!

This book is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! It was full of thrills, laughs, romance...all around great book. I couldn't put it down and finished it within a few days. The whole time reading I could picture the book playing out in my head - This would make an amazing movie/series. Thankfully this book is the 1st in a series so there will be more to come. Anyone thinking of buying this book - DO SO - you will not regret it. I can't wait for the 2nd book to come out.

This is the first book in what I hope is a long living series.
Marisela is an ex gang member. She is the ultimate heroine. She is tough, smart, and sexy. She starts off tracking her exboyfriend to a club in order to bring him in before he can skip bond. She soon realises things aren't always what they seem and she gets involved in Frankies world... I don't want to spoil the plot so I wont say much more other than the characters have a lot of chemistry and Julie has created a wonderful adventure series... With a lot of romance mixed in. A great book. It has everything.

Julie can write a helluva good book!!!
I can't wait for part two.

This is your chance to get in on the start of a fabulous new series from one of my favorite authors Julie Elizabeth Leto. Marisela Morales is tough as nails, and is recruited to work with her former lover Frankie.

Marisela soon finds herself immersed in the world of drug dealers/warlords and sent to rescue the daugher of a wealthy socialite from her father. Except appearances can be deceiving, in this world there are no black and white characters.

I cannot say enough how much I loved this book. If I could give it more then 5 stars I would.

STORY BRIEF:
Marisela used to be in a street gang. Now she works as a part-time bounty hunter. Ian runs an investigation firm. Ian hires Marisela and her former boyfriend Frankie to work for him on a kidnapping case. The father kidnapped his daughter Jessica when she was young and raised her in Puerto Rico. Jessica is now 17. The mother hires Ian to bring Jessica back to the U.S. The father is a rich and powerful arms dealer.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I just couldn't get into this. It reminds me of other novels about a tough female bounty hunter or investigator (of sorts) who has complicated approach/avoidance relationships with two men at the same time - in this case her boss and her former boyfriend. It felt like going through the motions of a story, but nothing was special or different. The plot was ok but ordinary. For a great story you need characters that interact in interesting ways, or characters that are fun to watch just as themselves. The characters in this book had nothing to set them apart. Unfortunately, I skimmed parts of the book reading the first line of each paragraph until I got to parts that were more interesting.

The key ingredient is Marisela's character. She's a tough fighter and loves the adrenaline rush that comes from a high-risk job. Her instincts are so good that she guessed someone's ulterior motive and successfully acted on it. She was smarter than her boss who caused some problems. It felt odd that her boss did some stupid and incompetent things. I'm not sure why it was odd. Anyway, I did not enjoy this. I prefer Shelly Fredman or Janet Evanovich for this kind of story.

This book is labeled "Naughty Girls" by Pocket Books. I was expecting it to be a romance novel, but it's not. It doesn't fit the definition because Marisela does not end up with a guy at the end. However there are sex scenes and a happy ending. So far there are two books in this series.

One thing that annoyed me was the use of Spanish words. Throughout the book, the author would put a Spanish word into an English sentence. I did not know what most of the Spanish words meant. Some authors provide the meaning in parentheses or italics after each foreign word (which I like). This author did not. A couple of times she had complete sentences in Spanish. Apparently the author thinks she is bringing a Latin flavor to the book. I was annoyed with how it was done.

CAUTION MINOR SPOILERS:
I could not believe that Marisela's boss went to the bad guy and told the bad guy what Marisela was doing. I couldn't buy it. He was her boss, he could have influenced her actions in other ways than blabbing to the enemy. I was shaking my head. Maybe I'm not smart enough to see his reasoning. They are in enemy territory and the enemy is all-powerful. You don't give the enemy a motive to kill your employees while they are there. Maybe this might have been an ok plot twist, but there was no logic to support it. It had a "thrown in feeling."

There was something else that didn't make sense to me. It was a minor event, but it bothered me. Frankie's parents hire Marisela to get Frankie to appear in court. She handcuffs Frankie to a bed in his parents' home and then leaves expecting his parents to take him to court the next day. What's to prevent Frankie from running off from his parents as soon as they remove the handcuffs? Shouldn't Marisela stay with him or come back the next day to make sure he gets to court? She's the tough bounty hunter.

DATA:
Story length: 315 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 3. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 11. Setting: current day Florida and Puerto Rico. Copyright: 2005. Genre: female adventure suspense, potential romance to be continued.

In Tampa at the Club Electric, Marisela Morales runs into her former lover Francisco "Frankie" Vega. Ten years ago when she was a teen they were an entry, but he spent seven years in prison as an undercover DEA informer, has been out two years, but recently was busted for possession. Unbeknownst to him, Marisela works for AAA-Able Bail Bonds and has for the last seven years as an enforcer.

Although he still desires her, Frankie has other problems to deal with so he plans to go home alone. She plans to bring bail jumper Frankie back with her. However, she also has not forgiven Frankie for breaking her heart a decade ago. Before taking him in, Marisela wants vengeance as only a woman scorned can demand even if she still finds she loves the rat.

Mindful of Stephanie Plum, Marisela is a fine protagonist who has been a terrific enforcer for several years because her boss Alberto Garcia understood a basic tenet of not sending an employee back to home turf especially relatives and friends. Thus her chasing after the man she loved who she believes jilted her brings tension as Marisela proves Alberto is right. Readers will appreciate this strong cat and mouse thriller while wondering throughout just who is the rodent as the teenage love of the lead couple threatens to enflame them as adults, but both believe that there time has passed and have other issues to deal with first. Julie Leto provides a tense character driven suspense laden "Bad Girl" tale that subgenre fans will read in one sitting.

Harriet Klausner