Customer Reviews

Fabulous Beast (Silhouette Promo)

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

 

 

Shy and quiet Tabitha Graham decides to take a cruise to live a little bit. Within a few hours of boarding, she realizes--much to her dismay--that even at sea she'll never be the life of the party. When Tabitha meets Dev Colter, she believes she has found a kindred spirit. Dev is sweet, shy, and vulnerable...or so she thinks. Dev will let her believe anything she wants, so long as he can lure Tabitha to him...

This book is classic JAK (a.k.a. James)...humorous, witty, and sexy. The only complaint I have with it is that she uses too many exclaimers and the love scenes are a little purple. I wouldn't let that deter you from buying it, however. It was still an engrossing story and because it's only 219 pages, it can be devoured in a couple of hours time.

Tabitha Graham disliked being wholesome and sweet and shy, but she realized that this was her in a nutshell. Now she has met a man on her cruise that seemed to be all that and more. Having rescued poor Devlin Colter after thugs had worked him over, Tabitha was determined to protect him and even seduce him. A spy in semi-retirement, Dev was intrigued by Tabby. When the truth about Dev comes out, his tabby cat flees. Now Dev must follow and convince her that even dragons need love.

Delightful story of a man and woman looking to change. This is the type of story that made Krentz popular and is still full of love, humor, and fun.

Nothing super special, but a pleasant short read. Again, as all Silhouette Desires reprints, suffers from the mini book treatment. Just too short to really develop interesting characters, but they were nice enough to give you a good price. JAK does what she can and it is a nice quick read.

Tabitha Graham is on a cruise looking for a little adventure. Recently divorced from a bad marriage (he was on rebound and soon found girl wanted him back), her ego has been scarred by the marriage, leaving her doubting herself in many areas.

She rescues Dev Colter in a back alley - she thinks he is a mugged tourist - but he is actual a secret agent. Due to his weakened state of being beaten, Tabby takes care of him and helps him back to the ship. He likes the softness and womanly tenderness he sees in her and encourages Tabby in this mistaken belief he is a mild, almost shy man.

Needless to say, Tabby is not happy when she finds the man she 'understands so well' because they are so much alike, is nothing like he man she created in her mind. But Dev knows Tabby likes fanciful beasts like dragons and unicorns - so he is out to convince her a live 'beastie' is even more thrilling to trap.

If you've ever read any of Jayne Ann Krentz's works, it will be blatantly obvious to you as you read this book that it is one of her earlier works. Not a lot of information is given about the backgrounds of "Dev" and "Tabby." The minor characters in this one are very minor. Actually only two other characters even interact with "Dev" and "Tabby" more than once. I still found the book to be an enjoyable read. The main characters are likable and the beginning reminded me of being on a cruise. Even in this earlier work, there are flashes of J. A. Krentz's blooming talents. "Tabby's" discussions of dragons and other creatures reminds me of some of Krentz's later works.

Whether writing as Jayne Ann Krentz or Stephanie James, you can always be assured of a delightful romance and that holds true for "Fabulous Beast". I note that the original publishing date is 1984; this may explain why the plot lacks some of the depth and enchanting secondary characters of her later books (see "The Golden Chance", "Silver Linings" or "Deep Waters"). However, if you've a mind to float away for a couple of hours and share a romantic adventure with a wonderfully normal heroine (she actually has hips, for goodness sake) then join Tabitha on her cruise and enjoy her seduction of the mysterious Dev Colter. You will find them both "Fabulous"!

I have always enjoyed Krentz aka James' books but this one seemed like she was trying to rush a story into print. She needed to take time and put some meat into this one. Tabitha goes on a cruise by herself. She's insecure and hoping to meet Mr. Right. She soon falls for an injured passenger who she saves from an alley, shortly after he was beaten. Now she is trying to make Dev into her perfect man. All he wants to do is go along with her so he can get into her pants. Too much fantasy and not enough communication. This book was just too hard to read.

Tabby is on a cruise of the Caribbean alone and doing her best to enjoy herself, that is until she runs into a fellow passenger, Dev, beaten in an alley at one of the ports of call. The first half of the book was rather enjoyable because even though Dev was putting all his efforts into getting into Tabby's pants he was such a smooth operator he actually got Tabby to throw her shy little self at him pretending to be a sensitive, shy, gentleman. Things quickly go down hill once Tabby gets back home after discovering Dev's deceit and obviously being naturally furious. That would all be well and good except for the fact Dev showed up at her home claiming to OWN her, threated repeatedly to beat her until she couldn't sit down and then when she refused to have sex with him after spending 4 days to get to know him again on the mainland he tries to rape her. Nothing about it was the slightest bit romantic and I honestly was hoping she would run away and call the cops and end up alone. But of course that didn't happen.

I can't even begin to tell you what a disappointment the last half of this book was. To all the boys out there who might be reading this, you can't rape a woman into loving you. It's just physically impossible, no matter what fantasy is portrayed by this book. I see the print date is 1999 but based on the dated fashion, a mention of getting a few bottles of wine from '81 for a party and the rape this definitely looks to be a reprint. It's really a shame because with humor instead of violence this could have been a nice read.

2 stars, if you aren't bothered by abusive heroes then it would probably be worth 3 1/2 stars but he is either yelling, attempting rape, or threating to beat her for a third of the book and after the rape thing I couldn't even finish it I just skimmed to the end in disgust.

Nothing super special, but a pleasant short read. Again, as all Silhouette Desires reprints, suffers from the mini book treatment. Just too short to really develop interesting characters, but they were nice enough to give you a good price. JAK does what she can and it is a nice quick read.

Tabitha Graham is on a cruise looking for a little adventure. Recently divorced from a bad marriage (he was on rebound and soon found girl wanted him back), her ego has been scarred by the marriage, leaving her doubting herself in many areas.

She rescues Dev Colter in a back alley - she thinks he is a mugged tourist - but he is actual a secret agent. Due to his weakened state of being beaten, Tabby takes care of him and helps him back to the ship. He likes the softness and womanly tenderness he sees in her and encourages Tabby in this mistaken belief he is a mild, almost shy man.

Needless to say, Tabby is not happy when she finds the man she 'understands so well' because they are so much alike, is nothing like he man she created in her mind. But Dev knows Tabby likes fanciful beasts like dragons and unicorns - so he is out to convince her a live 'beastie' is even more thrilling to trap.