Customer Reviews

High Energy

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is my first Dara Joy book, and if this is any indication of her writing talent, it won't be my last. This is, hands-down, my all-time favourate romance! It has wit, romance, two very likable main characters and a host of supporting players worthy of their own book. (That's my subtle hint to you, Ms. Joy, if you're reading this -- please write a book for Mills and Gregor! That's a super couple just waiting to happen!) I have had crushes on other heroes before, but Tyber Evans is my perfect man (can I help it if I have a weakness for drop-dead gorgeous rocket scientists with a wicked sense of humor?) Tyber and Zanita (hate their names, but love the couple) remind me of those power couples of the 30's screwball comedies. In fact, they are the Nick and Nora for the 90's! Please, Ms. Joy, consider writing sequels for this couple. I would love to read about their continuing adventures!

If you are looking for a smart, funny contemporary romance HIGH ENERGY is it.

Tyberius Augustus Evans is gorgeous, brilliant, rich, kind to animals, small children and kooks, sexy, eccentric, and secure enough in himself to fall utterly and completely in love. This is a fantasy hero - no real man could ever compete with Tyber. There's no angst here, no dark and brooding secrets, simply the perfect man.

When an author writes a romance with a hero such as this, the heroine has to be handled correctly. I mean, what we've read before tells us that if she falls too hard and too fast, there will be no conflict and therefore no story. Did Dara Joy follow that steadfast rule? Not on your life. The set-up for Zanita, our heroine, is that she's never experienced fulfillment because she's always held herself back, never allowed herself to become befuddled. Her best friend has advised her that she'll know when it's the real thing when she jumps in feet first.

Which is precisely what happens; Zanita falls for Tyber asap, and before she knows it, she's completely befuddled. Ah, you say, if she's befuddled, does that make her too stupid to live? Well, I certainly didn't think so. She didn't get herself into situations she couldn't get out of, although the hero's mastery prevented many of the situations from getting out of control (just another reason to love him!)

Humorous romances require quirkiness of character. Zanita, as Tyber puts it, is a genius in non-linear thinking. Perhaps I relate to her; my husband says I get from A to C via Q. My synapses fire differently than most. So do Zanita's (okay, so her name is a bit on the zany side, but I can live with that!).

So, does her befuddled-ness annoy our hero? In many romances, it does, and that's where the humor generally is found - think Bewitching or A Basket of Wishes. In this book, Tyber knows Zanita's non-linear thinking is what is drawing him in to her and he's secure enough to go along for the ride. She knows he's eccentric but is living her friend's advice - she's jumped in without thinking, and for once, her love life is working. There's great humor there.

So we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor. . . did I mention great sex? Well, sort of, because Zanita, who never experienced fulfillment, is fulfilled quite a bit. From what I gather, Dara Joy's other books are quite a bit more explicit than this one, but, believe me, Tyber's brilliance isn't limited to the laboratory. Not only that, he knows Zanita is the one for him, and the way he brings her along is masterful.

So, we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor, great sex. . . where's the conflict? We all know that there has to be conflict for a romance to work. Without that tension, it's a bore, right? I mean, haven't we read books where the hero and heroine get along so well that it's like talking a walk in the garden? Well, it's a lovely walk, but after about an hour, you start to wonder, "Okay, this is fine, but what else is there?"

Dara Joy created a small amount of conflict for Tyber and Zanita by creating conflict within Zanita, who has a hard time taking Tyber's commitment to her at face value. And, the author created external conflict as well - a problem and a mystery for the two characters to resolve that falls outside their relationship. It is, in essence, what keeps them together initially. The author also creates a bit of extra fun in the characters of Mills and Gregor, whose one meeting is filled with some of the best bickering I've ever read - I look forward to reading their romance one day!

This romance is a wonderful piece of fluff, and if you have the requisite sense of humor to enjoy fluff, I strongly recommend High Energy.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance

(This review drawn from the October 20, 1991 issue of Laurie's News & Views column now known as At the Back Fence, at All About Romance)

Rarely does an author hit her stride so well on only her second (?) novel ever published. I had read the entire matrix of destiny trilogy before I ever got to High Energy, and loved the quirky characters that Dara has such a talent for introducing. So imagine my surprise when the least sci-fi of her romances -- if it can be called sci-fi at all -- turned out to have the most imaginitive and witty chemistry!

Tyber and Zanita have a classic "George and Gracie" dialog thing going, and they are both too lovable. Tyber's only fault from this reader's perspective is a somewhat condescending attitude toward Zanita's career as a reporter for the local paper. Hey, almost perfect is a heck of a lot better than most of the run of the mill jerks that pose for romance heroes. Zanita is the only female in the known universe non-linear (read: weird) enough to confound him. Together they create a delightful duo, setting forth to solve a mystery involving a local con artist.

A note to Matrix of Destiny fans: There's just enough left unexplained and hinted at to cause me to doubt that Tyber is entirely human; his Familiar-like cat is the best allusion to the Matrix of Destiny trilogy that Dara could have thrown in . Not to mention his eccentric lifestyle and the fact that he is an extraordinaryily gifted genius/Renaissance man. Perhaps this is the seed for a future tie-in novel between the two universes. We can only hope.

This was my first Dara Joy read, and I can't wait to pick up the next one. High Energy was funny, sweet, tender and erotic all at once, and when I got done, all I could think of was "MORE"!

Zanita is sort of a stereotypical ditz - a little loopy, cute in a oddball kind of way, but not dumb. I expected Tyber to be her exact opposite, and was delighted to find that he was just as nuts as Zanita. Granted, the man is a rocket scientist, but Ms. Joy has gifted him with a mischevious nature, bizarre housemates and an incredibly sweet, romantic heart. The book and characters really should not have worked in a romantic setting, but the author has really worked a miracle here. I understood perfectly why Zanita appealed to Tyber and boy, did I understand why Tyber was so attractive to Zanita.

The subplot about Xavier LaLeche is mildly interesting, but the best parts of the book are the interplay between Zanita and Tyber. The dialogue sparkles, the romance is beautiful and the lovemaking is hot, hot, hot without being too graphic.

When I finished the book, I found myself wishing Joy had carried the story for another couple hundred pages, because I had genuinely come to like Tyber and Zanita. While it looks like Mills and Gregor will be having their own books, I would really, really like to see Tyber and Zanita have their own series. If you're looking for a light romantic story that is surprisingly moving, I highly recommend this book.

I like Joy's Matrix of Destiny series, but this book was very disappointing to me. I usually read a book in a couple of days, but I kept putting this one down because it annoyed me, then picking it back up hoping I'd been wrong. I left the last 50 pages unread because I just didn't care any more.

The problem was in the tone of the book and of the two main characters. The hero is a brilliant physicist. He condescends to the heroine at every turn. He thinks her dumbness is cute. She mistakes a physics class for a psychic healing seminar. Ain't she cute. She even has an itty bitty job of her own-- she's a reporter. Of course, it's for the family paper and they gave her that job to keep her out of trouble. But that's OK, the big strong smart man is now there to make all her decisions for her. Gag.

Joy's heroes Rejar and Rian are wonderful because no matter how arrogant they are, they respect their heroines. I wish that part of her style had been carried over into this book.

This is one of those books where the couple gets together... and that's about it. I kept thinking, Well, now they're together - some kind of conflict will arise. There has to be *something* wrong, after all, or why bother, right? Well Dara Joy seems to think not.

Besides having zany (read: totally unrealistic) names, Tyber and Zanita are blessed -- they lead amazing lives and meet each other and fall in love. Then End. Except, this is like 50 pages into the book, and there are about 200 left. Sure, stuff happens after this point -- namely they have great sex, they have good dialog, they investigate a charlatan psychic, they have more great sex. But there's just no conflict.

Maybe it's that I like my heroes and heroines to have something to *do* during their stories (these seem to be searching for something to do with their time). Or maybe it's because I'm addicted to tortured heroes (Tyber seems to have led a charmed life). Or maybe I just don't like zany names. But this book just didn't do it for me.

Tyber was way sexy, but I kept waiting to find out what his faults were. There had to be something. Zanita had one fault, but it wasn't that big, and it went away pretty easily. Plus, we never really understood why she had it in the first place - it was just there to keep the couple from being *perfectly* happy until the end of the book (instead of almost perfectly happy, as they were 50 pages in).

Which is not to say I didn't like the book. Tyber, as I said, was very sexy. Zanita was interesting. They just didn't seem very ... deep, I guess. I look forward to High Intensity because it looks like that couple will have some definite sparks (at the end of this one they already don't much like each other, so that's a good start). Given some faults and a few conflicts, High Energy could have been a much better book. Without them, it was kindof a disappointment.

I just can't say how much I loved this book! It was all you could ask for in a romance: funny, sexy, to-die-for hero. The heroine was a little ditzy, yeah, but we have to consider that not only strong, feminist-oriented, completely self-reliable women can find romance. I liked her very much and found her to be appropriately complex. I enjoyed this book immensely and have reread it twice. It was a light read, which is wonderful. It's great to just spend a few hours on a funny, sexy book and not take it so seriously. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, easy-to-get-lost-in book. Buy it. Enjoy it for what it is.

Well I now must consider Dara Joy one of my favorite authors. I have loved her Matrix of Destiny series but this book and the sequel High Intensity blew me away. This is the story of reporter Zanita Masterson, a reporter for a local paper who wants to take a seminar on Psychics to expose a fake who is preying on sick women. She accidently ends up taki9ng the seminar taught by Physicist Tyberius Augustus Evans, or Tyber to his friends. She soon realizes her mistake but by then its too late. He has spotted her and is determined to make her his. He is a drop dead gorgeous hunk who looks like a pirate not a scientist. She can't seem to stay away from him and when she tells him of her quest to uncover the fake psychic he agrees to help her. There are some really great secondary characters that make this book a whole lot of fun. I would even like to see two of them get their own story. This story is full of laughter and steamy scenes that almost burned the pages. I will definately read this book and its sequel time and time again. Buy this book!

This is the 4th book of Dara's I have read and she just gets better.with each one. I am about to start High Intensity and i've no doubt it will be even better. Please Dara keep writing about these wonderful people. Mills and Gregor are the perfect couple in the making. The posibilities are endless. One of the other reviewers is spot on when she suggests linking the Matrix of Destiny books with this series. It would be absolutely wonderful.

I love Dara's style of writing. It captures you, draws you in and holds you till the last page. All Dara's books have a magnetism all of their own. Thank you for giving us the pleasure of your work.

For my money, there are just not enough brainy heroes in romance novels. Plenty of brawn, most of them, but generally light in those IQ points. Tyberius Augustus Evans, the hero of HIGH ENERGY, is that rare hero, a scientist. But, because of Dara Joy's light touch, a sexy scientist with a sense of humor. Talk about an irresistible combination! So why didn't I give this book five stars? Because I couldn't understand heroine Zanita's lingering reluctance to commit to a relationship with such a great guy. If you're at all familiar with Joy's work, you soon discover this is something of a trend in her novels. Me? Wild horses wouldn't have been able to drag me away from Tyber!