Customer Reviews

Hot on Her Heels: 4 (Hqn)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The fourth and final book in the Lone Star Sisters series. My favorite of the series!

Garth Duncan is the illegitimate son of Jed Titan. Since he was 14-years-old, he's been on a path to destroy his father. Jed's daughters and by default, Garth's sisters, have gotten in the way, but now things have changed. The sisters and their closest friend, Dana, decide to dig up what they can on him to find out his real story.

Dana has never let a man into her life before. She has her own "secrets" that keep her from getting close to a man. She hates Garth for what he has done to her friends, but she finds herself oddly attracted to the man.

I wondered if I would like Garth after his escapades in the previous books. I liked him from the start, but loved him when he was wearing a Texas A&M sweatshirt (I'm an Aggie an love a man in maroon). He truly grew as a character in this book. He was real and truly likable. I enjoyed the relationship and chemistry that he had with Dana. Both of them were good characters that I wanted to see happy in the end.

I can't say I have much to complain about with this book...it was the perfect ending for the series. If I would change anything, it would be fewer references to Lexi's pregnancy and how big and uncomfortable she is. I got it...it was drilled into my head in the first 1/3 of the book...by the end, I was irritated by it.

You won't be disappointed by the ending to this one...all ends well.

Susan Mallery finishes up her series of the Titan sisters with Hot on Her Heels, which is actually Deputy Dana Birch and their half brother and antagonist Garth Duncan's story and it's a roller coaster ride full of action, romance and drama.
In this read Susan keeps us up to date the the goings on of the three sisters and their partners while bringing us this wild ride of a romance. Her story is the ongoing Titan World drama starring the insufferable Jed Titan patriarch and classic jerk and his relationship or non-relationship with his three daughters, in walks his long lost illegitimate son Garth who's story has been hinted about through out the series and finally gets it's due in this installment. Her dialogue is witty and shows a sense of humor even in the toughest of times. And her words paint pictures for the reader of the scenes they portray. The characters are larger than life, exciting and sometimes scary. Her hero and heroine in this read are the most unlikely of matches which makes it that much more interesting and she gets to the romance through a series of actions that will make the read keep turning the pages without stopping. The romance is hot and steamy and yet she let's you see the intimate sides of these two people and how vulnerable they really are and how the up bringing they had really made them the way they are. The love scenes are sizzling and will leave you breathless and fanning yourself and yet it's very sweet and the intense feelings these two have for each other come across on each page devoted to them.
So if you're ready to be wowed by the rich and famous and brought to your knees by love, to be brought to tears, and to laugh out loud, to meet unforgettable characters, then this is your read. This is the fourth book in this series and I would highly recommend that it be read in order.

I loved this book! Dana, the heroine, is fantastic. As a police deputy, she's tough and keeps her defenses up at all times, but Mallery shows through Dana's thoughts that she's not as confident as she appears. I was able to connect with Dana emotionally right from the start. I understood who she was, why she made the decisions she did. She is fiercely loyal to her friends, so she's prepared at the beginning of the book to hate Garth, who was mean to her friends in the first three books. It's very confusing to her to realize that Garth isn't the bad guy she'd thought he was. And that she's attracted to him.

Garth was a fabulous hero, too. He's strong and determined to reach his goal of making sure Jed Titan can never hurt anyone again. Ever since his mother's injury when he was in high school, Garth has been forced to stand against the world alone. Now that his half-sisters have decided to bring him into the family fold, Garth maintains his tough exterior but on the inside, there's a hopefulness that really touched me.

These two characters were made for each other. They share so much in common - abuse in their past, the sense of always being on the outside, looking in - that you know they understand each other in a deeper way than anyone else ever could. Their relationship reminds me in some ways of Eve and Roarke in the Nora Roberts J.D. Robb books. These characters aren't perfect people. They're flawed in a way that makes for a compelling read. And when Mallery shows how they're willing to make sacrifices for each other, I was moved to tears. (Dana's sacrifice made me laugh. I won't say more than that; I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.)

This is a happy ending I believe in! Highly recommend this book.

The Titan sisters (Lexie, Skye and Izzy) struggle with trying to prevent a family disaster as their half-brother Garth Duncan seeks revenge against their father Jed Titan. Though the three women know their dad deserves the worst, they wish it was over. Their best friend Dallas Police Department Deputy Dana Birch seeks evidence to lock away Garth especially for hurting the trio. However, he has been diabolically careful in not leaving anything around that could condemn him.

Dana is stunned with the news Jed ordered the bomb that nearly killed Izzy; as she thought Garth had done it. In fact she is further stunned that Jed was willing to kill his daughter in order to frame his son. Izzy wants to save Garth from his own destructive behavior so similar to that of their father. Dana joins her BFFs while she and Garth are beginning to fall in love. However, Jed is willing to shed the blood of his family to remain the top dog.

Although Jed remains over the top of Reunion Tower as the king of betrayal and treachery, the final Titan sister romantic suspense thriller is a superb angst filled thriller as Garth learns how complex life and relationships are. The final coda is heart-wrenching that sums up the saga with the tune You Can't Always Get What You Want, but with love you can come close.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book! It was indeed, the perfect ending and best book of the Lone Star Sisters series (IMHO).

Garth was not a character that I liked in the first two books, however, by the third book, I began to wonder if there were any redeeming qualities in this man. Nick was such a great guy in Izzy's book Straight from the Hip that I started to wonder if Garth was hiding a deeper, more tender side of himself. When Izzy declared that she was going to "save" Garth and hugged him in her book I saw the set up for a new and improved Garth and I wasn't disappointed. His relationship with his mother, his developing relationship with his sisters and his burgeoning relationship with Dana all combined to make him a complex and compelling character and one you will fall in love with by the end of this book.

Dana was always my favorite character in this series and it was nice that she stayed true to form throughout the series. She's tough, determined, honest, loyal to a fault and nobody was going to mess with her friends and get away with it. She had her secrets which worked to shape who she was so it was nice to see her grow as a character and emerge a winner in the end. Garth had a formidable adversary/ally in her. I love the way their story developed and how Garth changed over the course of the story. I laughed at times and I got misty at times, especially the end. I walked away from this story with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. Susan Mallery is really great at writing snappy, witty dialogue that keeps the characters alive in your mind. I will be reading this book again. Don't miss this one, it's a keeper.

This was a great ending to the series. The book brought Garth's story to the reader. The series from the first book through this book is about the Titan children including the "bastard" son Garth as Jed (the father) called him and his three daughters. You learn to hate Jed pretty much from the get go and will see why Garth is doing what he is doing just not to the right people at first. Garth's story will explain more and will have the reader on his side almost from the start of this book. Lip Service (Lone Star Sisters)Under Her Skin (Lone Star Sisters)Straight From The HipHot on Her Heels (Lone Star Sisters)

As this is the final book of the series I thought I'd review the whole series. I can say I will honestly miss this series. It was so fun and so cute. I loved all four books. Although I did think Izzy's story did push the cute cheesy factor just a little too much. It was just shy of unicorns and puppies. But it still was a great book to read and I really enjoyed them all.

With that being said I must say why I only gave four stars.

1. Jed
The progession of Jed from the first book to the last just got more and more comical to the point that I just didn't take his charecter seriously anymore. Which is a shame because the majority of Hot on her Heels was about taking Jed down. But halfway through the book I didn't care about Jed anymore and was only intersted in the relationship developing between Garth and Dana. Yes this is supposed to be a romance and that is supposed to take centre stage but Jed was a distraction.

In the first book I really saw Jed as an advisary. He was mean and cruel without being a charecter. He was a person you could see as being absolutely ruthless. From his insensative "winner gets all" competition to his complete and utter disregard to his daughter's feelings. He saw them as incompetent and he made no secret about it. At the same time he was a business man. He believed in beating competetion, but honestly. There was no glory in winning if you had to cheat. I both hated and admired this Jed. You could tell from the very first book that at some point the girls were going to come together to try and take him down, which both scared and thrilled me.

This read the same mostly for book two. It was so totally in his charecter to not see Izzy when she was in the hospital, or to insult Skye's foundation. I did find it odd that someone as ruthless as Jed would not know Skye still had some money left over though. His charecter seemed to be one that would know everything. However, it was only at the end of book two when Jed started to become the evil charecter playing with his mustache like a 1930s villain. The whole scene with forcing Skye into Marriage was too much. Jed had just discovered he had been tricked by one suitor, to me it would have been more like Jed to threathen to kick her out of the house and disinherit her for continuing a relationship with Mitch or something just a little less dramtic.

By book 3 Jed was not the same Jed as in book one. I was certain of it when he tried to force Izzy to sleep with someone. One of the things Jed said in book one was that he would have never tried an arranged marriage with Lexi because he knew she wouldn't accept that. It seems as if he knew the extent of his power over his daughters. The proposal to Izzy showed that he did not. Surely he would have known that Izzy wouldn't accept as she had never accepted anything he may have wanted her to do. Working on an oil rig, not going to college... all examples that Izzy isn't crawling over to please her father.

By Hot on her Heels he was a complete cartoon. He almost killed his daughter, we founf out yes he did do illegal business practices. It was just too much. I wanted more for Jed. I expected more of a fight. I weas disappointed.

2. The sisters acceptance of Garth.

Don't get me wrong. I wanted it to happen from book one. I just think the process should have started in book 3 and been more gradual. Maybe even by saying more time had passed or something. It was just tooo quick and they were so happy to forgive and forget.

Also I found it odd that Garth planted bogus information and rumors into papers and computers that accused Jed's, Skye's and Lexi's businesses of wrong doing. But for some reason he was lying about the girls and telling the truth about Jed. Sorry that just didn't make any sense to me. He admitted to drugging the horses but everything else was true?! But this goes back to the Jed thing which I talked more than enough about.

3.Finally I didn't like how they kept falling in love, denying the fact they were in love, something happens to break them away and then they get back together. It was the same formula in every book. I would have liked just a bit more of a difference. Skye's was the only one that was different because that relationship was bit more rocky. I liked it.


Okay so I know that it just seemed like rant against the series but the truth is those were the only things about this series I did not like. I loved everything else. This series was funny, entertaining, romantic, erotic in some places. It was just a great series, Hot on her Heels was a good ending and I'm sad that I finished it because I can't read anymore about the Lone Star Sisters.

Fun dialogue - especially the bantering between Garth and Dana. I'm only disappointed that this appears to be the end to the series.

This book left me with more questions than answers. How did our hero suddenly become a good guy? How did our heroine fall for a man who hurt her friends? Why did the heroine's friends stick up for the "hero"? How did the heroine get to be a "good" deputy with such lousy stakeout skills? Why have the heroine eat dinner every night with the hero who she doesn't like? Why do I care about these books anyways?

I admit I read this book just to see where the series would end up. I read the first three books, which were marginally better than this one. This one left me wanting to slap the heroine and hero. If our hero was so good at getting information about people, why didn't he realize his father didn't like the Titan sisters? The father is an ass. The hero is like the father. The sisters are twits. The heroine is like the sisters. I think the author was shooting for a "Dallas" theme, but she fell WAY short. The only redeeming quality for this book was that I bought it on sale and didn't pay full price for the paperback. It also gave a satisfying thunk on the wall when I hurled it across the room in disgust. Other than that...there are better books out there.

The book was practically brand new. We had to re-order it from another *this one to actually get the book. First time around, book never arrrived!