Customer Reviews

Loaded

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

 

 

Shari Shattuck's debut is sure to cause waves and raves with her fresh new voice. Readers are always looking for something different and this is it!!! LOADED is loaded with family secrets, a hotter than hot LAPD detective who is smart and sexy and knows just how to deal with Cally Wilde who is gorgeous, intelligent, ultra wealthy and doesn't take any nonsense off of anyone. She has a family full of nuts and bolts that are all trying to get a piece of the wealth her deceased father left her.

Now someone is trying to kill her, and in walks the handsome as sin Evan Paley, super duper detective to take the case when Cally is involved in a murder when someone tries to rob her and she ends up shooting the man. Cally and Evan will rock your world or I'm a monkey's uncle.

LOADED is definitely loaded with lots of fun and high jinks, edgy suspense, and some special sexual tension designed to torment Cally, as only Evan knows how. The cast of characters is terrific, the pace is like a runaway train, and I love the sexiness of this novel. It sparkles and shines in all the right moves. I can't wait to read the next book is this sassy new series. Callaway Wilde is one wild woman who knows how to kick-ass! And I wouldn't mind if Evan Paley tried a few of his techniques on me either! Whoa baby, the man is so hot! Don't miss this book, and pass the word onto a friend fast. It is soooooo cool.

Suzanne Coleburn, Reader To Reader Reviews

unless it's this one. This book was great, you should have seen my face when I realized this book was in first person, I really don't like just being in one person's head but Shari Shattuck, took me there with this can't put down romance, intrigue and all around good read. It only took me five hours to read and thats with breaks. I was so involved with who was out to get the Heroine, and I loved the Hero for mostly waiting to other oblegations to be finished, like finding out who was trying to kill her. Even though there was an abundance of characters each had their own tone, even in the first person prespective. I can't wait for the next book!

Not even sure how to write this review, like the book it was a mix.

This book started out so bad I almost tossed it after the first few chapters. However, after 1/4 of the way into the book Cally Wilde, the main character, became likeable and the writing (plus the story) changed enough and made me want to finish the book. At the start of the book I felt like was going to be a paper version of Lindsey Lohan or some other cracked up "it girl". Cally ended up being a non-typical rich Daddy's girl and actually became likeable. The love interest, Evan was ubber hot and they had great chemistry (although, his financial status for a cop was a huge stretch of the imagination). In the end, I enjoyed the book and glad I didn't toss it...even if the red herrings & villains were too many and convoluted (everybody basically was involved!). After I read the book, I told a friend it reads like a soap opera, only later to find out the author was a soap actress...made sense.

Hot, fast paced and interesting, LOADED is a truly impressive first novel. Shattuck's writing has it all - pacing, a smart, vulnerable/tough heroine, an interesting set of sidekicks (the perfect butler- female, and a stuntwoman who literally takes a bullet for her friend) and a very sexy male lead who retains a sense of mystery until the very end. Rather than an embellished romance novel, I found this to be a suprising treat - almost a perfect female inversion of the hard boiled all-male thriller. Great fun! Looking forward to the next in the series.

I had a hard time with the beginning of the book. The main character was extremely unlikable and I almost put it down. I'm glad I didn't because it (and she) did improve and I enjoyed the ride, although it was somewhat predictable. I knew who did it and why the moment their character was introduced and I'm not usually good at guessing that.

She is worth millions, but Cally Wilde is also lonely fearing that people only want her for her money that she inherited from her father. Cally's mother hates her daughter because she thinks some of the money should have gone to her. Her half brother Binford intensely dislikes her because he too believes that some of the loot should belong to him. Only his wife Elena treats Cally as a friend.

Following a business lunch, two men try to murder Cally but she kills one of them while the other retreats. Detective Evan Paley, the lead on the case, and Cally immediately are attracted to one another, but he refuses to make love to her until the case is closed. Another murder occurs this time in Cally's home making it looks like someone wants her to take the fall. A half-sister Cally never heard of comes forward to make a claim on the estate and Elena takes an overdose of sleeping pills. Cally's life seems out of control even as she suspects every member of her family as the culprit(s).

Being a reviewer is similar to a prospector panning for gold; every once in a while one sifts to find a gold nugget LOADED in the sediment. This amateur sleuth novel is crackling with repressed sexual desire, so much so that one should use potholders while reading this book. There are so many suspects with viable motives that readers will go crazy trying to figure out who the perpetrator is. The good news is that this is the opening installment in what has the makings of a great series.

Harriet Klausner

The book opens two years after the death of Cally Wilde's very wealthy father. Apparently, every person who even thought that they might be related to the man has tried to collect his/her "fair share" of the wealth. The slimey attorney in charge of the inheritance sees this as many billable hours and is encouraging them. Cally's mother feels that she is entitled to the money, even though she divorced Wilde for his partner before he made all his money. She, in turn, has convinced her son from her second marriage that Cally has cheated them of their rightful wealth. It is no wonder that Cally has a hard time letting people get close to her and is a disaster in her love life.

If this isn't all bad enough, someone is trying to kill her and the obvious suspects are all related to her! On the other hand, the detective assigned to the case is very attractive and seems to find her attractive also. He will not act on this until the case is closed, which is an additional incentive to find the culprit.

I was very impressed with this first effort. There was plenty of action, the characters are very well developed and I had a really hard time putting the book down. I can't wait to read the next one.

This was the first time I've read anything by Shari Shattuck, so I was hesitant to order it, especially after reading some of the reviews. However, it exceeded my expectations, I could not put this book down, it was so funny and entertaining! I can't wait until the next one comes in the mail.

This is a contemporary romantic suspense winner. The characterCalley Wilde is matchless and the writing and story by Shari Shattuck is witty, clever,tense, sexy...all the things you want in a book like this. Ms.Shattuck has written 2 sequels to LOADED...first was LETHAL, and then THE MAN SHE THOUGHT SHE KNEW....read Loaded and you'll love reading all of Shari's books...

Cally Wilde isn't your sit back and be afraid type of heroine. She wants to know who's after her and why, and it isn't in her plans to sit back and let Detective Paley deliver the answers to her like the evening paper. I rarely read suspense novels because by page three, I see where it's all going to end, but Ms. Shattuck's book is the exception. Besides keeping you guessing who's after Cally, Shattuck also entertains with the complicated relationships that Cally fosters with her money hungry mother Rudy, her siblings, and her stunt woman best friend Ginny. Quick, sexy and orignal, Loaded lives up to its' name.