Customer Reviews

I Love You To Death

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

 

 

"My Love Life is Killing Me"
Recently divorced, Alex Ramsay reluctantly goes out to meet Matt Crawford, a blind date set up by a well-meaning friend. After sitting at his table for a few moments, Alex is instantly smitten, only to discover he's not Matt after all, but instead P.I. John Tanner. Matt turns up dead, Tanner's investigating, and Alex is falling in love. Who knew death could be so romantic?

"Dial M for Mortified"
Darcy Bennett needed a plan to get her struggling coffee shop in the black, so she decided to host a "blind date" night in the hopes of drawing in new business. The event turns out better than she imagined, especially when sexy reporter Noah Gleason seems interested in getting to know her better. Things are going smoothly until a dead body shows up, leaving Darcy to wonder if Noah is hanging around to be with her, or to find "the next big story"....


"Dead Men Don't Write Checks"
Franny Gabriel hates change. It just really bothers her that pieces of history are demolished in order to make way for the new. She's decided to fight back, in a truly civilized and dignified fashion - as the blind date of her adversary. Only Franny doesn't expect to like Theo Landry as much as she does. He's a good guy, who happens to be absolutely gorgeous - what woman in their right mind can think about history while being kissed senseless in the present? The only thing to ruin her mood is a little murder.....

If I have one complaint about these stories, it's that they are too short! Amy Garvey has written three novellas proving that not all blind dates have to end in disaster. Instead, they can be sweet and sexy encounters that lead to something longer lasting. Amy's characters are endearing, and you will surely find yourself with a smile on your face as these couples try to deal with feelings of forever while still on their first date. While the general overall feeling is light-hearted, it doesn't make the love scenes any less heated. In fact, you may need to turn on the a/c for some of them. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Mercy me! This unusual anthology has three slightly longer novellas by the same author. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either, as Amy Garvey is very creative when it comes to plotting and characters. The romance angle is much stronger than the mysteries contained herein, as two of them aren't really even murders, although it sort of looks that way initially. I'm not going to give them away, either. You'll have to read it to find out for yourself.

You'll have to be prepared for some very explicit sex scenes in all three of these slighly interconnected stories. The heroines all know each other--in fact, the slightly kinky ex-husband of heroine #1 ends up with heroine #2, and they get along just dandy!

Another thing Ms. Garvey does extremely well (in my opinion, at least) is capture that feeling of `instant lust'. Although each of the stories here begin with a blind date, the temperature escalates rapidly, and within hours of first meeting, the couple heads off together for some really HOT sex. The excitement and exuberance fairly jumps off the page, and you can't help but smile at their antics, hopefully in remembrance of when that last happened to you. Hopefully, not all that long ago, either.

This would be a fabulous beach read: when you get too steamed up, you can go for a swim to cool off! Enjoy!

"My Love Life is Killing Me". With the ink not quite dry on her divorce papers, Alex looks forward to dating again, but is not sure how to take the dive. Her best friend comes through arranging a blind date. Things initially seem okay until her date dies in the men's room with undercover private investigator John looking into what happened. Alex wants to team up with John, but he wants to form a personal relationship only as he does not want Alex to get hurt.

"Dial M for Mortified". With her coffeehouse Sacred Grounds grinding near bankruptcy, Darcy needs a gimmick to get customers to come in once; she feels most will return. She throws a "blind date night" bash that turns into a monster success. At her gala is reporter Noah, who Darcy is attracted to even if he seems more like someone who failed to have his first caffeine fix. However, everything changes when someone adds a homicide to their coffee.

"Dead Men Don't Write Checks". Elementary school teacher Franny feels she is a chivalrous knight protecting her neighborhood from the developers like the Landry Foundation that bulldoze historical buildings in the name of progress. She decides she must confront the dragon in his lair so she wears her sexiest outfit and crashes the Landry Foundation's annual fundraiser to tear down CEO Theo. Shockingly it is attraction at first sight between Theo and Franny until one of the opponents dies during dessert.

These are three amusing blind date romantic suspense thrillers with homicides to spice up the relationships between the protagonists. Readers will appreciate Amy Garvey's fun I LOVE YOU TO DEATH as long as they do not have a blind date on the horizon.

Harriet Klausner

This book consisted of three stories involving the death of someone and solving the mystery.

3 stars for MY LOVE LIFE IS KILLING ME.
Alex has a blind date with Matt. The bartender mistakenly tells Alex her date is the guy in the corner, John. Alex talks with John for awhile. Matt never shows up because he died in the bathroom. John is a private detective who had been following Matt. Alex and John fall for each other but John breaks up with her thinking his lifestyle can't have a partner. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: three.

The last two stories, below, were not that good and I wanted the book to be over.

2 stars for DIAL M FOR MORTIFIED.
Darcy owns a coffee shop. Trish owns competitor coffee shop and is killed upstairs at Darcy's shop. I didn't like the way Darcy tells police "no one here killed Trish, I promise you that." Darcy has no facts and does not know who killed her. She makes unsupported statements. Noah is a reporter who becomes involved with Darcy. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: four.

2 stars for DEAD MEN DON'T WRITE CHECKS.
A wealthy man Theo does peace corp work around the world. His mother sets him up on a blind date with Franny (a school teacher) to be his escort at a charity function. Someone dies during the event. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: two.

For all three stories: Setting: current day U.S. Copyright 2006. Genre: contemporary romance.

The first story in this anthology is the best and the only reason I'm keeping this book. "My Love Life is Killing Me" is the story of Alex, a divorcee set up on a blind date by a friend. She winds up with the private investigator following this man. Did I mention the blind date dies in the men's room at the bar where he's supposed to meet Alex? That's how she mistakenly sees John Tanner, a taciturn loner who doesn't believe he's long-term relationship material, and sits down and begins to talk to him.
Alex is a dance instructor and there is a sexy scene in her dance studio where she's showing Tanner how to tango. And what do ya know, it DOES take two to tango and Tanner proves he's more than just a lonely P.I. This couple's chemistry is to die for and I've already read their story twice.
The other two stories are okay, but nothing out of the ordinary.