Customer Reviews

Midnight Jewels

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

AFter reading all the 5* reviews, had to put my comments in. I've read most of JAK (& Amanda Quick & Jayne Castle), and re-read them. Including this one. The plot is good, I like all the stuff about books and old books, but the hero is just too obnoxious. I know they're all a little too macho, but this guy is rude and lacks some of the endearing qualities of her other heros. He does get better as the book goes on, but not soon enough for me. I would have dumped him way back. I actually prefer her newer work, where the heroes are a little less rude and the heroines more willing to stand up for themselves.

This was my first Jayne Ann Krentz book. It still remains as one of my favorite Krentz books. The plot is intriging, the hero is enigmatic and attractive and the heroine is sassy and smart. Their adventure to the Colorado mountains was a suprisingly well written story full of suspense, danger and final showdown between the good and the evil. An excellent book worth reading over and over again.

I am a huge fan of JAK and have been reading my way through all of her books. Midnight Jewels is the story of a used book seller, Mercy Pennington, who stumbles upon a rare book in a flea market. The plot unfolds as she attempts to sell the book and discovers the dangerous situation surrounding it. The hero, Croft Falconer, competes with the villian to purchase the book and the story developes from there. This is not my most favorite JAK book but it is a good read, fast paced with nice character development.

I can't remember what I read before I found Jayne Ann Krentz! This is one of my favorites. The story is exciting, faced paced, but not too fast. Jayne takes the relationship to believable yet passionate and exiting places. In all of her books she portrays the hero and the heroine as honorable, trustworthy and passionate, qualities you don't find much anymore either in real life or fiction. I find this so intriguing and inspiring. I love the setting; rare books, martial arts, travel to exotic locales (Colorado) and memorable love scenes. Definitely a keeper! Jayne has written books under the names of Stephanie James, Amanda Glass (a rare find), Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick. She does it all, contemporary romance, futuristic, and historical - a collectible author, don't miss any of them.

This is a great suspense story with plenty of romance. The main characters are so different in personality that it seemed impossible for them to like each other. Mercy was a naive book store owner and Croft was a mercenary that was used to violence. As a team, they wanted to capture the drug dealer that supposedly had died in a fire three yeas ago. Gladstone (the evil character) survived the fire and had plastic surgery in order to become a drug lord/art collector again. Very easy book to read with all the necessary components that make you want to hurry and finish the book.

This was my first Jayne Ann Krentz book. It still remains as one of my favorite Krentz books. The plot is intriging, the hero is enigmatic and attractive and the heroine is sassy and smart. them.Their adventure to the Colorado mountains was a suprisingly well written story full of suspense, danger and final showdown between the good and the evil. An excellent book worth reading over and over again.

The book has adventure, comedy, and romance. A wonderful combination. The main characters are interesting and compelling. It is an all around great read that doesn't bore you. The chemistry between the main characters was wonderful and I was very convinced of a love connection between them.

I was sadly disappointed in this book. The dialogue is very stiff and unwieldy to me and the hero doesn't make much sense. I thought the plot was a stretch most of the time. There seemed to be little of her ususal humor evident.
I am glad this was not the first of hers I read.

I think this is one of those books where you either just loved it or didn't like it much at all. I happened to have loved it and have read it over and over. I have practically all of Jayne Ann Krentz books and if you have read anything she has written she is very consistent. Midnight Jewels is the story of a used book seller, Mercy Pennington, who in a flea market finds a rare book. The plot unfolds as she attempts to sell the book by an add she places in an antiquarian book magazine. Croft Falconer the hero sees the add about the book and come to Mercy's bookshop to see if this is the book that was supposed to have been consumed by a fire during an attempt to catch an evil criminal who was also supposed to have died in said fire. So if the book survived so might have the criminal. Falconer had once been an operative, stealth, deadly, and martial arts extraordinaire. He is also great at reading body language and has Mercy eating out of his hand almost immediately. One problem he is also very attracted to Mercy. They end up going to Colorado together to check out the buyer of the rare erotic book. There the action begins.....I very much recommend this book. Wish it was out on audio.

At least three different times, Croft told Mercy (the heroine) to stay put while he went to do what he was good at doing, sneaking around like a ghost, investigating and dealing with bad guys. She did not do as he told her, and she went after him, putting them both in danger. I saw this as stupidity on her part, and I hated it. Examples follow.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
1. She knew Croft was going to snoop in Gladstone's vault at night. Yet, when she discovered him gone from bed, she decided to go after him to tell him not to do it because he might get caught. He was like a ghost and made no noise. She was clumsy and set off silent alarms as she walked around and got them both caught.

2. Croft told Mercy to stay in the motel while he went to deal with Gladstone. After Croft left, she got a message from Gladstone saying he had Croft as a prisoner and that Mercy should bring the book to trade for Croft. She asked to speak to Croft, but Gladstone said no. Then, she stupidly went to Gladstone, whereupon she was immediately imprisoned. Gladstone planned to use her as bait to capture Croft. Croft had never been captured by Gladstone, and Mercy stupidly became the bait.

I did not like her personality. She would argue with Croft for petty reasons, and sometimes she was just plain wrong. Also, after their first night of sex, she said she didn't want any more sex until they developed more of a relationship. This turned into a game of her saying no, but meaning yes. He would chase and catch her, then she would melt, then they both wanted each other. I did not like her being dishonest with herself as well as him. From his perspective, he was attracted to her because she caused him to lose control emotionally, whatever that meant. Page 224 described this as "It worried him that he couldn't explain his passions or his sense of protectiveness or the strange bond that seemed to link him to her." I saw no reason for him to like her. Their interaction did not make a good story.

Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: five. Setting: current day (or 1980s) small coastal town, Ignatius Cove, Washington and a mountain retreat area in Colorado. Copyright: 1987. Genre: romantic suspense.

For a list of my reviews of other books by this author, see my 4 star review of "Sizzle and Burn" posted 2-09-08.