Customer Reviews

You Only Love Twice (Warner Forever)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
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Marlie Montague is a comic book illustrator, and she spends her days and nights drawing. She doesn't have much of a social life, let alone a love life. The closest she's come has been her friend Cosmo, who at one point thought he loved her, but moved away to take on a new job.

Marlie's alter ego is Angelina Avenger, her popular comic book character. In fact, Marlie has an on-going relationship with this heroine, and often times Angelina "takes over" Marlie's body, making it seem like Marlie is the fearless brave Angelina instead of the mousy paranoid Marlie.

Marlie has a new neighbor next door, a sexy good-looking man named Joel, and after ogling him from afar, she finally gets to meet him when she finds herself being attacked by of all people, her UPS man, and in order to save herself, she crashes through Joel's window. Talk about an entrance! What Marlie doesn't know is that Joel was sent there to spy on her. She also doesn't realize he is the boy she used to have a crush on when she was five years old. J.J. Hunter moved out of her life years ago, after his father, Gus Hunter, was responsible for Marlie's father's death. Daniel Montague was accused of treason, but Marlie and her mother Penelope never believed the accusations.

Now, Marlie finds herself in the middle of some conspiracy theory-inspired adventure. It is obvious her life is in danger, but she does not know why. All she knows is that Joel is there to protect her, and she thinks she can trust him. Joel, guilt ridden because of the reason why he was there to begin with, is falling in love with her, and is afraid of what will happen when she finally finds out who he really is and why he became her next door neighbor.

YOU ONLY LOVE TWICE is full of adventure, romance and some steamy sex scenes. Lori Wilde's main characters are fun and believable, albeit written in a somewhat dramatic manner to lend an almost comedic tone to the book. Readers may cheer to find that a slightly over-weight mousy woman such as Marlie gets the hunk in the end, and he finds her attractive and sexy. He helps her gain the confidence she's been lacking, giving the character some growth and three-dimensional aspects that often are lacking in characters in books such as this.

As in her previous novel MISSION: IRRESISTIBLE, YOU ONLY LOVE TWICE is full of action and adventure and a lot of light hearted banter between the two main characters. The secondary plot, that of Penelope Montague and her love for her deceased husband Daniel, felt a little bit out of place at first, but it did fill in the gaps to explain the entire story of what happened to Daniel and why his friend Gus Hunter was responsible for his death. The reader may not quite buy, however, the relationship between the geeky Cosmo and his new love, Joel's ex-wife Treeni, who was described as a knock out of a woman. And one also may not quite buy what really happened to Daniel (a spoiler which will not be revealed here), but for the sake of dramatics, it was a good plot device. YOU ONLY LOVE TWICE is recommended for those who enjoy lightweight romances that are filled with over the top adventure (think, almost, "Lara Croft" but in a Navy setting).
-- Courtesy of LoveRomances.

I picked this up on a whim, mostly because of the cute front cover. However, I ended up disappointed because the character's behavior is so completely unbeleivable. I'm all for fun and whimsy, but there has to be a backbone of reality. None of these characters acted like people do in real life. After a couple of chapters, their antics became annoying to read. Also, I found the dialogue rather cheesy.

Marlie Montague was a Navy brat until her father was branded a traitor and killed. In her gut, she felt he was the victim of a government-industrial conspiracy. To that end, though she cannot restore her dad's reputation, Marlie created an underground comic that starred a kick butt heroine Angelina Avenger, who challenged the abuse and excess of the powerful when they did wrong.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Joel Hunter moves next door to Marlie as an undercover agent because his superiors think she is a subversive using her comic book to perform seditious acts. He believes she is agoraphobic, not a traitor and this babysitting job a waste of time and money, but his former father-in-law Admiral Delaney wants him away from DC and his daughter. He revises that opinion when Marlie flees her house to his insisting that a UPS delivery person tried to assassinate her; she hides from Joel that she "channeled" Angelina's personality to escape. Now they team up in a dangerous mission that will most likely leave both dead with gravestones "marked" traitor.

The key to why this is a super fun romantic suspense is the cast especially Marlie, who employs an alterego the Amazonian animated Angelina to help her in situations that she cannot cope with and not just enemy fire as Joel is as dangerous to her as the assassin. The quirky story line contains plenty of woman in peril scenarios, but never loses sight of the crafty amusing satirical look at conspiracies and superheroine females. On top of this, fans receive a fabulous romantic subplot making YOU ONLY LOVE TWICE a fine humorous contemporary thriller worth reading.

Harriet Klausner

Marlie Montague is a comic book artist who has created a [...]character by the name of Angelina Avenger. She portrays stories about Government conspiracies and cover-ups. Marlie's father had been framed by the Navy, and was killed in an alleged prison break, therefore she does not trust easily and especially military people. When she is attached by the UPS man, she escapes and arrives at the next door neighbour's home with a wild tale about someone trying to kill her. Joel Hunter is actually a secret service agent who has been assigned to watch her and her activities. The sexual tensions between the two are evident from the first encounter. But soon it is evident that she is not making up another story, but is actually a target. While on the run for their lives, and trying to figure out just what Marlie has done to be the target of such heat, Joel comes to realize that his feelings for Marlie are running deep. Now he is definitely in a catch 22 clause. Because what will she do when she finds there is a history between them that she unaware of? This is a cleverly written story which is action packed with many twists, turns, and surprises as the reader is taken on the journey to unravel the mystery. It is a book that is a page turner, which will have you laughing in places and shedding a tear in others and always waiting for Marlie to take on the persona of her character and become fearless which she has been known to do in tough situations. Lori has again penned and delivered a fabulous, witty, great read.

Marlie Montague is a comic book writer and conspiracy theory enthusiast with a distrust of the government and the military. When she was a child, her navy hero father was accused of being a traitor, but was killed and tossed overboard. Joel Hunter is a former SEAL now working for the NCIS. His latest assignment is to watch over Marlie, as she is suspected of subversive activities. But as far as Joel can tell, she is a friendless shut-in who's only excitement is a weekly bowling game. When she shows up on his doorstep proclaiming that the UPS man tried to kill her, he helps investigate (knowing he has her under video surveillance). When no sign of an intruder is present, and the cops assume she's a fruitcake, Joel checks the video footage, only to discover that it's been erased. When her mother disappears, Joel offers to help her look. And soon he discovers that at times of stress, she adopts the aggressive attitude of her kick-[...] comic book heroine Angelina. They prove to be irresistible to each other, and engage in a rollicking affair while solving the big mystery. What will happen when Marlie discovers Joel's duplicity?

Chock full of action, plot twists, snappy dialogue, and double crosses, Joel and Marlie take plenty of time to explore their sensual sides. The most humorous and memorable of Wilde's stories to date.

The blurb on this book intrigued me and I just HAD to read it. I was not disappointed. From the minute Marlie and Joel made eye contact until the end of the book I did not leave my seat. As characters they pulled me into their heads and their hearts. They made me want to smack them and hug them: they made me laugh and they made me cry - sometimes all at the same time. The action kept me on the edge of my seat, and as the mystery unraveled and the tension mounted I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. This is truly a book for the keeper shelf that I see being read again and again and . . .

This was an absolutely fabulous book. The balance between whimsy and seriousness was expertly created and made the book a lot of fun to read. Joel and Marlie were a great couple. Marlie was understandably leery about Joel, but she still trusted him enough to help her. It was really great! The added aspect of Angelina popping up when least expected was very funny. To have an alter ego like that would be great. I have enjoyed all of Lori Wilde's books and You Only Love Twice was no exception.

You Only Love Twice is a very smart and captivating tale that contains some political intrigue.

The romance is complex, sweet, and sexy. A good read! Lori Wilde is a very good author.

Joel Hunter is a Navy investigator and he is currently running secret surveillance on Marlie Montague. Joel is leery about this case for two reasons; one, he knows Marlie from childhood--although she doesn't remember him and two, Joel's father was responsible for the death of Marlie's father fifteen years ago. But, the government thinks Marlie is engaged in anti-government activities because of the comic book series she writes starring a crime fighter named Angelina Avenger.

Marlie is a bit of a loner and her best friends are Cosmo and her imaginary friend Angelina. Cosmo moved away though. While working on her comic one day, Marlie opens the door to a UPS man pointing a gun at her. Marlie escapes to Joel's place looking for help.

Joel's father discovers that his past is about to catch up with him, Marlie's life continues to be threatened, and Joel makes himself Marlie's protector. At the same time, Marlie's mother Penelope, never fully recovered from losing her husband and a mysterious phone call has her thinking the impossible. As Marlie and Joel fight off more attempts to kill Marlie, Penelope goes missing and Joel's ex wife Treeni is up to something. She works with Cosmo now and she gets him involved as well.

Joel and Marlie go on the run and while trying to find out the reason behind the attacks, they fall in love, but while they are exploring their new feelings for each other Marlie finds out Joel's true identity. Joel's deception has Marlie running away.

Joel, Treeni, and Cosmo discover that the threat is not intended for Marlie alone. Now it's up to them and Marlie, to save themselves and the rest of the world.

You Only Love Twice is action packed and a ton of fun. I got the chills more than once while reading it. Heart stopping emotion and thrilling car chases are part of the appeal in You Only love Twice. I adore Marlie. She is not a typical, perfect, heroine so when she has a chance to get the hunk it's awesome! Joel falls hard and deep for Marlie. He is a great guy and his love for Marlie is heartwarming. You Only Love Twice is a witty, exciting and thoroughly entertaining story.

Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This is my favorite of Lori Wilde's books. It demonstrates that each of us has greater depths than we realize. And it's funny, sexy, and clever. I loved the entire book.