Customer Reviews

STORMY CHALLENGE SSE#35

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Leya Brandon and her slightly younger brother, Keith, both inherited half of Brandon Security Systems. Leya owns her own bookstore and will soon open another branch in a mall. Keith knew nothing about managing Brandon Security Systems but is determined to succeed. When Keith hands Leya a two-year contract from a high-powered consultant and asks for her signature, she decides to take a week vacation at an inn in Oregon to think about it. Mr. C. Tremayne's contract was asking for way too much control of the business for her liking.

Leya meets Court Gannon at the inn. For a couple of days they enjoy spending time together. She even asks his opinion on the contract before she signed it and express mailed it to her happy brother. However, the very next day she learns that the man she has been trusting has deceived her. His full name is Courtland Gannon Tremayne. He had followed her to the inn to seduce her into signing the contract. Court has decided to make Leya his own. Leya has decided he never will.

**** Jayne Ann Krentz is writing as Stephanie James in this HQN (Harlequin) novel. The writing style is much like her very early books, which is the style I prefer. However, the hero is too rough, in my opinion. I, personally, do not know any female who does not mind being pulled back to a guy by her hair. Other than that, though, the story is fabulous! Great light reading for a rainy afternoon or evening. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Leya Brandon and her brother Keith jointly inherit Brandon Security Systems. Neither has experience managing this type of firm though Leya owns a bookstore and plans to open another store soon. Keith tries to make a go at running the firm and tentatively accepts a two-year contract from a high-powered consultant if Leya agrees. Leya, needing time to think whether they should agree to this venture, goes on vacation in Oregon to ponder this deal because the consideration demanded by the other party Mr. C. Tremayne leaves him with a major control of their company.

In Oregon, Leya and Court Gannon meet and spend a few enjoyable days keeping each other company. As she is half in love and trusts him with her heart, she asks his advice on whether she should sign the contract, which he says she should for her sibling's sake. Leya reluctantly signs and mails the contract to Keith. However, she quickly learns that the man she entrusted her heart and contract to turns out to be Courtland Gannon Tremayne, who had arrived at the inn with the intention to obtain her signature regardless of the ethics. However, Court has changed his mind on what consideration he wants from the Brandons for now he decides he wants Leya for life, but she distrusts him as an amoral beast.

This is an entertaining contemporary romance starring a likable female protagonist and a hunk who learns perhaps too late what really matters in life. Fans will appreciate the story line as Court tries to correct his error, but his intended's philosophy is once burned, never again. Though Court can become overbearing and macho, fans will enjoy Stephanie James' fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

I love Jayne Ann Krentz, and I have read the majority of her books, and this was one of her few disappointments. The characters are annoying, irritating, one-dimensional and there is NO chemistry between the two to speak of. In addition, the male character's constant threats of violence are NOT sexy nor do they add much to the plot. In addition, every other sentence ends with an exclamation point, which I think is supposed to signal emotion, but that's about the only way one would sense emotion in this lackluster story. My advice, don't buy this novel - move on to one of her Amanda Quick or Arcane Society books. Her newer novels have much deeper characters in general.

Reviewed by: Carole Coonrod

Stormy Challenge opens with the heroine, Leya Brandon, vacationing in an inn on the Oregon coast. She has come there to think about a contract that her brother wants her to sign. This contract will hire a consultant, C. Tremayne, to teach her brother how to run the company the two of them have inherited from their father. Unfortunately, it will also give the consultant a lot of power within the company, as well as a chunk of it at the end of the contract. Leya, being an older sister, isn't sure this is the right thing to do.

Enter a second visitor to the inn, sent by Leya's brother to discuss the contract with her and get her to sign it. The two are very attracted to one another. Court Gannon and Leya spend quite a bit of their time together and by the second evening, Leya decides to sign the contract and then mails it.

Early the next morning, she calls her brother to tell him the good news and that's when she finds out! Court Gannon isn't Court Gannon at all, he's Court Tremayne. Her feeling of betrayal is strong.

During the course of the story, Court and Leya will go through a number of situations, getting themselves into trouble with words. They are finally able to get together when each resorts to a non-verbal method of communicating - her with her block of company stock and him with a pair of emerald earrings. Both let the hero and heroine communicate via their actions until both are sure that love is what holds them together.

I really enjoyed this book. The hero and heroine are wonderful examples of JAK characters and her fans will enjoy watching them discover one another. Good reading!

My best advice is to not purchase this book. I'm an avid Jayne Anne Krentz fan and this is not indicative of what I've come to expect from her. If you must read it save your money and check it out from the library.

Deana

I adore JAK and all her names, have everything she has written. Some surprisingly hold their age well, a handful don't. Some are fun despite it. This one is 22-years-old, and maybe it might be interested read it for a trip down memory lane. If they are going to reissue these old books, and charge you big book prices for an old series, then they need to update where is this badly out of tune with readers of today. I am not talking about total rewrites, but change areas where these puppies just won't play. And this one, sadly, just this won't play with women of today.

Leya Brandon is part owner in her brother's security firm, a silent partner. He is a bit young and inexperienced, and he needs a "teacher" so he hired Court Tremayne. Only, he cannot really hire him unless Leya agrees. Leya raises objections because no one knows anything about the mysterious Tremayne, and then decamps with the contract to go for a quiet week at a resort in late fall. The book opens with Court Gannon appearing at the resort. He has targeted Leya, come after her to see she signs the contract. Oh course, she does not know Court Gannon and C. Tremayne are one in the same. So far so good.

Krentz treats us to some passionate almost lovemaking (not). Sorry, her letting Court get her to the bedroom door, and then pulling the maidenly "I need time" comes across passionless and dated. Court grudgingly gives her time. He has convinced her C. Tremayne is trustworthy enough to help her brother, so she signs the contract and drops it into the mail in the middle of the night.

Next morning she calls her brother to tell him the contract is on the way. He lets the cat out the bag that Gannon and Tremayne are one in the same. Then we're treated with high hysterics of "you betrayed me" from Leya, that is just a little OTT.

Well, this is typical JAK formula. What is not typical was the hero's violence. When she won't listen to him, he causes her physical pain and cares less he does. Page 58 - ...putting out a hand to grasp her thick braid. With a quick tug he forced her closer, ignoring the sharp gasp of anger and pain from his victim. On Page 65 - Court caught hold of her braid, yanking her to a violent halt before Leya had gone more than a few steps. "Ouch." she yelped, incensed at the small pain. "Let go of me you sadist!"

Oooo...I love alpha males, I love gamma rogues, what I don't love it cavemen 'controlling the little woman' so he can force a kiss on her so she will 'come to her senses'

Krentz is without question one of the brightest stars in romance today. This books just does not meet that standard.

An entertaining read but as others have pointed out, the hero was too happy to use violence when he didn't get his way.

I also didn't like the fact that whenever she wanted to have a drink at her brother's party, the hero would take it back out of her hand and tell her that she wasn't allowed to drink. Not only did that come across as controlling but it left me wondering why? What was wrong with the heroine enjoying a drink?

This book should have stayed in the vault. The main male was violent, controlling and manipulative. If this was the first Krentz book I'd ever read I wouldn't be a huge fan today. Forget the dated storyline you can get past that but you can't get past things like pushing and shoving his way into her life literally. Grabbing a womans hair and yanking her around is NOT cool to read. I get lost in books when I read them and the scene where she gets out of the shower, finds him in her bedroom, tells him to leave multiple times then he takes her towel off all the while she's saying no doesn't bode well. Now I know the difference between books and reality but there was something about this book that made me want to call the cops while she kept giving in I was crying out. At the end of most books you can sigh and know they had a happy life together - this one I kept thinking it might be good for a couple years but she's going to end up in a shelter for battered women or on a slab in the coroner's office. NOT A GOOD READ

I am a huge Krentz\Quick\Castle fan, but this book is terrible. Her worst. If I had read Stormy Challenge first, I would have avoided all her other novels and would have missed out on one of my favorite authors. There isn't a single likable character in this book and the dialogue is painfully repetitive. The female lead is a tease. The male lead is a stalker who repeatedly threatens violence and rape. The book should have ended early on with a restraining order, instead of dragging on to a wedding of two people clearly doomed to a life of domestic violence. If you are looking for a classic Krentz novel, try Wildest Hearts or Flash or Absolutely Positively instead.

I usually read her books with pleasure, but did not finish this one. To create a hero who is so agressively jealous & possessive in a world where so many real women are or have been at the mercy of such men is offensive to me. Women ( even in a fantasy type romance) should not have it reinforced that there is anything even slightly romantic about such behavior. I think Leya should have run, not walked to the nearest exit & then gotten a restraining order!