Customer Reviews

Scenes of Passion (Silhouette Desire #1519)

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

 

 

Suzanne Brockman is one of my favorite authors and this is not an example of her work. What this is is one of the worst books I have ever read.

We start with the pathic heroine - her parents take advantage of her, her sister is a drunk, her boyfriend cheats on her with her drunk sister, her best friend tries to sabotage her romance with the girl friend's old boy friend; these are the good moments of the book.

We then go to the mis-understood hero who would rather have people think he is a drug addict then a cancer sufferer, when did having cancer become so shameful that you would rather submit to random drug tests and someone publicly demanding you go pee in a cup??. He doesn't just hide this from the public at large but lets his own father think he is in rehab not on death's door.

We finally have these two get together only to have our heroine decide the hero is a liar because a hospital won't give her confidential patient information on the hero over the phone. What hole has she been living in to think a hospital will release any patient information over the phone to someone that is not even a family member of the patient?

This book is beyond bad. If you want a good Suzanne Brockmann book purchase one of the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series, do not waste your time or money on this miserable read.

If like me you have purchased this PLEASE burn it don't take this one to the book re-sellers, remember you would then be responsible for this book getting into another innocent person's hands.

Suzanne Brockmann is in a class of her own with her two SEAL series. Although I'll risk saying I prefer the Harlequin/Silhouette Tall Dark and Dangerous series than her longer books, but that's just a matter of personal taste, not a comment on their content. But when she steers into more traditional territory that she seems to be going further and further astray, sadly just like Nora Roberts before her.

The best I can say about this book is it's average - A bit twee but nothing special. The plot has been clearly covered by other reviewers so I won't repeat it here. I didn't come to care about the characters: The age old man who lies by ommission for the heroine's "own good" and a woman who believes him, finds out the truth and then forgives him with really no reason to, (or explanation) has been done time and again (and better) elsewhere.

In fact a miraculous 'happy' ending would have been in keeping with the whole tone of this story. I confess I didn't really like Letters To Kelly (her last Harlequin title) either but the writing and plot were a lot tighter and more cohesive there.

I'd be a happier fan of Ms Brockmann if she was allowed, or gave herself the time, to only write what she really feels will work. At her level of productivity and popularity there really can be no excuse for churning out under par formulaic books.

However, since she's not the only Harlequin / Silhouette / Mills&Boon author doing this one has to wonder if outstanding contractual obligations are being forced on authors from above.

Whatever the reason, I would rather have read the superb Gone Too Far (just out in HB and worth every penny)or waited for her next Harlequin book; Night Watch (due in a scant 3 months)and seen Ms Brockmann have more time for writing as she can do rather than seems forced (for whatever reason, by whomever) to do.

This book is, at best, average. Not destined to be a classic 'keeper'.

Read Frisco's Kid, Prince Joe, Get Lucky, Forever Blue or any of the dozen+ titles in her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series to get a un-put-downable story and a feel for how good a writer she really is. Or her longer SEALs series. Both are superb, highly addictive and currently being reprinted in full!

Maggie Stanton has done everything her family wanted of her. She is a lawyer instead of an actress on Broadway, she is pre-engaged to a man she wouldn't look twice at, and she still lives at home at the age of thirty. When her childhood friend, Matthew Stone, suddenly reappears in her life asking for her help, Maggie can't refuse. She is finally living only for herself and she has never been happier. She is also falling in love which is the last thing she ever expected to happen. Especially with her best friends ex-boyfriend.

Matthew Stone has waited ten years to tell Maggie that he has been in love with her since they were teenagers. Once the bad boy, Matt soon faced his own immortality and reformed his bad boy ways. Now he has three months to prove that he can keep his fathers company afloat and make it profitable again, and he wants Maggie's help. He also wants to prove to her that they are perfect for eachother.

In Scenes of Passion, Brockmann is at her best with romance. Not in the same League as her SEAL series, it nevertheless captures the readers heart and holds them spellbound.

Don't miss it!

This book rates 3 stars for being an average read in the romance genre, however, I wanted to say something about Ms. Brockmann's work as a whole -- which I feel rates 5 stars easily. I have been a fan of her writing since before she published any of her SEALs books; I read her when she was published by Loveswept and I bought Prince Joe the instant it first came out and realised that she had something really great in store for her readers. She hasn't really let me down over the years, but I have become disturbed by the rampant pigeon-holing I have read in the reviews for her non-SEAL books. One of the delights of her books is how varied her characters can be. Different types of men and women; different levels of physical health -- I think I remember one book where the hero was a paraplegic who raced specially made bikes; different personalities. It was the depth of feeling her characters showed and how open the male characters in particular were about how they felt that really set her apart for me. Occasionally she writes things where I simply cannot identify with the main characters, but you know what? Someone else might and her books are still a good read. Her heroines aren't always the perfect weight or the perfect height; they don't always have the perfect mindset or the perfect personality, but that makes the books more human to me, more real, and I admire her all the more for offering someone the chance to have "their own" love story told. In this book in particular, the woman's life isn't so great and maybe she made bad choices, but the point of the book isn't the choices she made in the past but where she goes from where she is. For someone whose life might be in the same state, it could be a great comfort and encouragement. So I say thanks a lot Suzanne for being a writer of vision, reaching out to everyone and not just supplying us with romantic fantasies of perfection. While such fantasies may be fun to read, there's no way they could have the same impact as reading about someone just like you finding love and happiness.

This was a pretty solid book and I liked the characters well enough and they had some good fun. I'm a fan of SB, but don't like everything she's ever written. A 4 from me means that it's worth reading, and worth exerting one's self a bit to acquire it but is not a classic.

I'm mostly writing this review because I don't agree with the reviewers who were upset because they thought the heroine should have had proof that the hero wasn't lying. In this particular case, the hero never did lie to her. I looked for that particularly. He said things to her like "I went through a bad time which I'd rather not talk about right now," which is NOT lying. It's not even being evasive as it really wasn't any of her business at the time. Who walks up to someone they've had a crush on but haven't seen for years and says, "hi, how are you, I might drop dead next week!"? Let a boy ease into it already.

IMHO, the main conflict was "did she believe in her own judgement about this man, or did she believe the judgement of other people who were not necessarily known for looking out for her best interests." It was not so much about trusting the hero, whom she had no real reason to distrust. This romance was a turning point where she decided to start making her own decisions, but had to develop a good deal of trust in herself to do so. In the end, it turned out that her trust in herself and her lover was justified by ample proof. Now, had this story been one where the hero consistently lied to the heroine and then she started to believe him with no proof that he'd changed his ways, it would have been a whole different ballgame. But it wasn't.

This was a good book, the characters made decisions consistent with how I expected them to act, the hero and heroine behaved like grownups, nothing stuck out as being really wrong, and I liked it well enough. It just hasn't stuck with me the way some of her other books have. And I agree with the reviewer who took issue with the mullet :)

This is obviously a book that was written 10 years ago and published recently. The characters and plot were apropos of an early 90s book. I didn't connect with the hero or heroine, and thought that their reactions (especially the heroine's) were unrealistic. Stick with her TDD series, folks.

I love, love, love Suzanne Brockmann and I love, love, love everything of hers that I've read. This title was a refreshing change from her 2 separate military based series (which I love...you know). The characters share a past history prior to the beginning of the novel, which eases the believability factor in the love at second sight scenario. I also really enjoyed the plot surrounding Matt's secret, and felt the author handled the situation in a real and compassionate way. I was terribly afraid the novel would have an epilogue that discounted this situation and pulled a "miracles happen" card. Thanks God it didn't!
The only reason this title received 4 stars instead of five, is that 2/3's of the way through the book she gives the poor guy a serious Billy Ray Cyrus sounding mullet. Now as a child of the 80's, I too had many an unrequited love that sported the infamous 'do; however, (regardless of the "comeback" it is supposedly making), I just cant go there. Therefore, probably the only 4 stars this writer will ever receive from me!

This has to be one of Ms. Brockmann's early (earliest?) attempts at writing romance, updated with a nod to the internet and published for heaven knows what good reason. How many plot lines can you sandwich into one story? There's the fiance who loves the heroine's sister instead line. The old friend back in town line. The help me save my inheritance line. The cancer in remission line. The sterility line. The jealous friend line. The pretend marriage line, and to top it all off, a community musical? Pick three, and write a decent book instead of this silly mish-mash that ties up prettily with each character writing little notes to clear up the inconsistencies. Ms. Brockmann usually has complete control of seriously complex plots (in her Troubleshooters series), so this total train wreck was both a surprise and a disappointment.

OK, every one of us need the money, but this book is not more (somethimes less) then any of other thousends of other writers, and we all know, she can do better - a lot better. I did regret having bought it, because of her name.
Could she not publish under other name this kind of books?

This book had everything that I hate in my romances so I'm at a loss to explain why I enjoyed it so much. Maybe because this fluffy, saccharine sweet story was barely 200 pages I just didn't have a chance to get as frustrated as I usually would with this kind of formulaic plot line. More the reason is I read this on my e-reader during a power outage and it was easier to see with the built in reader light then with candles.

Anyways as you can guess this isn't the greatest Brockmann going, it is however enjoyable, short and shamefully addictive with a friends to lovers theme, interesting, somewhat complex hero, the usual bland Brockmann heroine that you want to slap on occasion, more subplots then necessary and except for the heroines little brother a ton of nasty secondary characters to hate.

The story here went in many different directions with things happening quickly (due to page limitations I guess) fake marriages, real marriages, annulments, I love you, I hate you, you're a liar, I can't live without you, lets take a bath together, what do you mean you do/don't have cancer, how am I going to get my inheritance/save my fathers company?, no I didn't sleep with your sister, yes I look great with a mullet, lets break up in the last couple of chapters and you will think I'm a liar and I won't do anything to change your misconceptions of me until you feel super guilty then because its Brockmann the hero will cry a few tears and voila HEA-ville. All of this has been tied together with a community theatre storyline and a really mean director. Ha,ha yes really.

Speaking of the director since when does community theatre require random drug testing for its actors? Anyways that has nothing to do with anything it just annoyed me, he also makes our hero (jungle man) cut his sexy long hair and that's when I decided I really hated him and that I would never do a musical. LOL