28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Delightful Contemporary Romance, March 4, 2010
This review is from: Something About You (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
Contemporary romance fans will rejoice in SOMETHING ABOUT YOU, the third delightful contemporary by Julie James. In Chicago, Illinois, hard-working Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde has decided to treat herself to a weekend at the luxurious Peninsula hotel while her newly refinished hardwood floors dry at her Victorian home. However, instead of getting the R & R she planned for, she finds herself the sole witness to a high-profile murder in the hotel room next door. After the authorities find a videotape with a U.S. Senator involved with a dead call girl, FBI Special Agent Jack Pallas is put in charge of the case. Of all the agents who could be assigned the investigation, Jack is the last one Cameron wants to see. Three years ago, when she was a new Assistant U.S. Attorney, she had to shut down an organized crime case in which Jack had worked undercover for several years. Likewise, Jack isn't thrilled to see Cameron since he believes she's directly responsible for a demotion he received from the Department of Justice. Will the feisty Cameron and the brooding Jack be able to set aside their past differences to solve this high profile case? And what about their former chemistry that seems to be as strong as ever? In a market where too few really good contemporary romances are being published, Julie James is breathing life back into this subgenre with her witty and wonderful love stories full of great chemistry and sparkling verbal repartee. There's something about Julie James's unique writing that will make readers definitely notice SOMETHING ABOUT YOU!
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fun, witty, smart, fun, March 22, 2010
I absolutely adore Julie James, though she writes in a genre I normally avoid like the plague. I never read contemporary romances. I tend to avoid titles that look like they might veer off into chick-lit territory (Julie James' don't). I don't mind a good solid mystery, but a romance about a detective and the poor little lady who gets caught in a mafia crime? Not my thing.
Well, not my thing unless Julie James is writing it, because anything she sets her pen to turns out fantastic. James' books are smart, witty, funny, sweet, intense, exciting, well-paced, surprisingly believable, exciting, heartwarming...they just are. She can write about a movie star or a law firm or a murder investigation, and she picks up each new plot and uses it to give her readers exactly what they want.
If you've read any of her prior books, you know that she's an absolute master of romances where the hero and heroine start the book hating one another. Now, that's pretty common. What separates James from the pack is that her heros and heroines are mature, rational people whose behavior makes sense. In Something About You, she tackles the Big Misunderstanding. Usually, Big Misunderstanding plots are the worst. You're reading along thinking, one adult conversation would save these people hundreds of pages of heartbreak! And then the whole book seems like a waste. Or else, in order to prolong the misunderstanding, either the hero or the heroine throws a fit, makes a scene, starts behaving like a child. Well, sit back and see how it ought to be done.
Cameron and Jack have a professional history. Cameron - a lawyer - was getting ready to prosecute a mafia boss that Jack - a detective - spent a couple years undercover investigating. When his cover was blown by another agent, he was tortured for days before he managed to escape. They get along really well, until Cameron is ordered to drop the case. She's new on the job and she can't protest, but she does get to deliver the news to Jack. And she does it right: she takes one for the team and accepts full responsibility for the decision not to prosecute. Naturally, Jack hates her after that - she just tossed two years of his life down the drain - and he makes a really nasty comment about her in front of a bunch of reporters. The comment makes it into the news, and that puts a hold on Jack's career - more years down the drain, thanks to Cameron.
So when Jack and Cameron meet again in Something About You, there's a lot of bad blood in between them. But it's a case, and Jack needs to be professional - not time to open a can of worms, right? Professional success has made Cameron a lot less vulnerable, but she's still working in the same office, and she has the same jerk of a boss who sold her out before. There are things she'd love to tell Jack, but she just can't. As a reader, I understood both sides of the story, and admired them for making decisions that kept them apart, even though I wanted them to be together.
The mystery here is quite good, pretty intricate. The reader finds out what happened relatively quickly, so the suspense comes from watching Jack and Cameron try to figure out what we already know. But really, the plot is just a vehicle to get Jack and Cameron in the same room together. Whenever they meet, sparks fly. The dialogue is great, the chemistry immediate, the respect hard-won.
Highly, highly, highly recommended.
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Actually 3 1/2 stars..., March 7, 2010
This review is from: Something About You (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
Admittedly, most of my disappointment in this book is probably due to the fact that it wasn't what I expected from the author. And while I enjoyed the book, I just didn't love it.
Julie James' first two books, Sexiest Man Alive and Practice Makes Perfect, were contemporary chick lit at its finest. Light, breezy, engaging...outrageous characters that you related too and of course, romance. What made these books stand above others, to me, was that the sexual tension was built more on the sparring and verbal foreplay...without relying on explicit details. Even when rolling your eyes (hey its chick-lit), you found yourself falling for the characters and laughing out loud.
With this novel, it seems as if Julie James is trying to bring her work to another level...adding a suspense story line and more detailed writing. While its not bad, its doesn't rank up there with the best. The suspense never really builds and the relationship just seems to move along with the rest of the plot. This book is missing the thrills on all counts - romantic and action.
Some may think that adding depth makes this book a step up for the author. But if I wanted romantic suspense, there are other authors who do it better.
The secondary characters are well written and what saved the book for me. But the few great lines (like the one where she talks about kissing her gay best friend) made me only wish the author stuck with the writing she does best. Sometimes less is more.
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