Customer Reviews

Tangled Lies (Men Made in America: Hawaii #11)

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

 

 

Um, I felt strangely sick while reading this novel, even though the whole time I knew the two love birds weren't actually related. So you got a girl looking for her long lost brother and who she finds is a stranger posing as a her brother, except she thinks it's really her bro come back from hiding. Now, the sick part comes in when she starts having strong sexual feelings for him even though he's her brother and winds up acting on them. I just couldn't see the intended humor of the situation and almost yacked up my lunch.

I love Stuart. Like Love Love Love her, but I was so thrown off by the incestuous conflicts driving the plot that the novel crashed and burned for me. Just Yuck Yuck Yuck all the way around. I don't care if he's really your brother or not lady, but if you think he is, you shouldn't be macking on him or two seconds away from jumping his bones. That's just plain old nasty and I didn't sign up for a twisted X-rated porno made harlequin when I bought this book. If I were her, I would have gotten the heck off that island like my behind was on fire the second I started even thinking of my brother in that way.

And, to top it off, the protagonist lady acts like a 5 year old when she's around her brother. Stuart uses these opportunities to create "humorous" situations, like when she asks her "brother" to kiss her before she goes to sleep. It was just all a little much and a little unbelievable. Read this story if you enjoy this type of stuff. It's just not my cup of tea.

Anne Stuart perversely loves to create a male who is far from a hero, and then provoke, tantalize and lure her readers into for falling him. She must set around and make lists of all the types of men in the world a woman would swear she would never fall for, then with a wry grin, she sets about to prove to us she can do just that very feat. She has given us a hitman, a thief, a court jester, a cult leader...well the list is endless. Just as I think she has hit the bottom of the list, I find yet another. This time she does her Stuart magic and casts the hero as the heroine's brother.

When Rachel Chandler was 12-years-old, her brother Emmett was involved with a radical group of protesters. A bomb accidentally blew up killing several people, along with Emmett's girl friend. Emmett alone survived, just the quirk of fate that he had been out getting pizzas at the time. Emmett vanished, last seen in Hawaii, but for fifteen years no one had heard from him. No one except Rachel Chandler. Every year on her birthday she receives a package, post marked from various places around the world. So, when word comes from her uncle that Emmett is back in Hawaii at the family home, even her fear of flying will not stop her from being reunited with the brother she hadn't seen for fifteen years.

Only Emmett is not quite how she remembers him. She feared Emmett might be given to gaining weight, but this man is hard, lean. He carries scars from varies fights, attesting to his being in foreign places where life is cheap. Emmett is not happy when Rachel shows up on his doorstep. Neither is her uncle. Rachel soon comes to fear Emmett is not Emmett and this impostor and her uncle are playing a charade in order to get at the vast fortune left in trust for the real Emmett.

Is a steamy sexy, shadowy novel that Stuart does so well, showing whether in full novels or series romance, no one can touch the resident genius of dark romantic tales. Another Stuart keeper - but then aren't they all?

I loved this book. I've read quite a few Intrigues, and I don't say that every day. Here's the back cover of the book:

She was all caught up in his tangled lies...

The porcelain butterflies arrived like clockwork every year on her birthday. Rachel Chandler received gifts postmarked from exotic places all over the world from her brother Emmett, who had been living underground since his implication in a bombing in the later 1960's.

After fifteen years, Rachel was about to see Emmett again. He had surfaced in Hawaii, and nothing could keep her from going to him. But when they did meet, Rachel knew something was terribly wrong. She hadn't expected to recognize Emmett right away... but she hadn't expected to be attracted to him either!


Well, if you need more than that to get you to open the book... The story is set up very well, with excellent pacing, good characters, and good resolution. The romance part of the story is handled artfully, actually eliciting an emotional response on the part of the reader. Recommended reading.

I can't believe this book got 4 stars. What a waste! I usually love Anne Stuart's work but this book made me want to throw up. The incest scene was a little too overboard for me. Rachel is way too obsessive with her brother and whines like a child when she doesn't get her way. Gag me.

My only hope is that new readers to Anne Stuart don't start with 'Tangled Lies'. Not only did I have everything figured out within the first few pages, there was no climax in this novel. The plot arc just ended up being flat. This novel left me with more questions than answers, and I wish Stuart would have explored each character a little more. The character of Uncle Harris just dropped out out of the book during the middle and never returned.

Before you read this book read Anne Stuarts 'Ice' Series, because if you start here I fear you'll never try another one of her books, they are worth the read....just not this one.

How does she do it? How in the world does Anne Stuart have the talent to turn ANY man into a DESIRABLE man! I have been wanting to get my hand on this early work of Stuart's and was so happy when the "Famous First" line reprinted it. Although an early work of hers, the quality of her writing is there....I dare you to figure this story out before Stuart decide to just out right tell you!

Caution!!!! There is a strong, what I like to call, "ICK" factor in this book. Rachel believes that the man known as Emmett is her brother. There is lots of sexual tension between them right from the beginning, and they even share a passionate kiss even though they are "siblings". This almost made me sick. I hate incest plot lines. It just is so evil and bad! Once all that is cleared up, the web that is explained is so surprising and destined, that by the end of the book, the whole 'incest" scene seems very far away and more palatable.

Luckily I wasn't new to Anne Stuart or I would never pick up one of her books again after reading this. The female protagonist was unlikable, difficult to connect to or care about. She was a ninny. And a drama queen. And was way too needy and clingy. And the plot was thin. There were no twists or turns that the reader couldn't see from a mile away. The climax of the story was, well, anti-climatic. It all kind of fizzled out and died without capturing any level of suspense or anticipation. Also, since this was a romance novel, I expected some fun sexual tension. Instead I was too disturbed by the incest connotations to really feel like the tension was well developed or well placed (the reader knows that he is not her brother but SHE doesn't know it...ugh). I loved Stuart's "Ice" books and expected more from this one. But I suppose the thin book (only perhaps 250 pages) shouldn't have surprised me with it's simplicity and lack of over all development. I'm glad I paid just 65 cents at the used bookstore for it. If you are a devoted Stuart fan, go ahead and try it on for size. Maybe you'll like it. But if this is your first taste of Stuart, skip it and pick up "Black Ice". Much more awaits you there than here.

I admit I was a bit creeped out by the premise of the story. That being said, however, I decided to throw caution to the wind and trust in Anne Stuart. I'm glad I did. This was a nice story that even had a few *laugh out loud* moments for me. The "ick" factor associated with the darker theme of this book isn't so bad once you realize who everyone is and what's really going on. Also, I was completely blindsided by the twist at the end, I didn't see it coming and was pleasantly surprised. In comparison to some of Stuart's other works, I have to give this one 3 & a half stars, but still an enjoyable read to Stuart fans and fans of the genre.

The book arrived faster than I expected and was in excellent condition. I would use this seller again!