The Ideal Man [Hardcover]

Julie Garwood (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 9, 2011

New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood delivers a contemporary romance that's pulse-pounding in every sense of the word.

Dr. Ellie Sullivan has just completed her residency at a large urban hospital. While jogging in a park nearby, she witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation.

Agent Max Daniels takes over the Landry case. A no-nonsense lawman, he's definitely not the ideal man that Ellie has always imagined, yet she's attracted to him in a way she can't explain.

Ellie heads home to Winston Falls, South Carolina, to attend her sister's wedding. Shortly after she arrives, though, she receives a surprise visitor: Max Daniels. The Landrys have been captured, and she'll be called to testify. But they've been captured before, and each time the witnesses are scared into silence-or disappear before they can take the stand. Max vows to be Ellie's shadow until the trial, and it isn't long before sparks fly.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julie Garwood is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Sizzle, Fire and Ice, Shadow Music, Shadow Dance, and Slow Burn. She lives near Kansas City. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1ST edition (August 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780525952251
• ISBN-13: 978-0525952251
• ASIN: 052595225X
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.4 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julie Garwood is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Fire and Ice, Shadow Music, Shadow Dance, Murder List, Killjoy, Mercy, Heartbreaker, Ransom, and Come the Spring. There are more than thirty-six million copies of her books in print.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#8 in Books > Romance > Historical

#11 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#59 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

#63 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#65 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Suspense

#8 in Books > Romance > Historical

#11 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#59 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

#63 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#65 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Suspense

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

126 of 132 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the price August 12, 2011

By Jamie Steider

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am a huge Julie Garwood fan and have read every one of her novels. Saving Grace is my absolute favorite and I have read it multiple times. I was really disappointed in this book. It took me a long time to get into it and put it down several times. Normally I can't put down a Garwood novel and read it cover to cover forgoing sleep when necessary. The conversations were choppy and the amount of detail detracted from the story because it just didn't flow. It read like an amateur novelist during the conversations. I did like the characters a lot and wish that I could have enjoyed their dialogue more because they had merit. It was also such a contrived and convoluted plot that had elements that were not essential to the story and should have been left out. Some of the relationships were poorly developed and not resolved, especially the relationship between Ellie and her evil sister, Ava. I kept waiting for Ava to "get it" or at least get what she deserved but then it just kind of fizzled out. I wasn't able to really lose myself in the book and then it wrapped up with a few quick lines. All of this being said, I would still rather read a bad Julie Garwood book than a good book by many other authors. This is definitely not worth the $12.99 kindle price and I would wait until it drops below $9 to purchase.

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Committee to Bring Back the Real Julie Garwood!!! August 27, 2011

By Barb

Format:Hardcover

What happened to the Julie Garwood who wrote sparkling dialogue in The Bride? The one who wrote a good strong mystery with interesting characters in Heartbreaker? The author who already wrote a book about a surgeon with a much better plot in Killjoy?

Give her back. And please take back this fake Julie Garwood clone who's been putting out mediocre minus books under her name the past few years.

For an author who used to be an auto-buy, even in hardcover, she's now become an author I don't even bother buying in paperback. Borrowing from the library is just fine for a quick, unmemorable read, and that's all The Ideal Man is. Flat characters, tired plot, weak dialogue, and at times just plain boring. I get the sense she's writing to fulfill a contractual obligation rather than out of any driving need to tell a story, and it shows.

So it is time to mount the campaign. We want the real Julie Garwood back. The one who toiled over books until the dialogue sparkled, the one who plotted carefully, and above all, the one who wrote characters you cared about and remembered.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Mr. Right, But Certainly Mr. Right Now August 9, 2011

By E. A. Montgomery TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition

Sometimes a favorite author writes a few books so not to my taste that I open them with a little sigh of resignation. It's like a friendship you can't quite end. Garwood and I were on that track until The Ideal Man.

Possibly coincidence, possibly because the heroine of Sizzle: A Novel was an absolute idiot, The Ideal Man features trauma surgeon Elle Sullivan as a child prodigy once driven from her home by an obsessed classmate. Awesomely, that obsessed classmate has almost nothing at all to do with why Elle ends up needing protection (provided by FBI Agent Max Daniels, previously seen in Sizzle). Elle rings true both as an exhausted trauma surgeon and a distanced family member. Her parents are frustrated working folks thrust outside their comfort zone by life's events. The family relationships are really the star of The Ideal Man. Max is great as an agent slightly outside his comfort zone and a man for whom family is foremost. Together they tell a smoothly entertaining tale for a late night read or a sunny snooze.