Customer Reviews

To Trust a Stranger

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Julie Carlson decides to follow her husband one night, as he leaves their home. She believes he's been cheating on her. That night, Mac, dressed as a transvestite, will meet Julie, as her car crashes into his. Coincidentally, Mac is in an investigation business. And, he knows Julie's husband.

As Julie has Mac investigate her husband, she will not know Mac's hidden agenda. That agenda will cause problems between them, as both Julie's and Mac's lives are threatened.

TO TRUST A STRANGER has one of the best prologues I've ever read. And, the relationship between Julie and Mac is believable, and very tempestuous and sexy. There's some interesting secondary characters, and some really scary bad guys. The story moves very quickly, and made this book a real page-turner. Oh yes, and before I forget, there's a dog, Josephine, who is a real scene-stealer.

There's only a couple of things that keep this book from being a 5-star read, for me. The book seemed a little too short, the romantic relationship between Julie and Mac, a little too quick. Still, it's very much worth reading, and maybe rereading.

Suspenseful and sexy, Ms. Robards' read is a thriller with non-stop action providing hours of glued-to-the-pages entertainment.

Former South Carolina beauty queen Julie Carlson suspects that her mega-bucks husband, Sid, is cheating on her. As she follows him one night, a farcical set of circumstances leave her clad in skimpy pajamas, stranded in Charleston's red light district without a car and with a transvestite named Debbie as her only companion.

Debbie is really Mac McQuarry, a P.I. who went undercover to locate a client's cheating husband. When Mac aids Julie out of the jam she is in, Julie discovers that Debbie is really a man, but she assumes that he is gay. Not bothering to correct her, Mac lets Julie think what she will, adding an element of humor to this intense read as Julie finds herself fantasizing about Debbie aka Mac.

Soon, Julie discovers that her life may be in danger, and Mac is probably the only one that she can trust. Swallowing her pride, Julie tries to overlook the fact that Mac omitted the truth about his sexuality and his previous association with Sid. In a heart-stopping race for their lives, Julie and Mac are on the run from the police, the mob, and a hit man. Can they find safety before they both end up dead?

Combining the excitement of a mystery with the spice of a romance, Ms. Robards has, once again, firmly established her position in the genre of romantic suspense. And all the characters, most especially Mac and Julie, are so realistically written, thereby increasing the credibility of this read. A MUST READ!

Karen Robards latest is a great escape. Think Linda Howard's MR. PERFECT or Janet Evanovich's series with Stephanie Plum. . . What do these books have in common with TO TRUST A STRANGER? Humor! Humor! I love it. Oh, don't worry. You'll get the handsome hero and the beautiful heroine in danger, the bad guys, the steamy sex, etc. But you also get a large does of humor. I love authors whose characters are funny as well as sexy. I'm not sure why this book didn't get a solid 5 stars in the ratings, but I for one urge you to give it a read. A keeper!

To Trust A Stranger by Karen Robards is absolutely wonderful.
This is the first book that I have read by the author. The book is a combination of mystery and romance. It is simply amazing how the author had a seemingly perfect family involved with so many secrets. Julie Carlson and Sid Carlson marriage was based on a lie from the beginning. Julie ended up trusting a total stranger, Mac, who was a private investigator. One of the best parts in this story was about the love for Mac's dog named, Josephine. If you love a good story, you just have to read this book. The reader plans to go back and read Mrs. Robards previous novels. Recommend her to your friends!!!

Many have reviewed the storyline itself so won't go into that except to say this was one truly annoying shallow heroine. All she thinks about is keeping herself beautiful-she's a size 6 and shame on her because she didn't stay a size 2.:( She goes through all these rituals every night to stay beautiful). Even her job is to help other shallow (not all are shallow I'm sure;it's just when they become obsessed with it) beauty queens be beautiful. She really needs to get a life. I think women should exercise and take care of themselves but Julie was ridiculous. How many times through the book we are reminded how beautiful and thin she is. She even turns herself on looking at herself-get real! Then it's interesting that she does everything her mother and husband wants but is just mean and nasty to Mac who is trying to save her life. (do we have a dual personality here?) She begs him to sleep with her and then says hateful things to him afterward-It's a phase?? Did I mention shallow??? And as for Mac using her to get to her husband (a vicious killer)I didn't see a problem. Anyone would do whatever it took to take someone down who had killed a family member. I liked Mac but really could not get into Julie. The only female in the book worth mentioning is Josephine, the poodle. The suspense and mystery would have been worth the read if the heroine was more likable.

This book was hard to put down. It was both sexy & suspenseful! Julie Carlson is a former Miss South Carolina & currently a successful boutique owner in an unhappy marriage. She meets Mac McQuarry under unusual circumstances & soon hires him to spy on her cheating husband. There's an instant strong attraction between the two. Julie soon starts to depend on him for comfort & security & they end up having phenomenal sex but are later caught up in a race for survival thanks to Julie's husband, Sid who led to Mac's downfall & had something to do with his brother's death 15 years earlier. There are many twists & turns in this book. I strongly recommend it!

Life is peachy for erstwhile Ms. South Carolina pageant winner Julie Carlson until she discovers her fairy-tale rise from trailer-trash is just a myth fabricated by her husband Sid with his infidelity and hidden agendas. Her trip to catch Sid in flagrante delicto brings her to the unsavoury side of Charleston and meets transgender Debbie who is actually a straight hunk PI Mac McQuarry, disguised to catch an unfaithful husband for his client. He rescues her after some thugs absconded with her Jaguar - and she begins to trust this stranger.

Mac, however plans to secretly distill information from Julie about his missing brother Daniel who, he suspects, had been silenced by Sid when he possesses evidence of his drug-dealing business. He ends up fighting his strong attraction to the luscious beauty and protecting her from a hired assassin sent by Sid.

Karen Robards's contemporary romance thriller is unabashedly predictable and cluttered with cliches of the genre right from the tall, dark and dangerous knight errant and alpha male to a feisty beauty queen. It is fortunately just as gleefully indulgent as the chemistry between Mac and Julie scorches to a sizzle high with heated banters and humour. The incendiary passion and some terrifying moments of suspense in this book too, is definitely no stranger to any fans of Karen Robards familiar with her work.

This was a wonderful story. You could really feel the emotions of the characters. My favorite stories are romantic suspense and this is one of the best. I wish that all books were like this where you can't get anything done because you want to see what happens and then when the book is over you are not disappointed.

This is the first Karen Robards book I have read, and I would HIGHLY recommend it to those who are bored with most of the modern romances out there today. The heroine isn't trying to get married - but she is actually going through a divorce (once she realizes her husband put a mob hit out on her and he's sleeping around with someone she knows . . . . . ) While trying to spy on her husband she meets a VERY hunky/handsome/drool-worthy ex-cop turned private investigator, and he ends up protecting her while they spy on her soon-to-be ex-husband. It sounds complicated but the story has great twists!!! I enjoyed reading this book b/c it was an escape at it's finest - the suspenseful parts had me really creeped out, and it was a great read at night, but the connection between the hero and the heroine were great! Some people felt turned off by her attitude but I actually really enjoyed the tension between their characters. Karen Robards gets an A+++ for great plot twists and steamy tension and an all-around entertaining read! Favorite scenes include: the "Sweetwater" strip club scene, the "mace" incident, the poodle, the car assasination scene (whoa!), the swamp scene, the finale.

I am a long time fan of Karen Robards. "To Trust A Stranger" fulfills all my expections of a great read. The characters are interesting and the plot moves along at a nice pace. There is some intrigue, murder, mayhem, comedy and of course a handsome hero. Great summer read!