Don't Tell by Karen Rose

Don't Tell by Karen Rose

Year Published: 2003

My Rating: 5 stars

This is the first book in the series. It is also the first book I read for this author and will not be the last :)

Mary Grace Winters suffered terribly from her abusive cop husband and knew there is no way to survival for her and her son except by running away and staging her own death.
Now seven years later as Caroline Stewart, she started to feel safe and considers risking her heart to love with the new Dr. Max Hunter that enters her life as her new boss. Both of them having pasts they are running away from and scars in body and soul.

But her past creeps up on her when her husband gets suspicious of her disappearance after all this time when new evidence arises suggesting that she and his son are alive. Now he wants his family back and will stop to nothing to accomplish that.

This was my first read by Karen Rose, and I loved it. I was gripped from the first page, had extreme trouble putting the book down. Such a thriller.
The characters were very likable and it really discussed a very important topic which is spouse abuse. You could feel Caroline's emotions and reactions while reading.. Plus the romance that blossemed between her and Dr. Hunter was so romantic it left me starry eyed :)
I also loved David Hunter, Max's brother.. He is so full of humor and you could feel the brotherly love shared between the brothers.
Dana Dupinsky is Caroline's best friend, through good and bad she is there for her, wonderful character.

It's so hard to keep my mouth shut and not write any spoilers. But i highly recommend this book for all those romance/suspence/thriller lovers out there. Really, dont miss out on this!

I will soon start her second book in the series "Have You Seen Her"?

Quotes I enjoyed from the book:

It was still a sound that could make her shudder. But she didn't shudder. It was as unwritten law in rehab. You never showed pity or revulsion for those around you. It was a very strong ethic amongst the broken and recovering.

"Did he notice you, too?"
Caroline shrugged. "He looked at me."
Dana leaned back in her chair, her brown eyes alive with speculation. "How?"
Caroline closed her eyes. Like I was the only woman in the world, she thought. Like I was... desirable. Pretty. Like he wanted me. Little Miss Naive. Like you could tempt a man like Max Hunter. Right.
Dana whistled. "Wow. Did you blush like that when he looked at you?"
Caroline felt her stomach turn over. "Probably."

Anticipating the evening as he'd anticipated nothing in a very long time. Visualizing kissing her goodnight, hoping she'd be equally responsive to his kiss as she'd been to that simple touch on her lower lip.
God. He'd barely touched her and he'd been ready to come. She'd shivered every time he brushed her lip with his thumb, her eyes growing wider with each breath. She was a novice to whatever she was feeling, those eyes of hers radiating trepidation, then wonder.

"I know you're upset because you love me. I'm asking you to love me enough to trust me"

He'd backed away and she hadn't even asked him to. he'd backed away simply because he'd sensed her discomfort. He hadn't pushed. Hadn't yelled. He didn't even look angry. Her momentary fright had been just that. Momentary. Relief mixed with confidence. The combination was powerful and strange.

"Your mouth. Meant to be kissed." he kissed her tenderly. "By me. I've dreamed of you, every night. And every dream ends the same way. With your hair spread across my pillow."

He felt the muscles of her back again to relax and was stunned to find soothing her was as erotic as kissing her.

"Don't tell me you haven't dreamed about spending the rest of your life with me." He took her hands and put one on each side of his face. "Don't tell me you haven't dreamed of waking up with me. Don't tell me you haven't dreamed of the babies we'd make together."

"I love you, Caroline," he whispered fiercely, his voice shaky and watched her expression soften, her eyes fill. "I promise I'll only make you happy. I promise you'll never be afraid again." 

Four To Score by Janet Evanovich

Four To Score by Janet Evanovich

Year Published: 1998
My Rating: 5 stars
313 pages

This is the fourth book in the Stephanie Plum series.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is after Maxine Nowicki for jumping bail on stealing her ex-boyfriends car. Little does Stephanie know, it gets deeper.. With the help of her backup ex-prostitute named Lula, a cross-dressing drag queen named Sally Sweet who is the puzzle solver, some help from Grandma Mazur and the dangerously handsome vice-cop Joe Morelli :)

As usual Stephanie gets into trouble, has some mishaps with her car and apartment and has someone looking forward to killing her.

More tension between Staphanie and Joe since she had to move in with him temporarly because she didn't have a place to stay. Then rumors run like fire around the Burg.

Really funny book that I enjoyed very much. Stephanie and Joe are starting to grow on me, Grandma Mazur is GREAT.. Lula is a bundle of fun, even the new Sally is interesting. And Ranger is the SHIT as Lula refers to him :)

Quotes I enjoyed from the book:

Vinnie was 5'7", looked like a weasel, thought like a weasel, smelled like a French whore and was once in love with a duck.

"You were trying to get in touch with me?"

"Yeah, I lost your card. I put it down somewhere and couldn't find it. so I looked you up in the phone book...only I got your parents. Good thing, too. Granny told me you're hard up for a man, and it turns out I'm between women right now, and I don't mind older cicks. so I guess this is your lucky day."

The chick made a valient effort not to stab her fork into Eddie Kuntz's eyeball.

"If Mickey Mouse could fly he'd be Donald Duck."

"I though there'd be wanted posters on the walls and gun racks filled with shotguns."

"This isn't dodge City," Lula said. "We got some class here. We keep the guns in the back room with the pervert."

I'd been replaced by a raspberry Popsicle, and Morelli didn't look all that unhappy. I, on the other hand, wanted to smash something. Morelli was right... I wanted him bad. He might have been right about the curtains too, but I didn't want to dwell on the curtains. Lust I could manage, but the very thought of wanting a relationship with Morelli made my blood run cold.

Sally's mascared lashes snapped open. "The Buick? Holy shit, is this your car? It's got portholes. Fucking portholes! What's under the hood."

"A V-eight."

"Yow! A W-eight! A fucking V-eight!"

"Good thing he don't have them tuck underpants on," Lula said. "He'd rupture himself."

"Day my make, punk," Grandma said.

I'm a firm believer in denial. My reasoning is why deal with uppleasantness today when you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. And if you procrastinate long enough, maybe the issue will go away.

It was a small bungalow. All on one floor. Easy to see Maxine wasn't there. "Looks like you're packing."

"Yeah, I'm cleaning out my Dior stuff. I decided I was only wearing Versace from now on."

My eye started to twitch, and I put my finger to it. you see? That's what Morelli does to me...gives me an eye twitch.

Better to live with my parents than Morelli. If I could just make it through a few weeks with my parents, I could move back into my own apartment, and then my life will get back to normal. And then my eye will stop twitching.

Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

Year Published: 1997
My Rating: 5 stars
321 pages

This is the third book in the Stephanie Plum series.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on the hunt again. She becomes persona non grata for looking for the local candystore owner Uncle Mo who does nothing wrong according to everyone she asks, but has jumped bail. She then starts tumbling on dead bodies of drug dealers everywhere she seems to go looking!

She then gets threatened by guys with ski masks who want her to step away from all the action that is happening.

All this with the help of Lula the ex-ho that's working as a file clerk at Vinnie's office. She is hillarous!!!

I enjoyed this book even more than the one before, Stephanie and Joe seem to be getting closer and closer with so much tension in the air. Grandma Mazur is incredibly funny, plus she gets a man and invites him to dinner with the family.

I'm already reading the next book.. Don't know when I'll halt this series and go check other books, but for now I feel I need a bit of comedy and light reading so I'm sticking to this one.

Quotes I enjoyed from the book:

I glances over at Connie. "There isn't anything else I should know, is there? Like, was he armed when arrested?

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Connie said. "A forty-five, a twenty-two and a seven-inch blade."

My voice pitched to incredulity. "Two guns and a knife? Forget it! What do I look like, a suicide waiting to happen?"

He was six hours over on a five o'clock shadow. Even in the darkened barroom I could see the tiny network of lines that appeared around his eyes when he was tired. He slouched with one elbow on the bar and picked at my fries.

"If you had a decent sex life you wouldn't need to gratify yourself like this," he said, his mouth curved into a grin, his teeth white and even against the dark beard.

"My sex life is ok."

"Yeah," Morelli said. "But sometimes it's fun to have a partner."

Ranger stripped off his sweatshirt. "adequate is being able to run five miles. how are you going to catch the bad guys if you can't outrun them?"

"Connie gives the bad guys who can run to you. I get the fat, out-of-shape bad guys."

"You're a walking disaster. A man would have to be a total masochist to be interested in you."

Ranger did a lap and jogged by us without acknowledgment of our presence or lack of.
"So why are you really here?" I asked Lula.
Lula's eyes never left Ranger. "I'm here 'cause he's the shit."
"The shit?"
"Yeah, you know...the shit. The king. The cool."
"Do we know anyone else who's the shit?"
"John Travolta. He's the shit, too."
We watched Ranger some, and I could see her point about Ranger being the shit.
"I've been thinking," Lula said. "Suppose there really were superheroes?"
"Like Batman?"
"That's it. That's what I'm saying. It'd be someone who was the shit."