Let me see, this is the 12th story I've read by this author. There are three series, and a funny thing happened along the way. At least in terms of favorites.

The Hollywood one, aka 'Off Screen', had been both the first one to appear and my favorite of the three. It started off with a solid five star story, and then four sequels good enough for 4 stars each. It's been almost six months, though, since the last story popped up. In the meantime two other series appeared (ETA: rereading what I wrote - by 'in the meantime' I had meant since the first Off Screen story appeared, not in the mean time meaning in the last six months).

The first 'other series' to pop up was the Politics one, i.e. - By Design. I wan't really sure what to think of that one. It started off weaker than the first. Though weaker still meant a 4 star story to open the series. Then the second and fifth ones were so good I ended up giving both 5 stars each. Meaning this series now averages out to 4.4. While the first one is at 4.2.

I'm kind of sad about the third series. The . . . um . . .hmm. Well, the Special Delivery series. And that there, my lack of easy categorization in my brain, and/or nickname, corresponds to my inability to remember it. I just can't get a handle on it. It includes the only story by Armstrong that I've given less than 4 stars to. But enough about that. This little box here is for the fifth story in the Politics series.

It's interesting how easily I slipped back into this series. Remembering all the characters. Pulling back into my mind why I like it so much. (I keep going about 'interesting' without saying why - well, I find it interesting how I didn't initially find it that intriguing of a series, but now find it to be my favorite of the three).

So, this is one of those weird stories. I mean in terms of my own reactions. I don't mean in terms of plot or anything like that. No, it's a fairly straight forward 'normal' story. It's just weird in how many thoughts/feelings/emotions it captures and tugs on inside of me.

This is one of those stories where I realized that my eyes were, at the very least, glistening while I was riding along on the subway. Just sitting there with a small electronic device in my hand. With glistening eyes. And I didn't care if anyone saw me like that. Wow, I'm turning into one of those authors I used to 'favorite' but don't any more. As in, wordy. Let's try that again, eh?

This story had sadness, humor, politics, family, tension, fear, and eroticism all mixed together. Well, I mean in one story. Not all in one scene. Well, some of that was mixed into the same scene.

Well plotted/written/good solid characters/...

I've said before, in my life, something like 'I laughed, I cried, I had a good time.' But this might be one of the few times I've said 'I laughed, I cried, I had a good arousing time.' There were some tearful scenes, and some well-written sex scenes.

Hmm. I'm not sure why I'm being so wordy. Boil this down into basic concepts and I've probably not written a whole hell of a lot.

Boiled down: I liked this story. Damn good continuation of the series. Seeing that the series will return in 'Renovations' was a happily little thing to see after 'The End'. ( )