Sting

I’m abandoning this at the 33% mark. It's not awful. It's just not good. It's as inoffensive as a beige and magnolia room and about as stimulating. I'd rather spend my time on something that excites my imagination.

I made it through the first third of the book because I liked the idea of a thriller with a slow start that drops me in the middle of a complex but unexplained situation. There's a clever idea at the core of this book and I'm sure there'll be a surprise or two along the way but as I read on, I found I just didn't care.

My interest collapsed under the weight of the pedestrians execution. The writing is competent but uninspired. The descriptive language is lazy to the point of sloppiness. The characters are mono-dimensional and show more unconvincing.

The only tension comes from the relationship between the assassin and the woman he has abducted. I’m fairly certain this is the pivot of the plot but the implied will-they-fall-for-each-other? dynamic is clumsily handled and fundamentally toxic. I struggle to believe that a woman who has just witnessed a man shoot his partner in the head from behind, been splattered by the resulting blood and brains, abducted, restrained and repeatedly threatened with death, is going to fall asleep fascinated by the way her assailant touched her bra strap. If you’re going to head in that transgressive direction you need to do it with flair and aggression. When it's delivered with this bland prose, it becomes exploitative.

This is my first book by Sandra Brown. I have another in my TBR pile. I can see that she is extraordinarily prolific. Perhaps that is why "Sting" reads like a production line effort: a clever idea competently delivered through multiple points of view but with nothing original to make reading it worthwhile. This is good TV fodder but it's not something I'm willing to spend hours on. show less

Sting by Sandra Brown in a 2016 Grand Central Publication.

You gotta love Sandra Brown’s consistency! Sting is another solid and quintessential romantic suspense novel from Brown, whose stories have kept me on the edge of my seat for decades.

Jordie Bennett is a successful business woman, but is still living in the dark shadow cast by her brother, Josh, which is how she winds up being kidnapped by Shaw Kinnard, a man hired by a powerful criminal to kill Jordie.

But, before he completes his mission, he needs vital information from Jordie concerning Josh’s whereabouts, which of course all centers around an incredibly large amount of money only Josh has access to. But, Jordie is one tough nut to crack, refusing to budge, always looking show more for a way to escape, giving the hardened Shaw a workout of epic proportions, and sparking a weird, twisted, and smoking hot chemistry between them in the process.

Will Shaw kill Jordie and collect his 2 million dollars, not passing go, or will he try to outsmart Josh, and earn a much larger booty…. Or is there more going on here than meets the eye?

Going solely on the book title, I knew going in this was going to be a complex tale and that nothing would be as it appeared on the surface, and I was not surprised, or disappointed, in how things played out. I loved the sharp dialogue between Jordie and Shaw, and the non-stop action, Brown’s trademark plot twists, and of course the steamy romance, but I thought the family drama was the most thought provoking aspects of the novel, and certainly gave me something to mull over and chew on for a while. I thought it made an interesting character study and added a great deal of depth to the standard romantic suspense story, that would have passed muster without the juxtaposition between Jordie and Josh.

So, overall, this is yet another wildly entertaining thriller by one of the best RS authors out there, and frankly, I don’t think you can go wrong here.

4 stars

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This is a book that I needed to take a couple of days to ponder about before I wrote the review so that I could clarify why it just didn't work for me. Sting is the second Sandra Brown book I have read in my life, actually, this is the first book I managed to finish. I read one last year or tried, but I could not finish it. And, that's because the plot was so infuriating and I just couldn't stand the characters. This book was better, marginally. Well, I did manage to finish it at least and it seemed promising in the beginning and it was not bad during the first 100 pages or so when the reader was left in the dark about much of what was going on.

Then everything just went south. I had a feeling that this book would turn out to be a show more Stockholm syndrome kind of book, but I felt that Sandra Brown took the easy way, instead of making the story dark and twisted. It's hard to write about this the books (first) real BIG twist without revealing too much. Just let me say that Brown took the easy road and made everything less complicated and suddenly what was promising turns out to be a story perfect for a Hallmark movie instead!

And, after that, I had a pretty hard time enjoying the book. I felt like I was reading a Nora Roberts book and if you know me, then you know what's not a good comparison. Like with Roberts book's, this one started off good then suddenly the suspense turns into romance, and the plot goes on and on again until the HEA ending. Of course, at the ending Sandra Brown throws in another twist, but by then nothing really could save the book for me. Especially since I have already gotten sick and tired of the main characters that were very flat.

So, if the plot had stayed on track, and turned dark and twisted and if the characters had not turned out to be uninteresting and flat, then I might have enjoyed the book.

I want to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

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This was an interesting Suspenseful read. I bought this at a local Goodwill store and I've given it a 4* rating. It did take a bit to get into this story. This is not for the under 18 readers. It has a lot of sexual content and violence, and a bit of grittiness to it. It ended a lot different than I thought it would. And it gave a few things to think about.

I liked this one. It wasn't my favorite Sandra Brown book but it was definitely entertaining. I should say upfront that I am a huge Sandra Brown fan. I was reading and loving her books long before I was blogging or writing any kind of reviews. I haven't read all of her book but I have enjoyed a fair number of them and I have found then to be consistently good. This one did not disappoint.

The story starts with a bang. Shaw is with his partner have been hired to take care of Jordie. By take care of, I mean that they have been hired to kill her. Things don't go exactly as expected and Jordie finds herself being held by Shaw Kinnard. I never had any idea who could be trusted and the past was anything but clear. The more I learned the more show more exciting the book became. This story started out strong and really never stopped. There were tons of twists and turns that lead to a few surprises.

I liked the characters. I really enjoyed that they were a bit out of the ordinary. Jordie was strong and refused to back down or give up regardless of the circumstances. As much as I liked her, I was never quite sure whether she was as innocent as she claimed. Shaw was ruthless in some ways but he could also be somewhat kind at times. I had a hard time figuring him out which added to the mystery of the story. I thought that the chemistry between Shaw and Jordie was handled perfectly.

The underlying mystery in the book was very well done. There was really so much to figure out in this book and I was never quite sure where things were going. I did have a few guesses along the way that turned out to be correct but I had an equal amount of twists that were completely unexpected. The secondary characters were fully developed and added a lot to the overall story.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense. This is a fast paced, entertaining read that will have at least a couple of surprises for most readers. I definitely plan to continue to read Sandra Brown's work in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review. show less

Jordie Bennet is waiting in a seedy dive. Shaw Kinnard is there for the hit. Kinnard decides instead to kidnap Jordie and claim the thirty million dollars for himself that Jordies brother Josh stolen. Jordie now has to try and outwit her captor to survive.

Sandra Brown is queen of the romantic thriller genre and I have read many of her books. Most of her books I have really enjoyed and the odd one or two have been just ok. This book for me was one of her just ok reads.

The book has the usual perhaps predictable storyline. Our heroine Jordie falls into a situation and along comes hero Kinnard. Eyes lock and from there thats the romance, cat and mouse sorted out. The crime part of the story was quite pacy but nothing special. Twists and show more turns along the way. Final twist at the end but predictable.

As always I do enjoy this genre and Sandra Brown is a great author. This outing was average for me but I liked it. I will always look out for new books by this author as she is one of my favourites in this genre. show less

I have read many of Sandra Brown's books and when I started this one I thought it was another formulaic romantic thriller. Boy was I wrong. Make sure you do not give up on this one. It had more than enough twists and unexpected turns to keep this reader on the edge of her seat.

The story takes place in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Jordan (Jordie) Bennet is kidnapped by a hitman and held for ransom. Will her brother pay more to keep her alive than the man who ordered the hit? I do not want to give away the story, but suffice it to say that Shaw Kinnard, the kidnapper, gets Jordie's blood boiling in more ways than one. Will she survive? Where is her brother? Will he come through for her? Every time you think you have an answer, show more the questions change.

The characters in this story are very multi-faceted and Sandra Brown does a great job of making you feel like you know them or want to know them. The dialogue and their actions are very realistic. Their backstories give an understanding of how they became who they are in the present. The romantic suspense is something Sandra Brown does very well. You know there is a connection but who will act on it and when if at all. The FBI detectives, who are the supporting characters in this story, are depicted as human, which is not always done in many stories. They have families they care about and who care about them. You get to know them and what they have been up against when trying to solve this case. The last third of the book zooms by and I did not want to put it down. The plot is very well developed and kept me guessing throughout the book. If you love suspense and thrillers, pick up this book. If you like a romantic suspense, pick up this book. It will hook you and draw you in.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less