Deadly Sexy

Deadly Sexy is another romance suspense title from Beverly Jenkins and takes place at the same time as Dangerous/Sexy. Either can be read first, but it's inevitable one will compare the two books.First, Deadly Sexy is a little more plausible than Dangerous. A sports agent getting caught up in some bad business is always more believable than a super secret government agent with super dogs, especially the way Jenkins tells it, with the suspense taking a clear second place to the romance.In fact, I really liked the romance. "JT" is believable as the strong, competent, smart sports agent. The author clearly knows her sports. Never a Too-Stupid-To-Live moment from her and no dramatic Big Understandings either. Though neither is really show more looking to enter the dating scene when they meet, JT and Reese, or Jeese as I like to call them, are very down to earth and intelligent people. They know a good thing when they see one, and the feelings between them are a good thing. How could JT fail to love Reese, tall and toned in his silk shirts and his "mahogany" voice? Reese the Fine, as JT aptly names him, is shrewd, capable and strong enough to admire an independent woman. His responses to JT's requests to give her space were reminiscent of a modern Westley: "As you wish." You see, our boy Reese also moonlights as a knight in shining armor. He's not really a trucker (I know, I was disappointed too). He's an ex-cop from Detroit turned part owner in a multimillion dollar company -who needs the DPD when your brother is a genius inventor?- and he wants to court our heroine the old-fashioned way. Needless to say, this was a surprise. I haven't even seen real, true-blue courtships in historical romance. It was sweet coming from this modern man (and his very modern courtship, if you know what I mean- rated R for one or two scenes.)At this point, we could be watching an episode of The Game, complete with the chatty girlfriend and a modern, sensual romance, but then the suspense arc takes a more active role and the villain becomes (PG-13) violent. While this was plotted and executed well -Reese's usurping the local detective's investigation aside- I felt this could have been told more efficiently. The last third of the book dragged and was a little predictable with the hero and heroine essentially sitting ducks for the villain's attacks because they're engaged in scene after brief, perfunctory scene of repetitive lovemaking. On the side, JT becomes acquainted with Reese's family, but I wish that Jenkins had devoted more attention to one or the other element, either JT and Reese's relationship or meeting and exploring his family in depth, as real people rather than the Super Smart Brady Bunch of Four. Instead, both elements came across halfhearted.I would also like more internal dialogue throughout. The characters have their introspective moments when they're apart and perhaps this style is easy to read, but we're kept at a distance with this kind of surface narration. We're never really inside the characters' heads. I felt this was considerably improved from Dangerous/Sexy, however, where the exposition was littered with rote, my-accountant-wrote-this summation. "Then the hero received a call that the case was solved and he was happy." At any rate the novel only degrades near the end. The first half, which we'll call Contemporary, I really enjoyed, and the suspense wasn't bad. 3.5 stars, I think I'm done with Jenkins. I'm ready to move on. show less

I loved this book. It was action packed and very romantic at the same time. It's hard to find both qualities in one novel. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Jenkins books. The heroine JT is a modern day feminist who can take care of herself and be treated like every woman should.