Mercy

I have read several titles lately with the setting in Louisiana and to tell the truth, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read another one. Well, I'm glad that isn't truly ever a factor for selection. And I'm definitely happy that I didn't miss this title by Julie Garwood. I enjoyed every aspect of the book - the romance, the humor, the mystery, the suspense - all with characters that I didn't want to leave between the pages. Hope you'll add this title to your summer reading list and enjoy!

I like Julie Garwood because of her sense of humor. I can count on smiling off and on throughout any of her books. However, I have to say that she is a bit lazy as an author. Most of her modern-day books follow the Buchanan/Clayborne families. She has populated them with infinite brothers, sisters, cousins, sisters of one of the other wives, etc. It means she doesn't have to put much effort into developing any new characters except bad guys and relatives of the new spouse to be who will probably show up in a future book. Time to give us someone new, Julie.

This book grabbed me from the beginning with a do-good doctor, a low-lying justice agent, and a bad-boy investing club. Their lives entwine and the story unfolds. I kept wondering when the doctor was going to give in to her inner lust. Mercy turned out to be a great suspense with both the love story and the mysterious bad guys. I couldn't tell that it was the second of a series. I'm ready to read more!

Theo and Nick Buchanan are off again on an adventure, rescuing Dr Michelle Renard. Four white-collar professionals figure out a way to hide money in the Cayman Islands after amassing millions of dollars in criminal ways. Dr. Michelle Renard has the key to what these criminals want and the race is on to get the information in any way they can, including killing her. Luckily, Theo has fallen in love with her, and rescues her from certain death. One of the four criminals has a hired killer kill his wife, and this plot twists and turns to a surprising end. At the beginning of the novel, the author has Theo being saved by the lovely doctor but at the end, it is he who saves her. Quite a twist, and with her unforgettable cast of intriguing show more characters, the author has written another masterpiece of contemporary suspense. show less

Both the cover and the jacket blurb on this book leads one to think it is a
mystery/thriller. But it turns out to be a romance novel in disguise.
Garwood writes a great deal like Nora Roberts and her story unfolds with
much the same sort of "formula" writing as is typical in that genre. So I
was a little disappointed in it, thinking I was going to read a mystery and
winding up with a lot more sexual content than I anticipated, and for that
reason I'll have to rate it a 3. Rating it as a romance novel, though, it
would probably have gotten a 4. I thought it was a bit of dirty pool to
have such a misleading blurb.

I really enjoy Julie Garwood books because of her sense of humor. She makes her characters fun. This book is about a group of four people that get caught up in greed. They belong to "The Sowing Club". An attorney with the Justice Dept. gets ill and a beautiful doctor from a small town (Bowman) saves his life. He decides to pay her a visit just after her clinic is broken into. Thinking there is more to the break-in than a prank, he calls in his FBI friend to assist and before you know it they are involved in the town and chasing crooks and killers. This book hooked me right away and I hated to see it end.

The book is ok. The story is engaging; but there's something flat about it. I think Garwood's strong point is creating characters that can play parts in other novels in the series.