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Women's Fiction
Midnight in Ruby Bayou

Midnight in Ruby Bayou

List Price: $12.99
Your Price: $12.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exciting and Enjoyable...................
Review: Had to read this book after reading Pearl Cove and enjoying yummmmmmmmy Archer Donovan and his love Hannah. Faith Donovan the youngest sister and jewelry designer and Owen Walker best friend and Ruby expert goes with Faitn Donovan to the Bayous for her best friends wedding and to present her a beautiful Ruby Necklace. But, the Heart of Midnight a giant ruby is lost and a Russian is trying to find it and murder anyone who gets in his way and Faith may be next. I really enjoyed this one. I would like her to write about their twin brothers and the Emerald trade,but I highly doubt it. Looking forward to reading Color in Death by her and all about Sapphires. Read this book it's highly recommend.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: My Favorite of Series
Review: As series books go, I usually enjoy full length ones. However, with this one I was put off by all the details in Jade Island especially and let this one linger forever in my pile. I shouldn't have put it off, as this one was actually my favorite in the series.
Though there is a lot of detail about Ruby's included, they don't encompass the story so completely as to take away from the romance as Jade did. The characters were well developed and I enjoyed watching Faith and Walker's interactions.
The only thing I didn't like was it seemed to take them forever to act upon their attractions to each other. But still a very good book and as far as I'm concerned, the best of the series for action rather than details!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Well, at least the hero is a keeper
Review: I must be in a minority of one, if E. Lowell's books are so very popular. What does she or her readers have against a female protagonist with strength, depth or any kind of character? Granted, these books are fantasy and can't be taken as anything other that fantasy, but do women really fantasize about being morons with no spine? Is there a heroine in any one of Lowell's books who doesn't have a phobia due to one incident in which they were in danger in their past? Honestly, do most women really dream about being weak kneed, lily livered cowards? I guess they must, since books like Lowell's seem to be all the publishers will toss off the assembly line.

However, I'm writing this review (and giving the book 2 stars) because there was one bright spot in it. For once, Lowell has written a hero with charm, humor and appeal, unlike the cardboard cutouts in the other books in this series. Man, was that guy sexy and cute. Of course, it wouldn't be a Lowell book if the hero didn't protect the heroine without her knowledge (because, every one knows women are not to be trusted to protect themselves, they don't have the brain power and are too emotional to deal with a stressful situation with any kind of toughness). In spite of that, I like Walker and wish Lowell would try to flesh out other characters as well. And please, if you're reading this, Elizabeth, please try to get beyond the damsel in distress syndrome. It's so very tired, and surely you and your publishers realize there are women like me in this world. Women who actually fantasize about a man who can fall in love with a strong, skilled and confident woman.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I LOVED THIS BOOK
Review: I read the first three in this series and absolutely loved them. This 4th book was just as good as the first three. Loved the mystery combined with the love story. Men never know what's good for them, do they?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: First Class with Diamonds
Review: My biggest problem with Elizabeth Lowell, is that she can't write fast enough for me to read!!! I am sure I own every book she has ever written, and they have ALL been EXCELLENT!! I haunt the book stores and the internet looking for the newest releases. Her series are a beautiful mix of suspence, humour, action, superb storylines, and of course steamy but tasteful romance.(Extreme high praise for the Donovan series,and the historical, Only... series) Ms. Lowell is number ONE on my exclusive list of only five favourite authors. Thanks for enriching my life, and PLUEEEEZZZZEEEE hurry up with the rest of the Donovans!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Colourless, except for the rubies
Review: Once again, Lowell saves a tired plot with clever banter and one likeable character. Owen is, for me, the best male character of the series. He is warm without being mushy, savvy without being hard like Archer. Even with his recent injury, he manages to be extremely tough to kill. Too bad he wasn't paired with a more memorable female lead, but Faith lacks spine. Recovering from a very weak chioce on her last boyfriend, I began to wonder halfway through if she didn't deserve the weenie after all. There was just something missing in her character.

The plot itself is pretty mundane, missing gems, bad guys, eccentric southern family with a history of abuse and other weird stuff. The resolution of the conflict also lacks sizzle. Faith, proving once again what a flat character she is, caves competely, without even an attempt at assertiveness.

There wasn't as much information on rubies as I have come to expect, either. I missed the soundbites of lore and legend, coupled with the gemacological tidbits

The improvement I would suggest is for Owen to leave Faith, meet a woman with a bit more oomph, and have a rough and tumble courtship that doesn't involve steroetypical bad guys (The Mob? Come on!). Now that would be a book worth keeping. This one, I fear, is defintitely one to recycle.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Interesting and charming
Review: One of the better romances I have read. Not quite on par with some of the other Donovan series books, but still head and shoulders above most romance novels. I love learning something with my romance so all of the info about rubies and the south is great, but the book might annoy those less interested in real-world background. I agree Faith is not the most fascinating Donovan heroine, but I loved the mob/old family entanglements and she's still pretty funny.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Interesting and charming
Review: One of the better romances I have read. Not quite on par with some of the other Donovan series books, but still head and shoulders above most romance novels. I love learning something with my romance so all of the info about rubies and the south is great, but the book might annoy those less interested in real-world background. I agree Faith is not the most fascinating Donovan heroine, but I loved the mob/old family entanglements and she's still pretty funny.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I Read Like a Madwoman, Anxious to Get to the End
Review: Thieves break into a museum in St. Petersburg to steal gems. They have orders to take only the lesser known stuff, gems that won't be missed, but one of them gets greedy and steals a priceless set of rubies, including the egg sized ruby known as "The Heart of Midnight." The thief sends the rubies to a fence in America, who sells them minus the "Heart of Midnight," to Davis Montegeau who sends them to Faith Donovan to make into a necklace for his fiancée.

Russian Mafiya boss Marat Borisovitch Tarasov is furious when he finds out what his minions have done. The museum is going to open an exhibit soon featuring the "The Heart of Midnight" and if it's not there, he's going to be in big trouble, plus he'll lose a good source of free gems, so he sends tough and deadly Ivan Ivanovitch to America to get the precious rubies back.

Archer Donovan has decided to insure the gems as Faith wants to take them to a gem show in Atlanta where designers show off their work before she delivers the completed necklace. Archer has his trusted employee Owen Walker guard the rubies as well as Faith.

Ivanovitch slashes and kills his way through people in his quest to get the "Heart of Midnight" back, but by the time he gets to Faith, Walker is there. But even if he could have had his way with her, she couldn't have given up the monster ruby, because she doesn't have it. However Ivanovitch doesn't know this, so he's going to have another try at her. Will Walker be able to stop him, or will he be so infatuated with Faith and she for him, that he won't see Ivan coming?

Ms. Lowell has written a story that kept me sitting on the edge of my seat as I read like a madwoman, anxious to get to the end. Lots of action, just the right amount of romance and characters that I both loved and hated. This is a book you can't go wrong with, it's Elizabeth Lowell at her best.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Midnight on Ruby Bayou
Review: This book was almost as good as I had anticipated. The plotline was fairly straighforward without being boring, the action was well paced, and the characters were very much worth spending time with. Ruby Bayou was definitely one of the best books I've read in a while, but it just wasn't quite as riveting as the other books in the Donovan series. Faith was somehow a little less engaging than the other heroines, the cloak and dagger stuff was a little less dramatic, and the sexual tension between Faith and Walker was just a little less, well, tense than expected. I was also somewhat disappointed to see so little of the rest of the family, especially the never-met Justin and Lawe. CIA agent April Joy is a great recurring character; she deserves her own book. Ruby Bayou, by the way, might be a little rough going if read on its own, without the rest of the series. Still, I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book. Ms. Lowell is one of only a few authors for whose work I am willing to buy a full-price hardcover, and I don't regret a penny.


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