French Quarter

Rating:
Summary: Hardcover Debut a SMASH!!!
Review: After reading most of Stella's novels (previously paperbacks) I'm not sorry I spent the extra bucks to get her hardcover debut. She's a nice lady too! True to her writing style, this book kept me riveted from beginning to end. The sparks between Celina and Jack were electrifying. Their characters were very intense. I liked the fact that there were enough sub-plots to really keep the story moving. Between politics, religion, parental abuse, relationships, etc. there was more than enough to keep you involved. I really liked Jack's "5 going on 50" year old daughter who kept me laughing with her "honesty". After reading 2 other novels with a Louisiana flavor (including The Best Revenge) I wasn't sure if this was going to be cajun overload, but the plot depth and descriptive writing cancelled all doubts. This was a new plateau for Stella, but I definitely will buy another hardcover if she writes one. There's no problem ordering Stella's books before they're due to hit the shelves because I know it's money well spent. This effort has confirmed my opinion!

Rating:
Summary: Complex, rich, intriguing and unforgettable love story
Review: Complex, intriguing, rich in texture, FRENCH QUARTER drew me away again and again from all that I *should* have been doing, back into that delicious 'can't-put-this-down' feeling. Jack and Celina have such a hot, tender, complicated and wonderfully unique relationship--it's an unforgettable love story and Jack is a hero to die for. With all its twists and unexpected turns, all the wealth of secondary characters both heart-tugging and malevolent, FRENCH QUARTER is a tour de force from a writer who continues to amaze and impress me.

Rating:
Summary: great hadcover debut-Stella Cameron has another winner
Review: Errol Petrie creates the Dreams Foundation, whose noble mission is to raise funds to help terminally ill children throughout the world. Jack Charbonnet and Celina Payne share Errol's dream with him even as they detest each other. However, relationships abruptly change when Errol is found murdered in his bathroom. The mobster's son and the former Miss Louisiana pull together to insure their friend's vision does not die with him.

While working closly together, Jack learns that Celina is the child of blue-blooded social climbing parents who happens to be a close friend of a senatorial candidate. He also leans that Celina is pregnant and that the embryo is a result of a rape. He asks Celina to marry him, but the road to the altar is filled with detours and potholes, especially from her snobby parents, a mobster who fears Jack's connections, and a sex-crazed maniac who wants Celina all to himself.

FRENCH QUARTER is a fantastic thriller that combines a m! agnificent adventure with a delicious romance. Stella Cameron, already renowned for her quality tales, provides a stellar hard cover debut that will please all her fans and bring her many new ones too.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A book to cheer for
Review: First the cover grabbed me, then the text on the back of the book grabbed me. From then on I sat back and enjoyed one of the best books I've ever read. The author has a subtle hand but doesn't pull any punches. Celina Payne and Jack Charbonnet are complex enough to make you long for them to win out. And they have a lot to fight against. Some of the secondary characters are funny in a wonderful way. You want to know them. Some of the other secondary characters make sure you don't want to know them! Now I'm looking forward to Ms. Cameron's next book. It was nice to have an excerpt in the back of French Quarter.

Rating:
Summary: This Sizzles!
Review: French Quarter drips with the humid and romantic atmosphere that is New Orleans. Stella Cameron serves it this up with the mystery and intrigue that are her hallmark. Celina Payne is a former beauty queen with a painful past and a dark secret. Hiding that secret becomes more difficult when her employer dies in a sudden and compromising manner. Celina believes in the vision of the late Errol Petrie: Dreams, a company that funnels money from the wealthy to make the wishes of sick children come true. Celina will do her best to keep Errol's foundation alive. Should the way in which Errol died become public, the elite upon whose funding Dreams relies might spend their money elsewhere. Jack Charbonnet is Errol's best friend and a major benefactor of Dreams. When Jack's wife died he was left with questions surrounding her death and a young daughter to raise. As a child Jack's parents' were brutallly murdered. Jack has been on the long, patient road to revenge ever since. Jack wants to preserve Errol's good reputation but at the same time will not allow Celina's secrets, and he is sure she has secrets, to get in the way of his life's work. Can two people with troubled pasts fill the voids in each other's hearts and souls? Can two people survive when powerful and ruthless people decide it is time for them to be silenced forever? If you did not pick this up in hardback, don't miss the paperback. Don't plan on sleeping until you finish reading it either.

Rating:
Summary: Stella Cameron at her thrilling best!
Review: French Quarter, like all of the other Stella Cameron books I have read, is extremely entertaining. I read the entire book in one day! It is a book that mixes romance with intrigue and danger. Read one of this author's titles, and you will be forced to search out all of her others as well!

Rating:
Summary: Yuck
Review: I bought this book because it was on the Romantic Times list of Reviewers Choice for Best Mainstream Novel. It was trash! It was a waste of money to buy and figure out my own best of the five books.

It was confusing, very boring, bad mobster that made me go Huh? Unbelievable characters that I could never understand or see on the streets. Not a good review!

Rating:
Summary: This is the worst Stella Cameron book I have read.
Review: I have read many of Stella Cameron's books and for the most part have liked them. Her story lines are usually good but this time she seems to have lost site of the distinction between romance and sex. I got so disgusted with reading the sex scenes that three quarters of the way through the book I threw it in the trash.

Rating:
Summary: too complex and weird
Review: I have read other Stella Cameron books and enjoyed them, but this one was a little too much with too many complications! The mob, rape, politics, murder mystery, journalism, etc. are just too much in this storyline. It makes interesting reading, but then the hero, Jack, has to be a storytelling father to a daughter named Amelia??? Come on! Overall, interesting reading, but her other works are better.

Rating:
Summary: A FANTASTIC READ!!
Review: I own many of Stella Camerson's books, some where great reads and other's a great disappointment. Not so with FRENCH QUARTER. This is a fabulous book telling the love story of Jack Charbonnet and Celena Payne. Their story is filled with murder, suspense, humor, and a passionate love. Both characters grow throughout the book, learning to trust and depend on one another. Jack's daughter Amelia is a wonderful little girl whose rare adult intelligence is amazing. Other characters such as Dwayne, whose humor is absolutely comical, and Celina's brother, Cyrus, a sexy priest, are also intriguing additions to the story. This is a wonderful read. You'll love it. Trust me!