A Moment in Time

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and the Beast. 2001
Review: Although born into a wealthy family, Valerie Rochelle has always been a rebel. She refuses to fit into the blue-blood world her mother rules. The only thing she has ever done that her mother approves of is to become engaged to Teddy de Mornay.
Rumors about Wyn Conrad, the owner of the Stonelair, have been circulating for months. Once an international playboy, Wyn dropped out of the public eye when an accident left scars over ninety percent of his body. Much to her mother's distress, Valerie is a successful veterinarian. Shortly after agreeing to marry Teddy, Valerie gets a call in the middle of the night and makes an emergency visit Wyn's estate. Almost from the moment Valerie slipped Teddy's engagement ring on her finger, she'd been having seconds thoughts. But it isn't until she meets and falls in love with Wyn that she realizes she never loved Teddy. Secret plots are brewing. Several people don't want to see Wyn and Valerie together, and one person is willing to commit murder to keep them apart.
Judith Gould applies complex characters, steamy sex scenes, and a fast moving plot, to a popular premise. A modern day Beauty and the Beast, A Moment In Time is sure to please her many fans.

Rating:
Summary: False Engagement
Review: Ambitious, young veterinarian Valerie Rochelle has been dating investment advisor Teddy De Mornay since college, even though she's sometimes uncomfortable with his fiery temper and evasiveness about his business dealings. But he is handsome, successful and rich and very suitable according to her mother who is very status conscious and wants her to marry into a good lineage. Teddy sweeps her off her feet with a perfectly orchestrated dinner at his home, and she nods yes to his proposal when he hands her a giant diamond ring, all the while feeling that she has been backed into a corner.

Teddy has many ugly secrets, including his drug habit, affairs with other women and mismanagement of his client's assets. He is critical of Valerie's career and expects her to be devoted to him full time. Inertia seems to be the main reason that she hasn't told him she doesn't want to marry. But when Valerie meets Wyn Conrad, the reclusive owner of the Stonelair estate where she has been called several times to treat the horses and dogs, there is an immediate attraction and she finally starts to really question her engagement to the evil Teddy.

There are many who want to thwart Valerie's relationship with Wyn including his major domo, Santo Ducci, who believes he will inherit part of Wyn's estate, as well as Wyn's estranged wife, who is impatiently awaiting her settlement so she can keep her polo-playing boyfriend in high style. Valerie's mother is also opposed to the relationship and is trying to rush Valerie into marrying Teddy before she can change her mind.

There's plenty of intrigue, nasty people and graphic sex in this novel, but the evil Teddy seems just too wicked and Valerie seems just too perfect for them ever to have been in love or even attracted to each other. All the characters are either good or bad, with no gray areas, which makes the whole plot rather unbelievable. The ending builds to a crescendo of mishaps and violence, but by then I was just glad that it was over so Valerie could go on living her life in a more normal manner.

Rating:
Summary: Lost this book, found it recently, wish it had stayed lost
Review: I picked this book up a while back, but lost it in a pile of boxes when I moved last year. I found it recently while I was taking a sick day from work; I wish it had stayed lost.

I know that these romance thrillers tend to have rather unrealistic plots, but this novel has a plot that defies even the most flexible of minds. There is no thrill in this thriller - I just plodded through the book, hoping that something would rescue it from mediocrity, but no such luck.

I was also hoping that I would care about what would happen to the characters in the story. The characters , however, have no depth whatsoever, so I did not want to cheer on any of them. A bad plot can sometimes be rescued by characters that the reader feels some connection with; in this case, bad plot and bad characters make the reading tedious.

This book is better used as a doorstop.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed in Judith Gould's latest book. In a nutshell vet engaged to marry cocaine sniffing embezzler who is better suited for her domineering mother. Vet meets owner of large estate who had been horribly disfigured in a polo accident and has mutiple emotional problems but alas after being with the vet twice he overcomes all of his problems! There are a few other characters not worth mentioning. I found the characters quite shallow, consequently the book lacked depth. It certainly is not up to Ms. Gould's usual high standards. I almost felt as though the book was written in a big hurry to please the publisher - not the readers.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Entertaining Romance
Review: In an effort to placate her mother, Valerie Rochelle decides to accept Teddy de Mornay's marriage proposal. Teddy and Valerie have been dating since college, and Marguerite, Valerie's mother, always assumed that they would marry and join their French Huguenot blood. Val does seem uneasy about the engagement and Teddy's petulance when she has an emergency call at Stonelair, an enormous estate in need of her veterinary services for one of their horses.

Much to her surprise, Wyn Conrad, the owner of Stonelair, wants Val to be the only veterinarian to handle the animals at his estate. Though Val's colleagues are somewhat bent out of shape at the notion, they agree to give her carte blanche at Stonelair, considering the profit it would bring.

But Val has never seen Mr. Conrad close-up and has always dealt with his manager, Santo Ducci, an odd giant man who reminds her of "Mr. Clean". According to Teddy and Marguerite, Conrad has mafia connections, and they warn Val to stay away from Stonelair. When Val finally meets Wyn face to face, she is surprised to find that she actually likes him and is able to see beneath the disfigurement he suffered in a polo accident.

As pets of Val's friends turn up dead, Val becomes convinced that she is the actual target, but from who? And when Wyn's horses are deliberately poisoned, Val can't imagine who would be responsible. Is someone jealous of her burgeoning relationship with Wyn?

Though this novel is a source of some entertainment, the plot seems to fall a little flat. Val is just a too-perfect heroine, very caring, exceedingly forgiving, without a mean bone in her body. The attraction between Wyn and Val seems to be a little undercooked with not enough attention paid towards the development of their relationship. All in all, this is an okay read, with an interesting twist at the conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: Should Have Been In Oprah's Collection
Review: It's been along time waiting for a good Romance/Thriller to come along. Even though I am NOT an advid reader........I just could not put this book down. I have read at least 6 of Oprah's bookclub books and only one compared to this novel. Yes, it was a predictable Love Story but the ending was very different from most. Valerie and Wynn moved quicky in their romance but writing a book that moves from one thing to the next is what keeps me motivated to read more. I just LOVE this Author and can't wait to read more of her novels. Love a great Love story......predictable or not!