Rating: 
Summary: PRETTY GOOD MIX
Review: A dream assignment to St. Lucia (small island nation in the southern end of the Caribbean) hits a curve ball while cocaine is found in Penny's luggage. Fortunately for her, a handsome American who knows the locals says she's his wife and they let her go. So much for logical opening chapters.Still, this is a fun light read. Charlie needs the "cover" of a wife while trying to local a missing employee on the island where he grew up. Penny, an otherwise intelligent woman, thinks she's going to jail if she doesn't go along with Charlie. It takes awhile for them to uncover the reasons behind the disappearance but the romantic tension grows at a nice pace. I also appreciated that the protagonists were tall, attractive AND smart. What I really liked about this book is that the author keeps a good balance of humor, romance, and suspense. Some of the so-called romantic suspense I've read lately has been really dark - violent, kinky sex and otherwise bleak. Rice does a good job of avoiding those traps and the result is a romance with suspense -- just the way I like it.
Rating:
Summary: Nice mix of romance and suspense in the tropics
Review: A dream assignment to St. Lucia (small island nation in the southern end of the Caribbean) hits a curve ball while cocaine is found in Penny's luggage. Fortunately for her, a handsome American who knows the locals says she's his wife and they let her go. So much for logical opening chapters. Still, this is a fun light read. Charlie needs the "cover" of a wife while trying to local a missing employee on the island where he grew up. Penny, an otherwise intelligent woman, thinks she's going to jail if she doesn't go along with Charlie. It takes awhile for them to uncover the reasons behind the disappearance but the romantic tension grows at a nice pace. I also appreciated that the protagonists were tall, attractive AND smart. What I really liked about this book is that the author keeps a good balance of humor, romance, and suspense. Some of the so-called romantic suspense I've read lately has been really dark - violent, kinky sex and otherwise bleak. Rice does a good job of avoiding those traps and the result is a romance with suspense -- just the way I like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good!!
Review: I really enjoyed this book and would read it again. I did find Penny to be a little tiresome though. She was a little too tough for me to really like.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I'm not usually too much of a contemporary romance reader, preferring the historicals, but I have always liked Patricia Rice's books. I am glad that I took the risk. "Volcano" was a fun, fast read which garnered a few laughs along the way. Unlike so many contemporaries, where the hero is a cop/military macho man, Charlie breaks that mold. I chuckled when the bullets started flying and he ducked, cursing our heroine because what did she think she was, in a movie? The story was a bit on the outrageous side, but isn't that what escapist reading is all about? If I wanted reality I'd read Angela's Ashes. Here are two stubborn people who have to break through their preconceived ideas about each other to find the person underneath. Definitely worth picking up and reading.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: I'm not usually too much of a contemporary romance reader, preferring the historicals, but I have always liked Patricia Rice's books. I am glad that I took the risk. "Volcano" was a fun, fast read which garnered a few laughs along the way. Unlike so many contemporaries, where the hero is a cop/military macho man, Charlie breaks that mold. I chuckled when the bullets started flying and he ducked, cursing our heroine because what did she think she was, in a movie? The story was a bit on the outrageous side, but isn't that what escapist reading is all about? If I wanted reality I'd read Angela's Ashes. Here are two stubborn people who have to break through their preconceived ideas about each other to find the person underneath. Definitely worth picking up and reading.
Rating:
Summary: A fabulous read!
Review: I've loved all of Patricia Rice's contemporaries, and Volcano is no exception. She throws together a jock and an uptight businesswoman on a lush tropical island, stirs in a good suspense plot, and whooshes the reader along to an exciting, believable climax. This should appeal to readers of Susan Elizabeth Phillips who like a romance that is intelligence and emotional, but rendered with a light touch. Charlie and Penelope are wonderful, strong-minded, distinctive characters, and their battle of wills is hilarious, sexy, and ultimately moving as they find compatible souls under their wildly different exteriors. Much of the book takes place on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, and I now have a pressing desire to visit there and imagine Charlie and Penelope dashing around that drive-in volcano. There was also a touching secondary relationship involving Penelope's sister, Beth, and her ex-husband. Volcano is a highly entertaining book that should appeal to lovers of Susan Elizabeth Phillips who enjoy a fast-moving romance that combines a light touch with intelligence and emotion
Rating:
Summary: A delicious read!
Review: I've loved all of Patricia Rice's contemporary romances, and this one is no exception. She throws together a jock and an uptight businesswoman on a lush tropical island, stirs in a good suspense plot, and whooshes the reader along to an exciting, believable climax. This should appeal to readers of Susan Elizabeth Phillips who like a romance that is intelligence and emotional, but rendered with a light touch.
Rating: 
Summary: author's point of view
Review: Like Penelope in VOLCANO, I'm not the world's bravest person, and new experiences---such as all this new computer technology---make me very wary. But glancing at the page set-up here on Amazon, I thought you might need to know that VOLCANO comes in two covers. Under one heading, you'll find the classic "clinch" cover with the couple and the tropical beach. Under the other heading, you'll find a full scenic view of the volcano with no couple. Your choice of cover may influence the publisher as to which kind of cover works best, so choose carefully! And just for the fun of it, I'll tell you that the volcano in St. Lucia--as you'll discover in this book-- does not look like the cover. <G> I do hope you'll enjoy the manner in which Penelope overcomes her inhibitions (and she's definitely not afraid of technology as I am) with a little help from an uninhibited hero who thinks of himself as a bull in a china shop rather than the Superman he really can be.
Rating:
Summary: PRETTY GOOD MIX
Review: Patricia Rice does a nice job of mixing romance and adventure in this book. It's not the kind that you stay up all night reading, but it's worth picking up. I liked Nobody's Angel and Blue Clouds better but, if this had been my first PR book, I would have bought more based on this story. I've been to St. Lucia and it was fun reading about some of the familiar places.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This is a good read, and the setting was unusual and a welcome change of pace. The beauty and the brain pairing is a classic and works well here, and the sexual tension is good. I would've liked more information earlier in the book as to exactly what Charlie was worried about/running from, because it seemed a lot of time was spent initially running about and escaping--and I had no idea from what. Rather than suspenseful, it was confusing. An inkling or two would've cleared this up and made the suspense a bit more focused. I also didn't think the reader had to be told repeatedly that the hero was an ex-football player with an ex-football player physique. After a while, the heroine's constant reference to the oaf/ape/big lug/dumb jock etc. was distracting. In this case, a little goes a long way. All in all, a solid read and a rollicking good adventure story. You could really feel the jungle heat and smell the wildflowers, and I have to say, I wouldn't mind being dragged through the jungle by Charlie.
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