Pure Chance

Rating:
Summary: Pure Chance is Pure Fun
Review: "Pure Chance" is a romantic "who done it" novel. The heroine and hero have fun personalities. I did not want to put the book down!

Rating:
Summary: Pure Chance is Pure Fun
Review: "Pure Chance" is a romantic "who done it" novel. The heroine and hero have fun personalities. I did not want to put the book down!

Rating:
Summary: Pure Chance is Pure Fun
Review: "Pure Chance" is a romantic "who done it" novel. The heroine and hero have fun personalities. I did not want to put the book down!

Rating:
Summary: Leto SHINES!!
Review: I think Julie Elizabeth Leto is one of the fastest rising voices in the series romance field. She is so strong in her craft, she creates vivid, interesting characters that are very memorable, and imbues her stories with her love of the New Orleans area, showing a strong technique in romance writing. She understand how to create sexual tension on a level of 10, yet still remembers the difference between sexual tension and romance. She has the wee touches that make a writer shine and shine she does!!

This is the first of the Chance brothers series, and it is a knockout. Serena Deveaux, grew up with Drew and Brandon, but at 17 the childhood friendships began to change. Serena fell in a mild crush with Brandon Chance, and Drew thought he fell in love with her. Brandon drunkenly ruined it all by shattering her teenage fantasies about romance one night. Immediately after, he went off to join the air force, later becoming a Nightstalker pilot. However, vision problems have forced him to retire and he is now opening a private investigation agency in the French Quarter. And who should be his first client - his old love Serena!

During this time, Drew's insistence he loves Serena has grown to the point he is trying to force her into marriage. She wants to discourage him without losing his friendship, and hits upon hiring Brandon to dim Drew's feelings. She concocts a hair-brain scheme to hire him as her bodyguard against the "cliché killer", pure invention on her part (though she later admits to herself and him it was just an excuse to approach Brandon). She thinks if Drew sees them together in a romantic light, he will back off. She makes a bet, knowing the men of Chance cannot back away from one, and banks on him living up to losing. In short time, she see she still is very attracted to him, so fesses up to the whole thing being a red herring, that she was hoping to drive Drew away without ruining their friendship. Only, someone else has other ideas and suddenly is making the "cliché killer" very real.

Aside from the problem of the threat, the main characters' have to deal with their different goals in life. Brandon wants a wife in the suburbs, kids and white picket fences. Serena is New Orleans all the way, loves to party-on-down-Cher and dance till dawn at The Reservation Hall (I have done this so truly sympathised with Serena!!). Can they find that bridge between their desires and their wants for the future???

Serena and Brandon are very warm and loving characters. Serena is wild, full of life, but is afraid of commitment after her parents' divorce. She is working to find a relationship with her estranged twin sister. Brandon, while being Hunk extraordinaire, is also very human - having his vision problems, and forced to wear glasses. Very Nice touch, Julie!!

Sprinkled in are Serena's twin sister (raised away from her), her psychic mother - who knows all - the kindly cook who makes all those wonderful New Orleans dishes that Justin Wilson would adore and all sort of New Orleans 'all that jazz'.

As a writer myself, I think creating one these series books is likely one of the harder tasks any writer undertakes. To give so much in such a short span of pages is a great challenge and Julie Leto rising to that challenge so well.

She is one of the best and brightest talents in series romance - keep your eye on her - she is going places!!

I triple-dog dare you to read this and not love Leto's writing!!
;-)

Rating:
Summary: Leto SHINES!!
Review: I think Julie Elizabeth Leto is one of the fastest rising voices in the series romance field. She is so strong in her craft, she creates vivid, interesting characters that are very memorable, and imbues her stories with her love of the New Orleans area, showing a strong technique in romance writing. She understand how to create sexual tension on a level of 10, yet still remembers the difference between sexual tension and romance. She has the wee touches that make a writer shine and shine she does!!

This is the first of the Chance brothers series, and it is a knockout. Serena Deveaux, grew up with Drew and Brandon, but at 17 the childhood friendships began to change. Serena fell in a mild crush with Brandon Chance, and Drew thought he fell in love with her. Brandon drunkenly ruined it all by shattering her teenage fantasies about romance one night. Immediately after, he went off to join the air force, later becoming a Nightstalker pilot. However, vision problems have forced him to retire and he is now opening a private investigation agency in the French Quarter. And who should be his first client - his old love Serena!

During this time, Drew's insistence he loves Serena has grown to the point he is trying to force her into marriage. She wants to discourage him without losing his friendship, and hits upon hiring Brandon to dim Drew's feelings. She concocts a hair-brain scheme to hire him as her bodyguard against the "cliché killer", pure invention on her part (though she later admits to herself and him it was just an excuse to approach Brandon). She thinks if Drew sees them together in a romantic light, he will back off. She makes a bet, knowing the men of Chance cannot back away from one, and banks on him living up to losing. In short time, she see she still is very attracted to him, so fesses up to the whole thing being a red herring, that she was hoping to drive Drew away without ruining their friendship. Only, someone else has other ideas and suddenly is making the "cliché killer" very real.

Aside from the problem of the threat, the main characters' have to deal with their different goals in life. Brandon wants a wife in the suburbs, kids and white picket fences. Serena is New Orleans all the way, loves to party-on-down-Cher and dance till dawn at The Reservation Hall (I have done this so truly sympathised with Serena!!). Can they find that bridge between their desires and their wants for the future???

Serena and Brandon are very warm and loving characters. Serena is wild, full of life, but is afraid of commitment after her parents' divorce. She is working to find a relationship with her estranged twin sister. Brandon, while being Hunk extraordinaire, is also very human - having his vision problems, and forced to wear glasses. Very Nice touch, Julie!!

Sprinkled in are Serena's twin sister (raised away from her), her psychic mother - who knows all - the kindly cook who makes all those wonderful New Orleans dishes that Justin Wilson would adore and all sort of New Orleans 'all that jazz'.

As a writer myself, I think creating one these series books is likely one of the harder tasks any writer undertakes. To give so much in such a short span of pages is a great challenge and Julie Leto rising to that challenge so well.

She is one of the best and brightest talents in series romance - keep your eye on her - she is going places!!

I triple-dog dare you to read this and not love Leto's writing!!
;-)

Rating:
Summary: Very highly recommended!
Review: When Drew Stuart moved beyond insulting or rude Valentines to mushy and started talking about marriage, Serena Deveaux decided to put an end to the nonsense. They've been best friends since kindergarten, and the last thing Serena wants to ruin their friendship by getting married. Her parents had already provided a terrible example of what can go wrong. Now she tries to live as simply as possible: an occasional lover without long term relationships, playing and have fun without marriage. Now Drew has made things not so simple.

Serena concocts an elaborate scheme to ditch Drew's romantic notions. And the scheme involves the only man she's ever loved, Brandon Chance. Fifteen years ago a graduation kiss with Brandon proved to her how foolish becoming involved with a best friend can be. Now she wants to hire Brandon to be her bodyguard and then make Drew think that they are lovers. He'll warn her about friends who destroy their friendship over romance, stop persuing her without destroying the friendship, and all her problems will be solved. After all, marriage is not an option, even if it costs her a cherished friend.

When she shows up at Chances Protection the first morning of business, Serena refuses to be turned away by Brandon's irritability. But he quickly changed his tone when she handed him beignets and cafe au lait. He's spent fifteen years trying to keep Serena out of his life. They are too much alike--"too reckless, too rash, too willing to throw caution to the wind and fly straight into disaster." What he wants is a sensible practical wife to help keep him out of trouble. What he gets is, well, trouble...

Julie Elizabeth Leto creates a passionate, sexy tale of love reunited. Serena is a playful, unpredictable sprite that doesn't back down no matter the wager or the chance she must take. Chance has to learn to reconcile the fun and unexpected with his vision of the future and learn to listen to his heart, creating a marvelous tension in the novel that keeps the reader smiling. Don't start this one at bedtime unless you want to be up all night. Very highly recommended.