The Real Thing

Rating:
Summary: fine reprint of two romantic suspense thrillers
Review: "Enemy Mine". Over the three years since they first met, rival antiquities experts Tyler St. James and Kane Pendleton have contested one another twelve times with each winning the prize for their respective client on six occasions. Now in Colombia, a third party wants both dead. To survive they must do the impossible by teaming up, but neither expected that joining would lead to falling in love with the enemy.

"The Haviland Touch". A decade has passed since Spencer Wyatt broke Drew Haviland's heart, but though angry he pushed her out of his mind. Now he learns she has sold a family heirloom that she cherished, the Wyatt Emeralds, which he buys. Drew confronts Spencer accusing her of wasting her father's fortune and now selling off his treasures. He accuses her of planning to use her father's work to find and sell the valuable Hapsburg Cross. Spencer does not correct him although her motive is to prove her beloved daddy was right before he dies. Drew unable to refuse pushes himself into Spencer's expedition not realizing how much he still loves her and that he was so wrong about the nurturing woman that the teen he knew has become.

This reprint of two romantic suspense thrillers from about fifteen years ago will thrill readers especially fans of capable females holding their own and more with strong men. The story lines of both tale are action-packed and filled with intimate moments as combatants fall in love. Fans of Kay Hooper will agree these two novels are THE REAL THING.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Two Older Stories Worth Reading!!!
Review: This book contains two of the older stories Ms. Hooper penned before she became the hugely succesful suspense author she is today. These are more romance then her newer titles and as a result I found them to be entertaining. The two titles are "Enemy Mine" and "The Haviland Touch". Both of these stories put me in mind of action adventure movies such as the "Inidana Jones" series.

"Enemy Mine" is set in the Columbian forest and Tyler St. James and Kane Pendleton are rivals the search the world over for interesting and rare artifacts. They find themselves both being shot at over the search for the same chalice. Now instead of just looking for the artifact they are now forced into a partnership that pits them against a common enemy and a race to stay alive. Of course this close partnership forces them both to admit that they feel more then contempt for each other, and that maybe they aren't the enemies that they thought they were. But will they be able to investigate that possiblity, or will they be killed first?

In "The Haviland Touch" antique collector Drew Haviland is placed back into the sphere of Spencer Wyatt, the one woman that jilted him years earlier. Spencer Wyatt is looking for the rare and sought after "Hapsburg Cross". Her motivation for finding this item is driven by her dying father. Now she has to accept the help of Drew the man she had left behind, and Drew is less then thrilled to having to be paired up with the spoiled Spencer. But Drew ends up learning that Spencer is not exactly what she seems, and that perhaps she is worth fighting for.

These were both very entertaining stories but I admit that second was my favorite between the two. Ms. Hooper shows in these earlier efforts the talent that she had not yet had a chance to share with us. It was fun reading her earlier work and seeing how far she has come.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com