The Real Deal

Rating:
Summary: exciting contemporary romantic suspense
Review: After performing as a superstar in a male world, Quinn Star quit the old boy network because she could not crash through the glass ceiling. She blames much of her failure on her former lover and ex boss "Puff" Lapusky, who she felt held her back. Quinn enjoys teaching law at Georgetown and loves her fiancé Judge Alexander Duval, ironically nominated to be the next FBI Director.

For the first time in over seven years, Puff visits Quinn asking her to serve as a secret service agent protecting the First Lady Lettie Jaye, who has been acting strange. The Feds want her under surveillance and protected. Puff believes that Quinn is the best "man" for the job. The assignment proves problematical as Lettie uncovers a high level government conspiracy to hide the truth even if it means killing the current temporary occupants. The most difficult aspect of Quinn's job is not keeping the First Lady safe; it is the return of Puff. She now realizes that her negative feelings for him were a way of hiding her hurt because she still loves him.

Fern Michaels is THE REAL DEAL when it comes to an exciting contemporary romantic suspense. Her latest tale moves on two intertwined subplots. The romance between the engaged Quinn and the man she hates and loves Puff, who should have been fired for messing with a subordinate (where is Mr. Clinton?) is remedied a bit too easily. The exhilarating White House suspense plot is filled with twists that will fool the audience who will enjoy every moment of the manipulations of those in power. This exciting romantic political thriller will appeal to fans who like the works of Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: She does it again!
Review: Fern Michaels is one of my favorite authors, and she does it again with The Real Deal! Quinn Star (what a great name!) engaged to a boring judge, steps out of the realm of everyday life in protecting the eccentric, wacky, First Lady of The United States. However, the First Lady is right on the map about her husband. Who would know better than she that the love of her life is in trouble?

I was intrigued with the tunnel that runs between the two houses in South Carolina, and I just had to laugh out loud at Quinn's (also wacky) Aunt Birdie who enjoys "doctoring" up dead people!

You can always tell when reading Ms. Michael's books that she is a canine advocate. Although I'm not real intrigued with dogs myself, I do enjoy the escapades that show up in the books by this author. I highly recommend this book for a lazy summer afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Withholding Opinion
Review: I've just started this book but am having a hard time taking it seriously. It is hard to visualize FBI or Secret Service agents behaving like these have so far. When did men need anything more than their underwear to sleep in? to need to wear a woman's nightgown? Give me a break!. And what's with the dog running the show? One can be a canine enthusiast without having them running the house where ever and when ever they go. It will have to get better before I can give it more stars. I have read several of Fern Michael's books or I probably would not have picked out this one.


Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal is not worth the time
Review: Quinn Star seemingly has it all, a handsome fiancé, a house in Georgetown, teaching at the University, and a thriving law practice. Her life is turned upside down when her former boss, and lover, Erza Lapufsky reappears in her life and offers her the job she has dreamed of for years, being a part of the Secret Service detail. Not the President but guarding the First Lady. At first, Quinn does not want it at all thinking it was a babysitting job and tries to make all sorts of unreasonable demands to push Erza away. Erza is the Acting Associate Director of the FBI, and not one to give up and gets Quinn to agree to the deal. Her fiancé Alex Duval just happens to be up for the nomination of FBI Director. The comparisons between her old lover and new are so pointedly opposite that it seems fake. It just so happens that her Aunt Birdie is a friend with the first Lady, Letty Jaye. Quinn and her best friend Sadie join the Secret Service for three months. Very bothersome to me is the First Lady calling Quinn and Sadie "girls". Calling non-family members, grown women, and members of the Secret Service "girls" seems condescending and a little much. They learn that Lettie Jaye believes there is an imposter standing in for her husband as President of the United States. No one believes her but her complaints and her persistence start to make sense to Quinn and Sadie. The First Lady demands to go home to Charleston, South Carolina for the holidays. With the help of her beloved housekeeper Cassie, the first lady, Quinn, and Sadie escape from the Secret Service. Mrs. Jaye demands her husband back. You can almost guess the happily ever after ending. This book was a real disappointment.