Fast Track by Julie Garwood

Title: Fast Track
Author: Julie Garwood
Series: Buchanan-Renard #12
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Dutton (July 7, 2014)
Source: NetGalley eArc
Rating: ☕☕☕

Cordelia Kane has always been a daddy’s girl—her father raised her alone after her mother died in a car crash when Cordelia was just two years old. So when he has a serious heart attack, Cordelia is devastated, and the emotion is only intensified by the confusion she feels when he reveals the shocking truth about her mother.

Cordelia can’t suppress her curiosity about the woman who gave birth to her, and when she discovers the answers to her questions lie in Sydney, Australia, she travels there to get them.

Hotel magnate Aiden Madison is Cordelia’s best friend’s older brother. He’s oblivious to the fact that she’s had a crush on him for years. When he gets railroaded into taking her along to Sydney on his company jet, he unknowingly puts her life at risk. He’s recently angered a powerful congressman by refusing to purchase overvalued land. Congressman Chambers is not a man to let such an offense slide, and he has the resources to get even and to get what he wants.

In Australia sparks are flying between Cordelia and Aiden, but multiple attempts on Aiden’s life are made while Cordelia is with him, and he realizes he must put a stop to the madness before he loses the thing he values most. 

My Thoughts: Having been a long time fan of Julie Garwood makes having to admit that her newer books (the ones written in the last 10 years or so) are just one disappointment after another. Although 3 stars isn't a horrible rating I know Garwood can do so much better. I think I'm just getting tired of her new heroines. They are seriously just too perfect. Most of them usually don't exercise yet are perfectly proportioned and thin. They are extremely beautiful yet don't feel that they are (this one drives me nuts). Most are extremely intelligent.

With this particular book even though the idea of Cordie was annoying (perfect women are tiresome to read about) I didn't completely hate her. I actually liked her. The roots that Garwood put down for her made her more humble to me and shortly into the book I actually felt an emotional connection to her. I did have one issue with her though, instead of admitting she wanted Aiden and going after him she chose to run away from her feelings and him. I think as far as characters go, the larger fault, for me, is actually in Aiden. Hot, intelligent, lawyer, millionaire hotelier...what isn't good about him? Well, I just didn't buy into his feelings for Cordie. Sure Garwood added hints on how his feelings were building but I really miss her old historic romance heroes. The ones that are so Alpha they practically beat their chests and grunt when they talk but their love for their woman can bring them to their knees. I miss that "If I lost you, I'd be nothing." moments in her books. This book didn't have any of those moments for me. As much as I really wanted to like Aiden he was either treating Cordie  like a princess by lavishing her with expensive clothing or being her domineering jailer (for her protection dontcha know) with nothing in between. There are names for men who do this. None of them are good and a therapist would recommend to steer clear of these men.

Here's where I got super annoyed....For a big part of the book Cordie was locked in a proverbial ivory tower. The men in her life took care of her and took care of  her trouble for her. Even though she struggled with the captivity the book felt as if Garwood was advertising that women cannot take care of their own trouble and have to rely on big strong men to protect them. This wasn't the only hint of sexism I picked up on. In several instances there were quite a few men wanting to talk to Aiden about business. No women. Most of the women mentioned were ones that wanted to have sex with Aiden. What? Women cannot be shrewd business people? Not in this book I guess.

So, while Cordie was being protected there was little suspense to be had. I wasn't too terribly worried that something would happen to her despite the direction Garwood took the storyline. The bad guy was a bit obvious and it made no sense as to why that person would sit on the information waiting for the shoe to drop for decades. It seems that particular person would have done something years earlier to eliminate the potential threat because of the way Garwood made their character.

One last thing that I struggled with.....Although Garwood's writing was, as usual, pleasant to read it didn't feel like a Garwood. There were so many sentences that began "she said" or "she went" or "she stopped". She. She. She. When it wasn't "she" it was "he". What happened to Garwood's polished prose? At this point I'm not sure if I just never noticed but now I am or she really has changed the way she writes. I'm not sure if I'm inclined to go back and read all of her Buchanan/Renard books again to double check either.

In a Nutshell: An Ok book that would have been better with a more impacting suspense plot, a better leading man and less 50's sexist ideals. But hey, it was a quick read and there are a couple interesting secondary characters that are worth mentioning (Walker and Liam).

Three Little Words by Susan Mallery

Synopsis: Isabel Beebe thinks she's cursed in the romance department. Her teenage crush, Ford Hendrix, ignored all her letters. Her husband left her for another…man. So Isabel has come home to dust off her passion for fashion and run the family bridal shop until her parents are ready to sell it. Then she'll pursue her real dreams. At least, that's the plan, until sexy, charming Ford returns and leaves her feeling fourteen all over again…..
Seeing Isabel all grown-up hits bodyguard trainer Ford like a sucker punch. Back when heartbreak made him join the military, her sweet letters kept him sane. Now he can't take his eyes—or his lips—off her. The man who gave up on love has a reason to stay in Fool's Gold forever—if three little words can convince Isabel to do the same.

My Thoughts: After finding Just One Kiss just OK and Two of a Kind a little bit better than that I had high hopes for Three Little Words. Despite that some of the books in Mallery's Fool's Gold series are simply average contemporary romances I found this one to be better than most. Matter of fact, I thought she hit this one out of the park.

What Worked: The characters of Ford and Isabel. Ford's charming sense of humor coupled with Isabel's awkwardness around him make for interesting dynamics and some giggling on my part. Their combustable sexual attraction didn't hurt either. I thought it was great that they both were a bit stunned by it rather than the expected reaction of her being stunned and him getting all cocky saying "of course it's good. I'm the man! High Five!"

Although the plot is basic in it's concept it was nice to read a book where what you see is what you get. There were no uber bad guys threatening children. There were no life threatening illnesses to deal with. The only issues were those between adults who agree to 'fake-date' to throw off a marriage happy mama who find that they were actually 'real-dating' instead.

The setting is also a plus. In the past I have felt that Fool's Gold had a bit of a creepy vibe (Standford Wives kind of creepy) but in this book I felt none of that. Even the ever present and all seeing Mayor Masha seemed less...um...everywhere which was a good thing.

What Didn't Work: Just a few very minor things actually. First would be the secondary romance. I typically love a secondary romance but really, Consuelo is such a strong woman with a lot of background baggage adding her romance as a secondary one is short changing her. Her story should have been more than what it was.

In addition, some may find it a bit weird to have Ford date one sister then eventually date the other. I honestly didn't have an issue with this. I thought Susan handled the situation very well.

One more thing. I do think that a new reader to Fool's Gold may have trouble following along with all the secondary characters. There are quite a few. Some are old having been introduced ages ago and some are actually quite new. This is the only reason I would recommend that this book should get read in order. If you aren't inclined to read all 11 previous Fool's Gold books first at least read Just One Kiss and Two of a Kind first. Susan sets her books up as trilogies with a common connecting theme (the town of Fool's Gold).

In a Nutshell: I truly enjoyed this book. From the witty banter to the smexy parts and everything in between I thought this was a winner of a book. Perhaps not for everyone, as it is a pretty basic concept of a romance but for me it worked.

Two of a Kind by Susan Mallery

Synopsis: Felicia Swift never dreamed she'd hear a deep, sexy voice from her past in tiny Fool's Gold, California. The last time Gideon Boylan whispered in her ear was half a world away...on the morning after the hottest night of her life. Her freaky smarts have limited her close friendships, and romance, but she came to Fool's Gold looking for ordinary. Gorgeous, brooding Gideon is anything but that.  Black Ops taught Gideon that love could be deadly. Now he pretends to fit in while keeping everyone at arm's length. Felicia wants more than he can give-a home, family, love-but she has a lot to learn about men...and Gideon needs to be the man to teach her.   As these two misfits discover that passion isn't the only thing they have in common, they just might figure out that two of a kind should never be split apart.

My Thoughts: I have to admit to starting this book almost 2 months ago. I didn't get that far before I set it aside while spending a few days in the hospital recovering from surgery and unfortunately I forgot about it. I wished I'd had continued with it back then because I enjoyed this book so much more than I did the one before (Just One Kiss). While Fool's Gold had a weird Stepford feel to it in Just One Kiss (at least it did to me) the creepiness of the perfect little town was all but gone in this installment. I did think Mayor Marsha was still pretty creepy with her "I know everything" comments but I was able to ignore most of that.

What Worked: Felicia was such a great character. Typically, I have a soft spot for tortured brooding men but Gideon really took a back seat to Felicia. She was so super intelligent and socially awkward that it was hard not to really like her. Her character is exactly like the Tempe Brennan character on the tv show Bones (not the book Tempe....she's completely different.) Anyway, Felicia, like Tempe will all of a sudden start spouting facts about ancient tribal coming of age customs while talking to a 13 year old boy when he's claiming to "not be a child". I totally confess to having a whopper of a girl crush on Felicia. She's that awesome.

Gideon was a great counterpart for Felicia. For someone so analytical, like Felicia, Gideon's inability to emotionally connect seemed a perfect match. After having been held captive and tortured while in the military he feels he is a broken man, unable to love. As a matter of fact he credits his inability to love for saving his life while all his fellow soldiers died one by one crying out to their wives and children. Who doesn't like a tortured hero? Plus he has an amazingly hot bedroom voice that the women of Fool's Gold stay up listening to during his late night radio show.

Because Felicia is now the Festival Coordinator we get a glimpse of her behind the scenes action organizing them. It was nice to understand a little more about the ever present 'Festivals' that Fool's Gold has every month. This made Fool's Gold more of a quaint touristy town to me instead of the perfect Stepford town.

I also liked how Mallery brought in several new characters who will, no doubt, have their own books in the future. We get to see Angel and Consuelo, both of whom are part of Justice's Body Guard School (sounds like a weird an unnecessary school but I just went with it.) Taryn Crawford is new in town also who 1/3 owner of a PR firm called Score that is coming soon to Fool's Gold. She blew in briefly to another up and coming business (The Christmas Attic) while looking for directions and made a great impression on Felicia, her friends and myself. I'm sure she will develop into another great character, one I am looking forward to.

What Didn't Work: Gideon's long lost son's plot thread. I'm not totally heartless but his addition to the story was pointless. He didn't seem a believable 13 year old boy. He made friends quickly with another 13 year old boy and together they cooked up a plot to get Gideon and Felicia to marry. After only a few months of knowing both Gideon and Felicia his match making ideas seemed just odd. I also thought he came across as a little too adjusted for someone having lost his mother to cancer (her second bout of it by the way). In my head she probably didn't go quickly and he witnessed her illness progression with no emotional support as there were no other relatives. His mom's friends were his foster family but they were going through a divorced so in a matter of one year he lost his mom and 2 homes, went by himself to a dad he didn't know (who didn't know anything about him) to a town he never heard of. Also not one person  ever said anything close to..."Maybe we should seek out someone Carter can talk to, maybe a child psychologist or something." Despite a child's appearance of normalcy after having gone through a traumatic loss, such as losing the only parent he ever knew, counseling should have been a priority after making sure he was living in a safe environment.

In a Nutshell: Despite Carter's story line that I disliked a lot the rest of the book was pretty awesome. I love Felicia. I enjoyed my visit to Fool's Gold this time and am looking forward to another visit while reading  Three Little Words soon. I really think those who are already fans of Fool's Gold will love this book and more importantly newbies to the series will enjoy it also. As an added bonus even though these books are all part of a series they can be read out of order (I have been doing just that). This is book 12 but only the 6th book I've read.