Rave Romance Review

To Trust A Stranger by Karen Robards

So let me just come clean here. I LOVE Karen Robards. Her female characters are always smart and determined and her heroes are dreamy. There’s always plenty of spice in the romance and some serious danger to get the heart pumping and keep the story moving along. This is one of my all-time favorites.

Okay, so the cover… I’m not going to comment on the cover. Except to say that in this case you cannot judge the book by it.

Julie

In this novel we meet Julie, a former beauty pageant winner from North Carolina who has pulled herself up by the bootstraps. Or maybe we should say by the bra straps, since it was the beauty pageants that gave her and the rest of her family (mother and sister) a way out of poverty. Along the way, she got pretty good at making fabulous pageant-wear clothing out of virtually nothing, designing and sewing all her own dresses and outfits.

And now she has a boutique dress making business catering to beauty pageant contestants. See what Robards has done there? We already like this character, because she’s taken what she’s been given and made something out of it. She has a beautiful house, a husband and a seemingly perfect life. But it’s all about to crumble.

Mac

And we also meet Mac, a down on his luck former police officer turned private investigator with a grudge against none other than Julie’s current husband. When the two meet (Julie and Mac) under the most unlikely of circumstances, it is truly one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever read in a book. Suffice it to say, neither one of them is dressed in their usual fashion and misconceptions ensue.

Josephine

And then there’s Josephine. A white miniature poodle who is one of the best supporting characters I’ve ever encountered, and certainly among my top five favorite animal characters of all time.

This story has mystery, danger, edge-of-your-seat action, and blisteringly hot romance. Mac is just dreamy– tall, with sandy blond hair and heart stopping aqua blue eyes. Maybe a little too focused on revenge, but he figures it all out in the end.

So this is an older book, a classic Romantic Suspense/Thriller from 2002. And yes there are elements of the ‘too stupid to live’ female character in it that seemed to prevalent back then. But the pacing is great and the interaction between the characters is truly entertaining. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy if you’ve missed this one. Or better yet— get the audible version. You won’t be disappointed.

Audible Romance

I highly recommend you get the audible version of this book if you are an audible listener. The narration is fantastic, the secondary characters really come to life. The narrator really brings out the humor and does an excellent job with the different character’s voices. Some to this just hysterical.

I have every single one of Robards’ books that is available on audible on my phone, and have listened to them again and again. Believable, well developed characters, interesting, intriguing plots and plenty of hot sweet relations. I’m happy to report the narration is excellent on all of her books. So if you don’t know Karen Robards, now you have a whole list of books you can listen to while folding the laundry. Let me know how you like them!

Other books I recommend by Karen Robards

Paradise County – Handsome horse farmer single dad from Kentucky and a seemingly spoiled rich girl. So good. But I’m giving this one a violence warning. If you’re squeamish, there are parts you may have to skip through. But it’s such a great story.

 

Shiver – Feisty 23 year-old single mother with a BIG truck and an undercover FBI Agent vs. organized crime. Need we say more? This one is HOT with plenty of action and danger.

 

Pursuit & Justice – A two book political Romantic Suspense/Thriller with a young female lawyer and a playboy FBI Agent (Robards really has a way with FBI Agents. It’s like her specialty). Mystery, suspense and smoking hot romance. Yum.

The Banning Sisters Trilogy
– Excellent Historical Romance – super sexy! And heroines who know how they’re world works instead of the ridiculously naïve nincompoops we often find in historical romance. I mean really? Do we actually believe that such clueless people ever truly existed? Any historical heroine worth her salt should know how to work the social structure she lives in. But I digress…

All my best and happy reading,

Elyce

Blog Header Photo Credit: Jude Beck, Unsplash.com