 Contemporary Romance |
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Selena Montgomery BET/Arabesque May 2001 (4) Wayne Jordan |
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PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
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REVIEW: |
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In a letter to her readers, Selena Montgomery writes of her
debut book, RULES
OF ENGAGEMENT: “I
wanted to combine two of my favorite plot elements:
intrigue and romance.” With
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, Ms. Montgomery does just that,
and does it with the style and finesse of a veteran. Dr. Raleigh Foster, is the heroine most men dream about and most women want to be. She’s Demi Moore in G.I.Jane; she’s Nancy Drew; she’s all the action heroines we’ve watched and read about for years. In fact, she’s Chimera, one of the top secret agents, and one whose past is intricately connected to a former agent, Adam Grayson, a.k.a, Sphinx. When Raleigh comes to Adam to ask him to return to active
duty, his first instinct is to turn her down.
A terrorist group, Scimitar, has stolen dangerous environmental
technology, and Sphinx and Chimera are the only ones who can undertake the
mission to stop this group. Adam
does not trust Raleigh, and still blames her for the death of his best friend,
another agent. What
doesn’t help is that Adam cannot deny his feelings for Chimera; feelings that he
had thought buried. He, however,
agrees to go undercover as her lover, and that's when the sparks begin to fly. From the opening action sequence of RULES
OF ENGAGEMENT until the final “I love you”, Ms. Montgomery takes the
reader on an exciting roller coaster ride of emotions and passion that at no
time eases up. Part of Ms. Montgomery’s strength is her characterization. Raleigh and Adam are solid creations, complex individuals who are breathing flawed individuals. The world that they live in is not the romanticized world of James Bond, but a dangerous, real world. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is also about the past, and forgiveness. Most of all it's about learning to trust again. Raleigh and Adam are two characters who seem perfect for each other, but they must come to terms with their past in order to embrace the joys of love. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is a good first book, perfectly blending romance and intrigue. But at no time does the intrigue overwhelm the romance or sexual tension. And there is a lot of sexual tension and heat between Raleigh and Adam, and when they come in contact things sizzle. Ms. Montgomery makes an interesting and dramatic debut that is sure to have readers aching for more. I, for one, am looking forward to Alex’s story! |
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