PLOT SYNOPSIS: After her fill of doomed love affairs, Alex Walton swears off men. Determined to succeed in a writing career, Alex has a chance meeting with a strikingly handsome mystery man Phillip Thurman. Alex soon discovers that truth can be stranger--and far more dangerous--than fiction.

REVIEW:  In THE ART OF DESIRE, we return to the world of secret agents, espionage, mystery, murder and terrorist.  Phillip Thurman, code name Sphinx, is still coping with having been a prisoner in a foreign country and having to steal money electronically for his captors just to stay alive.  The nightmares still plague him even though he is back home and safe.  But is he?

Phillip has learned from the agency that he may be the target of a mad man he helped to put in jail.  As best man in his best friend, Adam Grayson’s (ex-agent) wedding to agent, Dr. Raleigh Foster, Phillip is concerned about bringing danger to the happy occasion.  He is convinced to attend anyhow and assigned to keep his superior’s goddaughter, Alexander Walton safe from harm.

Alex Walton, a self-proclaimed heartbreaker of men, is returning from the country of Durban to be maid of honor in the wedding.  The latest victim of her charms has bestowed upon her a gift, a sculpture with an inscription in a long forgotten language.   Alex is unaware of the secret and danger shrouding this sculpture.

Immediate attraction aside, Phillip uses Alex’s request to interview him for a book as his cover to stay close to her.  With several forces attempting to retrieve the sculpture, Alex and Phillip are caught in a game of survival as they attempt to unravel this mystery.

Ms. Montgomery has a flair for creating captivating stories with exhilarating intrigue.  Her books captivate you while they inflame you with her passionate scenes.

Alex is an interesting character, very confident in her abilities and talents and her effect on men.  She’s even a little quirky.  She is not a woman to push around.  Though Phillip tired, she stood her ground.

“I am sick and tired of being told how useless I am to you.  I found the ruby, not you.  I escaped Civelli without you.  I disabled their car, and I repaired the damn obelisk.  You don’t have to love me and you don’t have to trust me, but you will not ignore me.  Now, figure out what you want me to do.  I’ve got to use the bathroom.”  With that, she stalked away, chin jutting, head held high. "

She did, however, surprise me with her firearm abilities, especially since she’d only fired a gun “once before”.

It always amazes me in these types of books how the hero and heroine can stop in the middle of an escape to share passionate kisses, only to get caught by the bad guys.  And these are professional spies.  I’m thinking maybe someone needs to revise the spy manual.

With her sophomore release, Ms. Montgomery has earned a place on my list of authors to buy.  I very much enjoyed her first book, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, but with THE ART OF DESIRE, she has solidified her position as a principal in this genre among those striving to create romantic suspense.

jeanette@romanceincolor.net (15th January 2002)