Getting Her Man [Paperback]

Jack and Diane's story has it all - chemistry that sizzles right from the start, my favorite New Orleans locale, interesting and refreshing story line that hasn't been used over and over again - and what makes that so good is the author's background in archaeology. Will Diana get her man? Oh yeah...from the moment Diana walks in to Jack's office, the game begins, and doesn't let up until the end. Can't wait to see what she has in store for Detective Halloran!

This is a difficult book for me to review because I do not believe "my tastes" in a book should negatively impact my rating of a book - if that type of book is tremendously entertaining to others. This humorous romance is formula writing found in many contemporary romances today. The hero is absolutely heart stopping. That is no different from most romance writing. The heroine, however, in this humorous formula, is usually cheeky and brazen and insists on being in charge of the romance. She is often willful to the point of being dangerous with her life and the life of others. She is so obsessed with being as strong or stronger than the hero (even in physically challenging situations such as losing a life). Scenes are written of her discussing her possible romance with her girlfriends again and again. I find these scenes boring and a waste of pages. NOW, that is only my opinion. My personal preferences have lowered this review from 4 stars to 3 stars. In all other ways that don't involve the heroine's highly aggressive personality, this book is easily a 4 star rating. So, if you enjoy the type of heroine that I have just described, please increase this rating to a 4 star rating for your purposes.

Archaeologist Jack Austin is a cool guy in every way and has been named by People Magazine as one of the most eligible bachelors of the year. The magazine contains a full-page picture of him and needless to say - women are drooling all over him. He is very handsome, teaches at Tulane University, and heads up archaeology expeditions to a Mayan site that he discovered some years before. He is a strong character and gives into the heroine without losing any of his masculine appeal. He is an underdog fighting a battle for antiquities that is hidden from the public's eye.

Diana Belmaine is a beautiful, wisecracking private investigator hired to find a stolen Egyptian artifact. She aggressively hits the trail looking for the thief and immediately discovers that this theft has similarities to other recent thefts. She decides that Jack Austin is her primary suspect for several reasons but primarily because most of the other thefts - she has not been hired to solve - involve Mayan artifacts. And Jack is totally committed to protecting and preserving these artifacts. So she hits Jack hard again and again with her suspicions and although she makes Jack wary, he finds himself strongly drawn to Diana. He handles her interrogations with humor and throws more than a few sexual innuendos at her - totally throwing off her sense of balance in her very professional investigation.

Usually, the possibility that one of the leads may be a thief, keeps me from reading a book. It is just a tough scenario to work around. But Albert writes this theft mystery with great finesse and gives the book a better than average mystery in the process.

Once we get to know Jack and Diana, we enjoy their great repartee with its fantastic humor. I would read a scene more than once because I would laugh just as much each time I read the scene. It is through this humor that I finally developed a real liking for the heroine. The sensual scenes are few - one rates a solid 4.0 and the others are probably a 3.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines).

The book moves a little too slowly once you reach the middle. I put it down for a few days during this time. But once I picked it back up, the pace accelerated. The closer I came to the end of the book, the more I appreciated Diana as she became more loving and understanding.

This is not a book I will keep to read again. The hero, Jack Austin, had tremendous possibilities with his character. But he was continually overshadowed by Diana as she not only insisted on solving the mystery, but also on knowing all of Jack's secrets although many of those secrets were really none of her business as far as her investigation was concerned. If the heroine could have been just a little tamer and kinder, this book would have been rated higher in my eyes.

For those of you who don't know, Michele Albert is formely known as Michelle Jerott. I always love her books and this one is no exception. It's one fast-paced sexy book and hey, when things set in New Orleans, what can go wrong? *LOL* I'm very much looking forward to Bobby's own story in October 2003.