Comments on: Cold as Ice by Anne Stuart

by: Kimber

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:40:45 +0000

Bam, you have my sympathies. I read “Black Ice” because of all the hoopla and it left me cold (pun intended). I think mostly because of the paper thin spy plot

I love a tough, sexy spy as much as the next girl but espionage plots in romance novels are teh suck. They’re just so throwaway and puerile. Really, for espionage with hot sex, give me any of the first three Ken Follett books (”The Key to Rebecca,” “Triple,” “Eye of the Needle”). But please don’t try to pass off your sketchy “shady arms-for-drugs cartel” subplot as anything other than background noise. When you think about it, in “Black Ice” all that amounted to was a meeting between some cartoonish foreign villains, a shoot-out, and the fact that the heroine had to run for her life. In other words, no actual plot whatsoever.

Yes, I’m bitter.

by: Karen Scott

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:14:01 +0000

By the way Bam, I too started to read The Switch but was bored to tears by page 8, so I didn’t finish it. I hated the heroine.

by: Karen Scott

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:11:59 +0000

Yes, Yes, Yes!!

by: Evelyn

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:00:49 +0000

Bam, I am relatively new to your site and always enjoy your comments and reviews. I just finished COLD AS ICE and, for the most part, enjoyed the Peter/Genevieve relationship. (I agree that the Harry character was way over the top but no more than what you’d find in a typical Bond movie.) I read the book for the connection between the leads and think Stuart did a great job of bringing these two difficult characters together. They are both incredibly flawed and that’s what makes them right for each other. It was going to take a very special and challenging woman to melt Peter. I felt the physical and emotional attraction and re-read their last love scene several times. Nobody’s perfect in this story and you know that their HEA will be a very bumpy one. I was satisfied with the ending and look forward to the next book in this series. Thanks for your great site!

by: Helen M

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:27:40 +0000

Yeah, it took me a while to get into The Switch too, Bam. To tell the truth, I didn’t really start enjoying it until halfway through. But that’s a heck of a lot better than some of the dreck I’ve been reading recently.

by: shuzluva

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:37:58 +0000

Well, I’m not surprised. Your last Stuart review sang praises about the bad-boy alpha hero, and the heroine was a limp noodle. It sounds like the same thing may be going on here, but the hero has passed from bad-boy into totally unsalvagable alpha maniac.

That said, I’m still going to read it. I think I have a serious masochistic streak.

by: Molly O'keefe

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:51:09 +0000

I’m still looking forward to this book — interesting side note is the way Stuart is shooting herself in the foot all over the place with her anger over publisher support. She’s got an interview at All About Romance that’s an interesting read. She’s probably one of the smartest writers on the planet though and I love her historicals. To Love A Dark Lord is on the top shelf of my keeper case.

by: Jennifer B

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:54:35 +0000

Having read most of Stuart’s backlist in the last year, I agree with all on the weak heroine point. But I actually liked Genevieve. Genuinely liked the character and only wanted to roll my eyes maybe once or twice. But you’re the third person (two others offline) to admit to disliking the book at least in part because of the heroine. I’m starting to wonder if my own take was colored by my mood or something.

Can’t agree on Peter though. I liked his frost. Could have been that mood though…well, no. It wasn’t. I like em frosty.

Great review BAM!

by: Bam

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:30:29 +0000

Speaking of which, have you read Diane Whiteside’s The
Switch? The heroine is half Japanese, half Scottish (living and working in the US)

Helen, I do have The Switch but I haven’t read it yet. Actually, I read the first few chapters, then gave up. I was bored by it, I think.

Are her other books like this (TSTL heroine, over-the-top
villain, so much exposition)? I didn’t mind the hero so much, but I never thought he was 3 dimensional.

While heroines are never Stuart’s best suit, in my opinion, she can write the hell out of a dark hero.

by: Helen M

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:43:00 +0000

I’m still going to read Cold As Ice, but I like that you didn’t luuurve it. Makes it okay for me to not love it too, if that turns out to be the case. I hate it when everyone and their dog love something, I just don’t get why.

Will almost def be picking up the Takashi book, if only because I love me some Eurasian main characters. (Speaking of which, have you read Diane Whiteside’s The Switch? The heroine is half Japanese, half Scottish (living and working in the US), and despite some stereotypes/clichés about both cultures, I thought she well written, esp the ‘who am I?’/torn between culture thing. Not that this was in anyway the focus of the book. Or even a sub-plot. Just something I found particularly interesting. Anyhoo, add in an ex-Ranger hero who is described as looking like Sean Bean in Sharpe, and some really hawt sex, and hey presto, a book I think you might enjoy.)