"Leto burns the pages in the sizzler"
It is great to see talent coming full bloom - and that is
what Julie Elizabeth Leto is doing. She is without doubt
one of the strongest writers in the Harlequin Blaze
series. I used to read these regularly, but got away from
them because good writers have moved on and newer writers
were just not thrilling me. Then something made me pick
up one of Leto's first books and WOW was I impressed. She
is a strong writer, full of quirky wit, sizzling hot when
it comes to her sexy scenes, but she never fails to
understand romance is the foundation. Her characters are
so vivid they leap off the pages, full flesh and
blood but I think she reaches perfection with JUST WATCH
ME. Leto loves with what she writes. You can feel her
devotion to the genre in every book but she loves to push
the envelope. In a market where female leads often run
from their sexuality, Leto embraces it giving you 'good
girls do' with panache. Jillian Hennessy is a good girl.
She saved herself for marriage, only to have the louse not
value her gift. Since, then she has ruthlessly suppressed
her wants and desires, ignored the long lonely nights,
giving all to her job as a Private Investigator, with the
desire to one-day assuming control of The Hennessy Group,
her uncle's firm. The middle child of five, she learned
long ago she had to hustle to stand out in a group, so
when her brother became a cop, she moved into private
investigations, following her uncle around since she was
11. Her whole life was geared to becoming good enough to
take over the reins of the Hennessy Group, and as her
uncle tended to slide in his elder years, she spent time
covering for his small mistakes. But suddenly, her
brother, Patrick, had retired from the police force and
joined the Hennessy group with intention of assuming
control. Her last chance to prove she deserved what she
has worked for her whole life comes with the stakeout
Stanley Davison. Davison sued the Tampa Police Department
for millions of dollars when he received injuries during a
police chase. Nearly everyone involved believed he was
faking his injuries but no one could prove it. Jillian
lands the assignment to stake-out Davison's home with all
sorts of high tech snooping gear. As she is moving in next door, she spies her drop-dead
gorgeous neighbor, a distraction she can live without.
However, after her uncle makes one of his little mistakes,
she can hardly ignore the man. Instead of wiring Davison
house with hidden camera's, he had his tech people wire
Cade Lawrence's house. Giving into more than a little
curiosity, she watched Cade move about his house. Only, Cade has been watching the sexy redhead next door.
So when a basket of lemons and a box of sugar cubes are
left on his door by mistake (so he thinks), he is more
than delighted to play delivery boy. In quick time, they
are shooting sparks off each other. Jillian is tempted
into an affair with him, but soon begins to suspect her
sexy neighbor is more than he pretends after observing him
observing Stanley with spy gear! However, as Jillian falls hard for Cade, she feels a wee
bit guilty about spying on him, so she thinks turn about
is fair play and give him a chance to live our his
fantasies as well. Leto turns up the steam and does not
pull back from that envelope. In a series of sexy, spy vs. spy, Leto leads you on a
merry chase of fantasies, giving into secret desires and
finding what is most important in life. This is her best
book to date, her most daring, her most delightful!
Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted May 8, 2003
SummaryJillian Hennessy is supposed to be watching a man suspected
of insurance fraud. But when wires get crossed and she ends
up watching Cade Lawrence, a sexy undercover cop on a
similar assignment, the watching soon turns to
wanting...and more!
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