Ready Paperback – June 28, 2005

The idea for a romantic-suspense novel is present, but the book itself is cringe-worthy. Our heroine has been badly damaged by her first marriage. Before horrible scenarios run through your mind you should know that she married her best friend straight out of high school. By her own admission there was no passion, just friendship, between them. Her monster of a husband had the nerve to tell her he met someone he loved and ended the relationship without cheating on her. No children were involved when their "mutual identity disintegrated". Is that like conscious uncoupling?Since the divorce there has been no sex which is how she likes it."She was not an overly sexual being. The coupling of male and female flesh did very little for her. It was a pleasant way to connect on an emotional level, but that was all."One b.j. with the hero and she considers herself a sex maniac. She starts referring to herself as a "fallen woman" and depraved.“I really seem to be more sexual than a lot of women.” Bwaaaahaaaa!It's not even that this was insta-lust as she had turned him down a year ago. The sex scenes, of which there are many, are awkward in terms of action and dialogue.“Be ready now,” she practically yelled at him.“Are you afraid you can’t do it right?” she goaded."She exercised her power, closing her thighs, taunting him again with her refusal to be dominated.""It was all she could do not to growl like a rabid dog.""He groaned like a man facing death."Most ridiculous of all is where he pats her face and asks if her cheeks are sore because he is SO BIG. Okay, we all get gagging references, but a member so large it stretches out your cheeks??? Does this guy have a fence post in his pants?There are turgid nipples and other body parts ad nauseum. Speaking of turgid and other antiquated vocabulary, there are references to Nanook of the North, Dudley Do-Right and Mae West. Holy outdated cultural references, Batman!I love an author with a rich vocabulary, but here the words seem out of place. Lambent sexuality, a plethora of roses carved into a headboard, then a reference to a conflagration at the same time as calling a seat belt a safety belt and saying something is 'blechy'.So, multiple mediocre sex scenes trying to cover up the fact that the plot fizzles out. As the heroine says, "It seems all too easy."Two stars only because there were limited editing mistakes. This is definitely not a book I would reread nor would I consider continuing the series.

I was excited to read a romantic suspense, but Ready does not have much of romance or suspense. From the beginning, the heroine has a total TSTL moment. The heroine, Lise Barton, a writer who starts getting threatening emails from a stalker. When she doesn’t get the cops to take her seriously, and when her stalker starts threatening her family, she decides to protect her brother, his wife and kid, she takes for Seattle without explaining why to anyone. This is the beginning of her TSTL moment, she never explains to her family what’s going on about her situation. But all I was thinking about this people are walking around in ignorance when their life could be in danger.Now, the threats have followed her to Seattle and are escalating and the cops are still not taking her seriously, but does she seek other avenues of help or do more? Nope! Especially, when it is pointed out that her sister-in-law’s brother, Joshua Watt is a former army Ranger and a mercenary for hire, which she knows. Nope she doesn’t do anything! Lise’s sister-in-law sends the hero to her to find out what is going on with our heroine. In just a few pages, I was annoyed, but I was hoping with the hero in the picture, things will get better…. It did not. The whole suspense portion and the stalker just completely fell flat. There is no OMG moment, no fear, no unpredictability to motivate the write to keep reading. I guess I should have known after Joshua brings in 2 more of his mercenary friends. 3 former Army Rangers, now mercenary Vs. 1 deranged bad acting villain, I knew what is going to happen, but I kept hoping for a heart stopping moment, some unknown danger to make things interesting, but there was nothing. The hero and his friends had a lot of potential, but it was just lost in the trivial details and anon-existent plot, so I couldn’t really appreciate them much. It would have been boring, if not for the fact that the heroine has a sexual turnaround going from prim to wild and the sexual marathon that ensues. There were some steamy scenes, but again it was not enough. The ending was so ridiculous, it just pushed my 2-star rating down to 1. I can’t even talk about it. I have read Lucy Monroe’s Harlequin Presents and her writing, but I was surprised by this, so I am going to still eventually read the next book and hope the series gets better. </p>

I have to agree with just about every negative review written here, even though I'm a big Lucy Monroe fan. The main characters did lacked tension, the plot was slow, and the lovescenes were weird. When I say weird, I don't want to imply that erotic scenes offend me. They do not. But the sweet heroine became so verbally raunchy, that I was embarrassed for her.I've enjoyed most of Lucy Monroe's Harlequin Presents and historical books. Mainly because she weaves such great emotional tension between her characters. That aspect of her writing was sorely missing in the first 200 pages of this book.And another thing, I felt like I was missing a part of their relationship in the beginning of the book, but I thought this was the start of a trilogy. There must be another book of hers where she shows their first kiss, etc. Maybe some of their crucial character development was in that book.

This book crew me in and I couldn't put it down. Lise is a strong woman who is at the end of her rope. Joshua is a mercenary who trusts very few people. The story is well written and hard to put down. I would recommend Mercenary to anyone who loves crime and romance.

I love everything about this story. It has a couple you can’t wait to get together, family, friends and a villain who gets what he deserves.