"Contemporary sensual romance with lots of action. A recommended read."

It's no medical mystery to me why doctors are so often cool and sterile on the outside -- I dated enough med schoolers to know they had too much homework for too many years to be properly socialized. But there were always the exceptions, with their exceptional bedside manners. And look, let's not forget Dr. Kildare (you young'uns go ask your mom) !

Dr. Jared Dean was minding his own hospital business when Kara the Kat Burglar comes flying into the ER, chased by an enormous bad guy. She proceeds to beat the living tar out of said bad guy before the good doc can pull the stethescope out of his ears. She runs off, he tries to help her, she jumps out a window and is gone. That's one flashy blue-eyed blonde in black, even if you hadn't spent your formative years with your nose in "Gray's Anatomy"!! Jared's in love, by golly -- that was the mother of his children, by god. Now how will he find her again?

Kara finds HIM when she realizes the bad guys trying to kill her will now try to kill the handsome doc. So she decides to be his bodyguard, and surprises him outside his window in the middle of the night. (That's what every prospective mother should be able to do!) Jared tries to keep her, she doesn't want to be kept, and then there are those surprise attacks. Holy Hawkeye! She's better than the chick in "Crouching Dragon"! Five guys and she drops them all, while doc can't get out of his own way. But he's intent on marriage, even after he finds out what her line of work is. (He knew all along, but she thought he might assume her CIA-quality skills were for -- what, waitressing?)

It's a good story, moves right along, no drag spots. Well- written with fluid sentence structures, fairly easy changes from scene to scene. No particular character development from start to finish, but neither of them are unsympathetic or unlikeable in the least. But this isn't the type of romance where you will fall in love with the good doctor, either.

Jared is a more modern hero. He bumbles a bit, and she gets to protect and be uber-competent. He wants instantly to marry the girl and have babies. And he's kinda on a macho power trip, which should have earned him a punch in the nose if Kara had really been as independent as we think. "I'm going to let you come now. And you want to, don't you, sweetheart?" POW! Right in the kisser! (Let me, let me!!) And when a guy says "if you had my babies, that would keep you in my life forever", isn't that what abusive stalker types say? Kara finds it charming, though; she needs someone who will never leave her alone. And he can cook, so it works out!

The sex scenes were attentively written, and were of a variety of different types. It seems as if the Sex Dream is de rigeur these days, and I feel they can provide some psychological depth if properly done. These were; the armadillo detail was a Dali-like touch! Sex scenes were fairly steamy, but oddly without dark passion, even though there is much darkness in the story. There was a modernity about them that was detached a bit, leaving a cooler sex experience that a hot one. Except for that episode in the warehouse . . .

A recommended read despite any flaws!

Rated by Ellora's Cave "Hard R, borderline NC-17"

Available in formats: Acrobat (PDF), MS Reader (LIT), Rocketbook (HTML), Mobipocket

Reviewed by Dana Dietrick
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted January 5, 2002

Summary

Never a dull night in the ER for Dr. Jared Dean, especially when he sees the woman of his fantasies beating the crap out of the largest man he has ever seen, only to have her escape before he even gets to ask her name. Kara realizes the gorgeous doc is now in danger of retribution from the Godfather wannabe, so she immediately assigns herself the arduous task of guarding the hard body of Dr. Dean until she can figure a way out of the mess. Jared is only too happy to accommodate the woman of his dreams, even if he doesn't take her seriously. Anything to have her close at hand... and in his bed.