Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mini: A Lot Like Love by Julie James

Jordan Rhodes is invited to all of Chicago's best parties, but there's only one the FBI wants to crash. To get her brother out of jail, she agrees to take Agent McCall as her date. But when the mission gets botched, requiring their "relationship" to continue, it starts to feel less like an investigation-and a lot like something else.
Well, I really enjoyed A Lot Like Love by Julie James. In this story James combines contemporary romance and "light" suspense quite well. Jordan and Nick are as different from each other as you can get, yet by the end you believe they belong together.

She's the owner of a successful wine shop and he's an FBI agent who needs her help to catch a crook. Julie James uses Jordan's wealthy background and Nick's preconceived ideas about what that might mean to set up initial tension. Jordan being a woman who works hard for her money, is not ashamed of her father's wealth and has never been spoiled, gives as good as she gets and the result is some excellent snappy and witty dialogue between these two.

A Lot Like Love is a good contemporary romance with lots of amusing moments, likable protagonists, and quite a few sexy moments. I actually loved Nick's slow trip into love, thought his internal dialogue was a hoot and really enjoyed the ongoing joke where everyone refers to him as Tall, Dark and Smoldering (or TDS as I began to think of him). I wish a visit to New York with Nick's mother and brothers had been included, there was some great interaction over the phone with these characters, and it almost felt as if the story was incomplete without their physical presence. This is the second book by Julie James I've read and really enjoyed it, so I'll definitely pick up the next book which will be featuring the Twitter Terrorist himself, Jordan's brother Kyle.

Category: Contemporary Romance
Publisher/Release Date: Berkley, March 1, 2011 - Kindle Edition
Grade: B+

Visit Julie James here.

11 comments:

  1. *grins*
    I'm reading this just now! I hope I like it as much as you did. Ms James does write likable characters for the most part, so I have reasonable high hopes.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

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  2. I really liked this one - maybe not as much as the others she's written but still really good. I loved Jordan's relationship with her brother and the whole twitter thing cracked me up!

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  3. I've got to read more Julie James! I've only read one so far and really enjoyed it.

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  4. This is my favorite of hers. Maybe because I like wine. ;)

    Looking forward to reading Kyle's book. He's hilarious.

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  5. Alex, enjoy! :D

    Tracy, this is only the second book I've read by Julie James and is actually the one I've enjoyed the most. I still have the rest of her works in my TBR. :D I can't wait to read Kyle's book... the whole twitter thing was a hoot.

    Christine, I think you read the same book I did, right? And I know you liked it more! I think you'll love this one!

    Leslie, I loved the wine shop, references etc... too. And lol on Nick and the "pink" wine jokes. But I think I just liked that the focus was more on Nick and Jordan, plus they had chemistry.

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  6. I know! I wished we've had a family visit!! Actually, it's rare to see Ms James add family into the mix... Hmmm.

    I'm glad you enjoyed this one :) I know you weren't crazy of the last one.

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  7. Hmmm. I tried to read one Julia James book, but it just didn't work for me. It's so frustrating, because I really want to like them. GRRRRR (at self).

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  8. Hi hilcia, I had the ebook and the paperback version of this, because I like JJ. It's one of those easy reads. I also liked the story as much as the characters. I got some wine lessons too. The first chapter definitely grabbed my attention standing in one of those Barnes & Noble's isles. I'm glad you liked it too.

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  9. Nath, I know! Something About You was okay, but I liked this one much more. And so far from what I've read, it seems Ms. James includes friends in her books, not family, am I right? Too bad, I liked Nick's family. :D

    Orannia, the same thing happened to me. I still have two of her books in my TBR. However, I liked the last book and didn't love it , but I really enjoyed this one. :)

    Hi Natalie, I'm so glad you like James. This book grabbed my attention from the beginning too and it held it to the end. I really enjoyed all the wine talk too! I thought it was a great background story.

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  10. I read this one recently as well and you definitely hit the nail on the hid in regards to a visit to Nick's mother. I really wish they'd gone on that trip.

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  11. Ames, it would have been nice. I was thinking that maybe since Nick and Jordan are married we'll get to see them in the future, maybe in Kyle's book? Plus, hey the two brothers are single cops...right? lol!

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