Ice Storm (The Ice Series, 4)

I Have Read All The Ice Books. Enjoy Them All. I Liked How The Characters Are Presented. Great Story. Have Read Plenty Of Anne Stuart Books. I Like Them All.

Anne Stuart is one of my favourite authors for three decades now. I started reading her Gothics back at the end of the 1970s. She was dead bang solid of a writer back then, and she continues to hit the target time-after-time ever since. I believe I recall one book that didn't get a five star from me. I gave it four, only because I got really annoyed at a whiny sister character! She is NOT for everyone. You have to love very dark Gamma Heroes. Most readers love Alpha males, the hero that is hard, but has that inner core of honour. Gamma heroes are very different. They are dark rogues...anti-heroes...men you can hate...and yet love. Not many writers can do them and do them well. Stuart is the Resident Genius of Romance because she can do what few others can, make you love the anti-hero. Often, she causes a schism in the reader because you really HATE the Gamma hero the whole time you want him. That is a difficult hat trick. Why Stuart reigns as Queen of the Gamma heroes, because she has the magic to do it. This division of polar emotions causes some readers not to like her, which is their choice. For those who do get Stuart, heads up she's done it again. Only this time she's given us a bad girl to match this Gamma Rogue hero. Stuart patent spell is the vulnerable girl who gets caught in the snare of our Gamma Rogue. Generally, he uses her and she gets burned bad because the moth flew too close to the flame. However, in this "Ice" book, she gives you the aftermath of that betrayal. The woman made hard and tough as nails by the past. Long ago, Isobel thought she killed the man she loved. Only, KIllian is back and asking for help. Stuart is a wizard. She loves to push the readers' buttons; make them hate the hero and in the same breath desire him. I think she tosses out these works of brilliance, then sits back in glee at the reactions she causes. Long may she keep doing this! It's dark, hard, and not the cup of tea for everyone. Stuart fans will adore another masterpiece.

This is what I've been waiting for Anne Stuart to do. I love this author dearly and I've always had a weakness for her bad boys. But I admit at times when reading would find the heroine to be a bit of a wimp and annoying. She turns it up a knotch in Ice Storm and what a pleasure it was to read. I haven't read her books over and over in a long time and this one will be one to start that tradition again. I love that Isobel in the past is maybe a bit of the typical blind fool in love but in present time is pretty damn fierce. I mean she is the most dangerous woman alive. What better match for the most dangerous man alive. It's a fresh twist to the norm. I applaud Ms. Stuart for it and it makes old and new fans of hers get a taste of something different. More bad girls with bad boys please.

I have never read an Anne Stuart book I did not enjoy. And yet again she does not disappoint. For me, this was the best of the series. I've encountered Isobel in the other 3 books but never really found myself that interested in her character. Probably because I was so involved in the protagonists. But my, she shines in this book! She surpasses the other heroines in the Ice series, probably because she's a lot more complicated and tough. The vulnerability was still there but so were other traits which I don't think the other girls had. Killian might just surpass Bastein as the baddest Ice hero. But as the others, he also has that other side to him. He may just be my favorite as well. As for negatives, I thought they spent too much time with the past Heroes (Peter and Bastein). As much as I enjoyed meeting them again, I didn't really want to spend more time with them. Their story has already been told. And as much as the abrupt way that Anne ends her books annoys me, it really upset me this time around because I was so into this book. I didn't want it to end. I loved these two characters together. I loved their story and relationship. I can't recommend this enough

Anne Stuart has taken us to the Place she finds so easily, the great reading place. I adore her soggy heros, men who have given up all to do what they feel is right as well as profitable. She takes characters who are so dark they can't stand the light and brings them out with wonderful caring female characters. This time however, we have two people who have fought the good fight, and even if one deserves to die, the heart is still a lonely hunter. Isobel Lambert is the head of the Committee, an organization devoted to keeping our world from destroying itself. She has learned to be hard and capable. No one knows her true name or anything about her. Except she gets the job done. Serafin is a wanted terrorist who wants the Committee to save him and he will give them all the inside information he has. But seventeen yrs ago he called himself Killian and Isobel thought she killed him then, imagine her astonishment to find him alive and wanting help from her organization. Both have secrets and enemies but the hardest thing for Isobel is that he was the first and only man she has ever loved. She only knew him for two weeks, seventeen yrs ago, but that changed the direction of her life. She knew she shot him and thought he was dead. Now both find the attraction has not died and each must guard against the other. Because now it seems someone in Isobel's organization or one of the people Killian has double-crossed is out to kill them both. The action is non stop, the romance is hot, and the book is read at one time. I could not put it down. Loved it.

Another great book by Anne Stuart, this time focusing on Isobel, the head of the Committee. Several times the book flashbacks into the past, showing the reader how and why Isobel became the ice cold woman she is today and the role Serafin plays in her transformation. There are lots of secrets between the two protaganists, and twists and turns to the plot, although the villian is easily identified. Serafin was by far more cold-blooded than Isobel could ever be, or at least he is on the surface. As with many of Stuart's books, the "hero" walks a fine line between the reader wanting to shoot him themselves or dragging him off for their own. This is the fourth book in the Ice series, and you meet up with Bastien (Black Ice, first book) and Peter (Cold as Ice, second) again. I am hoping this isn't the last, as she sets up Takashi's (Ice Blue, third) cousin Reno nicely. I highly recommend this book, and while it could stand alone, new readers would be better off starting with the first and reading the series in order.