Loose and Easy

Recently I have been stuck in a wallow of bad regency novels and this snappy little number woke me right up. Great use of characters, superb descriptions and especially how if you hang around a town it all comes back to high school anyway. Loved the positive obsession the malelead had with his femlae lead and his constant self-talk so he wouldn't make mistakes was charming. I will start chasing this series down and am delighted to have more excellent urban/romantic/reasonable/suspense to look forward too.

I loved this book. Tara Janzen is a terrific writer. She puts so much action into her books that keep the reader excited and interested in what is going to happen next. I can not wait for the next book to come out.

This is the ninth book in the Steele Street series. Johnny Ramos is a Ranger and he just got back from Afghanistan and his third combat tour. Johnny is now home and hoping to become part of an underground governmental Special Forces team known as SDF. He's trying to enjoy a beer when he recognizes the hooker hobbling down the street as his high school crush and class Valedictorian. He can't believe his eyes so he follows Esme to see what she is up to. Turns out, she's up to a lot. I have always liked Johnny from the glimpses we have gotten of him in the previous books. His friendship with the colorful Skeeter Bang always enhanced his appeal to me. This book had the usual fantastic characters, hot cars and non stop action. But what made this book a little different is that almost the entire book covers the events of one single day; it really helped put me in the book. Johnny and Esme make a great team and when the trouble she is in snowballs, they only get better. As always Ms. Janzen does a good job of introducing new characters, like Dax Killian, and giving you enough info to get you curious about the next story. She has me counting down the days until the next book and to kill the time I might revisit some of my favorite Steele Street books. This is a great edition to one of my favorite series. Crazy Hot Crazy Cool Crazy Wild Crazy Kisses Crazy Love Crazy Sweet On the Loose (Steele Street, Book 7) Cutting Loose Cherise Everhard, September 2008

Esmee Alden ran her own investigations company out of Seattle with her partner, Daniel "Dax" Killian. She is an expert at art-recovery. When her father, Burt, owes his bookie, Franklin Bleak, eighty-two thousand dollars, it is Esmee he calls. Multi-millionaire Isaac Nachman's reward will cover the debt. All Esmee has to do is recover a Meinland painting (done on copper), retrieve the reward money, and pay off Bleak. So Esmee is in disguise as a street girl reporting to a client (who has the painting). It should have been easy, just like her nickname, Easy Esmee. Johnny Ramos has just come off his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan and is stunned to see Esmee trolling the streets of Denver. He went to school with her and cannot figure out how the smartest girl in school could end up selling herself. Since Johnny has not come down from his last deployment, all his instincts are still razor sharp and on high alert. Good thing too, because Esmee has no idea how many bad guys are after her. ***** Drama, drama, drama! That is what readers get in this suspense filled story. There is some unneeded and repeated information, but the constant action and drama is in no way broken due to it. I enjoyed every second my nose was buried within the pages of this exciting tale. Splendid entertainment! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Just when I'm certain Tara Janzen has written her best book ever, she surprises me with another one that's even better. Or it's just different. Or it's just that she's that talented. With her release of LOOSE and EASY, the third in her spin-off special ops series my Keeper Shelf is becoming crowded. Bad boy, Johnny Ramos, newly returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan is waiting for his new assignment to Special Defense Force, SDF, an elite group of operatives based in Denver and deployed out of the Pentagon. He's come home to Steele Street, his days of running wild through the city long behind him. That is until he sees the valedictorian of his graduating class, the good girl who'd left him panting, strutting her barely-there miniskirt and fishnet hose into a hotel. Esme Alexandria Alden doing tricks? He follows her right into trouble, and is soon running wild through the mean streets of his youth trying to stay one step ahead of the law and the bad guys chasing them. Seattle P.I. and art-recovery expert Esme Alden has this job planned out down to a gnat's eyebrow. Impersonate a local dominatrix, fleece her client of a stolen painting, return it to its rightful owner, take her fee and pay the ruthless bookie threatening to break her father into small pieces. She doesn't plan on her gorgeous high school crush crashing the party and changing all of her plans. LOOSE and EASY is a fast-paced, non-stop action joyride, with Esme and Johhny chased in his 1968 Mercury Cyclone GT every step of the way. Staying ahead of their pursuers isn't their biggest challenge; it's staying ahead of their memories and passion for each other. Their race to the finish line and into each other's arms is one of the most satisfying reads I've had in a long time. Janzen never fails to amaze!