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Shiver
Samantha Jones is the best damn repo woman on the books. The streetwalkers, the drug pushers, the bands of looking-for-trouble punks haunting the mean streets at midnight don’t intimidate her. These are her people. The guy she finds bound and bloodied in the trunk of a flashy new BMW is a different breed entirely.
Daniel Panterro knows he hasn’t seen the last of the vicious drug runners who kidnapped him from protective custody and left him for dead. His only recourse is to take his pretty savior and her four-year-old son hostage and force her to help him. With ruthless killers stalking their trail, Sam must trust this handsome, menacing stranger. But as she relinquishes control, she feels an unmistakable desire. What is the price of falling in love with a man who operates on the edge of danger—her heart, her life . . . or both?
Daniel Panterro knows he hasn’t seen the last of the vicious drug runners who kidnapped him from protective custody and left him for dead. His only recourse is to take his pretty savior and her four-year-old son hostage and force her to help him. With ruthless killers stalking their trail, Sam must trust this handsome, menacing stranger. But as she relinquishes control, she feels an unmistakable desire. What is the price of falling in love with a man who operates on the edge of danger—her heart, her life . . . or both?
385 pages, Hardcover
First published December 4, 2012
314 people are currently reading
4257 people want to read
About the author
Karen Robards
135 books3,240 followersKaren Robards is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than fifty books and one novella. She has won multiple awards including six Affaire de Coeur Silver Pen Awards for favorite author.
Karen has been writing since she was very young, and was first published nationally in the December 1973 Reader's Digest. She sold her first romance novel, ISLAND FLAME, when she was 24. It was published by Leisure Books in 1981 and is still in print. After that, she dropped out of law school to pursue her writing career.
Karen was recently described by The Daily Mail as "one of the most reliable thriller....writers in the world."
Karen has been writing since she was very young, and was first published nationally in the December 1973 Reader's Digest. She sold her first romance novel, ISLAND FLAME, when she was 24. It was published by Leisure Books in 1981 and is still in print. After that, she dropped out of law school to pursue her writing career.
Karen was recently described by The Daily Mail as "one of the most reliable thriller....writers in the world."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 578 reviews
April 11, 2013
I usually like Karen Robards' books, but I think things are starting to blend a bit. Now she just adds in a quirkier job (tow truck driver) for the woman and a few more layers to the man's job, but everything else is pretty much the same. Sam Jones will be described as impossibly beautiful a whole bunch of times so you understand why Danny/Trey/Marco can't possibly resist her even though he has a girlfriend you'll only hear about once in passing. Oh, and Tyler the four year old is written much older, which makes him convenient while on the run but less believable. Here's what I guess you could call a spoiler if you haven't read ANY of her other books: I get the whole "relationships develop in high pressure situations", but this supposedly smart, tough, YOUNG woman who is so overprotective and has obviously been burned before by a man barely has personal conversations with Danny before sex, tells him she loves him before she really knows him, and only finds out who he is at the very end but still immediately moves in with him. Oh, but she has money from selling her tow truck and a scholarship so he won't really be supporting Sam and Tyler. Ooookay, glad she shoved that info in so it wouldn't seem like a flaky move. What keeps this from feeling like the effort of a first time author is Robards' willingness to let her main characters and other good guys get injured, and she does jump from action scene to action scene since the characters clearly don't spend a lot of time sitting around chatting. She uses somewhat annoying/dated expressions like "gimlet gaze" and "he knows from airplanes" and the H keeps calling the h Baby Doll, which I found distracting. It's entertaining, but just more of the same from her.
February 9, 2013
I love Karen Robards, and when she's on (Beachcomber, Whispers at Midnight, To Trust a Stranger) she's one of my favorite authors. One thing I have noticed is that she occasionally has a tendency to go into too much detail, and to repeat the same details in different scenes, which tends to slow down the pacing of an otherwise suspenseful plot. That's in full effect in SHIVER, with the two main characters spending an awful lot of time thinking detailed thoughts about the other's hotness at seemingly awkward and rather unbelievable times. The result is that certain scenes are really drawn out, and the ending here is considerably rushed (also, you would think that the protagonists would be, oh, I don't know -- sore or maybe *cold* after surviving that plane crash in the snow, but they just tromp back down the mountain with seemingly no ill effects.) Anyway, setting those issues aside, it was still an entertaining read.
February 15, 2013
Normally I like Karen Robards' books, but I too found this one formulaic. The author has a tendency to write the same characters over and over (dark haired gorgeous strong tough stubborn women) along with the same type of plot (said woman falls into trouble and ends up connected with a hunky FBI agent, has torrid sex with him while under stressful conditions, and they ride off into the sunset together at the end). This book started off okay, but the main character Sam just became more and more annoying with her stubbornness, to the point where it continously puts her and her 4 year old son in jeopardy. Another reviewer nailed it on the head when she wrote that Sam was stubborn to the point of stupidity. I actually started to dislike the character because of it and felt she was more of a caricature than a character. I also found the constant gratuitous sexual attraction between the two leads, in life and danger situations no less, completely unnecessary and wish there had been more emphasis on the action and suspense. Every author has hit or miss novels, and for me, this one was a miss. Sorry Karen.
October 22, 2022
Overall, I liked this story.
I don´t remember an abductee/kidnapper relationship so well executed. I was having a wonderful time reading about the MC´s and their antics, they were so realistic (for a romantic suspense novel, you know), I couldn´t stop.
Some trusted reviewers complained about Sam (the heroine) being angry all the time. Well, that was exactly what made it fabulous for me, because I don´t get how you can lust (or love in the worst case-scenario) after your kidnapper without throwing Stockholm syndrome into the mix. So, when Ms. Robards made impossible for the heroine to scape, I´m glad she made her wary of her captor and mad at her captor. It felt right.
Otherwise, all the twists and details Ms. Robards intertwined into the plot would have been for nothing. And they were clever: the hero´s background and his secret worked like a charm. The heroine attitude toward him was reasonable and credible. The lust, the uncertainty, I bought the complete package.
So, where did it go wrong? Well, in the overuse of a literary device that the author loves so much she put it on almost every intense scene. And it got old very soon. The MC´s thinking about this and that while the bad guys were trying to kill them…
The first time worked a bit because it was (more or less) well done and intensified the stress in the scene. But then Ms. Robards got them thinking endless about the color and the sturdiness of a rocking chair and some other nothings while the bad guys were shooting them. Or, in another scene, the hero was frisking the heroine and well, you can imagine for how long his hand was in her butt until he found the knife… It seemed like an hour. Really.
Add in the sexist moments (it was written in 2012 so cutting some slack is not applicable here) and this author´s penchant for broad shoulders, strong tights and just the right amount of male pectoral hair and there went the other two stars.
I think with the right amount of editing this story could have been a five stars one.
I don´t remember an abductee/kidnapper relationship so well executed. I was having a wonderful time reading about the MC´s and their antics, they were so realistic (for a romantic suspense novel, you know), I couldn´t stop.
Some trusted reviewers complained about Sam (the heroine) being angry all the time. Well, that was exactly what made it fabulous for me, because I don´t get how you can lust (or love in the worst case-scenario) after your kidnapper without throwing Stockholm syndrome into the mix. So, when Ms. Robards made impossible for the heroine to scape, I´m glad she made her wary of her captor and mad at her captor. It felt right.
Otherwise, all the twists and details Ms. Robards intertwined into the plot would have been for nothing. And they were clever: the hero´s background and his secret worked like a charm. The heroine attitude toward him was reasonable and credible. The lust, the uncertainty, I bought the complete package.
So, where did it go wrong? Well, in the overuse of a literary device that the author loves so much she put it on almost every intense scene. And it got old very soon. The MC´s thinking about this and that while the bad guys were trying to kill them…
The first time worked a bit because it was (more or less) well done and intensified the stress in the scene. But then Ms. Robards got them thinking endless about the color and the sturdiness of a rocking chair and some other nothings while the bad guys were shooting them. Or, in another scene, the hero was frisking the heroine and well, you can imagine for how long his hand was in her butt until he found the knife… It seemed like an hour. Really.
Add in the sexist moments (it was written in 2012 so cutting some slack is not applicable here) and this author´s penchant for broad shoulders, strong tights and just the right amount of male pectoral hair and there went the other two stars.
I think with the right amount of editing this story could have been a five stars one.
January 23, 2014
I found this at the local Friends of the Library sale. I've read Karen Robards before and her books are hit or miss with me. This was a hit for the most part. Samantha (Sam) Jones drives a tow truck and repos vehicles for a living. She is a single mom doing the best she can. One night she goes to repo a BMW and discovers a man bound and wounded in the trunk. Before she can help him she is knocked out and thrown into the trunk too. Together, Sam and Marco/Danny escape the bad guys.
Lots of excitement and action as Sam, her son, Tyler, and "Marco" escape the bad guys and go into witness protection together. It took a little while for Sam to trust Marco/Danny but it just made the story a little more believable. I would recommend to Romantic Suspense fans.
Lots of excitement and action as Sam, her son, Tyler, and "Marco" escape the bad guys and go into witness protection together. It took a little while for Sam to trust Marco/Danny but it just made the story a little more believable. I would recommend to Romantic Suspense fans.
February 10, 2013
This was a delightful book to read...once it got more into the romance. Surprisingly, this Robards RS had much more romance than some of her previous RS books.
The book was fast paced and a fun read. Our hero goes by three names in this book, one, his real name Danny as the undercover FBI agent, Trey, the nickname he had in college which he gives to the little boy who he's never met but is trying to protect, and Marco, the traitor ex-federal agent he is pretending to be to get the bad guys. This made him a great hero, the way he protected Sam and her son Tyler from the get-go. He is a great hero. He was so sweet to Sam and I loved how he called her "baby doll." There were some really sweet moments in this story.
The ending is short as are most of her RS books but still very satisfying. This is definitely one of her better RS books.
The only issue I had with this book was
Great read if you are looking for a nice romantic suspense book. It is fast paced, with a short timeline of the story. Not quite up to Pamela Clare RS books but still a good read.
The book was fast paced and a fun read. Our hero goes by three names in this book, one, his real name Danny as the undercover FBI agent, Trey, the nickname he had in college which he gives to the little boy who he's never met but is trying to protect, and Marco, the traitor ex-federal agent he is pretending to be to get the bad guys. This made him a great hero, the way he protected Sam and her son Tyler from the get-go. He is a great hero. He was so sweet to Sam and I loved how he called her "baby doll." There were some really sweet moments in this story.
The ending is short as are most of her RS books but still very satisfying. This is definitely one of her better RS books.
The only issue I had with this book was
Great read if you are looking for a nice romantic suspense book. It is fast paced, with a short timeline of the story. Not quite up to Pamela Clare RS books but still a good read.
January 10, 2013
Really wanted to give this 1 1/2 stars. I usually like her books but this just irritated me. Gorgeous single girl meets gorgeous single guy and they live happily ever after. Ok, they went over a few bumps
but they were completely predictable. I'm not even sure why I finished it. Don't bother!
but they were completely predictable. I'm not even sure why I finished it. Don't bother!
March 7, 2020
Absolutely ridiculous. Two stars is being generous. It started off really good and I was immediately drawn in. Then it went in to old school stereotype filled nonsense. The strong, independent heroine became too stupid to live. The "hero" was a patronizing jackhole and I swear to god if he called her "babydoll" one more time I was going to find a way to travel in to a book and punch him in his face. The plot was ridiculously unbelievable. Uggg.....this was a giant mess in every way as far as I'm concerned.
January 5, 2013
I HATE to do this because Karen Robards is one of my favs and always a sure thing for me but this one feels like this one was written by someone else.
Sam (h) was a product of the foster care system, street smart wild teenager......until she found herself pregnant at 18 and the father of her unborn child taking off to places unknown. Now she's a 23 year old single mother who is working her self into the ground and going to school to be an EMT to make ends meet and put food on her table. Her only saving grace is an old tow truck that an 'Uncle"had left her when he passed. Along with the truck came a contract for repossessing cars , so at night she leaves Travis (her son) with her friend/neighbor and jumps in Old Red (the tow truck) to make a few extra bucks. As she is closing in on one of the cars on the list she knows that the neighbor hood is a bad one so she needs to hurry. As she's hooking up the car she notices that the trunk is open.
____________ (H) )(they said his real name a few times but I don't remember it) is a F.B.I. agent who is undercover as an agent turned traitor named Marco. He knows he's in a world of trouble because the baddies that are after the real Marco has infiltraited the witness protection program, killing several agents and kidnapped him falling for the ruse that he's really Marco. Now he's laying tied up in the trunk of a car while Vieth tries to gain information from him, he's already been shot in the leg and knows he doesnt have much time before he ends up dying as Marco. Just as this thought is going through his head Vieth and his gang hear something that spooks them and they leave. The next thing he knows he's looking up into the eyes of a beautiful young woman, before he can shout a warning, she is clubbed over the head and dumped into the trunk with him.
************SPOILERS***************
Now all of this sounds really good to me but I just couldn't take how KR wrote the h. To me, she's 23 and ya she's tough but she doesn't really show much fear. When she wakes up in the closed trunk of a moving car with a bound and bleeding stranger , the author has her being really sarcastic......not really scared. Then when i finally gave up on this book, about 48% through the story the author points out that Sam, who has had to shoot 2 bad guys saving herself and the bleeding stranger, only to be kidnapped by said stranger, making a get away from him only to go home to find her boy in the house with men who have tortured and killed her friend in front of her son and who, after seeing her , try to kill them both, again she manages to get them away only to be caught and thrown in a car by Marco and some federal agents and are now on the run from the baddies.......she has the h thinking that she's been in a constant state of " low grade fear" LOW GRADE FEAR???!!!!! I just couldn't take it anymore and symbolicly tossed the book down. If I hadn't been reading this on my Fire I would have really thrown the book. lol
Sam (h) was a product of the foster care system, street smart wild teenager......until she found herself pregnant at 18 and the father of her unborn child taking off to places unknown. Now she's a 23 year old single mother who is working her self into the ground and going to school to be an EMT to make ends meet and put food on her table. Her only saving grace is an old tow truck that an 'Uncle"had left her when he passed. Along with the truck came a contract for repossessing cars , so at night she leaves Travis (her son) with her friend/neighbor and jumps in Old Red (the tow truck) to make a few extra bucks. As she is closing in on one of the cars on the list she knows that the neighbor hood is a bad one so she needs to hurry. As she's hooking up the car she notices that the trunk is open.
____________ (H) )(they said his real name a few times but I don't remember it) is a F.B.I. agent who is undercover as an agent turned traitor named Marco. He knows he's in a world of trouble because the baddies that are after the real Marco has infiltraited the witness protection program, killing several agents and kidnapped him falling for the ruse that he's really Marco. Now he's laying tied up in the trunk of a car while Vieth tries to gain information from him, he's already been shot in the leg and knows he doesnt have much time before he ends up dying as Marco. Just as this thought is going through his head Vieth and his gang hear something that spooks them and they leave. The next thing he knows he's looking up into the eyes of a beautiful young woman, before he can shout a warning, she is clubbed over the head and dumped into the trunk with him.
************SPOILERS***************
Now all of this sounds really good to me but I just couldn't take how KR wrote the h. To me, she's 23 and ya she's tough but she doesn't really show much fear. When she wakes up in the closed trunk of a moving car with a bound and bleeding stranger , the author has her being really sarcastic......not really scared. Then when i finally gave up on this book, about 48% through the story the author points out that Sam, who has had to shoot 2 bad guys saving herself and the bleeding stranger, only to be kidnapped by said stranger, making a get away from him only to go home to find her boy in the house with men who have tortured and killed her friend in front of her son and who, after seeing her , try to kill them both, again she manages to get them away only to be caught and thrown in a car by Marco and some federal agents and are now on the run from the baddies.......she has the h thinking that she's been in a constant state of " low grade fear" LOW GRADE FEAR???!!!!! I just couldn't take it anymore and symbolicly tossed the book down. If I hadn't been reading this on my Fire I would have really thrown the book. lol
December 10, 2012
Danny Pantero is an undercover FBI agent who's posing as a bad guy, in order to draw attention away from the real bad guy who's singing like a bird. Sam Jones is a single mom, working as a tow truck/repo specialist to support her 4 year old son. She's barely making ends meet, but is determined to give her child the the security she never had. She's on a routine repo of a BMW when she pops the trunk and finds Danny Pantero, tied up and badly wounded. And before she knows it, she's in the trunk with him. Talk about a cute meet! But there's nothing cute about Robards' story. It's fast-paced and gripping. The bad guys are ruthless and no one is safe from their brutality. Danny and Sam are drawn to each other, though both fight it for different reasons. This becomes more difficult when they're forced into close proximity as they both, and Sam's young son, end up in the same safe house. That doesn't stop the bad guys, and the only question is whether Danny will figure out what's going on before Sam and her child end up casualties of his undercover op. My only complaint with this book is that the very end is too quick and convenient, but getting there is worth the read.
May 17, 2013
"Sam saw him walking toward her from the pine forrest, its then that she noticed there was the smell of pine in the air along with fuel from the wreckage"! Gosh, this book sucks! Its like the writer felt she had to qualify every action or description taken by the protagonist. The overkill with dumb details and the shoehorning of unnecessary curse words was too much. Poor writing, amateurish product, and Gosh Darn It did I really need to get a full anatomical description of the similarities between Sam and her BFF simply because Sam borrowed a dress from her for a night out!!! Usually if you share clothing with your bestie it goes without saying you are probably the same build....but the writer went as far as to say the color and cut of each woman's hair...what does that have to do with the fact that she is wearing her dress!!!! Ugh! Ugh! I will never read this "authors" drivel again. Ugh! One of the worse I've encountered!
December 19, 2012
Beautiful cover! I have been in a 3 week reading slump which equates to ten years probably for anyone else. I needed something to kick start my reading and this suited very well. I really liked it. Nothing new or ground breaking just some pretty solid romantic suspense. Loved the gutsy heroine and the hot hero. Some parts might have been implausible but what the hey? Sometimes you just have to go along for the fun ride without tearing stuff apart.
A solid entertaining read.
A solid entertaining read.
September 15, 2014
I like this author's work but this was not one of my favourites.
I liked the heroine....a truck driver.....and the hero was okay...but the plot was just so similar to her other books.
I was so irritated with the repetition of......how gorgeous the hero was, how the heroine had black hair....
Not a bad romance suspense but not a great one either.
What I loved was the cover.....although it's nothing like I imagined the heroine to look like!!!!
I liked the heroine....a truck driver.....and the hero was okay...but the plot was just so similar to her other books.
I was so irritated with the repetition of......how gorgeous the hero was, how the heroine had black hair....
Not a bad romance suspense but not a great one either.
What I loved was the cover.....although it's nothing like I imagined the heroine to look like!!!!
December 8, 2020
20% Good
What I thought of Shiver: Ummmm.... the hell? Why was this book even published? Words cannot explain how beautiful this book was... but numbers can. 2/10. (Tik Tok got me🤣 ) The characters, especially the main character and her annoying lover, were childish and did a good job of making me grit my teeth and cringe. Like seriously, the main character's son was more grown up than her and he was like, ten, I think.
So the story goes.... this young adult named Samantha is struggling financially but barely makes it by with her young son by running a towing company. She lives in a neighborhood full of drug dealers, street-walkers, and people up to no good so she carries around a gun (I know, that so totally automatically makes you badass) to protect herself. Then, one day, she finds this bloodied up hot dude in the trunk of a BMW, and gets thrown in there with him. The mentioned hot dude then goes on to tell the story and jabbers on and on about how she has such an attractive scent, form, bla bla bla. Okay, break in the summary. I listened to this book and I think it is read by the same person who read the Wings of Fire series so since then I associate her voice with innocent and appropriate beings, not smoochy killers, so it was kind of weird to have this guy who sounded like a kid talking about that sort of stuff. Now back to the summary. She ends up escaping with him, rescues her son just before he would have been caught by the bad guys, gets saved by marshals who understandably don't like her or the guy, Daniel, and falls in love with the latter. Then things go wrong, she and her new lover get captured but through a series of events, one of which includes a crashing plane, escapes again and lives happily ever after.
So that was the story plot.
Concluding, this story had a poor plot and terrible characters. I didn't care for any of them except for the son
-------------
Author:
Pages: 385
Ages: 14+ for violence and a sex scene
What I thought of Shiver: Ummmm.... the hell? Why was this book even published? Words cannot explain how beautiful this book was... but numbers can. 2/10. (Tik Tok got me🤣 ) The characters, especially the main character and her annoying lover, were childish and did a good job of making me grit my teeth and cringe. Like seriously, the main character's son was more grown up than her and he was like, ten, I think.
SPOILER STARTING:
So the story goes.... this young adult named Samantha is struggling financially but barely makes it by with her young son by running a towing company. She lives in a neighborhood full of drug dealers, street-walkers, and people up to no good so she carries around a gun (I know, that so totally automatically makes you badass) to protect herself. Then, one day, she finds this bloodied up hot dude in the trunk of a BMW, and gets thrown in there with him. The mentioned hot dude then goes on to tell the story and jabbers on and on about how she has such an attractive scent, form, bla bla bla. Okay, break in the summary. I listened to this book and I think it is read by the same person who read the Wings of Fire series so since then I associate her voice with innocent and appropriate beings, not smoochy killers, so it was kind of weird to have this guy who sounded like a kid talking about that sort of stuff. Now back to the summary. She ends up escaping with him, rescues her son just before he would have been caught by the bad guys, gets saved by marshals who understandably don't like her or the guy, Daniel, and falls in love with the latter. Then things go wrong, she and her new lover get captured but through a series of events, one of which includes a crashing plane, escapes again and lives happily ever after.
So that was the story plot.
END OF SPOILERS
Concluding, this story had a poor plot and terrible characters. I didn't care for any of them except for the son
-------------
Author:
Pages: 385
Ages: 14+ for violence and a sex scene
August 27, 2021
Karen Robards has long been one of my favorite authors and she does not disappoint with Shiver. From the get go I was invested in the characters and on this rollercoaster ride with them. I loved Samantha, she's no princess waiting to be saved. She's strong and determined to save herself and her son from a ruthless gang intent on killing her and all because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time...or right time if you're the hero :)
March 26, 2018
For a single mother to four years old son, being in the middle of danger is the last thing that Sam ever want. With little hope and trust, Sam have to reliant on a stranger who is the main reasons that put Sam and her son in jeopardy in the first place. This thriller-romance will keep you shiver till end.
December 6, 2012
Originally posted at http://smexybooks.com/2012/12/review-...
Samantha Jones never thought her life would change when she answered a call for a repo. A young single mother who works and lives for her young son, Sam does what she can to try and make a better life for the both of them. When she pops the truck on the BMW and sees a man inside, beat up and shot, she has no time to react and finds herself sharing the tiny space with him.
Daniel Panterro is convinced this is his last stand. Kidnapped from protective custody and beaten within an inch of his life, he is shocked when a beautiful young woman opens the trunk and joins him in his mobile grave.
When Daniel and Sam escape, Daniel knows that the vicious men who kidnapped him won’t stop hunting them until they’re both dead. He grabs Sam and “persuades” her with the help of Smith and Wesson to get to safety. Sam is furious to be dragged into his situation and only wants to get to her son.
Now Sam, Daniel, and her son are on the run. Sam isn’t sure she can trust Daniel, but her heart wants this dark and dangerous man who seems intent on protect her and her son from even himself. Can Sam trust her heart, or will Daniel prove a fatal attraction?
I’ve always been a fan of Robards. She is one of those authors whom I don’t auto buy but know I can pick up just about anything of hers and be satisfied. Karen Robards Shiver is a strong character driven romantic thriller that is predictable in the set up and outcome but provides a few twists and turns in the journey to the end. A smooth flowing storyline that, perhaps unintentionally, focuses much more on the characters and their romance than the main conflict. I found myself guessing the ending halfway into the book. Plenty of action and tension lends to the main conflict’s storyline but it can’t maintain and isn’t able to compete with the characters. Well written dialogue and definite antagonistic chemistry between Daniel and Sam is what held my interest in the story.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She growled in self defense.
“What do think I’m doing?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Copping a feel.”
“If I was copping a feel, my hands would be inside your pants.”
Daniel was a mixture of contradictions. What we see is not what we get. Seemingly laid back and mild mannered, it’s only as the story progresses do we see exactly what he is involved in and just how deadly he can be. He has many sticks in the fire and while you know his lies will eventually trip him up, you know that everything he is doing from the time he meets Sam is protect her. Sam is not impressed with him in the beginning though. Threatening her with a gun and taking her from her child leaves a heavy mark against him. As with any smart female, it takes her awhile to warm up to him.
Sam was equally as enjoyable as Daniel. Intelligent, resourceful, and brimming with common sense, Sam is no pushover. Abandoned by her family and her son’s father, Sam relies on one person-herself. And everything she does is for her son, Tyler. I found her attitude towards Daniel to be spot on and I loved her sarcasm.
“We’d both be better off if I have the gun.” His tone was even, reasonable.
She snorted, “I don’t think so.”
“How about if I give you my word I’m not going to shoot you?”
“How about if I give you my word I’m not going to shoot you?” She paused. “Unless you deserve it.”
The romance is slow to build, more sexual tension than actual scenes. We spend a majority of the story watching them internally ruminate about each other and their attraction but the chemistry resonates throughout the story and it’s believable in its unfolding.
I enjoyed the heavy inclusion of Sam’s son into the story. He is a viable presence and provides some comic relief and a bridge to help facilitate the relationship between Sam and Daniel. Other secondary characters are seen more through Sam and Daniel’s points of views and we don’t get a lot of direct interaction with them. The main conflict is intriguing but stays firmly in the background. The beginning is explosive but quickly settles and the focus switches to our protagonists. It’s only in the last quarter of the book does the action reinstate itself and we finally get the reasons for the actions that started everything. I was a little disappointed by how quickly everything wrapped up. I expected more interaction with our villains in the story.
All in all, Shiver wasn’t a bad book but it wasn’t an explosive one either. It’s a steady but predictable read. I was also disappointed in Daniel’s attitude. We are told he is dangerous but I never really felt it from him. His mild mannered facade worked too well and I could never make myself really think he was a bad ass. The excerpt gives the impression he is dangerous but he could never convince me of that and it left me feeling ambivalent.
Overall Rating: C-
Samantha Jones never thought her life would change when she answered a call for a repo. A young single mother who works and lives for her young son, Sam does what she can to try and make a better life for the both of them. When she pops the truck on the BMW and sees a man inside, beat up and shot, she has no time to react and finds herself sharing the tiny space with him.
Daniel Panterro is convinced this is his last stand. Kidnapped from protective custody and beaten within an inch of his life, he is shocked when a beautiful young woman opens the trunk and joins him in his mobile grave.
When Daniel and Sam escape, Daniel knows that the vicious men who kidnapped him won’t stop hunting them until they’re both dead. He grabs Sam and “persuades” her with the help of Smith and Wesson to get to safety. Sam is furious to be dragged into his situation and only wants to get to her son.
Now Sam, Daniel, and her son are on the run. Sam isn’t sure she can trust Daniel, but her heart wants this dark and dangerous man who seems intent on protect her and her son from even himself. Can Sam trust her heart, or will Daniel prove a fatal attraction?
I’ve always been a fan of Robards. She is one of those authors whom I don’t auto buy but know I can pick up just about anything of hers and be satisfied. Karen Robards Shiver is a strong character driven romantic thriller that is predictable in the set up and outcome but provides a few twists and turns in the journey to the end. A smooth flowing storyline that, perhaps unintentionally, focuses much more on the characters and their romance than the main conflict. I found myself guessing the ending halfway into the book. Plenty of action and tension lends to the main conflict’s storyline but it can’t maintain and isn’t able to compete with the characters. Well written dialogue and definite antagonistic chemistry between Daniel and Sam is what held my interest in the story.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She growled in self defense.
“What do think I’m doing?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Copping a feel.”
“If I was copping a feel, my hands would be inside your pants.”
Daniel was a mixture of contradictions. What we see is not what we get. Seemingly laid back and mild mannered, it’s only as the story progresses do we see exactly what he is involved in and just how deadly he can be. He has many sticks in the fire and while you know his lies will eventually trip him up, you know that everything he is doing from the time he meets Sam is protect her. Sam is not impressed with him in the beginning though. Threatening her with a gun and taking her from her child leaves a heavy mark against him. As with any smart female, it takes her awhile to warm up to him.
Sam was equally as enjoyable as Daniel. Intelligent, resourceful, and brimming with common sense, Sam is no pushover. Abandoned by her family and her son’s father, Sam relies on one person-herself. And everything she does is for her son, Tyler. I found her attitude towards Daniel to be spot on and I loved her sarcasm.
“We’d both be better off if I have the gun.” His tone was even, reasonable.
She snorted, “I don’t think so.”
“How about if I give you my word I’m not going to shoot you?”
“How about if I give you my word I’m not going to shoot you?” She paused. “Unless you deserve it.”
The romance is slow to build, more sexual tension than actual scenes. We spend a majority of the story watching them internally ruminate about each other and their attraction but the chemistry resonates throughout the story and it’s believable in its unfolding.
I enjoyed the heavy inclusion of Sam’s son into the story. He is a viable presence and provides some comic relief and a bridge to help facilitate the relationship between Sam and Daniel. Other secondary characters are seen more through Sam and Daniel’s points of views and we don’t get a lot of direct interaction with them. The main conflict is intriguing but stays firmly in the background. The beginning is explosive but quickly settles and the focus switches to our protagonists. It’s only in the last quarter of the book does the action reinstate itself and we finally get the reasons for the actions that started everything. I was a little disappointed by how quickly everything wrapped up. I expected more interaction with our villains in the story.
All in all, Shiver wasn’t a bad book but it wasn’t an explosive one either. It’s a steady but predictable read. I was also disappointed in Daniel’s attitude. We are told he is dangerous but I never really felt it from him. His mild mannered facade worked too well and I could never make myself really think he was a bad ass. The excerpt gives the impression he is dangerous but he could never convince me of that and it left me feeling ambivalent.
Overall Rating: C-
July 10, 2024
Wasn’t one of her best books. Too predictable and didn’t hold my interest. I kept skipping sections. Wasn’t real enough with repeated descriptions that you knew about from the beginning.
September 2, 2016
Good story. Lots of suspense and action. But I did not like the heroine being angry all the time.
The author artificially stretches out suspense scenes which bothered me. For example: someone is coming and Sam has to do something fast, but she stops to talk, the other guy says hurry, she thinks about something else for a minute, and then finally she gets back to doing what she is supposed to do. The reader is thinking come on come on get it done. The author drew it out to prolong anxiety, which is ok as a writing technique, but this was excessive. I didn’t like it. Another example: a killer enters the house. The good guy is aware of the killer and needs to escape out a rear window. But the author goes on and on for several minutes inside the good guy’s head thinking and pondering instead of quickly fleeing out the window. I’m thinking come one come on get out of there. I think reading the physical book might be better than the audiobook, so you can skip over these ponderings.
Bottom line, there’s a lot of suspense and some good action. It’s mostly one long chase. Drug cartel thugs are chasing and torturing people. They are after Sam and Marco. Sam does some neat things. So does Marco.
You need to suspend disbelief at the end. I’m usually willing to do that, but this one bothered me.
The thing that bothered me the most was Sam. She was angry, annoyed, and sarcastic toward Marco and others for 99% of the book. It was not fun to read. Here are some of the words ascribed to her: vibrating with hostility, fierce look, stern look, dark look, dirty look, stiff, irritable, truculent, scowl, glaring, tense, angry. Sure, Sam had good reasons to be angry, but I would have preferred a different way of reacting or different conversations.
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
I had problems with the narrator Shannon McManus. Her reading was fast and kind of staccato. She didn’t use enough emotion or pauses. She needs to perform, not read. The weakest parts were the passionate scenes. She showed no feeling, like she wanted to quickly read through it. Also, her voice sounds like a teenager which is not bad but might not be the best fit for this book.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 10 hrs and 10 mins. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: none to mild. Number of sex scenes: one. Setting: current day Illinois, Missouri, and Idaho. Book copyright: 2012. Genre: romantic suspense.
The author artificially stretches out suspense scenes which bothered me. For example: someone is coming and Sam has to do something fast, but she stops to talk, the other guy says hurry, she thinks about something else for a minute, and then finally she gets back to doing what she is supposed to do. The reader is thinking come on come on get it done. The author drew it out to prolong anxiety, which is ok as a writing technique, but this was excessive. I didn’t like it. Another example: a killer enters the house. The good guy is aware of the killer and needs to escape out a rear window. But the author goes on and on for several minutes inside the good guy’s head thinking and pondering instead of quickly fleeing out the window. I’m thinking come one come on get out of there. I think reading the physical book might be better than the audiobook, so you can skip over these ponderings.
Bottom line, there’s a lot of suspense and some good action. It’s mostly one long chase. Drug cartel thugs are chasing and torturing people. They are after Sam and Marco. Sam does some neat things. So does Marco.
You need to suspend disbelief at the end. I’m usually willing to do that, but this one bothered me.
The thing that bothered me the most was Sam. She was angry, annoyed, and sarcastic toward Marco and others for 99% of the book. It was not fun to read. Here are some of the words ascribed to her: vibrating with hostility, fierce look, stern look, dark look, dirty look, stiff, irritable, truculent, scowl, glaring, tense, angry. Sure, Sam had good reasons to be angry, but I would have preferred a different way of reacting or different conversations.
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
I had problems with the narrator Shannon McManus. Her reading was fast and kind of staccato. She didn’t use enough emotion or pauses. She needs to perform, not read. The weakest parts were the passionate scenes. She showed no feeling, like she wanted to quickly read through it. Also, her voice sounds like a teenager which is not bad but might not be the best fit for this book.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 10 hrs and 10 mins. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: none to mild. Number of sex scenes: one. Setting: current day Illinois, Missouri, and Idaho. Book copyright: 2012. Genre: romantic suspense.
September 28, 2021
FBI Special Agent Danny Pantera is deep undercover as U.S. Marshall Marco turned thief, who has the Zeta Cartel out to kill him before he can spill the beans on their enterprise. Danny is captured from a safehouse and tortured by the Zetas, then dumped in a trunk to be moved to another location.
That’s when his guardian angel arrives in a ratty tow truck.
Samantha Jones spends her nights working repo so that she can take EMT classes to give her four-year-old son, Taylor, a better life. When she hooks onto the fancy black car in a dark, creepy neighborhood, her only thought is to get out of there before trouble in the form of the vehicle’s owner arrives. She doesn’t expect to get clouted over the head and end up in the trunk next to a badly beaten man in cuffs who’d been… shot?
The trunk felt hotter and more airless than ever. It was dark as the grave and cramped as a womb. Besides the faint odors of exhaust and oil and sweat, the raw meat smell of fresh blood was inescapable.
SHIVER- KAREN ROBARDS
Sam and Marco/Danny are forced to work together to escape their captors and stay one step ahead of the Zetas, including a pulse-pounding rescue of Taylor, until the real Marco can turn state’s evidence against the cartel. Trouble is, Danny’s job is to maintain Marco’s skeevy persona, even though he has growing feelings for the spirited Sam and her son.
As the danger builds, the plot thickens. Who’s snitching on the snitch?
I love Karen Robard’s books! She has such a way with mixing suspense and romance together, it makes her books impossible to set down.
That’s when his guardian angel arrives in a ratty tow truck.
Samantha Jones spends her nights working repo so that she can take EMT classes to give her four-year-old son, Taylor, a better life. When she hooks onto the fancy black car in a dark, creepy neighborhood, her only thought is to get out of there before trouble in the form of the vehicle’s owner arrives. She doesn’t expect to get clouted over the head and end up in the trunk next to a badly beaten man in cuffs who’d been… shot?
The trunk felt hotter and more airless than ever. It was dark as the grave and cramped as a womb. Besides the faint odors of exhaust and oil and sweat, the raw meat smell of fresh blood was inescapable.
SHIVER- KAREN ROBARDS
Sam and Marco/Danny are forced to work together to escape their captors and stay one step ahead of the Zetas, including a pulse-pounding rescue of Taylor, until the real Marco can turn state’s evidence against the cartel. Trouble is, Danny’s job is to maintain Marco’s skeevy persona, even though he has growing feelings for the spirited Sam and her son.
As the danger builds, the plot thickens. Who’s snitching on the snitch?
I love Karen Robard’s books! She has such a way with mixing suspense and romance together, it makes her books impossible to set down.
January 20, 2013
40% complete-I like the premise of this book but find it has two annoying romance formulas-
#1- when you re in a life and death situation- think about how sexy the person with you is..Really?? Main Character has been hog tied, shot and stuffed in a trunk of a car. A woman is dumped in the car with him, he is excruciating pain, but he notices how sexy she is. Not buying it.
#2- Female character is stubborn to the point of stupid, and as a result of her stupidity endangers both of their lives. Despite evidence to the contrary, she tries to escape, and again, and again. Despite what he tells her she wont believe him.
i found my shelf skimming the first half of the book, as they describe how turned on they are by the other. Never a good sign.
The 2nd half got better as the love story blossomed. iI could understand her need to protect her son above else, understand her worry that she was becoming attracted to a really bad guy. However, the idea that she was able to overlook that he was a murderer and traitor, because he was so dammed good looking, left me feeling icky. I don't believe this supposedly strong woman would be that shallow. All in all, just OK.
#1- when you re in a life and death situation- think about how sexy the person with you is..Really?? Main Character has been hog tied, shot and stuffed in a trunk of a car. A woman is dumped in the car with him, he is excruciating pain, but he notices how sexy she is. Not buying it.
#2- Female character is stubborn to the point of stupid, and as a result of her stupidity endangers both of their lives. Despite evidence to the contrary, she tries to escape, and again, and again. Despite what he tells her she wont believe him.
i found my shelf skimming the first half of the book, as they describe how turned on they are by the other. Never a good sign.
The 2nd half got better as the love story blossomed. iI could understand her need to protect her son above else, understand her worry that she was becoming attracted to a really bad guy. However, the idea that she was able to overlook that he was a murderer and traitor, because he was so dammed good looking, left me feeling icky. I don't believe this supposedly strong woman would be that shallow. All in all, just OK.
April 1, 2013
I could not finish this book. I thought the main character was boring and idiotic, and generally pretty childish. She sounded more like a fourteen year old who wants to rebel against her parents than an adult with a son. Generally, I prefer books that have a 3rd person POV that switches between characters, but in this book it was frustrating because the main character does things that are not in her best interest, and we know about it (due to knowing the other character's POV). This makes her look stupid and makes the book lose quite a bit of suspense- you already know what's going on, you just get to go along for the agonizingly slow ride of the main character figuring it out too.
She whines a lot and her son seems, at least in my opinion, pretty advanced for a four year old- able to pick up on subtle tensions between other characters that he shouldn't know anything about.
She whines a lot and her son seems, at least in my opinion, pretty advanced for a four year old- able to pick up on subtle tensions between other characters that he shouldn't know anything about.
January 27, 2013
This book reads like a Harlequin :( and I don't read that kind of "literature"...so I didn't rate this book very well. It was the first time I've read anything by this author. I wanted to read a thriller. On a good note the thrilling and suspenseful parts of the novel were very well written. I would recommend this book to a person who likes thrillers and doesn't mind sexual content. It's just not for me.
April 21, 2017
Shiver is just way too predictable: undercover FBI agent with a heart of gold, submissive female (supposedly so self sufficient, but absolutely not), and her son, an adorable, precocious waif. Of course they are being chased by thugs. I won't give away the ending in case you want to read this, but you won't be surprised. I'm not even sure why I finished it.
May 27, 2021
Sigh... sometimes I wonder if the people who create the covers even bother to read the book. It was mentioned - oh, I don't know, like gazillion times - that the main character has black hair, which the person on this cover clearly does not. Plus, what's with the title? There was snow in seriously the last 10 pages of the book, so I don't know why a snow theme was picked. Come on, publishers, get your shit together.
Anyway, now to the content of the book: this was listed in my library catalog as being set in Idaho, so I wanted to see if it really was. Um, kinda. It's mostly set it St. Louis, but it does move to Idaho eventually (but the Idaho parts really could have been set anywhere - they stayed in a house most of the time, so it could have been in Montana or Kentucky for all that it mattered). I haven't read Robards before, but even with that, I don't think this is one of her better books. She reminds me a lot of Linda Howard, who is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures, so I'm sure I'll be reading more.
I did like Sam; she was a pretty awesome character. I was less enthused about Danny/Marco/Trey (still trying to figure out how "Trey" was a nickname for this guy). When we first meet him, he's thinking about his hot girlfriend. Halfway through the book when he's decided he's starting to like Sam, he thinks about this "girlfriend" as someone he's just sleeping with. So it feels a lot like he's a cheater, which I'm not a fan of. Also, I wish authors would be better at writing young kids. The four-year-old didn't talk the way the four-year-olds in my life talk, so it was very unbelievable for me.
I'm also not a fan of the ending. It was as if Robards looked at the clock, realized she was 20 minutes over, and decided to wrap everything up in half a chapter. I'll definitely be trying her again (like I said, I'm a sucker for Linda Howard and there's a lot of similarities here), so I hope the next one isn't disappointing. Not that this one was. I read it in two nights, and it got me out of a bit of a book slump I'm in.
Anyway, now to the content of the book: this was listed in my library catalog as being set in Idaho, so I wanted to see if it really was. Um, kinda. It's mostly set it St. Louis, but it does move to Idaho eventually (but the Idaho parts really could have been set anywhere - they stayed in a house most of the time, so it could have been in Montana or Kentucky for all that it mattered). I haven't read Robards before, but even with that, I don't think this is one of her better books. She reminds me a lot of Linda Howard, who is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures, so I'm sure I'll be reading more.
I did like Sam; she was a pretty awesome character. I was less enthused about Danny/Marco/Trey (still trying to figure out how "Trey" was a nickname for this guy). When we first meet him, he's thinking about his hot girlfriend. Halfway through the book when he's decided he's starting to like Sam, he thinks about this "girlfriend" as someone he's just sleeping with. So it feels a lot like he's a cheater, which I'm not a fan of. Also, I wish authors would be better at writing young kids. The four-year-old didn't talk the way the four-year-olds in my life talk, so it was very unbelievable for me.
I'm also not a fan of the ending. It was as if Robards looked at the clock, realized she was 20 minutes over, and decided to wrap everything up in half a chapter. I'll definitely be trying her again (like I said, I'm a sucker for Linda Howard and there's a lot of similarities here), so I hope the next one isn't disappointing. Not that this one was. I read it in two nights, and it got me out of a bit of a book slump I'm in.
March 5, 2020
3.5 stars
July 1, 2019
This was the first Karen Robards book I ever read. Picked it up in the airport and never regretted it. Good characters and good storyline that was fast paced. Very enjoyable.
September 9, 2021
3.5 There was one exciting part! It stressed me for a few minutes. I agree she has dome great books. She has some that are not as good.
April 14, 2020
Billed as a thriller. As much romance as thriller. OK but not the best book I've ever read.
January 16, 2015
Rated 4.5 out of 5 - This novel is exactly how I like my romantic suspense books—fast-paced, believable, with some sexual tension, but leaving the consummation of the relationship until the end where it belongs.
Enjoy more reviews at TBR MOUNTAIN RANGE.
Samantha "Sam" Jones is a single mom of a four-year-old boy, barely making it financially. During the day she takes classes to become an EMT, while at night she repossesses cars using the tow truck she inherited from an uncle.
Daniel "Danny" Pantero is an undercover FBI agent posing as Rick Marco, a rogue agent working for the Zetas drug cartel. The real Rick Marco is in custody, singing about everything he knows to the authorities, while Danny uses his identity to get more information on the organization's inner workings. That was the way it was supposed to go down until some money went missing and the cartel hit man shot him and threw him in the trunk of a car, planning on torturing Danny, aka Marco, until he tells them where the money is hidden. Just what money they're talking about isn't something Danny knows and he's going to have to think quick before he bleeds out from the bullet wound in his leg.
Sam tracks down the BMW she needs to repo and is shocked to find a bleeding man in the trunk. Before she's able to drive away with the car attached to her tow truck, the bad guys knock her out and throw her into the trunk with the bleeding man, stealing her truck to take them to a remote location to finish what they started. Sam is as good as dead once they arrive at their destination, the man explains, because he's the one they want and she's a witness they don't need.
Sam understands that what she does for a living is dangerous work so she has a gun with her at all times. She's determined to get back to her son alive, so she shoots the bad guys when they open the trunk and plans to escape this Marco character the first chance she gets. And that's just the first three chapters—the plot is more complicated, keeping Danny's identity a secret from Sam while putting her and her son in danger every step of the way. Sam is in this thing deep and it's going to take a miracle to get her out of it.
You'll want to read this excellent suspense from cover to cover in one sitting if you can. The story moves at a rapid pace with lots of action. I especially appreciated the slow build of the relationship between Danny and Sam, plus the fact that she never knew Danny was one of the good guys until the end. The reader knows who Danny really is from the beginning but I think that actually helps us to better understand both characters' motivation.
I have a love-and-hate relationship with romantic suspense so I'm always so pleased when one is written the way I like them. This couple didn't jump into bed every chapter. That to me is so unbelievable in a life and death situation, especially when there's a young child involved in the relationship as well. Instead, the sexual tension slowly builds, along with Sam's trust, until their lust is acted upon toward the end of the novel. This is very well done, showing Sam's attraction to the bad boy she thinks Danny is while fighting with her conscience over getting hurt by a relationship that cannot be forever. The only small quibble I had with the believability of the story is that the four-year-old seemed much older in the way he spoke and acted most of the time. Everything else in the characters' development went extremely well with the action-packed plot.
I loved Sam's unusual employment. It suited her character; spoke to her desperation and her ability to care for her child no matter what happened. It also explained her ability to defend herself when she felt there was no other way to survive, but still showed her soft side when she interacted with her son. Sam is a complex character who matched the complexity of the man she's forced to work with to save her son and herself. Danny isn't always so nice while he's sticking to the role of Marco, so Sam's spunk matched him well.
As a new-to-me author, Karen Robards has proven her talent with SHIVER. I'm a huge fan of romantic suspense when it makes sense and keeps me captivated while rooting for the success of the characters, so this one gets my thumbs up for all those reasons. Keep them coming just like this one, Ms. Robards, and I'm a fan for life.
Reviewed by Dorine, courtesy of Romance Junkies and TBR Mountain Range.
Enjoy more reviews at TBR MOUNTAIN RANGE.
Samantha "Sam" Jones is a single mom of a four-year-old boy, barely making it financially. During the day she takes classes to become an EMT, while at night she repossesses cars using the tow truck she inherited from an uncle.
Daniel "Danny" Pantero is an undercover FBI agent posing as Rick Marco, a rogue agent working for the Zetas drug cartel. The real Rick Marco is in custody, singing about everything he knows to the authorities, while Danny uses his identity to get more information on the organization's inner workings. That was the way it was supposed to go down until some money went missing and the cartel hit man shot him and threw him in the trunk of a car, planning on torturing Danny, aka Marco, until he tells them where the money is hidden. Just what money they're talking about isn't something Danny knows and he's going to have to think quick before he bleeds out from the bullet wound in his leg.
Sam tracks down the BMW she needs to repo and is shocked to find a bleeding man in the trunk. Before she's able to drive away with the car attached to her tow truck, the bad guys knock her out and throw her into the trunk with the bleeding man, stealing her truck to take them to a remote location to finish what they started. Sam is as good as dead once they arrive at their destination, the man explains, because he's the one they want and she's a witness they don't need.
Sam understands that what she does for a living is dangerous work so she has a gun with her at all times. She's determined to get back to her son alive, so she shoots the bad guys when they open the trunk and plans to escape this Marco character the first chance she gets. And that's just the first three chapters—the plot is more complicated, keeping Danny's identity a secret from Sam while putting her and her son in danger every step of the way. Sam is in this thing deep and it's going to take a miracle to get her out of it.
You'll want to read this excellent suspense from cover to cover in one sitting if you can. The story moves at a rapid pace with lots of action. I especially appreciated the slow build of the relationship between Danny and Sam, plus the fact that she never knew Danny was one of the good guys until the end. The reader knows who Danny really is from the beginning but I think that actually helps us to better understand both characters' motivation.
I have a love-and-hate relationship with romantic suspense so I'm always so pleased when one is written the way I like them. This couple didn't jump into bed every chapter. That to me is so unbelievable in a life and death situation, especially when there's a young child involved in the relationship as well. Instead, the sexual tension slowly builds, along with Sam's trust, until their lust is acted upon toward the end of the novel. This is very well done, showing Sam's attraction to the bad boy she thinks Danny is while fighting with her conscience over getting hurt by a relationship that cannot be forever. The only small quibble I had with the believability of the story is that the four-year-old seemed much older in the way he spoke and acted most of the time. Everything else in the characters' development went extremely well with the action-packed plot.
I loved Sam's unusual employment. It suited her character; spoke to her desperation and her ability to care for her child no matter what happened. It also explained her ability to defend herself when she felt there was no other way to survive, but still showed her soft side when she interacted with her son. Sam is a complex character who matched the complexity of the man she's forced to work with to save her son and herself. Danny isn't always so nice while he's sticking to the role of Marco, so Sam's spunk matched him well.
As a new-to-me author, Karen Robards has proven her talent with SHIVER. I'm a huge fan of romantic suspense when it makes sense and keeps me captivated while rooting for the success of the characters, so this one gets my thumbs up for all those reasons. Keep them coming just like this one, Ms. Robards, and I'm a fan for life.
Reviewed by Dorine, courtesy of Romance Junkies and TBR Mountain Range.
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