Gone Tropical

by Robena Grant

Armed with an inside tip, Amy Helm arrives in Australia determined to catch her thieving ex-husband. After he absconded with five million dollars from her father's business, the FBI thinks the trail has gone cold. But who better to catch him than the psychologist who knew him intimately?

LAPD-turned-solitary-Private Investigator, Jake Turner is on Amy's tail. Hired by her estranged father to find the money and keep her out of harm, he enlists the help of an old Aussie friend. Amy knows their skills are valuable, but her hackles go up when Jake orders her to stay in Sydney.

Playing a dangerous game of catch-me-if-you-can deep in the Australian rain forest leads them into a cyclone, a fake marriage, a drug cartel, and maybe, a whole new life. It's a dizzying ride of fear and romance, and one Amy won't soon give up.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Contemporary, Ebooks, Australia, Mystery

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2013

About the author

Born in Australia, Robena now lives in Southern California. She has two adult children. Loves travel, hanging out with friends and family, reading, cooking, singing really bad karaoke, drinking really good red wine, chomping on chocolate, and swigging coffee. And she hates filling out forms because they give her a headache.

Reviews

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story grabs the reader from the first page! What follows is a tale of action, intrigue, and danger of epic proportions.

Read full review in the 2014 August issue of InD’tale Magazine.

[Suzy Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weathering the storm

This is a fast paced steamy, exciting adventure. Good character building! Jake and Amy have an exciting tension that just leaps off the page. From the luxury hotel in Sydney to the steaming Rain Forest this book takes many twists and turns. This book is well written, beautifully plotted out to keep you totally engaged and immersed in this story. Really enjoyed it!

[2BusyMom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't want to give it three stars because the premise is a good one. My problem with the book stems from the way it was written, the author is good, characters decent, but the flow was off. I had to re-read lines because the scene changed in mid-paragraph or it was just hard to follow. I would not discount this author and would read more of her books but this one was difficult to loose yourself in the story.

[Cynthia Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robena Grant knows how to write a love story, with plenty of suspense layered in like delicious, deadly cake. When Amy decides to track down her cheating thief of an ex, she runs into trouble when her father sends a P.I. to make sure she doesn't get hurt. Amy's plenty steamed, her father has never shown her the respect she deserves, but that doesn't stop her mission. She meets the P.I. and warns him that she'll be the one to take down her lethal ex. She let the snake into their lives, then he stole a fortune, so it's the least she can do for her family. When lust (or is it love?) hit Amy and Jake at approximately the speed of the cyclone heading straight their way,they share earth-shattering sex as the evil ex comes to claim his next victim, a sweet girl who has no idea what he really wants from her. Grant's love scenes will make you weak in the knees and her non-stop action in the beautiful setting of coastal Australia will have you turning the sizzling hot pages. Will these lovers reconcile their attraction and team up to take down an embezzler, or will one of them die in the deadly storm? Grant leaves the answers tantalizingly out of reach until the final moments.

[Beverley Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danger, intrigue and smuggling in Australia, once you start reading you can’t put this book down. It pulls you into the story from the first paragraph. The characters are all well developed and integrated into the story. The transitions are smooth and the plot fantastic.
Robena takes you to Australia, where you can actually visualize the country as you follow the hero and heroine, Jake and Amy, from Sydney to the remote resort of Bungumby. Amy is a strong heroine with quirks you love. And Jake is a sexy, delicious hero. It’s fun to watch them struggle with their personal demons and goals as they search for Amy’s despicable ex-husband. The secondary characters--Sarge, Meg and even Brian are characters you can relate to.
The tension builds and grips you to the last page. I’d definitely recommend this book.

[Nia Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the fast pace, the characters, the authentic dialog and the setting in this romantic suspense novel. I felt like I was there in Queensland, Australia. A fabulous escape. I particularly liked the introduction of another character, a cute Aussie guy, in an unexpected place in the book and the role he ended up playing at the end. He didn't take over or seem out of place, but just added another wonderfully authentic Australian character.

The author carefully depicts each scene and wraps up all plot points. The end was thoroughly satisfying.

This is a very enjoyable book that will take you out of the ordinary world.

[Terri London Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grant has a really clean writing style--keeps the plot moving forward without too much navel gazing. But the thing I loved most was the setting! The book didn't just have an Australian setting; it felt like it was written for people like me who haven't traveled there. She gives you the lingo, the expressions, the plants, the personalities--it's really immersive. Very much an "I felt like I was there" experience. When reading the dialogue, you could tell the difference between an Australian speaker and an American one. The accents were right there on the page. Great writing, great fun.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat irritating main characters - Amy's determination to be the one to bring her ex in instead of the police was annoying as was her failure to tell Jake important information (such as she is being followed, what Firth now looks like etc) after they were working together. I don't fault her for ignoring him in Syd but once they were working together it was just stupid. And Jake with his ordering her around "for safety" and then running off without telling her less than 12 hours after begging her forgiveness for keeping stuff from her and swearing not to do it again.

[Rolynn Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heat in Grant’s novel is turned way up by the tropical weather in Australia, ruthless criminals and a sizzling connection between Amy, who comes from wealth, and Jake, a PI employed by Amy’s father. Amy’s on the hunt for her thief of a husband who ripped off her father’s money; Jake’s supposed to find the ex and protect Amy. The complicating questions: who do you trust and when do you collaborate instead of going it alone? Snakes, cyclones and villains add complications no one ever imagined. GONE TROPICAL proves it’s a jungle out there!

[RoseAnn DeFranco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Gone Tropical is just that…you feel like you’ve headed to the tropics. The setting in this book of the Australian Rain forest comes alive in the author’s capable hands as does the spark of heat between Amy and Jake. Love the setup, love the character and while I love the twists and turns of the intrigue, a sweet and funny romance gets me every time. This book will leave you wanting more of Australia and more books from Robena Grant!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning was five stars. I always like a book set in Australia especially if the author knows what she's talking about, and the characters were just troubled enough to work.

Unfortunately, the ending was three stars. I don't really know what happened, but my interest flagged about halfway through the book. Maybe too much action and not enough internal drama?

So I averaged my rating at four stars.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gone Tropical takes an average beautiful girl and puts her on a quest that leads to danger, a new love interest (a very hunky private P.I. sent to protect her) and to prove to her family that she is a responsible, competent and brave woman. The setting is the tropical rainforest and barrier islands of the Queensland area of Australia with snakes, bugs and bad guys hiding in the forest, plus a drug ring operating in the area to make this an exciting and fun book that I couldn't put down.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story. The writing style was a little flat and the characters were not particularly interesting or sympatheic, but it had an interesting plot. There were many places where the dialog didn't ring true, and there were times when the sequence of events wasn't clear, but I mostly enjoyed the novel.

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romantic mystery. A psychologist divorces her husband, he con's her dad out of several million dollars and she set out to bring him to justice. Great chemistry between characters, interesting plot, good way to spend a rainy afternoon.

[Gina Droke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced intrigue and an exotic setting makes this a fun read. After warming up to the characters, I was caught up in their adventure. I am so glad that I won this book and would definitely read more of Grant's novels.

[Melinda Di Lorenzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so excited to read a new book by Robena! Her stories all full of romance and suspense, and I just know this one will be great! Can't wait for release day!

[Jennifer-Eve Workman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this through Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

[AW reads books · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not finish

[Lynn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great action packed novel, loved Jake and Amy. The story kept moving right along and didn't always go where you thought it would. Kept you interested

[Kay Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up late at night to finish this book. I particularly enjoyed the resourceful heroine and the Australian setting. Suspense holds up through the story and the action is well done.

[Cindy B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

EBook ©2013

[MARIE E COWAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read

A little slow to follow at first, but a page turner after that for sure. I look forward to reading more of her books.