In The Cold

by Jeanie London, Jeanine LeGendre

Simon Brandauer, head of the elite U.S. intelligence agency Excelsior, blames himself for the capture and execution of his top team of agents during a covert mission in the Balkan Republic. Now, three years later, Simon is shocked to discover one agent survived and is living as the author, Claire de Beaupre.

Claire endured months of brutal torture and remembers nothing of her past. But Simon must risk her fragile memory to unravel the mystery. Then he discovers an unknown assassin wants Claire dead before her memory returns. And Simon realizes he's no longer safeguarding agency secrets, but protecting the woman he loves.

It's now a race against time as Claire and Simon relentlessly pursue the truth. And a killer relentlessly pursues them.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance

358 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Jeanie London has had a head filled with characters for as long as she can remember. She completed her very first novel when she was just eleven--200 handwritten pages spanning several composition notebooks. School years were spent sneaking romances into school when she should have been learning algebra and biology. College years were spent taking all sorts of electives, like journalism and fiction writing classes, when she should have been taking algebra and biology. Nowadays, Jeanie is still reading and writing romances because she believes in happily-ever-afters. Not the "love conquers all" kind, but the "two people love each other, so they can conquer anything" kind.

Visit Jeanie at http://www.jeanielondon.com. She's very social and loves to meet others who believe in happily ever afters, too.

==The Best Reviews

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three years ago Violet Lierly was on a covert mission in the Balkan Republic. She was tortured and left for dead; her body was never found. Only one member of her team survived. This left Simon Brandauer, the man in charge of the assignment, guilt-ridden.

Fast forward to the present time and someone by the name of Claire de Beaupre has surfaced in Ontario; she writes fiction that have story-lines that resemble what happened overseas. It is brought to Simon's attention and he takes it upon himself to find out what is going on. Surprised, he soon finds out that Claire is Violet but she has lost her memory. And there are people who want her dead.

Ms. London mixes the past with the present in some of the chapters. I understand her reasons for doing this but it still was mildly annoying. And I am giving nothing away when I tell you the traitor on their team is revealed soon. But the author manages to keep the suspense flowing while at the same time building a romance between Simon and Claire. Also, there are secondary individuals that give depth and flavor to the story without overwhelming the suspense.

I enjoyed the ebb and flow of all the characters pooling their knowledge to help Violet's personality resurface. There were moments of angst, some secrets to be shared and difficult choices to be made. All in all, the author did a nice job rebuilding and healing the emotions of two strong people.

[Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Cold by Jeanie London was a fast paced read. The story takes off pretty fast and has an okay ending. I only gave it three stars because I found it a bit confusing when they talked about the mission and why the agents was at the detention center.

[Jinxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible but not great. It was just mediocre the plot was good and the characters were interesting but I didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of development into their relationship. I kind of felt like it was rushed.

[ElaineY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who love their romance-thrillers with SEALs, Marines and other covert ops heroes have to read Jeanie London's about an Agency Director, Simon Brandauer, his anguish over losing one of his agents, Violet, and his mission to recover her. For though Violet is alive, the woman she used to be is lost and in helping her recover her identity, Simon recovers himself as well.

Without verbosity, London is able to show how deeply Simon loves Violet and how he suppressed his feelings for her over the years. As a romance, this book is so emotionally-charged it left me breathless. As a spy thriller, it was no less suspenseful and the events are a lot more real than what we get from romantic suspense authors in general. Bad things DO happen to our heroines if they are spies and while it does not make for comfortable reading, fans of this genre are no longer expecting innocent, naive, untouched damsels-in-distress heroines. London gives us the debilitating effects of PTSD, traitors-in-our-midst and sex which, while not graphic, is scorching because of the emotional build-up in Simon.

I bought this book after reading several recommendations on other review boards and am as totally blown away. What I liked, too, were the bonus features at the back of the book which gave me the background info on Excelsior, Simon's agency and a deleted scene between Simon and Violet.

[jenjn79 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fab. book. I couldn't put it down once I started. It's about a secret government agency. 3 years before the books picks up, a team in the Balkans was lost...the members captured and tortured. Only 1 person escaped and the bodies of the rest, except for one, were recovered. For 3 years, the guy who runs the agency has struggled with the team being lost, and the woman whose body was never recovered. He had feelings for her, but never allowed them to surface. Then suddenly, he reads a short story by a woman who writes about a secret mission that is strangely like the one his lost team member once went on. And it goes from there. A real page turner. Highly recommend it.

[Alison Oburia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my! I love this book. It's the perfect blend of romance (some of it pretty steamy!), mystery, danger, and international intrigue. Jeanie London's scenes are vivid and thorough -- you can feel the cold as characters trudge through the snow or sense the danger as guns are drawn. She's created a unique premise and develops it wonderfully. Definitely worth the read! If you like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other two Larssen books, you should put In the Cold next on your list of books to read.

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good contemporary spy-military-action packed romance. This hit the spot for that perfectly. What made this novel unique and gosh darn good was seeing the hero working so hard for the heroine's love. For all the ladies out there who have experienced unrequited loved, here is a novel where the hero finally returns those feelings and then some. Perfect groveling.