Closer Encounters

Code Name: Danger #10

by Merline Lovelace

To Drew "The Riever" McDowell, this seemed like a fairly straightforward assignment: track down Tracy Brandt and find out her connection to a top secret mission. But when Drew finds her, he realizes Tracy has a mission of her own--solving the sixty-year-old murder of Trixie Halston, a mysterious, mesmerizing singer of the 1940s. In fact, Tracy's obsession with Trixie goes beyond interest--at times she actually seems to become Trixie. She goes from demure but contemporary woman to the brazen big band singer on a dime.

And the scary thing is--Drew is falling hard. For both of them...

Genres: Romance

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 24, 2006

About the author

After a 23-year AF career, Colonel Merline Lovelace launched a second career as a writer, basing many of her tales on her own experiences in uniform and on her travels all around the globe.

The USA Today best-selling author now has more than 11 million copies of her books in print. Her works have won numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA. Merline is especially proud to have been named the University of Oklahoma's Writer of the Year and the Oklahoma Female Veteran of the Year.

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful suspense story with a touch of paranormal and an interesting Catalina Island setting.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so ridiculous and I thought it was great! This pathetic little mousy thing of a girl (complete damsel in distress) ends up accidentally getting followed by some super-special secret service hottie because she's searching for information about a ship that was bombed in WWII which has been recommissioned and is now carrying some very important stuff (which is essentially all we ever learn about it). Mr Hottie follows her to Catalina Island where she's gone to spread the ashes of her uncle, who's not really a relative of hers in any way but is the closest thing to family she had. Her uncle wanted his ashes to be spread in Catalina because it's where he lost the love of his life back in the 40's. The love of his life was a big band singer who "accidentally" fell to her death after one of her performances there, but it wasn't accidental, she was pushed! So the mousy little girl-woman is broke ('cause she got fired) and is emotionally distraught and while on the island ends up getting possessed by the ghost of the singer who was killed! So Mr Hottie thinks she's off the deep end, but somehow he's still insanely attracted to this "independent" and "obviously very intelligent" slip of a thing. He also thinks that she's got amazing curves, but also mentions that she's 5'6" and has obviously lost a lot of weight since she claimed she was 130 lbs on her drivers license (PA-LEASE, anyone who's 5'6" and way less than 130 lbs has no curves, except maybe the curves from their bones sticking out).
But back to the story...
The singer is FURIOUS with the girls "uncle" because she thinks that he's the one that pushed her the night she fell from the cliff and she lets her fury show! So it goes back and forth a little bit and Mr Hottie has some of his colleagues join them and there are million-dollar apartments and exclusive restaurants and Ms Mousy keeps randomly getting possessed but Mr Hottie keeps falling for her more and more and they have super-hot sex. So finally, Ms Mousy gets targeted by some sniper and there's this crazy action scene and Ms Mousy finally realizes that there's more to Mr Hottie than the classic car salesman he claims to be and she's pissed but still in love with him and they eventually come to realize that the poltergeist body-possessing singer was murdered by one of the producers that was using her performances to clue the Japanese into the movements of US Navy ships just before Pearl Harbor and that he was the one that pushed her AND hired the sniper to kill Ms Mousy, not the love-struck wanna-be uncle! So the producer (at the age of 90-something) finally gets what's coming to him and goes to jail for killing the singer and trying to kill Ms Mousy. The singer's ghost/spirit comes to peace and never possessed Ms Mousy again (or at least not for the next year, which is where the epilogue leaves off) and Mousy and Hottie continue to fall in love and get married on Catalina Island a year after meeting.
I would have read the whole thing in a single sitting if I hasn't needed to go to work the next morning. It was so dumb in all the best possible ways.

[Saraj Goldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick eAsy read. A few twist and turns

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, my second foray into category romances has rewarded me with a pretty good read. Lovelace always gets good press and now I know why.

[Livia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continues to be a fantastic series. My reader friends know I am not a paranormal fan but the ghostly element in CLOSER ENCOUNTERS worked for me.

[Deb Diem · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I've read this author's books before, but Closer Encounters is one I'm not a fan of. Merline Lovelace has delivered a well-written book, but it kind of dragged for me and I just couldn't get into it. Took forever to finish because I kept putting it down and reading something else. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.