A Perfect Stranger

by Jenna Ryan

P.I. Damon Marlowe always found his man—or, in this case, his woman. Tracking down Darcy Nolan at his client's request was a piece of cake for the ex-cop. But there was something about this assignment that didn't sit right with him. When the attractive blonde was attacked, put into danger by his unwitting exposure, Marlowe told himself he had no choice but to fl ush out her would-be killer. After all, he had compromised the cover of a protected witness to a crime.But was it the guilt that drove him…or a deeper emotion he'd long since buried? Try as he might, Darcy roused feelings he'd rather deny. But for Marlowe, the motive didn't matter. The killer was making his move, and now Darcy was his to protect….

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance

219 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2009

About the author

Jenna Ryan was born in Victoria, British Columbia. After long stints in different cities across Canada, she returned home to Vancouver Island where she has lived ever since. She has had thirty-one books published in the Harlequin Intrigue series. Her ideas come from real life, and she is helped in her writing by her sister Kathy.

She enjoys reading and is a big fan of women's fiction, psychological suspense and mystery novels. She also enjoys watching classic suspense movies. She loves strong heroines, heroes with character, romance stories and a good whodunit by the fire on a rainy night.

Her heritage is a blend of English and Irish — which is probably where the gift of blarney comes from. She is unmarried, but involved with a wonderful man. She also has a little white cat named Sheena.

Whenever she is not writing, she travels as much as time and finances will allow. After North America, Europe is her favorite continent to explore, because it was in those countries that many of the myths and legends she drew upon in her early years of writing were born.

Growing up, she considered various careers and dabbled in several of them, including, after university, the travel industry, tourism, sales and modeling. Work in the fashion industry in Toronto and Montreal gave her an interesting peek into various aspects of that world. She learned that where money, power and people come together, there will always be unpredictability — an element she feels is essential to a strong mystery. Add a healthy measure of personal conflict, an intriguing setting and a spicy romance into the mix, and you have the ingredients for what she believes to be the best of all possible stories — a great romantic suspense.

Reviews

[Mojca · Rating 4 out of 5]

P.I. Damon Marlowe has completed his latest assignment in finding Shannon Hunt, an investigative reporter that's vanished three years ago. So why does he have a niggling sense of doubt in his gut?

Maybe because his gut is right, and he receives that confirmation when Shannon, who goes by the name of Darcy Nolan at the moment, is attached right in front of her home?

Has Damon really brought a killer to her doorstep?


This was another good book by Jenna Ryan filled with her trademark mixture of danger, tension, romance, and sizzling chemistry. But there was something about this story that just didn't pull me in as it should have, I have absolutely no idea what went wrong, though.

Damon and Darcy were explosive together, hormones were zinging as soon as they set eyes on each other. To veer from formula, this time the hero schlepped the heaviest load of emotional baggage, yet the resolution of his problems was a little too long in the making, and the explanation a tad too short when it came (in the very last page of the book).

The suspense was yet again top-notch, the tension palpable, Ms. Ryan successfully kept the reader guessing and second guessing with a bunch of shady characters from an alcoholic cop to a lecherous new tenant across the street from Darcy.

Yet it all somehow fizzled, and I didn't enjoy it as much as other books by this author. Maybe it had to do with the fact the villain was a bit too twisted for my taste, the big action scene in the end fell a bit flat, or the aforementioned short explanation for the huge heap of baggage, I just went "is that it?" at the end of it.


Not really disappointing, but not really great either. 3 ½ stars

[Shannon Stacey]

I might try this one again later, but today I'm not up to a heroine who invites a man she doesn't know and who gave up her identity into her house minutes after an attempt on her life and kisses him.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

HI #1182