Ethan O'Brien is run over by a beautiful woman as she emerges from a burning building, children in tow. An arsonist is loose in Aurora, and Ethan plans on stopping him. But the beauty is no victim, oh no. She's the very investigator assigned to work with Ethan on his arson case. And just his luck, standing near her makes him hot all over.
Kansas Beckett is determined to find the arsonist who's been torching the city. And she sure doesn't need the likes of Ethan O'Brien getting in the way. Something about the man spells "trouble." But when he kisses her, her defenses melt, putting her in distinct danger of losing her heart....
Marie Rydzynski was born on March 28 in West Germany to Polish parents. She moved to America at the age of four. For an entire year, Marie and her family explored the eastern half of the country before finally settling in New York.
Marie swears she was born writing, "which must have made the delivery especially hard for my mother." From an early age, Marie's parents would find her watching television or tucked away in some private place, writing at a furious pace. "Initially, I began writing myself into my favourite shows. I was a detective on '77 Sunset Strip,' the missing Cartwright sibling they never talked about on 'Bonanza' and the 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.' before there was a 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.,' not to mention an active participant in the serialized stories of 'The Mickey Mouse Club.'" Marie began to write her first romance novel when she was 11 years old, although she claims that, at the time, she didn't even realize it was a romance! She scribbled off and on, while dreaming of a career as an actress.
Marie was only 14 when she first laid eyes on the man she would marry, truly her first love, Charles Ferrarella. During her days at Queens College, New York, acting started to lose its glamour as Marie spent more and more time writing. After receiving her English degree, specialising in Shakespearean comedy, Marie and her family moved to Southern California, where she still resides today.
After an interminable seven weeks apart, Charles decided he couldn't live without her and came out to California to marry his childhood sweetheart. Ever practical, Marie was married in a wash-and-wear wedding dress that she sewed herself, appliqués and all. "'Be prepared' has always been my motto,"the author jokes. This motto has been stretched considerably by her two children, Nikky and Jessi, "but basically, it still applies," she says.
In November of 1981, she sold her first novel for Harlequin. Marie, who now has written over 150 novels, has one goal: to entertain, to make people laugh and feel good. "That's what makes me happy," she confesses. "That, and a really good romantic evening with my husband." She's keeping her fingers crossed that her reader's enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
For those who do not know in my real life I work in a public safety department. That is to say, I work with men and woman who perform dual roles as police officers as well as firefighters. The officers/firefighters love it because frankly as a result of the dual role they are one of the highest paid officers in the state. The city loves it because it's cheaper than having a separate fire department. And it sucks for me personally because whenever we're hiring we have everyone and their brother trying to apply to become a public safety officer in my department. We are one of the largest consolidated public safety departments in the country. With the way the economy is going a lot of smaller communities are considering adopting our dual model. If I had a dollar for every time I talked to other communities who called my office asking me how our department works in its dual role, I'd be rich.
So, of course I love reading books about police officers and fire fighters but sometimes, as in this instance it is hard for me to suspend disbelief. I was unable to suspend disbelief with CAVANAUGH REUNION to the point where I stopped reading before I got even halfway through the novel. And this is why:
• The total lack of professionalism showed between Ethan and Kansas when they find that they have to work together.
o I totally get having pride in your department. And I totally get rivalry and feeling as if someone is on your turf. Every day I work with people who bitch about something another department has done and how they screwed up something. Yet this is something that they talk about among themselves. They don't sit and b99ch and whine about it when they are working with the person on an important project. That is totally unprofessional. As I'm sitting reading this in the back of my mind I'm thinking of all the general orders they are violating and Kansas and Ethan should've been written up for acting like two whiny brats.
• The subtle gender crap Kansas has to deal with because she is a female. That she doesn't know her job or she has to be hard ass to get respect.
o Umm. It is 2010 people. Sorry that I keep relating this to my job but it's the only way I can explain my strong reactions to this book. We are going through a hiring process now for officers/firefighters. We conducted first round interviews several weeks ago. Our interviews are panel interviews with several members of the department on the panel. During one of these interviews we had a gentleman who walked into the room and greeted everyone on the panel with the exception of the lone woman on the panel. One of the other gentlemen on the panel told the candidate. "Umm, you might want to shake her hand, she's important." The woman whose hand he failed to shake was the head was the union. On another panel (yes there were two panels, like I said everyone and their mother applies to my department), one male candidate would not look at the female member on the panel when he was answering questions (that she asked) but would always look at the males. And this was after she identified herself as an Assistant Chief. Umm, do you think any of those candidates moved forward in the process? Candidates also go through extensive background checks before they are hired, to include family, friends, classmates, everyone. If someone had views where they couldn't work with woman or minorities, it would've been found out and it would've been questionable if they were hired. That is not to say that there aren't jerks in the department. There are, but they are freaking sneaky about it. It's not blatant as to where they can get written up for. People know who they are no matter their level and they know how to work around them.
• A grown man considering changing his name.
o I totally didn’t get the reasoning behind this. I would need some deeper psychological reason. Another personal story. When I was born I had my father's name. When my mother applied for my social security card, she used her maiden name even though she hadn't officially changed my name. They let her get away from it. It was a pain in the butt, all through school because I preferred my mother's name instead of my father's. It was especially when I joined the Army. So I get wanting a new identity, but not when you're freaking 30 something years old. Come on! If there was a reason, it wasn't explained to my satisfaction.
• Lack of chemistry between hero/heroine
o I don't know if it's because of these other issues, but I couldn't get into Ethan and Kansas (who is frankly annoying). Their interactions seemed to be set up like playful banter, but the banter didn't work for me because of the stated reasons.
So I didn't finish. It's hard for me to say if it was because of I couldn't suspend disbelief or the lack of chemistry I felt between the characters.
The first chapter is good and then it peters out. The plot is very thin: there's not much development to the mystery of the arsonist or the romance. The dialog was terrible and unoriginal for the most part. The Cavanaugh family seems somewhat interesting, in a soap opera kind of way.
It's a quick read. I got through it in less than two hours.
Absolute worse Cavanaugh book in the series. I was so disappointed.
Hero/Heroine = ZERO Chemistry
I also disliked the added side story in the book. When that was thrown in I just put the book down and walked away. There are too many people being added and the stories have become incredibly far-fetched.
CAVANAUGH REUNION - CAVANAUGH FAMILY SERIES #19 - (Ethan - one of triplets and Kansas)
Ethan O'Brien is run over by a beautiful woman as she emerges from a burning building, children in tow. An arsonist is loose in Aurora, and Ethan plans on stopping him. But the beauty is no victim, oh no. She's the very investigator assigned to work with Ethan on his arson case. And just his luck, standing near her makes him hot all over.Kansas Beckett is determined to find the arsonist who's been torching the city. And she sure doesn't need the likes of Ethan O'Brien getting in the way. Something about the man spells "trouble." But when he kisses her, her defenses melt, putting her in distinct danger of losing her heart..
Orphan Kansas Beckett learned long ago that you can't count on anyone. She has climbed up the work force ladder all by herself and is now a fire investigator,so when suddenly she is partnered with Detective Ethan O'Brien to catch an arsenic who is burning down buildings sparks start flying. It doesn't take Ethan long before he realizes what a unique individual Kansas really is. Although she appears tough on the outside, he bets she's real soft on the inside. But before they can truly be together, Kansas must face her past and realize that it's different this time.
Just like the rest of the books, I enjoy reading about the Cavanaugh's and all the additions to the family....hmmm this one has 1+1=3 + 1 brother and 7 kids - not sure if the brother has a wife but I'm Pretty certain the kids wouldn't be married yet!