Deadly Intent was a book that had been lurking on my shelves for the past 6 years. I bought it during a time I was reading a lot of police procedurals and I had heard the name of Lynda La Plante often so I wanted to give it a try.

It comes in over 600 pages and makes you wonder. Does a police procedural need to be thing long? The answer is probably no. I felt it could have been shortened with at least a hundred pages without losing any of the information in it.

This is the fourth book in the series, but the first one I read. Therefore I was not as connected with the characters as could have been. There was quite some tension, with the main character Anna making some stupid decisions.

As a crime novel, it was fine, but not the kind of special I had hoped for. (This is also much less my genre now than it was back when I bought it, which my account for some of it).

Joaquin Ramirez, I-Team's resident photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner, arrives at a supposed-homicide-with-body-disappearance scene, only to be met with anger by a bystander. Turns out, the woman knows the victim and is the last one to have seen the man alive.
Mia Starr dislikes photojournalists. She's seen first hand, what an unscrupulous photo bug can do to get a story, but Joaquin seems to be different, and quickly turns out to be different, since he puts her first instead of the story.

Someone is killing former soldiers and trying to pin it to Mia, and Joaquin is there to help her out. And when the killer with the grudge turns on her, it's Joaquin to stand there, between her and a bullet.


A month after the hostage situation at a Christmas party, the I-Team is back in the thick of it. This time it's Joaquin's turn to shine, and to save the day.

I never really thought about Joaquin as a main protagonist. He had sidekick and friend written all over him in the other books. I'm glad, though, I got to see this other side of him. Looks like I underestimated him, and let's face it, side by side with Julian, Marc or Zach, he didn't stand a chance.
But in his story, the hero side of him came out, alongside the salsa-dancing, and yeah, I could understand Mia perfectly. ;) He was tender and gentle when he needed to be, determinedly protective, and definitely heroic there toward the end of the book. A truly wonderful hero.
His heroine, Mia, was an acquired taste, with her idiosyncrasies and all her contradictions and insecurities. It took a special kind of man to show her just who and what she truly was.
I didn't really buy their rushed romance, but I'm glad they found each other in the end.

The villain also had much to be desired, although the big reveal as to his identity came as a surprise (I certainly didn't see it coming); his motive left me scratching my head&mdas;why go after all those people, instead of just focusing on Mia?
But the suspense was gripping and served as a nice little catalyst for the two protagonists to meet and for the "romance" to bloom.

The characters were great as always (I loved all the "cameos", and it's always a pleasure seeing Julian and Marc in action, complete with marital spats and bickering), the pacing spot-on, the writing superb...This one is definitely one of my favorite series.

Ellie Mulder has been kidnapped. Again. But this time her parents have no intention of waiting two years to get their daughter back, so the first person they call is the person who brought Ellie home the first time—Adam Raiker. In turn, he brings two of his best people; forensic linguist Macy Reid and her nemesis, Kellan Burke, who brings with him memories of a night she would rather forget.

The team soon discovers the second kidnapping has nothing to do with the reason for the first one, it also was an inside job...The two Mindhunters sure have their job cut out for them, with the stonewalling from the feds, the very real threat that Ellie might not come home this time, and the pesky attraction that still burns hot between them.


This series sure doesn't benefit from re-reads. Sure, this was the worst of the bunch on the first read as well, but this second time around got one star knocked off.

The first big problem was the pacing in the first half of the book where nothing, except for the kidnapping, major happens. Only loads and loads of talk, going round in circles, and guessing. Sheesh, the big red herring about the kidnapper and how that would end was obvious from the moment they searched the guy's house and found "the clue" in the bathroom.

The second problem were the two leads. Bland, boring, dull, uninteresting...Should I go on? She was a bitch to him with no apparent reason (What did the guy do?), an anal control freak with OCD tendencies, and the glimpse into the "traumatic" past (which was a teaser at best and unnecessary at worst) didn't mesh with her present character and its traits and especially didn't explain those traits and trust issues toward the hero. A hero who brought nothing to the table beside his wisecracks. Two blank slates who happened to work together on a case who happened to be attracted to each other—it sure didn't seem there was anything more between them and the ending merely corroborated that feeling. There was no spark, no real depth, no "life", just two cardboard cutouts going through the motions.

And from what I figure, they weren't that good at their job either, since the girl pretty much saved herself, and would've done so if it weren't for the villain. Who also ended up being in the meh-category, since he was just sort of there, doing nothing but being quasi-ominous, playing with his knife. No intensity there, no chills...Nothing.

The only saving grace (minor, mind you) were the premise (it was nicely developed yet severely lacking in execution) and Adam Raiker, whom we saw a lot more than in the previous three books. I'm daring a guess this sub-arc in the series is all about him (at least that's what the last paragraph in the book makes the reader believe...not to mention all the little tidbits strewn here and there throughout the story).
Without the Raiker sub-plot, this would've been a redundant, unnecessary, bland and dull story.

A disappointment, in short.

Intent - A.D. Justice WOW...this book was SO good!

This was one of my favorite types of romance book. The characters although faced with issues acted in a mature fashion instead of overly dramatic teenagers. No push or pull or running away. They actually COMMUNICATED, fancy that huh? River was ADORABLE, I just love kids in romance books, especially when they come connected to hot, sweet and honest single fathers. Nothing sexier than that. On top of all that goodness, we get a fabulous epilogue that had me crying like a baby!

Thank you Nicole for enlightening us on this book. I am SO glad I didn't give it a pass.



Side Note: The cover of this book does NOT represent this book at all. It's downright odd if you ask me! It makes no difference to the story one way or the other, but it does give a wrong impression about the hero IMO.

Muffins as a Declaration of Intent - Jen... A bit too anticlimactic after that catchy start? As much as that is possible for a short story at least... Maybe. Hmm. Otherwise: sweet.