Heartbreaker (Buchanan, #1)

Heartbreaker (Buchanan-Renard #1)

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95  ·  rating details  ·  9,489 ratings  ·  309 reviews
“Bless me father, for I will sin. . . .” In the still shadows of the confessional, a madman tauntingly reveals his plan for a murder he is going to commit, pulling Father Thomas Madden into a twisted game by disclosing his next intended victim: Tom’s sister, Laurant. In a frantic race to protect her, Tom calls upon his best friend, elite FBI agent Nick Buchanan, to track t...more
Paperback, 520 pages
Published December 1st 2004 by Pocket Books (first published July 1st 2000)
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Tammy
In this Julie Garwood thriller, a psychopath a/k/a "the Heartbreaker" confesses to the brutal murder of a young woman to a priest. Then he makes his intentions known to kidnap, torture and murder the priest's sister, Laurent, next. The priest contacts his best friend, local FBI super agent, Nick, and a full blown whodunit takes place as Nick fights to protect Laurent.

It is fair to say that the first chapter of this book scared the unholy crap out of me. I suspect this was because I listened to t...more
Lisa Kay
Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 “I Confess.”

★★★★☆ (This is a review of the audiobook.) I’ve heard Tanya Eby read before and thought she delivered nice performances; however, I wasn’t thrilled over her narration in this one. Especially her supposed subtle “French” accent for Laurant Madden, the heroine who grew up in a French convent. It did NOT sound remotely French to me. Ms. Eby’s diction is good, as is her pacing. Her differentiation of characters wasn’t terrible, but I’ve heard h...more
Isis FG
A true-blue romantic suspense. Some romantic suspense books are romances with suspenseful storylines, but this is one of those books that is a pure suspense books with a solid romance behind it. And overall it was a pretty good read. I enjoyed it.

Good plot...well planned, enough twists, plenty of suspicion cast about. Good characters...likeable, interesting, fairly well developed. And a decent romance...not great, but substantial enough.

If you like solid romantic suspenses, then give this one a...more
Shannon C.
2.5 stars
I had a hard time getting into this book. While I usually like mystery/suspense books, this one felt too formulatic and predictable: girl is target of crazy killer, agent acts as bodyguard, girl and agent hook up. I found Laurant, the lead gal, to be an insipid pollyanna of a character. I didn't connect with her and found her annoying. Nick, the agent/bodyguard, was more a bit more believable. I didn't buy into their romantic relationship. It wasn't developed enough and then, boom, she...more
Amanda
Jul 21, 2010 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: EVERYone
I have never really been a big fan of Suspense, then I found Romantic Suspense, and then I found Julie Garwood!!! I first found her when I read Sizzle (I know out of order, and it killed me when I found out because I hate reading out of order). I fell in love with her style almost instantly, so I knew I was going to love this book.
Nick Buchanan is the best of the best, but even the best of best needs a mental break from a job like his. He felt like there was no place in his life for love or a f...more
Gina
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
LJ
Heartbreaker - Ok
Julie Garwood
Setting: Holy Oaks, Iowa, present day
Sensuality rating: 4
A psychopath confides his obsessions to a terrified priest, whose beloved sister is the star of the killer's homicidal fantasies: Garwood's first foray into contemporary romantic suspense.Father Tom Madden and younger sib Laurant are close, even though the untimely death of their parents meant a childhood spent thousands of miles apart. The lovely Laurant grew up in a posh Swiss boarding school run by kindly n...more
Pamela(AllHoney)
The first book in Julie Garwood's Buchanan series and, really, all I can say is WOW. When compared to her historical romances, I would probably only give this 4 stars but compare to other romantic suspense, I think it holds up quite well. Well enough to deserve 5 stars from me. Father Thomas Madden waits in the confessional and a man comes in. He proceeds to tell the Father some pretty disturbing stuff. How he has killed and will kill again. In fact he has his next victim picked out. The Father'...more
HÜLYA YILMAZ
FBI ajanı olan Nick Buchanan tatile çıkacaktır ama arkadasi rahip Tom Madden onu yardıma çagırır bu yardım bır cinayetle ilgilidır.Aradakı fark ıslenmıs olan bır cınayetle degıl islenmemıs bır cınayetle ılgılıdır. Katıl rahibın karsısına günah cıkarmaya degıl işleyecegı cınayetı haber vermek ıcın gelmistır. Öldürecegi kisı Rahip Tom'un kizkardeşi Laurant'i öldüreceginı haber vermistır. Bunun üzerine Nick tatılını Arkadası Tom'a ayırmaya kızkardesinin öldürülmesını engellemeye karar verır. Arkada...more
Melissa McHugh
I've been rereading Julie Garwoods -- the old ones that caught my interest in the first place. From the first book she published, Gentle Warrior, until Shadow Music, Julie was a must-buy, no questions asked. Then she stopped writing historicals, and for some reason even her contemporary novels lost their luster. They became worse and worse until Sweet Talk was released this last August, and I barely managed to finish it, knowing I had read better fanfiction pieces written by 12-year-olds.

So, in...more
Liv
Shadow Dance was my first "Julie Garwood" novel and that was a mistake because it was so amazing that I'm afraid all of the other Buchanan books will be just as disappointing as this one was. In Heartbreaker, the biggest issue was not the plot, suspense or action. All of those aspects were great and in line with what I look for in a good thriller.

My issue was with Laurent, the damsel in distress. I could not connect with Laurent, as the female lead and love interest of NIck Buchanan. Nick is a...more
Suman
I LOVE this series soo much I'm practically obsessed. I have read these books atleast 4 times and there are 8 so far, I only first read them last year in March! I was first introduced to Julie Garwood & the Buchanan Series by my older sister, and do I love her for it or what! This is the first book in the series & Julie Garwood has begun with a bang!

I'm almost 20 and yes I love a good old romance book but this book doesn't just provide the romance part but also a mystery and thrill aspe...more
Hope Frost
This was my first Garwood book, but it will not be my last. The first part of this book was pretty slow to me, a lot of back story was given, and in my opinion it would have been better to scatter it around the book, which was done, so it was some redundancy. That being said, once I got to the dialogue, it was great. Laurent and Nick were witty and she gave as much as she got. She was strong but not in the alpha sense. I loved reading the struggle Nick was having when it came to matters of the h...more
Nina
This book has a lot going for it, but had a shaky start. Nick's voice at the beginning just wasn't there for me. When he was battling with himself over an old case and then hashing it out with his boss it just all felt sort of...forced. I didn't see or hear Nick yet there, and it wasn't until he got to Holy Oaks, where his friend Tom, a priest, called for his help because a serial killer sat in the confessional to declare that he was going to kill Laurant, Tom's sister. And so the stage is set w...more
Michelle Kelly
My first Garwood contemp book!

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Julie Garwood's books are my comfort reads. I have read and then re-read numerous historical romances of hers. However this is the first time that I have ventured out to her contemporary series. I was impressed. I liked Heartbreaker a lot. I have to say though after Heather from The Book Reading Gals told me that Nick Buchanan was a descendant from one of my all time favourite heroes, Brodick Buchanan from Ransom, I got especi...more
Jasmine
Wow! This novel is really something! I was actually planning to read this for a little while, instead I got so hooked up in the story that I've forgotten all those important things that I should have been prioritizing. For I've spent most of my time reading this novel and finishing it to the very end earlier than I thought. Yes, that's how truly addictive this novel really is. I don't know why but romantic suspense novel truly intrigues me. The main characters the beautiful Laurant and the hands...more
Sabrina (Soter) Sally
3 1/2

La Garwood ha esordito come autrice di romance storici ed è in questa veste che l'ho conosciuta e amata. Dopo più di un decennio comprensibilmente ha deciso di tentare un nuovo genere e "La confessione" è il suo primo romance contemporaneo con un pizzico di giallo (inserito più che altro come pretesto per far incontrare i due visto che Nick è un agente dell'FBI oltre che essere il migliore amico di Tom!), che inaugura la saga della famiglia Buchanan (8 fratelli). Per quanto riguarda la part...more
Jess
LOVED IT!!! I thought it was the perfect mix of romantic elements and suspense. I really enjoyed the mystery of it, and that some of the chapters were from the killers POV. His parts were a little chilling to read, and just plain creepy.

The book begins with a rather disturbing chapter. A priest is sitting in the confessional booth waiting for people to show up. He's about to leave when someone steps in, and asks for forgiveness for a sin he has yet to commit. Turns out this man is planning on ki...more
Sariah
This is a great little mystery/suspense. A man confesses to a priest (Father Tom) a murder he is going to commit, and the victim is Father Tom's sister, Laurant. Tom brings in his best friend, Nick, who is an FBI agent to help protect Laurant and find this killer.

Most of the story moved well, but the writing was just okay to me. Nothing spectacular, but good enough to keep me interested. There seemed to be a lot of predictable aspects (Nick and Laurant falling in love...) and I figured out who t...more
Manuela
Mi aspettavo molto, forse troppo da questo romanzo della Garwood, e ne sono rimasta molto delusa.
Non che non scriva bene, o che non sia un romanzo che si legge volentieri, però non nascondo di aver trovato molte cose che non mi hanno convinta.
Fin dall’inizio lo stile della Garwood è molto verboso: troppe spiegazioni, troppi pensieri, troppe divagazioni, anche se poi nella seconda parte si risolleva, il ritmo diventa più incalzante e scorre più fluidamente.
Il vero problema di questo romanzo è per...more
Eryn Lockhart
Heartbreaker is one of Julie Garwood's 1st contemporary romances that I've read, and it looks like she's made a successful transition between sub-genres. The heroine is still charming and sweet, the hero is still gruff and something of a loner, and both characters are engaging and well-crafted---I wanted them to reach their happily ever after, I cared about what happened to them, and I was relieved when their story came to a happy conclusion. Despite that...I felt there was something missing.

Th...more
Lisa
Girl orphaned and sent off to Switzerland and someday returns to the States to be reunited with her Catholic priest brother. As we join the story, she is investing her trust fund into saving a small midwest town's historic square one storefront at a time while simultaneously volunteering with her brother's church's 100th anniversary, running every morning with local high school boys and generally being perfect, So, of course someone wants to kill her and confesses this to her brother, who then g...more
Gay
I read a lot of books each year, and I have discovered that while I may read a book and promptly forget what it was about, I usually do remember whether or not I liked it. This was the first book by Garwood that I have ever read... it may be her first novel, I don't know, but it was quite entertaining. Good story line, very original I thought. I think they call this style of book a psycho thriller. I would definitely consider reading more of her books. I don't care for the current trend that is...more
Mary
Jul 21, 2012 Mary added it
Shelves: favorites
I read almost half of Garwood's books and I find this book refreshing. It's the same from her previous books yet different. I like the way she made the story interesting. I love it actually, very cool, I just can't stop reading it. It's a little predictable but it's okay. The guy, Nick, has the same characteristics as the other heroes in Garwood's books but at least he's not that perfect. I mean he's more real than the previous heroes.

This book is more of a thriller and suspense than a romance b...more
Eva Nickelson
I enjoyed this story. There was little romance, but Garwood created characters in a stressful situation that simply know they are in love without having to go through an entire soul-searching, gut-wrenching time to figure it out. Garwood does a good job of building up the villain(s) in the story, and not blurring the personalities of the villains even when the main characters are not around.

Laurant and Nick are a cute couple, and while they are pretending to be engaged, both wish it was real, bu...more
Rebecca Minto
I know a number of traditional Garwood fans objected once she started on her contemporary series, but I loved this book. Let me correct that - I LOVED this story! The the humor was a bit more subtle than with her historicals, but the characters were well-developed and there were moments of humor, if not outright hilarity. I could see personality traits in some of the characters we were led to believe that were descendants from well-loved historical characters. I loved Laurent and Nick from the f...more
Loudn'clear
"forgive me Father, for i will sin..."

THIS IS SOMETHING TO READ!

This was my 2nd julie Garwood book. I read mercy first and loved it, then i came to know thats mercy is a part of series. so i Picked the first one of the series and how i loved it.

I love romance and suspense and it was a mixture of those, although the plot was pridictable but still i just couldn't put it down. THe male protogonist Nick Buchanan is the best hero ever, he is strond, responsible, a little insecure but in a cute way,...more
Darcia Cowart
I just re read there book. Love love love it! This is like 500 pages long. But I could have stood another 500, I loved the story that much. Laurant, Tommy and Nick are the main characters. Tommy is a priest who hears a confession from an unknown sub who is going to kill his sister. He calls his best friend Nick an FBI agent he grew up with and the story begins. This book has a lot of twists and turns and you dont see the ending coming. It is well thought out, but the hook is the relationships in...more
Nancy Zorn
After reading Unbroken, I needed some fiction to lighten things up. This book came to me in a bag of hand-me-downs. I'd never read this author before and did a quick check on goodreads. I immediately noticed the book was on several "romance" book lists. eeekkkk. Me no likey, but I gave it a go.

I enjoyed this book more than I had initially expected. Perhaps it was because I had low expectations going in. The set up was good and kept me reading. The romance aspects of the book didn't go too far o...more
Kate
Whew, it was certainly stressful and scary! But I do really like these suspense novels with the alpha male FBI agents and cops. I have only read this book and the fourth (maybe fifth?) in the series, and they both seemed to follow the same exact timeline. So, I have the second book from the library, and if the timeline is the same in that one, I'll probably stop reading the series there.

It was still an enjoyable read and I really liked Laurent, the main female character. Her brother, Tommy, wasn...more
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Heartbreaker (Buchanan, # 1)
Heartbreaker (Hardcover)
Heartbreaker (Mass Market Paperback)
Heartbreaker (Buchanan, #1)
Heartbreaker (Buchanan, #1)

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Julie Murphy was born in 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri to a large Irish family. At the age of six, Julie had her tonsils removed and complications from the surgery resulted in a long period of recuperation. She fell hopelessly behind in school and never caught up. "I was a slow, slow reader," Julie says. "I hated it." At the age of 11, her mother discovered her daughter's secret and promptly enrol...more
More about Julie Garwood...
The Bride (Lairds' Fiancées, #1) The Secret (Highlands' Lairds #1) Ransom (Highlands' Lairds, #2) Honor's Splendour The Prize

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“-"Nick?"
"I'm still here, Laurant."
-"Did you tell Tommy we slept together?"
"No, but you just did. He's standing right here."
She fell asleep. But this time she didn't have any dreams or nightmare.”
29 people liked it
“Going for it and changing what you could change-that's what success was all about.” 18 people liked it
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