When Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers, on suspension, rescues a gorgeous, foul-mouthed redhead, who claimes to have amnesia, he is determined to discover her secret and employs his special powers of persuasion to find the truth. Reprint.
HelenKay Dimon is a divorce lawyer-turned-romance author. After dedicating years to helping people terminate relationships she now writes romance novels full time. Her books have earned praise, appeared on bestseller lists, won numerous awards and twice been named Red-Hot Reads and excerpted in Cosmo. She sometimes writes erotic romance, sometimes writes romantic suspense and sometimes writes contemporary romance. But no matter what she's writing her books are always filled with smart banter and sexy times, and a HEA is guaranteed.
-"Sharp writing and plenty of sexy romantic sizzle..." - John Charles, Chicago Tribune
-"So smart, sexy and fast-paced, I devour her stories." - Lori Foster, NYT bestselling author
-"Lots of heat with lots of humor." - MaryJanice Davidson, NYT bestselling author
-"She's a delight." - Christina Dodd, NYT bestselling author
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy was an enjoyable romantic suspense. The hero, Kane Travers, a Hawaian police chief with a past full of tragedy, was appealing and likeable. The heroine, Annie Parks, a nature photographer who has come to Hawaii seeking vengeance, was a bit more complicated. She is very mouthy, argumentative, and lies constantly to protect her goal of revenge. I did not like her in the beginning, but I felt more sympathetic for her when she became protective of Kane. I liked this book and would enjoy reading the stories of a couple of the minor male characters.
When Annie Parks is thrown overboard from a yacht off the coast of Kauai, the island's suspended police chief finds her unconscious on the beach in front of his home. After taking her home and making certain she suffers no serious injuries, Kane soon realizes that the woman he has rescued has secrets to keep. Kane is unable to get any honest, straightforward answers from her, so decides to keep her close until he finds out her true story. Annie is angry with Kane's highhanded techniques and she has no intention of giving him any information, but she does feel safe in his company. The two continually argue and squabble as Kane tries to find out the truth about Annie. While searching for information, Kane is besieged with problems from the incident that caused his suspension, as well as incidents that appear to be connected to Annie. Kane and Annie are attracted to one another, and soon begin a steamy relationship. Annie soon realizes that she has deep feelings for this man whose tragic past with women has caused him to avoid putting his heart on the line again. As Kane tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Annie, she gradually tells him some truths, but doesn't admit to the vengeance she plans to carry out. When the events involving Kane's supsension and Annie's desired vengeance merge into a dangerous situation, Kane has to move quickly and rationally to avoid a tragic outcome. After gaining control and protecting those he cares about, Kane has to convince Annie that carrying out her revenge is not worth the price it will extract from her. These two individuals, each struggling with their own issues, must decide if they dare to risk a future together.
This is the second book that I have read by this author, and they were both very good, although much different from one another. The downside to this book was how long it took me to warm up to the heroine. She was so mouthy and argumentative that it made me see her as abrasive. The vengeance she sought was also extreme and made me doubt that she would be a sympathetic heroine. The book was interesting enough, that I wasn't tempted to abandon it even when the heroine was grating. As the book progressed, her protective nature toward those she cared for surfaced, along with evidence of a tender heart, and I felt better about her. She also showed loyalty to Kane and believed in him almost from the beginning. When they weren't arguing (squabbling is how they spent much of their time), I liked the interaction between the hero and heroine. After reading two good books by her, I will definitely be looking for more by this author.
Fun romantic suspense book. Kane is the local police chief who is on a forced leave of absence thanks to a drug bust gone bad. He's not the kind of guy who enjoys time off and after a few days is bored out of his mind. Instead of being relaxing, a walk on the beach turns up a red-headed firecracker of a woman with a smart mouth and a lot of secrets. His instincts can't decide if she's crook or victim, but his body tells him to keep her close.
Annie is a nature photographer who has come to Hawaii to find the man who scammed her mother and sent her over the edge mentally. She isn't going to give up just because someone tried to drown her. Telling the hunky police chief who rescued her what she has planned doesn't seem to be the best idea, but she can't deny that she feels safe with him.
The sparks between Kane and Annie were evident from the beginning. I loved the rescue/shower scene, as Kane works to revive Annie, but can't help his very male reaction to her. Annie isn't too happy about her own reaction - she doesn't need the distraction, and his bossiness really gets on her nerves. I loved watching her use every trick she can think of to keep her secrets and see Kane call her on every one of them. Though Kane's friend Josh accuses him of thinking with something other than his brain, Kane quickly realizes that Annie is in a heap of trouble and his protective instincts kick in.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Kane and Annie. The push and pull between them is fun with sarcastic banter and attempts to resist the sparks that continue to flare between them. But underneath the snark, each of them also recognizes a similar pain. Kane has closed himself off emotionally after too many losses have battered his heart. He doesn't want to risk the pain again, but he's also a man to whom family means everything and he misses it. Annie blames herself for what happened to her mother, and that guilt is one of the driving forces behind her quest for revenge. Letting Kane in risks losing that drive. I loved seeing Annie work her way past Kane's walls and see him start to feel again. I also loved how Annie became so protective of both Kane and Derek. The final scene was fantastic as both had to open up their hearts all the way to get what they most desired.
I enjoyed the suspense of the story also. There were two things going on. First was Kane's suspension while he was under investigation. He was suffering enough from what he'd had to do without having to put up with the vendetta from the Internal Affairs guy. On top of that was the frustration that the person running the drug ring hadn't yet been identified and caught. I liked that Kane's officers respected him so much, which led to some pretty interesting confrontations with the IA guy.
The second was Annie's search for the con man and trying to stay ahead of those who were trying to stop her. Once she finally let Kane in on the whole story, things seemed to move pretty quickly. The final confrontation was very intense with some unexpected twists and turns before it was all over. I ached for Annie and the demons she had to face and loved that Kane was with her all the way.
Cute story. The heroine got a bit annoying to me at the end. The author also likes to say that so and so said, "..." and was screaming by the end of it. Jeez. There was a lot of screaming then as every argument seemed to end with that line. The definitely got old.
My mom found this book on the Oprah book list. She read it and told me she didn’t like it, it wasn’t what she expected. And I swear she told me she thought it was going to be a little more… dirty. Well, let me tell you – it was definitely dirty.
This is not a book that you want anyone under 18 to read. There are at least 3 parts that are descriptively sexual.
Lets get back to the beginning though. Kane is on vacation, sort of. He’s hanging out on his beach front property when he sees something, a person, that has washed up on the beach. He takes her in and puts her in the shower, gets her warmed up. Little does he know the firecracker he took off the beach.
Annie is on a mission. A very bad man took advantage of her mother and Annie is back for revenge. And she will not be leaving the island until he’s dead. But other people keep turning up dead.
I didn’t expect all of the drama that was in this book. It was a nice surprise though. It made it easy and quick to read. It was definitely a page turner.
And I love, love, loved the characters. Annie is great. She has the mouth of a sailor and she’s one tough cookie. Kane is a man’s man. He’s tough, strong, doesn’t show emotion and doesn’t really like to talk a lot. But once you get to know him, he’s a great man.
There was one thing that caught my eye a couple of times during the book. We all know I’m a stickler for grammar and mistakes. There were 2 times in the book that a sentence needed and extra quotation mark and they were left out. That drives me crazy.
Although it was a little, ok, a lot more sexual than I bargained for, I still liked it. But for the sexuality, I have to take a bookmark away. I know I should have expected it because of the title. As soon as Michael read the back, he was like “Are you serious?”. I guess my mom forgot to mention how dirty it was
Finding a woman washed up on the shore of his beach house was not how Kane planned on spending his forced vacation. Bad enough that he was being made to take time off work but now he has to deal with a mouthy redhead that someone obviously tried to kill and she says she has amnesia. Awesome.
Annie Parks had a plan. Was it her fault the plan didn't go exactly as she wanted, no. It was the man who ruined her life's fault. Everything was his fault and she was going to make him pay one way or another.
Kane and Annie both have had traumatic past they are trying to overcome. After a very rocky start, neither of them thought they would be reliant on the other to help them solve their problems and heal their wounds, but that's exactly where they're headed.
Kane is an investigator in some trouble with internal affairs and dealing with the guilt of loosing his first wife. Annie's mother was ill and taken advantage of by a sick man who prays on weak women. Somehow the two try to find a way to make everything ok for each other.
Kane and Anne's story started off rough. He thought she was dead and she was more than willing to lie to him about everything to protect herself. There were some lighter moments between the characters when they were joking around but the majority of the book was about loss and dealing with it. Each of the main characters had lost someone close to them and were handling it in different ways but they both felt extremely guilty.
They were good together and their story progressed nicely, I just wish we had gotten more of their end story. The book wrapped up rather quickly, in my opinion, and I didn't get as much of a HEA situation as I was looking for.
First, this book was gifted to me by the author. We're twitter followers of each other, and she knows I've been having a really rough time since my mom died about 6 weeks ago. So she sent me a message asking if she could send me some books to take my mind off things. I asked her to send me some books of hers, author's choice.
Second, the reason I asked for her books is when I met her at RT (which I'm SURE she doesn't remember) I said I had read her books. Turns out I had not. I really thought I had though! But after checking, yeah, I apparently totally lied to her. LOL. Sorry, Helenkay!
Again, let me be clear. I. Loved. This. Book. It was fun and REALLY funny. I liked the characters, and there were lots of twists and turns, but the interaction between the hero and heroine was fantastic. They were both very smart, quick-witted, sarcastic people, and I could totally relate. I kept putting it down to do other things, and not because I was bored, but because I wanted it to last, darn it!
So now I'm glomming her backlist and am on book 2 of this series and loving it just as much. I've recommended this book to a friend of mine, and she purchased it for her Nook yesterday. LOL. Can't wait to read more.
The only reason I didn't give this four stars is the premise was not very believable. A cop on leave finds a girl washed up on the beach and ends up kind of kidnapping her to find out what she is hiding and later protecting her.
I loved the characters in this book. Annie Parks was spunky, intelligent and pissed off most of the time. Kane Travers, the cop on leave, was hunky and the chemistry worked between him and Annie. The plot was a little iffy but it was saved just by keeping things moving right along.
Not nearly as kinky as the title implies Smiley, this is a pretty straightforward romance novel with a hint of a mystery. There were some moments when I thought it could have used a better edit, but it was an enjoyable read. For me, the book took of when the hero and heroine became clearly on the same team and started being disagreeable with people other than one another. By the end, I was hooked!
I do not understand how the author came up with the title, other than the heroine's mouthy attitude drove me crazy, and not in a good way. I just couldn't get into it. The love scenes were meh, and I couldn't really connect with the characters or the story. It wasn't a "I hated it" book, but it wasn't really memorable either.
I was lucky when I won this book over on Alison Kent's blog but until I began reading this book I didn't realize how much. First let me say I love the character names- Kane Travers and Annie Parks. As you know, I don't delve into the story because the blurb tells it all, but I will tell you this- this was my first book from HelenKay Dimon and it won't be my last. It had all the elements to make a great story: humor, drama, suspense, mystery, sexual tension, and hot sex. I'll be looking forward to more great stories from Ms. Dimon. Rating: B+
An enjoyable romantic suspense novel set in Hawaii. A feisty lady wants revenge and goes off to Hawaii to investigate a wrongdoing but instead encounters the Police Chief who tries to stop her. If you like your romance steamy then this ones for you.
This was a really fun read .. If you like your Policemen hot, sexy, ripped and troubled, this Man of Hawaii may just be for you .. It was certainly not what our feisty heroine was expecting when her plan to commit murder was foiled and she found herself washed up on the beach outside his house .. The usual will they, won't they, of course they will ensues, but the actual story had enough grit to it to even the scales if you will ..
Kane and Annie are from two different worlds. As Kauai police chief on forced leave, Kane is more than alittle bored by his vacation. Enter a beautiful redhead washed up on his beach with a sassy mouth and secrets to hide and you havce a recipie for war... if they were'nt so attracted to eachother. They say you can judge a book by its cover. Not so here. I'd be willing to bet Ms Dimon had another title and bookcover photo in mind all together. No accounting for what the powers that be will put in place. This is not some light fluff piece of erotica, rather a swift, intelligent and suspenseful tale of two people with emotional wounds that run so deep that they nearly destroy them. The inevitable good guy triumphs is followed by the most extraordinary scene between hero and heroine in which they disgorge the pain that death and seperation can etch in those left behind. Can their love overcome the shadow? Well...this is a romance after all!
How about "Never Let Me Go" as a title? It is hinted at on the back cover. ANd dear cover artists--when will you have the hero and heroine look like the characters inside? *Just another author venting her frustrations with the disconnect*.
Annie Parks came to Hawaii to gather information and settle a score, not spend time handcuffed to a sexy stranger's bed. Okay, so this particular stranger saved her from drowning after she was pitched overboard by some goons. And he's about six feet of hard, Hawaiian muscle and gorgeous cool that's making forgotten parts of her say, "A-lo-ha!" She needs to stay focused, but a side dish of Kane Travers is awfully tempting.
Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers is not a vacation kind of guy. So it figures that when Internal Affairs suspended him, he'd end up rescuing a sarcastic, dishonest, extremely hot redhead who is clearly hiding something. Amnesia? Yeah, right. Kane's got half a mind to give Miss Whoever She Is something she'll never forget. His cop senses tell him that the lady's in deep and needs his protection. But how can he get her to tell him anything when all he wants is to take her home and do everything?
Good read. Contemporary romantic suspense. The heroine [whose mouth drives him crazy:] never shuts up. She's snarky, sarcastic and lying about almost everything. He's in the middle of a world of difficulties when she washes up naked and half dead on his beach. He's a cop already on suspension while Internal Affairs investigates the killing of a juvenile suspect - he doesn't need more trouble. And she is BIG trouble.
My favorite part in the book [right after he finally tells her he loves her:]: "I'm a bit worried that I'll strangle you before the wedding, but I'll work on that."
This almost got 4 stars from me, but then I got to page 263 where the hero confronts the bad guy who has a gun and 3 hostages, but the hero doesn't come armed (and he's the chief of police.) I actually said, "Really? Give me a break!" out loud. I'm so tired of writers who don't think they have to have their characters do the sensible thing if it gets in the way of how they want to write the story. It ruins the whole story for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
While this book had a bit of a rocky start for me (the manner in which the heroine was found, and her initial interactions with Kane, were distracting), I'm glad I continued on. While the plot is over the top, and the villains were a bit too "villainous" for my taste, I loved the conversation and chemistry between Kane and Annie.
Really Good. Details Hawaii for those of us who have never been without talking down to us. Good story, kept us guessing about at least one or two things for some while without pulling the "no way of know info to solve" game some try to make mystery work. Good character strength.
Very easy read and good if you are looking for something fairly mindless to occupy your time. After Tender is the Night and the The Jungle, I needed a read like this.