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Deadly Intentions

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She's Hot On The Trail Of A Thief. . .When Lisa Claxton starts her own cleaning business on Paradise Island, she may finally profit from her talent for whipping a house into shape--in more ways than one. A valuable Claxton heirloom, a golden bowl, is missing, and Lisa has tracked it down to a local home, which she quickly gets herself hired to clean. But when she arrives she finds a dead body--and flees right into the safe arms of an irresistibly handsome man. . .But She's About To Find So Much More. . .Injured Navy SEAL Brian Knight came to his grandfather's house to recuperate. He didn't expect to be greeted by a frightened beauty--or to get mixed up in her scheme. But Brian has to pursue the killer who invaded the house--and he's determined to pursue Lisa as well. Soon, the two are up against ruthless thieves whose intentions are more than deadly. . ."A hard-hitting romance that adds a twist of mysterious flavor. The reader will breeze through this refreshi

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

6 people are currently reading
104 people want to read

About the author

Candice Poarch

34 books17 followers
Even as a child Candice Poarch was a dreamer and created scenes in her mind. She quickly fell in love with writing stories centered around families and romance. The quest for love is universal, she says. Being familiar with rural Virginia, she portrays a sense of community and mutual support in her novels, many of which are set in small-town America.

Candice grew up in Stony Creek, Virginia, south of Richmond, but now resides in northern Virginia. She has been married for thirty years and is the mother of three children. A former computer-systems manager, she has now made writing her full-time career.

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5 stars
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16 (32%)
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14 (28%)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Cassie.
193 reviews18 followers
July 5, 2011
Lisa started a cleaning business to find a stolen family heirloom. After a woman is murdered in a house she cleans, she meets Brian, an injured Navy SEAL. As romance between the two blosom, so does the danger. Lisa and her family aren't the only ones looking for the golden bowl. Others are. . .others who are willing to do whatever it takes to posses it. Even if that means killing Lisa's entire family...

Deadly Intentions is part of a series but I understood the book just fine having not read the others. It was ok. There were a few grammatical and spelling mistakes throughout the book. Also I thought Brian and Lisa's relationship moved extremely fast. There were also other characters in the story that recieved more attention than they should have which slowed down the progression of the story. The entire book builds up to a showdown between Lisa and Brian and those that want the bowl but when it came time for it, the author rushed through the ending. The whole situation took only a few pages. As for Lisa herself, I liked her character and her strengh and determination to change her life. She didn't like how her family viewed her as a mooch and she didn't like how men treated her so she set out to become a better version of herself. I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone unless they already like and are following the series.
Profile Image for Karla.
307 reviews11 followers
August 27, 2019
Lisa Harris has been a favorite author of mine for some time, so I had high expectations. This book did not disappoint. Lisa has created yet another superior romantic suspense!! From beginning to end, my heart was throbbing as I sat on the edge of my seat.

The characters are so realistically described that the reader quickly becomes immersed in their lives, understanding and feeling ever challenge, fear, worry.

The plot moves at a quick pace, filled with unexpected twists and turns. I could not put this book down. I just had to know what happened next. This is an excellent tale of murder, conspiracy , threat and greed, so be ready for a rocky ride. The reader is drawn deeper and deeper into this book.

Deadly Intentions offers us reminders of many important facts of life. God gives us power to withstand the evil all around us. The truth will overcome all and always sets us free. The underlying theme throughout this book reminds us that God is always with us and will protect us from our enemies.

This standalone book is a winner in the suspense category!! Well done, Lisa Harris!!

This book was received from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing. The thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.
Profile Image for African Americans on the Move Book Club.
726 reviews210 followers
December 7, 2011
Deadly Intentions follows Lisa Claxton as she embarks on a new venture, her very own house-cleaning business. In addition to gaining success as an entrepreneur, her true mission is to recover a stolen family heirloom in order to prove to her family that she is not the screw up she has shown herself to be in the past.

Lisa uses her business as a front in order to gain access to the home of the person she thinks possesses her family’s golden bowl. When she arrives for her first cleaning assignment, she stumbles across the dead body of the woman who hired her as well as a new mystery surrounding the bowl’s disappearance.

Brian Knight, an injured Navy seal and the grandson of the man who owns the house, is nearly plowed down by Lisa as she runs outside after witnessing the corpse. He is supposed to be staying in his grandfather’s house since he is on leave, but with a murder case looming he must now make different arrangements.

After speaking with the police, and exchanging all the necessary information, Brian asks Lisa to drive him to a hotel. She obliges and they begin to discuss their individual take on the murder. Lisa also confides in him about the family bowl and the tragedies that have surrounded it. Together they set out to not only relocate the bowl, but to also find the person responsible for the killing. On their search for answers, they also find something else they didn’t bargain for—love.

At times I was a little confused, and had to reread pages to recall who was who and what was what, but all in all, it was a good read. After completing the book, I found out that Deadly Intentions is the final installment of a romance suspense series. I’m sure had I read the other books first, my confusion would be nonexistent.

In my opinion, the romance outweighed the suspense, but the storyline was definitely interesting and intriguing. The plot held my attention and I was able to identify with the characters. If you like a little mystery with your romance, Deadly Intentions is definitely for you!

Michelle Cuttino
AAMBC Reviewer
Profile Image for Nerissa.
52 reviews43 followers
June 3, 2011
I wasn’t sure how I would like this book, but once I picked it up the story flowed really well and I found myself hooked. Lisa is a woman on a mission to find a stolen heirloom and somehow she always finds herself in some kind of danger. Lisa lives in a small island where everyone around her either knows her or is related to her. Lisa is dealing with a lot of emotional baggage and believes by returning the bowl that this may be the way to redeem herself in her families eyes. Her family has roots that are deeply rooted in the island and their family history means everything to them.
With the help of her sister, Lisa starts her own cleaning service and that’s when the trouble starts. Through some conniving and scheming she gets the contract to clean the house of the person she believes currently has the bowl in their possession. On her first day of the jobs she stumbles upon a murder scene and then things spiral down from there.


This story is full of suspense, mystery and romance. Some of the plots I figured out early on and knew where the writer was going with the story but it still kept my interest and the writing was engaging enough that I kept turning the pages.
The switching of narrators was a little confusing at times but after the first few switches, I got the hang of it and it didn’t really stop the reading flow.
Overall I enjoyed the story and would definitely read more books by this author.
If you like mystery and suspense you should try it out.
I give this book 3.5 stars.
Profile Image for April.
1,850 reviews73 followers
July 6, 2011
DEADLY INTENTIONS by Candice Poarch is an interesting romantic suspense set in present day Paradise Island,Virgina.It is well written with depth and details.The plot is easy to follow and interesting.The characters are engaging,determined,and will capture your heart. It has lies,danger,murder,romance,suspense,intrigue,love,family heirloom,and mystery. Lisa Claxton,is searching a family heirloom,she works her way into the home of who is believes stole the heirloom through her housecleaning business.Brian Knight,an injured Navy Seal who is staying with his grandfather.When Lisa arrives at the suspected house of who she believes possesses the heirloom,who runs into a murdered servant and than trouble really begins,as danger looms not only from a killer but also from the handsome Brian.Together Brian and Lisa is out to find answers and love in the process.Sometimes this story is a little confusing but you soon get the hang of it and it turns into an interesting and intriguing story. If you enjoy suspense and mystery you will enjoy this one also. This book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher.Details can be found at Kensington Books and My Book Addiction Reviews.
Profile Image for Andrea Jackson.
Author 30 books102 followers
April 16, 2012
WINNER : 2012 eMMA FOR BEST ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

The romance of the story was passionate. It had a well-thought-out mystery plot with development that depended on the characters' traits. However, the plot did turn on coincidence more often than I like to see. I would have liked to see a sharper plot with more elements of surprise but it was a good story.

The hero was loving and tender to the heroine. He also showed a great heroic side when he did his "SEAL" thing to rescue the heroine. I would definitely want to cuddle up with this guy.

I liked seeing a strong, down-to-earth heroine who was a touch bossy but wasn't aggressive. I didn't like that the heroine had such a difficult time accepting her own worth.

A large cast of secondary characters added to the appeal of the book. I enjoyed the vision of a large family community with interconnected stories. I'd be interested in other books in the series.

Profile Image for Jacque.
74 reviews4 followers
December 12, 2011
This was a very interesting book. I loved the way it was written. It kept me interested and ready for more. It was a fast read and was one of the best books I have read so far.

The main character is looking for a bowl that has been in her family for centuries. There are other people who are also looking for the bowl and are willing to kill for it. The main character gets in the middle of the murders that are happening and in the middle of the conspiracy to get the bowl.

This book was very well written and pulls you into the story. I found it to be a very well written book that read well.
Profile Image for Shana.
70 reviews8 followers
November 9, 2011
Deadly Intentions is part of a suspense series written by Candice Poarch. It's not hard-boiled, nitty-gritty mystery. Rather, I'd consider this to be in the "romantic suspense" genre. I found much of the suspense to be predictable, which left me slightly disappointed. However, Poarch's characters are well-developed and overall, likeable. I enjoyed the way in which she weaved both the history of the setting and the history of her characters' families together. While this was not a favorite, I would certainly read another Candice Poarch book.


Received this from the publisher and I'm grateful.
Profile Image for Linda Nelson.
Author 9 books63 followers
August 31, 2011
What a great murder mystery romance novel. I don’t read books of this genre very often, but I really did enjoy this book.
The author, Candice Poarch, has a nice writing style making her story easy to read.
I tend to only read on my work breaks and this book did make it hard to go back to work. I just wanted to keep reading.
Now I will be going back in search of more books by this author, and I will look for her new ones in the future.
I received this book in a Member Giveaway on the Library Thing dot com.

My rating for this book is:
Five out of Five Stars *****
29 reviews1 follower
June 23, 2011
This book is about a girl named Lisa who is getting her life together, but still seems to get herself in the kind of trouble that can get you killed. She is desperate to find a family heirloom, but she ends up finding much more than that. This book has a little bit of suspense, drama, mystery, and romance. It is one of those books I would take to read on the beach.
Profile Image for Ronda.
92 reviews13 followers
July 11, 2011
Goodreads Giveaway! It was just "okay" for me. I thought the relationship developed extremely fast and not enough time was spent on the end of the story. I may have liked it better if I had read the previous books in the series, but alone, it wasn't memorable.
Profile Image for Kathy.
299 reviews
February 26, 2012
As I read this book I kept inking hati had read this story before. I finally realized that this was a series. It was a good story and a quick read.
Profile Image for Marcia.
1,923 reviews31 followers
June 18, 2014
Very exciting, but having not read the first books in the series, I still don't know the complete history of the bowls. That should have been reviewed in each book.
277 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2016
For a book found at dollar general, it was pretty good!
Profile Image for Judith  Spero.
54 reviews
July 17, 2018
First time reading this author and it was a good book. It has a good story with twist and turns and you are not quite sure what is going to happen. I will read something from this author again
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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