Action: ♠♠♠♠♠ / Emotion: ♣♣♣♣.♣ / Romance: ♥♥♥♥ / Sensuous: ♦♦♦♦ / Suspense: ♠♠♠.♠
Action: 5 / Emotion: 4.5 / Romance: 4 / Sensuous: 4 / Suspense: 3.75 // Laughter: 6 / Tears: 2
Crazy Hot is the first book in The Steele Street Series, also known as The Special Defense Force Series. The prologue introduces an out-of-favor General, Richard "Buck" Grant and the inception of a new blacks ops division, Special Defense Force. The closing sentence in the directive the General receives says it all. "The betting pool is running a hundred to one against your SDF team obtaining their objective."
General Grant must have won his bet because the story about one of the Steele Street SDF operatives finding his happily-ever-after starts eight years later. It is the story of a national hero, ex-USAF pilot Quinn Younger. Quinn's picture was featured on such notable publications as Times and Newsweek because he survived behind enemy lines after being shot down before his rescue by Marines one week later.
One interesting theme seems to run through the minds of the totally alpha members of the Steele Street operatives. Each man seems to have a love for muscle cars. Each man seems to have his own favorite muscle car. And all the men have named the cars they drive. Female names! What a cute, innovative idea to incorporate into a series of novels. It seems like something macho men would do.
Another truly masculine tidbit for Janzen to throw in was the idea of "weatherproof" men. Quinn wore this word on his t-shirt. There were "weatherproof" signs all over the Steele Street building. Janzen explained the phenomena when Kid made love to Nikki (page 288).
Crazy Hot features three Steele Street operatives. First and foremost, Quinn Younger. Second, with his own mini-romance, Peter "Kid Chaos" Chronopolous. And, third, Christian Hawkins, "Superman".
The SDF operation had sent Christian and Quinn undercover to work for Roper Jones to find stolen U.S. weapons. Believing the weapons were hidden in the casts covering a shipment of dinosaur bones, they stole the shipment. Team leader, Dylan then hired Professor McKinney to help catalogue the bones.
Jeanette, Quinn's favorite car, may look like a wreck but it is one he has tweaked for maximum performance. He is working on Jeanette in the five-shack ghost town of Cisco, Utah when Regan McKinney arrives looking for him. Kid, an electronics guru and ex-Marine sniper is with Quinn in the barn to provide protection. Quinn has been sent to an out-of-the-way location to hide and recuperate from the injuries he incurred when stealing dinosaur bones from a Chicago-based crime boss, Roper Jones. Jones is furious at his loss and placed a price on Quinn's head for fifty thousand dollars.
Play-it-safe, prim-and-proper, paleontologist, Regan drives to the empty town of Cisco looking for her missing grandfather, retired Professor of Paleontology, Dr. Wilson McKinney. Two of Roper's goons followed Regan and, thus, started the sequence of events that {1} sent Kid to the McKinney house to protect Regan's younger sister, Nikki, and {2} caused Quinn to load Regan into Jeanette so they could lose Roper's henchmen.
When they were in their teens, Quinn, Dylan, Christian, J.T., Zachary and Creed worked an excavation site for Professor McKinney rather than go to jail for car theft. That summer changed Quinn's life. First, because he realized he never wanted to go to jail and second, because he fell for the fifteen-year-old "built" granddaughter of the Professor, Regan. After he turned his life around and started college, Quinn returned to the Professor's house to express his interest in Regan only to find that she was getting married.
Five years ago, new divorcee, Regan, hung the copy People published of America's hero, Quinn (in a very sexual pose) on her closet door. She remembered when he had accidently walked in on her changing clothes that summer in Rabbit Valley.
The sexual tension between Quinn and Regan was off-the-charts. As Quinn drove Regan back to Denver so she could see that her grandfather was okay, he decided it was time to seduce the girl he fell for all those years ago. Whew! What a seduction! Quinn had Regan dropping her clothes and barriers with one hot kiss. The sexuality between Quinn and Regan when they made love was burning hot. Janzen's love scenes make you want to grab your man and head to the bedroom (or maybe try to ride a Camero like Quinn and Regan).
Kid's mini-romance is a bit different. He arrives at the McKinney house to find a beautiful woman who paints naked men. (The wall is full of them.) For the first time in his life, Kid is dumb-struck by a woman. Nikki cannot keep her eyes from Kid even though she is working with one of her favorite nude models.
When Christian warns Kid that Roper's men are headed to the McKinney house, he puts Nikki in his Porsche to take her to safety. Kid has to perform some scary evasive maneuvers to evade the henchmen. Kid finds that Nikki can't shut up when she is scared. Janzen wrote a very entertaining scene as Nikki kept on talking and Kid had no idea how to respond. They end up back at Steele Street where they make love. Even though Nikki initially came across as being a way-out-there free spirit, the sensuality between Kid and Nikki was more soft and romantic than sexual.
Action/adventure enthusiasts will love Crazy Hot. There is a non-stop flow of action as the Steele Street men try to find the stolen U.S. weaponry and keep the McKinney family safe from harm. The suspense factor was kept alive because the reader constantly wondered what was going to happen next in the fight between the good guys and the bad. Then there is a made-for-tv, blow-up-the-building kind of finish.
Crazy Hot had a fairy-tale aspect to it. What woman would not be touched by the fact that the hot, bad-boy she met as a teen had desired her all these years. So much so that he would subtly retaliate against the man she wed. (Loved that part of the story.)
Another warm-fuzzy moment that appeals to romantics was Christian's opinion of Regan. He remembered her from that teenage summer and thought she was just too tame. Then when he had to kiss her in an effort to save her from the bad guy, he could not believe how sweet it was to kiss her. (Quinn's opinion about that kiss brought on a big smile.)
I was truly impressed with Janzen's Crazy Hot. If I was not such a stingy person with my 5.0 ratings, this one would easily deserve that rating. So I gave it a 4.99, taking away a fraction because there was something that was off for me. (I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the book, it was just a personal quirk. For instance, I hated the way Nikki treated her male models, particularly Travis.)
All that to say this. Crazy Hot is a great read. Would readily recommend it to any Romantic Suspense fan. Can also say that it will find a place on my re-readable list.
--Vonda M. Reid (Saturday; July 3, 2010 : 5:18 a.m.) [123]
♠ . . . . . . . . . ♣ . . . . . . . . . ♥ . . . . . . . . . ♦ . . . . . . . . . ♠ . . . . . . . . . ♣ . . . . . . . . . ♥ . . . . . . . . . ♦
Books In The Series: "The Steele Street Series (aka: The Special Defense Force Series)"
| # | Date | Title | Hero | Heroine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | 10-2005 | Crazy Hot | Quinn Younger "Captain America" | Regan McKinney |
| secondary: | Peter "Kid Chaos" Chronopolous | Nicole Alana "Nikki" McKinney | ||
| 02. | 11-2005 | Crazy Cool | Christian Hawkins "Superman" | Katya "Kat" Dekker |
| secondary: | Peter "Kid Chaos" Chronopolous | Nicole Alana "Nikki" McKinney | ||
| 03. | 02-2006 | Crazy Wild | Cesar Raoul Eduardo "Creed" Rivera "jungle boy" | Dominique Cordelia "Cody" Stark |
| secondary: | Dylan Hart "Shadow" | Skeeter Bang | ||
| 04. | 03-2006 | Crazy Kisses | Peter "Kid Chaos" Chronopolous | Nicole Alana "Nikki" McKinney |
| secondary: | Travis James | Jane Linden | ||
| 05. | 07-2006 | Crazy Love | Dylan Hart "Shadow" | Skeeter Bang "Baby Bang" "SB303" |
| secondary: | Travis James | Gillian "Red Dog" Pentycote | ||
| 06. | 11-2006 | Crazy Sweet | Travis James "Angel" "Angel Boy" | Gillian "Red Dog" Pentycote |
| secondary: | C. Smith Rydell | Honoria "Honey" York-Lytton | ||
| 07. | 11-2007 | On The Loose | C. Smith Rydell | Honoria "Honey" York-Lytton |
| introducing: | Alejandro Campos | Lily Robbins | ||
| 08. | 01-2008 | Cutting Loose | Zachary Prade | Lily Robbins |
| introducing: | Dr. Gabriel Shore | Cherie Hacker | ||
| 09. | 09-2008 | Loose And Easy | Juan Aurelio "Johnny" Ramos | Esme Alexandria Alden |
| introducing: | Daniel Axel "Dax" Killian | |||
| 10. | 08-2009 | Breaking Loose | Daniel Axel "Dax" Killian | Suzanna Royale "Suzi" Toussi |
| introducing: | Conroy Farrel | Scout | ||
| 11. | 02-2011 | Loose Ends | Conroy Farrel | Jane Linden |
| introducing: |
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Crazy Hot Quotations:
| 232 | . . . . there was nothing on earth she hated more than camping in a pup tent in one-hundred-degree heat, in the middle of Desolation Nowhere, USA, with a five-gallon container of tepid water they'd had to haul from forty miles back. No showers, no toilet, no sink, no bed, no shade, but plenty of sandy grit, and flies, and skin-sizzling sunshine -- the list went on and on. |
♠ . . . . . . . . . ♣ . . . . . . . . . ♥ . . . . . . . . . ♦ . . . . . . . . . ♠ . . . . . . . . . ♣ . . . . . . . . . ♥ . . . . . . . . . ♦
Notes:
♥ Disclaimer: I Purchased This Book
♥ Very Subjective Rating
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