Fierce Overture
Gun Brooke never fails to surprise her readers, especially when the intent is romance. Keeping with the formula for romance, Brooke is always masterful when it comes to the careers she places her leading ladies in, which always serves as an interesting backdrop that fuels the story.
In Fierce Overture, Brooke chooses the music industry as her backdrop and opens the book with a prologue set two years earlier than the present tense of the book. This allows her readers to meet the two women, Noelle Laurent, an up-and-coming musical superstar, and Helena Forsythe, the strong-willed CEO of Laurent’s record label. Chapter one shifts the period to present day and finds Laurent in the recording studio and wanting to record her own material; material that isn’t the pop music she has become famous for. Laurent’s producers have no choice but to call in their feared CEO.
Laurent and Forsythe begin to get to know one another, both professionally and personally, and Laurent soon discovers she has romantic and sexual feelings for the CEO. With a lifetime of broken relationships, Forsythe pushes Laurent away, refusing to allow herself to give in to her own growing feelings for the young singer. Will the two women listen to their hearts? How strong will Laurent prove to be when it comes to her music? How far will Laurent give in? Brooke allows her characters to make their own decisions as they grow and blossom. Truly one of Brooke’s best romance novels to date.
Speed Demons
Living in Indianapolis now, home of the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I was thrilled to see a novel set against the backdrop of racing. In fact, the timing of this review couldn’t be better as this weekend is the running of NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, which takes place at the speedway.
Speed Demons is the story of two women, Evangeline (Evie) and Blythe, one an accomplished NASCAR driver and the other a renowned photographer, respectively. Evie almost dies in a racing crash, an event Blythe captures with her camera. The two women meet when Blythe offers to document Evie’s rehabilitation and comeback to racing. However, just as Evie’s fears about driving again surface so does Blythe’s past of photographing warzones.
While the NASCAR circuit is a great setting, and definitely one you don’t see every day, and the basic storyline is good, the real story is between the two women, which is a first-class romance. I read this book in a single sitting, as I do with most of Brooke’s works. Brooke has a way of developing her characters so the reader immediately connects with them. Her vast array of settings for her novels just make the stories even better. Even if you’re not into racing and NASCAR, you won’t want to miss Speed Demons.
Fierce Overture
Gun Brooke
Paperback
Bold Strokes Books
(as published in Phoenix Magazine)
Speed Demons
Gun Brooke
Paperback
Bold Strokes Books
Course of Action
When I first picked up this book I glanced at the author’s profile and upon finding that Gun Brooke lives in Sweden wondered how on earth she could write a believable story centered around something as American as Hollywood. But, she did it, and did it big.
Published by Bold Strokes Books, Course of Action’s 310 pages take the reader into the depths of a high-stakes romance between two women, Carolyn Black and Annelie Peterson, who should have had everything, but were lacking the only thing with meaning, love. Carolyn is an actress driven by her ambition and Annelie is a wealthy publisher. How far will Carolyn go to get the part of a lifetime? As you read to find out, you’ll also discover you can’t put this book down.
Brooke’s ability to weave a story through her characters has us anxiously waiting for her next effort, Supreme Constellations: The Protector of the Realm, due out in December 2005.
Course of Action
Gun Brooke
Bold Strokes Books
(as published by Family & Friends Magazine, September 2005)