NIGHT FEVER

Author: Diana Palmer ISBN: 0373770758 12/2005 SUSPENSE Publisher: HQN

At the tender age of twenty-four, Rebecca Cullen found life much too complicated. She worked a full-time job, raised her two teenage brothers, supported her retired grandfather and tended to their Georgia farm. When her troubled brother Clay was arrested on drug charges, Rebecca's life suddenly began to come apart at the seams. The last thing she needed was the district attorney on the case to be arrogant, rude -and the handsomest man she'd ever seen. Word on the street was that Rourke Kilpatrick was notorious for his hard line against drug dealers. He used whatever means necessary to prosecute them. But Rebecca's brother was innocent. And when the antidrug Rourke began to sympathize with Rebecca and her family, she couldn't help but admit her sizzling attraction to him. As passions flared between them, innocent Rebecca dared to hope that her narrow world might finally be opening up to include someone like Rourke-sophisticated, sensual and exciting. Every time she was with him, she felt like Cinderella at the ball. All she wanted was to feel his arms wrapped around her, his strong body pressed up against hers. But is the man she's falling in love with just using her to pursue a drug dealer? Now Rebecca will have to decide for her which is stronger: Rourke's passion for the law-or for her.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Rebecca Cullen has not had an easy lot in life. At the tender age of 16, she was left to care for her two younger brothers and an ailing grandfather when her mother died and her father took off. Now, eight years later, the house is falling into disrepair, her grandfather can no longer help out on the farm, Rebecca is barely making her monthly bills and her brother has decided that he wants to run with the bad kids in town and dabble in drugs.

Enter Rourke Kilpatrick. I am sorry, but I have to say it—hubba hubba. The man is practically a god. He is tall, dark and handsome, with just the right amount of Alpha male in him to make him utterly scrumptious. He can hold Rebecca when she cries, smoke a cigar and issue an order, all at the same time. Who wouldn't love a man like that? He is very sensuous and the exact opposite of everything that Rebecca is. Rebecca is meek and mild and not a very take charge kind of girl. I pictured her as mousy. That is, until Rourke came into the picture. All of a sudden, Rebecca is wearing her hair down, standing up for herself, and learning how to seduce a man. It is a wonderful transition.

Diana Palmer never lets me down with her perfect combination of romance and charm, balanced out against a great fairy tale. If you are looking for a damsel in distress and a hunk of a man to save her, NIGHT FEVER is the book for you.

Kristal Gorman