The Negotiator (O'Malley #1) by Dee Henderson
First off, I TOTALLY missed the tag in Amazon that said this was Christian Fiction as I usually don't find these appealing and I'm afraid this one did nothing to change my opinion of the genre.
The story is based on Kate, a negotiator who is very good at her job, and a threat that appears and takes on a whole new angle. The hero in this is Dave (!) who is British and of course, has to be rich, lives in a mansion and owns his own private jet - as all of us British people do - obviously!!
The romance and suspense take this story along nicely and I do like the rest of the O'Malley family (although I couldn't help thinking about O'Malley the Alley Cat from the Aristocats every time I read it!). There is a hint of an abused childhood as you know that Kate lived in an orphanage from the age of 9 even though her parents were still living but you don't find out any of the details.
Unfortunately, I missed half of the book as I was skipping through the religious parts. It started off ok but then at page 50 it all started to be brought in. Dave tells his sister that "She's not a believer, Sara," and "those words left a deep void inside; he felt like a prize of great value had been snatched away." So you now know that she's not even worth considering as a partner unless she believes. "Those ideas had be stillborn with the discovery that she was not a Christian". He then goes on to talk about Friendship Evangelism and how he wants to be able to "make her listen, make her believe". WHAT? I seem to remember something about freedom of will but hey, I guess that doesn't matter if you're not a Christian!
The rest of the book is either him preaching at her, her sister Jennifer preaching at her (because she has cancer with a high death rate and therefore is worried about Kate's soul and needs to convert her before she dies) or Dave praying to god. At one point Kate even says that "You're trying to change me" but seems ok with that. And then someone else reassures Dave that "she'll believe, she has to".
Take away all of the religious talk and preaching, and Dave's angst about her not being a Christian, and this would be quite a good Romance/Suspense book. However, as it is, I've made myself finish it, I didn't enjoy it and I definitely won't be reading any more books in the series even though I loved the O'Malley family. I'm giving it two stars based upon the Romance/Suspense part of the book.
The romance and suspense take this story along nicely and I do like the rest of the O'Malley family (although I couldn't help thinking about O'Malley the Alley Cat from the Aristocats every time I read it!). There is a hint of an abused childhood as you know that Kate lived in an orphanage from the age of 9 even though her parents were still living but you don't find out any of the details.
Unfortunately, I missed half of the book as I was skipping through the religious parts. It started off ok but then at page 50 it all started to be brought in. Dave tells his sister that "She's not a believer, Sara," and "those words left a deep void inside; he felt like a prize of great value had been snatched away." So you now know that she's not even worth considering as a partner unless she believes. "Those ideas had be stillborn with the discovery that she was not a Christian". He then goes on to talk about Friendship Evangelism and how he wants to be able to "make her listen, make her believe". WHAT? I seem to remember something about freedom of will but hey, I guess that doesn't matter if you're not a Christian!
The rest of the book is either him preaching at her, her sister Jennifer preaching at her (because she has cancer with a high death rate and therefore is worried about Kate's soul and needs to convert her before she dies) or Dave praying to god. At one point Kate even says that "You're trying to change me" but seems ok with that. And then someone else reassures Dave that "she'll believe, she has to".
Take away all of the religious talk and preaching, and Dave's angst about her not being a Christian, and this would be quite a good Romance/Suspense book. However, as it is, I've made myself finish it, I didn't enjoy it and I definitely won't be reading any more books in the series even though I loved the O'Malley family. I'm giving it two stars based upon the Romance/Suspense part of the book.
** The genres of this book have now been changed from Romance Suspense to Inspirational Religion Christian Romance **
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
1
 by Henderson, Dee (2005) Paperback - Dee Henderson)
