TEST
Worth the Trip has a lot of elements that make it a solid romantic suspense story. The novel opens with Norah McArthur, a psychologist, being interviewed by the quite obnoxious host of Chicago in the Morning, Hollie Roget. Hollie is rather rude and implies that Norah is not qualified to write a book on relationships when she is not in one. Suddenly, our hero, FBI agent Trip Jones, pops up in the audience, heads to the stage, and kisses Norah in front of the whole audience. Hollie is speechless, and Norah is shocked to be kissed passionately by someone she has never met before. This begins Trip and Norah’s adventure.
Trip and Norah spend a majority of the book searching for stolen “loot” that was hidden by Norah’s con-artist father 15 years ago. Trip is assigned by the FBI to find the stolen loot and protect Norah from those who want to use her to find the loot for themselves. Norah is not happy that Trip has invaded her life and takes every opportunity to show her displeasure.
The hero and heroine as well as the secondary characters were fun, and the dialogue was quite witty and humorous. I felt that overall it was an entertaining ride, but I found the romance a bit lacking in passion and general development. The relationship between Trip and Norah started out well but never really picked up steam. Their clever banter was fun, but after a while I started to feel like they were just arguing. And although their banter was very funny, I didn’t really feel the sparks between them. They both were good characters, if a little forgettable, but I felt like the constant adventure and the stress of Norah’s father’s release from prison really prevented them from getting to know each other and advancing their relationship past the physical aspect.
Norah was a fun character, but there are times where I kind of wanted to kick her. Whenever she opened her mouth, she would either psychoanalyze someone or make some kind of snarky comment. She was hilarious at times, but annoying at others. At first, Trip is somewhat bothered by Norah’s constant “psychobabble”, but he quickly warms to her clever mind and tough exterior. He is especially unsettled because Norah is able to ascertain aspects of his life and personality that he doesn’t let others see very often.
on the plus side, this was a faced-paced story with a lot of witty dialogue. The humor and constant action almost made up for the lack of romance. There are a lot of plot twists and turns, and the author was able to distract my attention away from the real villains of the story. I won’t tell anyone the ending, but I thought the mystery portion of the story was well written. Like Norah, I was never sure who did and did not have good intentions.
Worth the Trip was the first romance I had read by Penny McCall but I will most likely check out another of her books. Is Worth the Trip indeed worth the trip? I think so. I would recommend this story to one who likes action and suspense novels.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 01/12/10
Publication Date: 2010/11
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.