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Sandra Brown
The Switch: Twins are Gillian and Melina Lloyd, who are identical, almost interchangeable. Both are successful businesswomen. Both are single. But in one regard there is a dissimilarity:
"They share the same impulses, but Melina acted on them. She plunged headfirst off the high diving board. Gillian would stand with her toes curled over the end of it until dared to dive in." Another difference between them is that Gillian wants a child. Feeling her biological clock ticking, she opts to undergo artificial insemination using donor sperm. The story opens on the day she is inseminated. The male protagonist is Christopher "Chief" Hart. He is the first Native American astronaut, NASA's poster boy, a national figure. In Dallas to collect an award, Chief's media escort is Melina Lloyd. Or is it? Chief's life first collides, then becomes intertwined, with that of the twins. A seemingly harmless prank results in disaster. And what appears at first to be an open-and-shut murder investigation, ultimately leads to a compound in the mountains of New Mexico where a madman is engineering his "new world order." If he's only partially successful, the consequences would be catastrophic and global in scope.
My Thoughts: I thought I had the plot figured out halfway through, but Sandra did such a good job of making it unpredicatable (which I LOVE in an author) that I was totally suprised at the climax. A very good read!
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Envy: Maris Matherly-Reed, senior fiction editor of her family's publishing house, receives a captivating prologue from an individual who identifies himself only as P. M. E. Intrigued by the writing style and the promise of a good story, Maris traces the pseudonymous writer to a remote sea island off the coast of Georgia where he lives in semi-seclusion.
Indisputably talented, Parker Evans is also the most complex and contrary individual Maris has ever dealt with. He is mysteriously reluctant to continue writing his book despite Maris's virtual promise of a contract upon its completion. Parker's writing entrances her. His island home beguiles her. Parker himself is terribly seductive. Of course, not all is as it seems.
Parker hadn't sent his partial manuscript to Maris Matherly-Reed by random selection. As the plot of Parker's novel unfolds -- which, coincidentally, is also entitled ENVY -- so does his plot for revenge against Maris's husband, the suave, debonair, and duplicitous Noah Reed. Inevitably these two storylines are destined to intersect. When they do... well, you'll have to read the book to find out.
My Thoughts: Fascinating story! Another one that I couldn't put down. Again I was surprised by the unpredictability of the storyline. Another must-read!
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Other faves: The Crush, Where's there's Smoke, The Witness, Breakfast in Bed
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