“In the end it won’t matter, and I’ll die happy.” “If we’re going to die there’s no harm in telling me pretty lies,” she said. There are no hysterics, no passionate declarations of undying love. Stuart writes these scenes in a way that fits perfectly with the story and the characters. The romance–it’s subtle, it’s tender, it’s sometimes sweet … but it never wallops me on the head. You were making such a fuss someone could have overheard you.” “And I’ll do it again if you don’t stop yammering,” he said in a sleepy voice. Even at the very end, Bastien kept me on tenterhooks. I love the way Stuart conveys his emotions without emasculating him. In fact, he spends much of the first half of the book wondering if and when he would have to kill her. Being good at his job comes at a price, and I’m glad that Stuart doesn’t suddenly turn him into a wimp just because he meets Chloe. He’s a lot more brutal and morally ambiguous than I normally like my heroes to be, but Stuart makes it work. I never quite knew what he was going to do or say. I love inscrutable heroes and Bastien is certainly that. But can Bastien extricate himself from the only life he knows to be with Chloe, and will Chloe live long enough to convince him? And other stuffĪ jealous ex-lover, torture (mostly off-scene), dead people–lots of them. On the run, Chloe and Bastien find themselves drawn to each other. When Chloe is discovered snooping around, Bastien risks his cover to save her from a very painful and bloody fate. The setupĬhloe takes a last-minute job translating for a group of business associates who turn out to be Master Criminals, except for Bastien who’s there as a spy for the, uh, Well-Intentioned Guys. Ruthless and amoral, he will do what it takes to get the job done. The heroīastien Toussaint is an undercover operative posing as an arms dealer, who has been in the business for so long that he no longer has a “regular” life. Chloe leads a fairly mundane life, and she longs for a little more excitement. Black Ice by Anne Stuart (Ice Chronicles, Book 1) The heroineĬhloe Underwood is an American translator struggling to make ends meet in Paris.

Ice Blue by Anne Stuart