Ice Blue

Anne Stuart has done it again! This latest release is the third book of her Ice series, and like her previous books - Black Ice and Cold As Ice, I was once again swept off by Anne's another creation of a dark hero and strong heroine in Ice Blue. If you have read this series, you should have known the heroes in this series are members of the Committee - a secret anti-terrorism organization led by their leader Madame Isobel Lambert, in which they are known to be cold and ruthless.

The heroine, Summer Hawthorne is a museum curator; she also owns a priceless blue ceramic bowl which was passed down from her beloved nanny, whom had told her to take good care of it before she died. But what Summer doesn't know is this bowl - which is actually an ancient urn is also sought after by Shirosama. He is the leader of the True Realization Fellowship, a Japanese religious cult which they believe they can "cleanse" the world (i.e. to kill the people so that they can reach the other stage of life) once he gets the urn and the location of the shrine to perform the deeds. Shirosama ordered his followers (so called 'brothers') to capture Summer and have her to hand over the urn, but before he could get hold of her, she manages to escape with the help of an exotic, attractive man by the name of Takashi O'Brien ("Taka").

Taka thinks this is one of his other assignments, that is to get rid of the woman who holds a dangerous secret before this is acquired by the cult. There are a few times he had saved her from Shirosama's followers and that he keeps telling himself he will make it a quick and painless death for her, but yet he doesn't understand why he couldn't bring himself to killing her. Then that's when Summer tells him the bowl displays at the museum is actually a fake, Taka further convinces himself he will protect her and gets the actual urn and learn about the location of a shrine before he kills her, which is his original plan anyway.

From there onwards, the story picks up quickly and I am drawn to the suspense as I am dying to find out what happens next, as well as the intense relationship between Taka and Summer as their adventure begins whey they flew off to Japan to find the shrine. I absolutely like the half Asian hero and the heroine in this book. Summer is one brave lady, who doesn't succumb to the hands of fate even though she is held as a hostage for several occasions. Taka, on the other hand does has a soft spot although he appears to be a cold-hearted killer, which I find it rather sexy.

I really enjoyed reading this book, even more so while reading this with my good friend, Julia. We have made a pact that we will read all the Ice series books together, and that makes me think I can't wait to get a copy of Ice Storm, which will be released in November. This will be a story of Madame Isobel Lambert, the woman behind the Committee. While reading Ice Blue, I can also sense a spark between Jilly (Summer's younger sister) and Reno (Taka's younger cousin) towards the end of the story. I'm hoping Anne Stuart will write about them next.