French Silk by Sandra Brown

I have always been a fan of Sandra Brown and I believe I picked up this title (which I had never heard of) from a used book sale at the library, I believe. This one was a big book, coming in close to 500 pages, but was an enjoyable read. I give it a solid B+.

Claire Laurent was a woman who embodied all of New Orleans' sultry paradoxes: beauty mixed with a mysterious elusiveness, a vibrant zest for living shadowed secrets and hidden passions. Yet she had fought hard to make her fabulous lingerie mail order business, French Silk, into a worldwide success. Now, the three deadly bullets that killed a TV evangelist could snatch everything away from her, even her life.

Was the killer Claire? District Attorney Robert Cassidy knew she was damning herself with lie after lie about the murder, even as he felt powerful emotions drawing him into her world and her very soul. But neither Cassidy's love nor her protests of innocence could save Claire unless she revealed a shocking truth- a revelation of sins and shame she had vowed to take to the grave.

I really enjoyed this story. There were several different plotlines and characters running throughout the story, and I felt that Ms. Brown handled them real well and the reader was able to understand and get to know all of the characters. The mystery was done well as was the romance between Claire and Cassidy. Talk about sexual tension! The story was set well in New Orleans and a lot of the characters really came alive. Like I mentioned, it was a long book but the reason why it took me so long to read it was because there were several days I did not read. Nothing to do with the book.

The only negatives I had was that the book was a bit difficult to follow the time line. The story takes place over a significant amount of time but it isn't made real clear to the reader. I also did not love Claire, and I felt she was a little pompous and full of herself. But anyways, they were just small problems and didn't take away much enjoyment from the story.

Up next is a library book. I don't have it in front of me right now so I am not sure of the title, but I know it is a chick lit mystery type. I got it after reading a review either in Romantic Times or on someone's blog. Not sure which one.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoys whats left of the long weekend. Happy reading!