Unfinished Business by Elizabeth Lucas Taylor

Midwest Book Review </body> </html> - Laurel Johnson

With this first book, Elizabeth Taylor-Lucas has crafted a winner from first page to last.  Dubbed romantic intrigue by the author, it was that and much more.  The characters were well-developed, the technical aspect of the story realistic, and her writing full bodied.

Lindsay Mayer is insecure, plump, and maybe just a little frumpish around the edges.  Her marriage to the irresistably sexy Griffin  is unraveling.  He's been troubled lately, avoiding her, and staying gone from home for increasing periods of time.  What is her college professor hubby up to?  Despite the love and chemistry they've always shared, Lindsay fears he may have found another woman.  When she discovers him in his bathrobe, sharing a ritzy hotel room with an exotic beauty, her worst fear is confirmed. 

The proof of Griffin's infidelity almost kills her.  When she doesn't hear from him in weeks, she feels her life is over.  Enter a savvy long time friend, Chloe Brennan, recently assigned to a new position in Washington, DC.  Chloe has the contacts and the means of turning her friend's life around, if only Lindsay will cooperate for once.  The shattered Lindsay has nothing left to lose.  With Griffin gone, her life is over anyway, so she puts herself in Chloe's hands.

Segue five years into the future.  Lindsay has now been successfully transformed into Honor Danforth, technical wunderkind of the British MI5.

Expert in foreign languages and dialects, master of computer wizardry, tireless tracker of elusive foreign agents. she blocks all thoughts of Griffin from her heart and mind.  She's shed excess weight, dyed and straightened her curly hair, changed her eye color and adopted a British accent to reflect her new life.  The pain of Griffin's loss is blunted.  She's moved on to another life, but not to another man.  No man could ever be enough after Griffin.

When she's assigned to protect the British Embassy in Washington DC, everything she ever believed about her marriage is rocked with one revelation after another. Griffin appears in tuxedoed splendor, hobnobbing with British and American dignitaries with suave familiarity.  And then she learns he's CIA - one of the best - assigned to her team, in league to ferret out one of the worst terrorists the West has ever known. 

Griffin believes his wife died five years before.  He's never come to grips with the guilt and sorrow.  For certain he has avoided replacing her because Lindsay can never be replaced.  His immediate sexual attraction to the cool and very British Honor Danforth is a mystery, but one he's bent on solving.

If ever any male and female belonged together in the biblical sense, it's Griffin and Lindsay/Honor.  But each plays their own game as agent until the old familiar chemistry takes over.  Amidst that inevitable sexual explosion, somehow they must stay on their toes and thwart the plans of Embassy moles and ruthless terrorists. 

Oh what a fun trip it was helping these two resolve their Unfinished Business!  I recommend it to those who enjoy action and intrigue, but only for adults and mature adolescents due to strong sexual content. 

Romantic Intrigue

4 stars Without her good friend, Chloe, Lindsay Mayer would never have survived the betrayal. For years, her husband, Griffin, had been taking off for unknown places. Although gone for days at a time, Griffin normally checked in to make sure all was well at home. However, he had been gone for weeks without contact so Lindsay called his emergency number only to find out it was bogus. She then turned to her longtime friend. Using vacation time, Lindsay decides to visit Chloe and help her move from New York to Washington, D.C. As fate would have it, the posh hotel is also where Griffin is staying. The desk clerk inadvertently gives Lindsay the key card to the wrong room. Here she walks in and finds Griffin in a compromising position. Unfortunately, Griffin is unable to explain so Lindsay believes the worst.

Romance Reader's Connection - Holton, Livia

Unfinished Business has it all, espionage, revenge and plenty of sensuous romance. Author Elizabeth Lucas Taylor has penned a novel that snags readers in the first chapter and hurls them along through the entire book. A well thought out story that gives us a taste of super spy antics from the hero and heroine and at the same time interjections of the heated romance that makes a book wonderful to read non-stop. This one is not to be missed!

Sensual Romance Review - Leveille, Ann

Required: Suspension of Disbelief Lindsay Mayer's never been happy with her husband's frequent business trips, but when one extended trip has him missing their anniversary, and she finds out that the number that he left with her brings up an out of service message, she knows that it's time to confront him. First, though, she heads for her best friend Chloe and some much- needed pampering. Unfortunately, she finds herself in the same hotel as her husband -- and, apparently, his mistress. Her world shattered, Lindsay retreats once more to her friend's support. In an attempt to help Lindsay recover from her wretched marriage, Chloe produces a rather interesting job offer.

Five years later, Lindsay Mayer doesn't exist. She's become Honor Danforth, one of Britain's top spies. Trained and honed, with many credits to her name, Honor's newest assignment is to retrieve some stolen IDs -- a job she is uniquely suited for because she created them. This case will be a joint project with the US, and she'll have to work with one of their top agents in order to succeed. What agent do they send? Griffin Mayer, her former husband. The man she still loves -- and hates.

Her only hope of getting through the assignment as anything less than a total emotional wreck is to keep her former identity a complete secret. Having lost weight, changed her eye and hair color, and developed a precise British accent, it is quite possible that she can carry the deception off. Whether she can deal with an amorous Griffin and a high- profile criminal named Caprice at the same time becomes the real question.

Unfinished Business is a high-octane spy story with a unique relationship twist to it. Perfect for those whose reading tastes run to both drama and intrigue, Lucas- Taylor's novel delves into the technical side of the spy business enough to interest those who enjoy that sort of thing, and at the same time throws enough of a spotlight on the relationship between Lindsay/Honor and Griffin that any romance reader will be satisfied. However, readers who value a high level of plausibility in a book may want to steer clear of this title. Like some of the glitzy action dramas on television,

Unfinished Business tends to keep the action moving in the hope that the reader won't notice that the underpinnings of the book are less than solid. One major question that kept popping into this reviewer's mind is: How on Earth did she accomplish all that in five years!? Ten may have been believable, but to go from "everyday Jane" to Super Spy in five years was a real stretch. Also, though the book is fun and the details make for a great read, the relationship between Griffin and Lindsay/Honor is fraught with problems that never actually get ironed out. At the end of the book he's just as pigheaded and she simply gives in. Really, and I'm sorry for the comparison for those who enjoy them, the book read like a soap opera -- with melodrama and glitter sprinkled liberally throughout. Readers who enjoy that should run and get this book immediately -- those who enjoy spy stories and are looking for something with a romance in it may enjoy this title as well. Those who want an emotionally affirming and semi-realistic read should probably look elsewhere.

This novel contains a few scorching sex scenes, all very well-written. They are graphic, but infrequent. For those who find a lack of it unforgivable, birth control was completely forgotten throughout this book.

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