Sizzle by Julie Garwood

Romance meets thriller. Film student Lyra Prescott stumbles onto a mobster's "yard sale" and unwittingly takes home evidence that could send another mobster to jail and places Lyra on the thug's hitlist. Enter FBI agent Sam Kincaid - tall, dark and handsome, of course - and Lyra's temporary bodyguard. It's the classic set-up for a doomed romance and a perplexing puzzle. Barbara Cartland meets James Patterson. For my taste, this book has the perfect amount of both. Even though these types of romances almost always work out in the final chapter, there's enough tension and questions to keep you wondering if this will be the time it doesn't. Plus a little "spice" along the way (if you get my drift). On the flip side, there is a well-written mystery with plenty of twists and turns. And the best part - well, next to the "spice", that is - no stomach-turning details of murder and mayhem. Lyra's family fills out the story and adds both comic relief and depth. The battle between her wheedling, conniving parents and her loving grandmother give the reader insight into an otherwise rather one-dimensional character. This book isn't going to make the annals of literary history, but I don't believe that is Ms. Garwood's intention. This is just pure enjoyment and escape. And in that department it gets an A+.