Merciless by Diana Palmer

I have been reading about Long, Tall Texas and Jacobsville, Texas for a long time and this is the first time, in a long time, that I was pleased to be travelling back in the direction. Diana Palmer's books are like a lode stone: you can't stay away from them. As a fan, you already know the structure of the story and pretty much how everything goes down but you just keep on coming back. I picked up Merciless from the local library and thought "WTH?" I had been waiting to find out what was going on with Jon Blackhawk and Joceline for a long time. Palmer manages to create these larger than life men in her books that make you always come back for more. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was surprised that I liked the book so much. Jon Blackhawk and his administrative assistant Joceline have been verbal sparring partners for several years and they would be lost without one another. They have been dancing around each other for a long time and a killer on the loose is going to finally bring them together.




Joceline has been working as Jon Blackhawk's case cracking, non-coffee-making paralegal for five years and Jon still doesn't know very much about her. She keeps her life away from the office private and he has never met her young son. He can't seem to figure her out or his attraction to her. For Joceline, Jon is the ultimate untouchable man: he's handsome, rich and powerful. And he's her boss. She knows she can't have him in her life, so she keeps her feelings well hidden behind her insults and know-it-all attitude. I love the easy chemistry that these two have; nothing seems forced and they seem more like equals that someone Palmer's other characters. There are the economic differences but Joceline is no victim, as I felt some of Palmer's other female characters have been. When a man who Jon convicted is released from prison and threatens their lives, Joceline doesn’t t take this lying down. No curling up in a corner to cry, she tries to solve the crime. She makes a wonderful hero.

In true Diana Palmer fashion, the romance is grand and the sensuality milder than most modern romances. However, it is always a satisfying and appropriate. The last book I read by Palmer was Dangerous and I didn’t even finish it. It just seemed like too much of the same but I’m coming to realize that her formula works and works very well. This book was a nice change from my current reading trend of paranormals and super steamy novels.