Karen Robards newest book Heartbreaker is a perfect example of this. Don't spend too much time trying to figure out the plot -- just keep reading.

Chicago television anchorwoman and single parent Lynn Nelson is so desperate to improve her fragile relationship with her fourteen-year-old daughter, Rory, that she volunteers to help chaperone a mother-daughter camping trip in the very rugged, majestic Uinta mountains of Utah.

Lynn is just about the last person who belongs in this situation. With her perfectly highlighted blonde hair, manicured nails and complete lack of riding ability, she is soon wishing she had taken that Caribbean cruise instead. Decked out in her designer boots and her Wonder Bra, Lynn is not exactly at home in the wild -- picture Heather Locklear, with an attitude, on an Outward Bound expedition.

Lynn's luck may be changing, though, because the hunky Feldman brothers are her guides. Lynn's immediate antipathy toward Jess, the younger brother, is perilously close to a dangerous attraction. And the only thing standing in the way of that attraction is Lynn's belief that this fake cowboy is nothing more than a practiced heartbreaker who is enjoying with particular relish the rapt fascination of the teenaged girls -- here, I pictured Brad Pitt with a few more muscles.

When an accident separates Rory, Jess and Lynn from the rest of the group, Lynn begins to see Jess in a different light. They stumble into a terrifying scene of mass murder and find themselves on the run from a group of religious fanatics. Lynn soon discovers that behind Jess's cowboy demeanor lies a trained government agent experienced in life threatening situations.

And this situation is threatening, not just to their own lives, but to the future of the world because what they have uncovered is the plan of an extremist leader to launch a nuclear attack ... (This is where my "Indiana Jones Theory" really comes in handy.)

You can always count on Karen Robards for a fast-paced, action-packed read, with her distinct snappy dialogue and blistering sexual tension, and HEARTBREAKER is no exception. Every chapter brings new perils, each more frightening that the last and an intriguing increased sexual awareness between Jess and Lynn.

If, at the end, I had doubts that a relationship between these two characters would last even six months, well ... it sure would be great fun while it lasted.

--Dede Anderson