Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 1-59998-704-X
Romantic Suspense, 2007

This book is related to Inventing the Abbotts, and because I can’t remember a thing about that story, I can’t tell you if the characters in this book showed up in the previous book. Sorry, folks, my memory just isn’t what it used to be when it comes to story lines of of the most forgettable kind. All I can say is that perhaps you should read the previous book first.

The story opens with Yancy Adams, our hero who is an operative with Aztec Security, coming back from an AWOL stint (he was undercover then, looking for data to implicate killer/terrorist Evan Grayson) only to lose the data. His rear end is on the line, needless to say. Mauve O’Connor, the heroine, is the object of his infatuation and a fellow operative. They are tossed together on a mission to supervise a bad guy named Apac Muacac to make sure that he doesn’t get into anything naughty. Mauve thinks that Yancy is a traitor, which of course doesn’t stop her from thinking about having sex with him.

The boss tells these two to get close because we don’t want Apac to suspect them of spying on him. That’s nice, but I think it will be even more convincing if these two stage a live sex show in front of Apac, with Apac’s face shoved close to the pivotal junction of the proof of the closeness of Yancy and Mauve. Damn, I’m good.

Like Inventing the Abbotts, the spy thing in this story may as well not be there, given how ridiculously preoccupied these two are about sex. I’m amazed that these two actually remember their mission. To put it simply, the focus of this story is sex. Mental lusting, actual boinking – it’s all about sex. The plot seems to be just an excuse to force the two characters to get close and get rid of their clothes.

Mauvelous is so marvelously uncomplicated and even undemanding in that manner.