Finished Black Ice by Anne Stuart. This is the first book in her Ice series, about the operatives of The Committee, a group of spies who’ll do anything it takes to keep the world safe.

In this one, Chloe Underwood is a young American woman living in Paris and working as a children’s book translator. Eager to make some extra money, she takes a weekend gig translating for a group of grocery store owners. Except, of course, they’re not really grocery store owners, but international arms dealers. Among the bad guys is Bastien Touissant, an undercover agent for The Committee who is weary of his double life. Soon, Bastien and Chloe are on the run from the arms dealers and The Committee.

I haven’t read much romantic suspense, but I’d heard a lot about Stuart’s books and decided to give her a try. I really enjoyed this one. Stuart has a sparse, lean writing style that was powerful but still easy to read. Her descriptions were lovely turns of phrases, and her dialogue was sharp and witty. Overall, her writing was just excellent.

My only real quibble was Chloe and Bastien. There were things I didn’t like about their characters. Chloe was just too naive for me. C’mon Chloe, you’re in your twenties living in Paris. You had the gumption to move away from your parents. You think you’d be a little more worldly, too. (Weak female characters are a pet peeve of mine).

And Bastien … he’s definitely not hero material (at least not in the beginning). He seduces Chloe to get information out of her and saves her on a whim, not because he feels some moral or loving obligation to do so. A definite turn-off for me. And I didn’t think he improved much during the course of the book. I just never felt like he really loved Chloe.

If Chloe has been a lot smarter and if Bastien had been a little less of a jerk, this one would have been a great read for me. Still, it was really good, and I’ve asked Santa for the next two books for Christmas. 😉

So, thumbs up.

Up next: Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward.