Janet Anne Haradon Dailey was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey (her married name). Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold over 300 million copies worldwide.
Born in 1944 in Storm Lake, Iowa, she attended secretarial school in Omaha, Nebraska before meeting her husband, Bill. Bill and Janet worked together in construction and land development until they "retired" to travel throughout the United States, inspiring Janet to write the Americana series of romances, where she set a novel in every state of the Union. In 1974, Janet Dailey was the first American author to write for Harlequin. Her first novel was NO QUARTER ASKED.
She had since gone on to write approximately 90 novels, 21 of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. She won many awards and accolades for her work, appearing widely on Radio and Television. Today, there are over three hundred million Janet Dailey books in print in 19 different languages, making her one of the most popular novelists in the world.
Janet Dailey passed away peacefully in her home in Branson on Saturday, December 14, 2013. She was 69.
This one reminds me of those Tik Tok videos where the person pretends she is kidnapped but turns out to be the most annoying kidnap victim in the world, getting so much on her kidnapper鈥檚 nerves that the kidnapper finally gives up and runs screaming for the hills lol
"Beware of the Stranger" is the story of Samantha and C/J/C.
Our h is a reporter, with a super famous father whose name intimidates every man she meets. Tired of being the "sister" to every XY she comes across, her life changes when her father's "partner" comes to retrieve her. He then takes her away to a deserted island, where it takes wayyy too long for the *dumb* h to notice that she might have been kidnapped. Also the man is *obviously* not who he claims he is.
This was just stupid. The h was stupid, the plot was stupid, the mystery elements put in the plot made no sense, I didn't see a love story and how they fell for each other was absurd.
This was a real meh book. The best part of it was the 1970's kitsch; the hero is introduced wearing a forest green blazer and plaid pants. The heroine's wardrobe is full of plaid blouses and light-blue bell bottoms. Plenty of smoking, tossing those cigarettes down and then engaging passionate make-out sessions.
As for the plot...well our plaid wearing hero shows up at the heroine's job, claiming to work for her wealthy father who needs to see her immediately. He takes her hundreds of miles away to a secluded island, never lets her off the island and never lets her use the phone. The heroine (whose name I don't remember even though I finished the book last night) is wily journalist with sharply-honed instincts, so it only takes her 100 pages to realize that she's been kidnapped. The hero's name changes every 42 pages or so...first he's Owen, then he says he's Chris, then he reveals he's Jonas, then...it was like a Scooby-Doo mystery that never ended.
I've read quite a few Janet Dailey books, and I recall that JD said she finished her manuscripts in only 4-6 weeks. It shows.
Samantha wanted to have her own life apart from her rich loving father for a while so she worked under a different name in a newspaper. One day, a man called Owen Bradley, whom she knew worked as her father's secretary, but whom she has never seem, approached her and told her her father wanted her to have a week's holiday with him in an island. Since it was always her father's way of arranging things, she didn't much question the matter and went along with it. It wasn't until she reached their destination that she discovered she was kidnapped by this man calling himself Owen!
Beautifully written and a good pass-time read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The premise isn鈥檛 bad鈥攕poilers: there鈥檚 a bodyguard romance鈥攂ut it just becomes really muddled. Most of the problem lies with the fact that there鈥檚 only 192 pages to work with so the romance is rushed as is the ending. Another hundred or so pages would have really helped flesh this out.
The other problem is that Samantha is just really annoying, and if I had to hear about how important her father was one more time鈥�
Samantha's experience with men as the daughter of tycoon Reuben Gentry had been disillusioning.
But she'd gone willingly to Chris Andrews's home miles from anywhere on an island in the St. Lawrence, expecting her father to join her there. Suddenly she realized she was subtly, but surely, being held prisoner there. Were Chris's calls to her father about ransom? Was he really Chris Andrews?
Samantha knew she had to escape. But the thought of never seeing Chris--or whoever he was--again, filled her with desolation..
Samantha's experience with men as the daughter of tycoon Reuben Gentry had been disillusioning.
But she'd gone willingly to Chris Andrews's home miles from anywhere on an island in the St. Lawrence, expecting her father to join her there. Suddenly she realized she was subtly, but surely, being held prisoner there. Were Chris's calls to her father about ransom? Was he really Chris Andrews?
Samantha knew she had to escape. But the thought of never seeing Chris--or whoever he was--again, filled her with desolation... (
Ah, her horoscope in the newspaper came true ... Beware of the Stranger. Pretty girl is kidnapped by hunky guy. They fall in love ... but nothing can ever come out of it ... or could it? Good, fast read.
Fairly ludicrous plot, but still an engaging, if dated, romance. Completely unbelievable that they wouldn't tell her what was going on once she started trying to escape.