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Flash

Jayne Ann Krentz

First published 1998 · 432 pages

A crackling, opposites-attract romance wrapped in a breezy corporate mystery where sharp banter is the ultimate foreplay.

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What it feels like

Reading this feels like stepping into a perfectly executed 90s romantic comedy with a suspenseful edge. The energy is immediately infectious, driven by the classic friction of a chaotic creative clashing with a rigidly organized businessman. It is a brisk, banter-heavy ride that balances the cozy, eccentric warmth of a quirky family with the genuine stakes of corporate espionage and blackmail. The prose is snappy and confident, prioritizing sharp dialogue and undeniable chemistry over heavy angst. You are swept up in a mood that is simultaneously breezy and steamy, where every argument feels like a prelude to passion. It will thoroughly delight fans of competent, career-driven heroines and readers who love watching two stubborn opposites slowly realize they make an unstoppable team.

Mood
  • energetic
  • crackling
  • breezy
  • steamy
Tone
  • wry
  • playful
  • banter-heavy
  • confident
  • suspenseful
Pace
brisk
Themes
opposites attract · finding order in chaos · eccentric families · corporate intrigue · learning to trust
The writing
Snappy and dialogue-driven, relying on sharp wit and confident pacing to keep the pages turning.
The arc
Moves from guarded suspicion and professional friction to passionate trust and a unified partnership.
Who it's for
Readers who crave classic 90s romantic suspense featuring highly competent heroines, grumpy-sunshine dynamics, and a dash of corporate mystery.
Content notes
  • murder
  • blackmail
  • extortion

About the book

Olivia Chantry may keep her desk in disarray, but she's a dynamo when it comes to business: her Seattle-based company, Light Fantastic, organizes dazzling events that create the flash her clients need to promote their products or their causes. Her marvelous success has almost made up for a marriage that ended in disaster and left her wedded to a career instead of a mate.

She certainly has enough on her well-sculpted shoulders when she inherits a portion -- 49 percent, to be precise -- of Glow, Inc., her uncle's high-tech lighting firm. But it's the interloper who bagged the other 51 percent with whom Olivia has butted heads: Jasper Sloan, a venture capitalist and dealmaker known as a man with all his ducks in a row, and his neat, orderly life under control.

From the start of their feisty business dealings, the so-called partners nearly crash and burn: they are suspicious of each other's motives. They disagree about management style. They argue about Glow's policy of employing members of the Chantry family, from Olivia's cousin Bolivar to her Aunt Zara, the ex-soap star. But the snap, crackle and pop of their sexual energy can not be denied. Now, their steamy joint venture is headed unmistakably in one direction: trouble.

As Olivia and Sloan soon discover, a blackmailer is hard at work inside Glow, Inc., uncovering secrets that they both had reason to hide -- and that may come back to haunt them. Suddenly their new relationship faces the acid test of truth...and a need for absolute trust. They might fight each other all the way, but when extortion turns to murder, a union of their minds -- and hearts -- might be their only chance to stay alive.

Description from Open Library.

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