Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd

SUMMARY (by the publisher): Meadow Szarvas breaks into a South Carolina estate to steal back the valuable portrait her grandmother left behind years ago. Her strategy is simple: Sell the painting and use the money to pay for her mother's cancer treatments. The grand plan falls apart almost instantly as she gets caught by the new owner, Devlin Fitzwilliam, who's turning the estate into a four-star resort. Meadow is smart enough to feign amnesia and claims she can't remember how she got there. Devlin covers for her by claiming she's his wife, and he expects all the attendant benefits. 

MY OPINION:

The main characters in Tongue Is Chic play a cat and mouse game. Instead of talking to each other and join their efforts, they do everything by themselves, keeping secrets from one another, always mistrusting each other.

I liked the heroine, who is on the wrong side of the law, although from totally unselfish humanitarian reason. There are other people on the hunt for the same thing as she is but only because of their greed. This puts her in danger all the time which she fails to fully realise. It is too bad the identity of one of the villains is revealed to the reader right in the beginning, thus cutting some portion of suspense short.

Dodd provides just enough information about the characters and their background to make them interesting but not very complicated for an easy read. However, as in a lot of this kind of romance writing, the main heroes indulge in sexual relationship very early in the novel, which I don’t like, because it gives an impression their love evolves only about sex. Nevertheless, Dodd gives some more realistic grounds for them falling in love later in the novel, which works out well.

Generally, Tongue Is Chic is a dynamic romance evolving around one main mystery which makes it interesting. It flows very smoothly and naturally, therefore it is a good reading when you want something sweet to rest your mind on.

RECOMMENDATION: This is something you might want to read when you need a break from a more complex reading.