Mission: Irresistible Mass Market Paperback – May 1, 2005

This is the story of Maddie's ditzy sister from Charmed and Dangerous. After her big part in catching the art thief in Venice, she got her old job at the Kimbell back. Her big event is the museum's fundraiser ball, this year with an Egyptian theme. The culmination of the evening is to be the joining of the amulets of two star-crossed lovers. Unfortunately, part way through the evening one major player hasn't arrived, and the other amulet gets stolen. Cassie's boss holds her responsible and gives her seventy-two hours to make it right. Cassie is desperate and enlists the help of Harrison Standish, her least favorite Egyptologist.Harrison is one really intense guy. His search for the tomb of Kiya has taken up most of his adult life, leaving him little time or inclination for emotional entanglements. It also just so happens that the archaeologist who has the other mummy and amulet is the half-brother he always feels he has to compete with. And Adam is missing, along with the amulet he was bringing. Joining forces with Cassie is the most logical way to find them, but she is quite a distraction from his usual methods.I really enjoyed seeing these two work together. They start out barely able to tolerate each other, with Harrison thinking she's a flake, and Cassie barely able to stand looking at the hot mess that is Harrison. It was fun to see them start to care about each other, and yet be totally confused about why they care. I loved seeing Harrison fight with himself over the emotions he didn't realize he had. It was also really sweet to see how protective he became of Cassie. On her side, Cassie was surprised to discover that his lack of style became far less important to her as she got to know the man himself.The mystery of the missing amulet and the missing brother was really interesting. I loved the descriptive bits of the legend, and how belief or non-belief affected the way that Cassie and Harrison looked at it. The identity of the injured mummy is suspected but not known for certain, especially as there seems to be some delirium on his part. As the deadline looms ever closer, Cassie and Harrison find one clue that may hold the key, if it can be deciphered in time. Splitting up in the interest of saving time gets Cassie captured by the bad guys and in extreme danger. The resolution of that is intense, scary and creepy, with a surprise player showing up. I loved seeing everyone get together at the museum for the delayed joining of the amulets, with one last surprise provided by Harrison's mother.

I have read the two previous books that Lori wrote and I was looking forward to this release. Overall, its an enjoyable story. I liked the characters. Cassie and Harrison are totally opposite and think the other is the stero type of each others image. Naturally the shallow pool has hidden depths, which is discovered when Cassie and Harrison are forced to spend time together after the amulet is stolen and Adam turns up missing. Each is trying to solve the mystery for each owns reasons and they are the only two who have some kind of idea. The mystery was not so hard to figure out. I had an inkling after one of the conversations, then things kept falling into place. I still didnt know what happened to Adam or why the amulet was wanted so badly, so I still enjoyed the story until the end. The romance was pretty good too. That had good and bad points. When our two main characters get together in the begining, they do not like eachother, so when one or the other is doing things because they care, they could not figure out their reactions. Thinking they did not like the other, it made no scence to them that they would are about this or that. So we get to see the romance build. The final and only full love scene was a let down. The build up was great, but then when we get to it, it was blah. I thought there could have been more romance, the adventure was about equal to if not more then the romance. But it was a fun adventure none the less. I would still recommend this book for a light fun read. Some parts are silly and some of it seems forced. Some scenes seemed to be placed there just for what would happen afterword. Just didnt seem to fit. For example, the couch scene. Dont get me wrong, that was one of the funniest parts fo the book, but it didnt really fit all the way. I liked the style of the first two books better, but I enjoyed this one almost as much.

I had high hopes for this book after having read and enjoyed her prior two books Charmed and Dangerous (the prequel to this book) and License to Thrill, but I didn't care for this one so much. For me, the adventure overshadowed the romance pushing it almost into the background.Cassie Cooper is the (slightly ditzy) PR rep for a museum about to launch a new Egyptian exhibit reuniting the mummies of two legendary lovers and their matching amulets. She has been working with the two very different archeologists who made these discoveries: Dr Harrison Standish and Dr Adam Grayfield. Though she's dealt with Adam only over the phone, he's her kind of guy - fun and flirty and she's looking forward to meeting him at the launch. He's already late and when the lights go out and one of the amulets is stolen, she must turn to nerdy, unpleasant Harrison (or as she refers to him Standoffish!) for help.Harrison is not a party kind of guy and he figures Cassie is a ditzy, fluffy woman without much substance. So why does he rush to her defense when her boss is about to fire her over this theft? He buys some time by implying that this is all part of a mystery party game and that the guests will compete to find out who stole the amulet over the next few days. Meanwhile he and Cassie will look for Adam and try to find out why he never showed up and what happened to his mummy and the amulet.Obviously, we have an opposites attract romance here with flighty fashionista Cassie and color-blind fashion victim nerd Harrison, neither of whom really is what they seem of course. I found the story a bit silly at times, the humor forced. At other times I was a bit incredulous at Cassie's behavior (when forced to spend the night on his couch, she just happens to bring along her vibrator - and uses it?!). I don't know I just found the timeframe of this adventure too short, the stuff that happens unrealistic and the romance pretty much uninspired. Though I did like Cassie and especially Harrison, this one just didn't do if me, unfortunately. But if you like a wild, escapist adventure, you just might like it.