Rules of Engagement

By Bonnie K. Winn

Rules of Engagement by Bonnie K. Winn released on Oct 11, 2005 is available now for purchase.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373713053
• ISBN13: 9780373713059
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

This one's a keeper

This book addresses the agonizing effects of war without dragging down the characters. The writer avoids stereotypes, instead giving emotion, depth and a stirring romance. Highly, highly recommended.

A very special book

I found this to be a warm and thoughtful book with genuine characters facing the problems of today's world. The heroine was torn by the loyalties she was raised with when faced by the untimely death of her twin in the Iraqi war. I think the author avoided making that a neat, easy decision which too many writers fall prey to. There was angst, but, with a serious backdrop like the true realities of war, there's going to be angst. I thought this made the book that much more compelling. I identified with the characters and the difficult decisions they were having to make. It's not a black and white world -- this wasn't a black and white "formula" book. I say hats off to the author for approaching this delicate subject with grace and insight. I thought the secondary plot was handled well. I especially loved the realistic portrayal of the heroine's family business, the rich detail. The characters' growth enabled them to see past their vast differences to the common ground that rooted their love. It's what makes a great romance. This one's going to stay in my bookshelves forever.

intriguing military romance

When Army Reservist David Spencer was called to active duty, he told his sister Tess not to worry. Not long after he died in Iraq and had a military funeral back home in Texas. Since her brother's sacrifice, she no longer believes in the Iraq War nor much else patriotic. Six months later Army Reservist Cole Harrington has returned from a year of service in Iraq to find his software company run into the ground. Much of the designs he developed before his deployment is lost and Cole's laptop is missing. At an auction Tess buys a desk for her family's Spencer Restaurants that contains a laptop inside. She opens the file marked letters and finds commentaries so different from the cheerful notes her brother sent home. This Cole Harrington was a captain struggling with the deaths of his young soldiers. Tess feels an urge to give his family his letters as she assumes he died. Cole is cold and offers money so Tess walks out on him. Though his designs remain missing, Cole finds Tess at a Spencer Restaurant and apologizes. As they begin seeing one another, they fall in love, but he still believes in the noble cause while she objects to the deaths of the young by the privileged. This is an intriguing military romance though Cole is back as a civilian as the Iraq War serves as a matchmaker and divider. Tess is a delight condemning chicken hawks sending the young of others to die; Cole on the other hand believes in the war's cause, but detests the sound bites that hide the horrors of war. The software issue takes a back seat to the superb warring romance. Harriet Klausner