Note, the format of my Short and Sweet reviews differs in that they simply comprise the book blurb and a short response (hence, the short and sweet). Sometimes I have too many books to do a full-length review. At other times, like now, tennis elbow and a torn tendon makes too much writing/typing difficult. As such, I’ve decided to devote longer reviews to Australian authors until such time as my injury clears.
Julie Garwood has more than a few novels to her name, but I’ve only read one – Hotshot (reviewed here). 
Cordelia Kane has always been a daddy’s girl – her father raised her alone after her mother died when Cordelia was just two years old. So when he has a serious heart attack, Cordelia is devastated, and her emotion is only intensified by the confusion she feels when he reveals the shocking truth about her mother. Cordelia can’t suppress her curiosity about the woman who gave birth to her, and when she discovers the answers to her questions lie in Sydney, Australia, she travels there to get them. When hotel magnate Aiden Madison gets railroaded into taking Cordelia to Sydney on his company yet, he unknowingly puts her life at risk. He’s recently angered a powerful congressman and Congressman Chambers is not a man to let such an offense slide. In Australia sparks are flying between Cordelia and Aiden, but when multiple attempts on Aiden’s life are made while Cordelia is with him. Aiden realizes he must put a stop to the madness before he loses the person he values most.
A fast-paced romantic suspense, Fast Track proved an easy way to spend a Sunday afternoon – I finished the book in about three hours. There’s glamour, intrigue, family drama and plenty of spicy interludes between the key characters, but all on the lighter, rather than edgy side. Long-time readers of Garwood’s novels have already been introduced to Cordelia and Aiden, so I’m guessing there was some element of “finally” for them. I read the book as a standalone, which worked fine, but while the romance aspect came across more strongly than the suspense (I wouldn’t say I was on the edge of my seat), I didn’t really feel the romance. If you like your suspense on the lighter side, this is a decent way to spend a few hours; for me it was okay.
Available from good bookstores and Penguin Books Australia (RRP $29.99). My copy was courtesy of Penguin Books Australia.
Bookish treat: I read this late at night so didn’t eat anything. I wanted chocolate.
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