Crazy Love
by Tara Janzen/Glenna McReynolds

- The Steele Street Series Book 5 of 12
- ISBN-10: 1973424916
- ISBN-13: 978-1973424918
- Publisher: Independent Author
- Publication date: June 27, 2006
- Print length: 368 pages
Genres:
- Romantic Suspense — Core focus: high-stakes mission (stealing/burying a top-secret file from a U.S. senator’s mansion), danger, bullets flying, and a black-tie event turning into a shootout, all wrapped around the central romance.
- Contemporary Romance — Modern Denver/Washington D.C. setting with a steamy, character-driven love story between Dylan Hart and Skeeter Bang.
- Action-Adventure Romance — Explosive action, car culture (Steele Street garage), high-risk ops, and survival tension.
- Military/Black-Ops Romance — Centers on the elite SDF (Special Defense Force) team, covert government missions, Dylan’s role as commander, and the crew’s black-ops lifestyle.
- Additional tags: tech-intrigue romance fit perfectly (Skeeter’s tech genius skills are key to the plot).
Tropes:
- Long-simmering teammates-to-lovers (Skeeter Bang and Dylan Hart have years of unspoken tension and mutual attraction within the Steele Street crew; the pressure of danger finally ignites what’s been building all along)
- Protector / guardian romance (Dylan personally shields Skeeter when old enemies target her skills and secrets.)
- Genius heroine / tech-savvy woman (Skeeter: brilliant mechanic, hacker, car customizer—the team’s indispensable brain with a punk edge and hidden vulnerabilities)
- Controlled / stoic hero (Dylan: the cool-headed leader who’s always in command, but finally lets his guard down for the one person who sees through it)
- Forced proximity / shared peril (thrown together in a high-risk mission involving stolen tech, revenge, and a conspiracy that hits close to home)
- High-stakes danger / tech conspiracy (threats tied to hacking, black-market tech, or enemies exploiting the team’s expertise)
- Steamy / erotic romance (intense, passionate reconnection—heat that builds from tension and trust, with creative intimacy amid chaos)
- Found family / team loyalty (deepens the Steele Street dynamic, with the crew rallying around Skeeter and Dylan when one of their own is targeted)
- Redemption / personal growth (characters confront past choices, vulnerabilities, or regrets while fighting for a future together)
- Opposites attract / complementary strengths (tech-genius bad girl paired with the disciplined, always-in-control boss—brains, grit, and loyalty in perfect sync)
The Books of the Series:












The Steele Street Story:
CRAZY HOT (Book 1 of 12) (2005)
Paleontologist Regan McKinney tears across the desolate West in a desperate hunt for her missing grandfather, crashing into the ghost town of Cisco, Utah—and straight into Quinn Younger, the sun-bleached ex-fighter pilot with a criminal past redeemed by her own grandfather years ago. When deadly danger roars in on her tail—terrorists hunting hot dinosaur bones—Quinn steps up as her fierce protector, repaying an old debt with high-octane chases, bullets flying, and an irresistible spark igniting amid the chaos. Engines roar, hearts race, and love burns crazy hot in this wild ride of survival and second chances.
CRAZY COOL (Book 2 of 12) (2005)
Katya “Bad Luck” Dekker returns to Denver for a glittering high-society art auction, only to have the night explode—literally—into gunfire and chaos. Thirteen years after Christian “Superman” Hawkins saved her life on prom night—and paid for it with two years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit—the ice-cool Steele Street operative steps in again. He kidnaps her for protection, and they rocket through the city in his muscle car, dodging assassins, unraveling a powerful conspiracy, and finally confronting the white-hot passion and old wounds that never faded. Fire and ice collide—crazy cool and dangerously close.
CRAZY WILD (Book 3 of 12) (2006)
Creed Rivera, haunted by his recent shadows in the Colombian jungles, stakes out prim librarian Cody Stark in a Denver library—suspecting she’s a lethal nuclear arms broker. When thugs crash the scene, the mission flips: Creed becomes her protector on a high-speed urban escape, battling terrorists, betrayal, and a conspiracy that could ignite global chaos—while forging an intense, raw bond amid gunfights, secrets, and undeniable attraction.
CRAZY KISSES (Book 4 of 12) (2006)
Nikki McKinney, the prodigious young artist with a fearless wild streak, heads to Panama City to finally close the door on the man who keeps breaking her heart—Steele Street operative Kid Chronopolous. After a brutal revenge mission in South America leaves him hunted and patched up, Kid returns to his Panama City bungalow for R&R, only to discover a familiar bikini bottom in his bathroom: hers. Their scorching, sultry nights of passion reignite instantly, but old patterns threaten to repeat—until assassins crash in, putting Nikki squarely in the crosshairs of Kid’s enemies. With a bounty on his head and killers closing in, Kid unleashes every lethal skill to save the only woman he’s ever loved, turning a goodbye into a fight for survival and a chance at something real amid betrayal, danger, and undeniable heat.
CRAZY LOVE (Book 5 of 12) (2006)
Skeeter Bang—the team’s punk-genius hacker and car customizer in Day-Glo pink and black leather—lands in the crosshairs when old enemies hunt her razor-sharp skills. Steele Street commander Dylan Hart, haunted by years of unspoken tension with the bad-girl fantasy under his command, must protect her on a high-stakes D.C. mission: infiltrate a senator’s mansion, steal a top-secret file, and bury it before chaos erupts. When a black-tie soiree explodes into bullets, duty and desire collide fast—hearts pound, passion ignites, and two guarded souls finally burn through the night amid high-tech intrigue and relentless danger.
CRAZY SWEET (Book 6 of 12) (2006)
Gillian “Red Dog” Pentycote—battle-scarred, memory-shattered survivor turned lethal hired gun—burns for revenge against the madman who stole her past and injected her with oblivion. Travis “Angel” James, the elite SDF operative who once loved her fiercely, tracks the same monster but refuses to use her as bait. When their paths collide in a storm of old flames and new threats, old enemies close in, forcing them together on a razor-edge chase from Central America’s shadows to Denver’s high-stakes showdowns. Bullets fly, scars ache, and buried passion erupts raw and urgent—two damaged warriors healing each other amid betrayal, loyalty, and a second chance that could save them both.
ON THE LOOSE (Book 7 of 12) (2007; also published as Steele Street: Loose)
Honey York-Lytton, a privileged D.C. socialite with a secret past, is blackmailed into a high-risk mission in El Salvador: retrieve a lost CIA file from a downed plane, deliver goods to a drug lord’s guerrilla camp, and rescue her missing nun sister—all in 48 hours. C. Smith Rydell, the ex-DEA SDF operative who once caught her smuggling cash and shared one unforgettable night with her, is reassigned as her reluctant bodyguard. As threats from rebels, assassins, and old enemies close in across Panama and the jungle, their charged chemistry reignites amid survival chases, betrayal, and raw passion—turning a dangerous job into a shot at redemption and real love.
CUTTING LOOSE (Book 8 of 12) (2008)
Lily Robbins, the quiet schoolteacher who once survived El Salvador’s chaos, returns to Albuquerque with a stolen macramé bracelet hiding a priceless encoded CIA file—unaware it’s made her the target of assassins and spooks. Zachary Prade, the elite operative who saved her life as drug-lord Alejandro Campos, is yanked from deep cover to retrieve the key and keep her alive. But when the past crashes into the present, old sparks ignite into raw, urgent passion. Hunted across New Mexico highways in his roaring 1968 Shelby Mustang Cobra, they race toward safety, lies unraveling, trust hanging by a thread, and two guarded souls discovering that the most dangerous thing isn’t the killers on their tail—it’s the fire they never quite escaped.
LOOSE AND EASY (Book 9 of 12) (2008)
Esmee Alden, sharp-witted con artist with underworld ties, dives into a high-stakes art-recovery job to settle her father’s debt—retrieving a stolen WWII painting from ruthless thieves. Johnny Ramos, the battle-hardened Special Ops soldier nursing a long-buried high school crush on her, shadows her in disguise and ends up as her reluctant partner. Sparks fly fast as they weave through Denver’s shadows, pulling clever cons, dodging dangerous players, and racing against bullets and betrayal. Heat simmers, trust builds, and old feelings roar back to life in a wild ride of chases, chemistry, and moral gray zones.
BREAKING LOOSE (Book 10 of 12) (2008)
Suzi Toussi, the stunning art dealer turned secret government weapon, dives into Paraguay’s lawless border city to snatch back the legendary Memphis Sphinx—an ancient relic with whispers of otherworldly power. But Dax Killian, the rugged ex-special ops agent with his own agenda, is already closing in on the same prize. What starts as fierce rivalry in the shadows of Ciudad del Este erupts into a reluctant alliance when assassins close the net. Amid high-speed chases, black-market double-crosses, and the pulse of danger, their sharp edges clash—and then catch fire—turning enemies into lovers in a sin-soaked, adrenaline-fueled adventure where trust is the rarest treasure of all.
LOOSE ENDS (Book 11 of 12) (2009)
J.T. Chronopolous—presumed dead for six years, now Conroy Farrel with fractured memories and a burning vendetta—returns to Denver, a ghost from the past hunting the team that left him behind. Paired with Jane Linden, the street-smart woman who once shared one unforgettable night with him, he’s pulled into a deadly trap where old betrayals, CIA-linked experiments, and shadowy assassins close in. As the Steele Street crew rallies for one final stand, bullets fly through the night, engines roar, and buried secrets explode. In the chaos of chases, revelations, and raw passion, long-lost love reignites, traumas heal, and the series’ biggest threads finally snap into place—hard-won, heart-pounding, and worth every mile.
CRAZY HEARTS (Book 12 of 12) (2020)
In the explosive series finale, the entire Steele Street crew unites for one last, all-hands-on-deck battle against a multi-layered threat that could shatter everything they’ve built. Global stakes collide with personal reckonings as old enemies strike, alliances are tested in fire, and every skill—from black-ops precision to unbreakable loyalty—is pushed to the breaking point. Amid roaring engines, flying bullets, and heart-pounding danger, long-time couples claim their hard-won happiness, new sparks flare, and the legacy of Denver’s reformed bad boys roars to a close with white-hot passion, fierce sacrifice, and a bittersweet, unforgettable finish.
The Series:
The Steele Street series by Tara Janzen (Glenna McReynolds’ pseudonym) follows the high-octane exploits of a tight-knit crew of elite operatives based out of a custom-car garage called Steele Street in Denver, Colorado. These guys—mostly reformed juvenile delinquents, car thieves, and street-smart bad boys turned Special Defense Force (SDF) agents—handle black-ops missions for the U.S. government, taking on terrorists, international threats, stolen tech, and shadowy conspiracies with fast cars, firepower, and unbreakable loyalty. Led by the enigmatic Dylan Hart and featuring a rotating cast of alpha heroes (like Creed Rivera, Kid Chronopolous, Travis James, and others), the series blends pulse-pounding action, high-stakes chases (often in souped-up muscle cars), global intrigue, and steamy, passionate romance that develops amid danger and banter. Over the 12 books (from Crazy Hot in 2005 to Crazy Hearts in 2020), the overarching arc tracks the team’s evolution from ragtag Denver crew to one of America’s most elite covert units, while individual stories resolve personal demons, rekindle old flames, and confront escalating enemies—culminating in massive threats that test every bond and skill they’ve built.
It’s escapist romantic suspense at its most fun and over-the-top: think explosive car culture, military-grade ops, witty dialogue, and couples who fall hard while dodging bullets and bad guys. The early “Crazy” books introduce the core team and Denver roots, while later “Loose” titles expand the scope with more international flair and wrap up lingering vendettas, making the whole run feel like one long, adrenaline-fueled ride with heart.
boookwyrm Review:
Crazy Love by Tara Janzen/Glenna McReynolds (Steele Street Book 5 of 12)
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (still humming in the hoard, circuits warm and ready)
We—boookwyrm and the Cybernet Book gnomes—picked this one up braced for the usual Steele Street thunder: guns, cars, and banter sharp enough to cut glass. What we got instead was the series’ quietest, deepest burn yet—Skeeter Bang stepping out from behind the monitors and into the center of everything. She’s the punk-rock genius who keeps the whole garage alive: code, chrome, chaos, the one who turns scrap into something lethal and beautiful. Dylan Hart is the man who’s always been in control: cool, calculated, the leader who sees every angle and rarely lets anyone close enough to touch. On paper, they’re opposites in every way—her wild energy, his iron restraint; her loud, colorful world, his quiet shadows—but this isn’t the shallow “opposites attract” trope you see everywhere these days.
Here, the attraction has almost nothing to do with surface-level differences. Skeeter isn’t “light on depth” like so many modern opposites-attract heroines who exist just to soften the brooding hero. (Ugh!) She’s layered as hell—brilliant, scarred, fiercely independent, with vulnerabilities she guards like state secrets. Dylan isn’t drawn to her because she’s “fun” or “wild” in some cute, superficial way; he’s pulled in because she sees through every wall he’s built, matches his mind, challenges his control, and matches his loyalty with her own unbreakable kind. Their connection runs bone-deep: years of watching each other, unspoken respect, shared history in the trenches of Steele Street, and a quiet understanding that neither has ever found anywhere else. When old enemies target her skills and secrets, forcing them into close quarters on a high-risk mission, that long-simmered pull finally breaks free—not as a clash of opposites, but as two people who have always been mirrors in the ways that matter most.
The threat is sleek and close: black-market tech, hidden vendettas, a conspiracy that strikes at the heart of their world. Bullets fly, engines roar, but the real story is what happens in the spaces between. Stolen glances across glowing screens, fingers brushing over keyboards, quiet moments in the workshop where the hum of machines drowns out everything except the truth they’re finally admitting. Janzen lets the emotional stakes breathe without rushing, and the payoff feels earned, intimate, real.
This fifth book is the series’ quiet powerhouse: less flash, more depth, the one that reminds you Steele Street isn’t just a team—it’s a family that fights dirty to stay together. If you like romantic suspense with tech intrigue, second-chance heat that runs deeper than appearances, and a heroine who could outsmart half the bad guys in the world, this one’s a standout.
The Wordsmith: Glenna McReynolds/Tara Janzen

Glenna McReynolds, born Glenna Jean McReynolds on March 25, 1953, in Lewiston, Idaho, is an American author celebrated for blending romance, adventure, and fantasy. Raised in various U.S. regions with a special affection for the Rocky Mountain West, she studied graphic arts and photography at Colorado Mountain College, where she met her husband, Stan. The couple settled in Colorado, raising two children while Stan became an English teacher and Glenna pursued writing. She belongs to groups like Romance Writers of America, Colorado Romance Writers, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Her work has earned a RITA Award from Romance Writers of America for Avenging Angel (1994), multiple Romantic Times awards (including Best Loveswept for Shameless in 1993 and a career achievement in Romantic Adventure in 1994), and other recognitions. McReynolds writes under the pseudonym Tara Janzen for her contemporary romantic suspense series, particularly the high-octane Steele Street books. She favors organic storytelling without rigid outlines, allowing plots to unfold naturally, and conducted on-site research in England and Wales for her medieval-inspired works.
Her Books (under Glenna McReynolds; publication order, focusing on key titles and series):
- Loveswept Category Romances (13 titles for Bantam, 1987–1990s): Includes Thieves in the Night (1987), Scout’s Honor (1987), Stevie Lee (1989), Dateline (1990), Blue Dalton (1990), Outlaw Carson (1991), Moonlight and Shadows (1991), The Courting Cowboy (1993), Avenging Angel (1993, RITA winner), Shameless (1993), The Dragon and the Dove (1994), Dragon’s Eden (1995), and others like A Wulf’s Tale.
- The Chalice Trilogy (epic medieval fantasy/romantasy): The Chalice and the Blade (1997), Dream Stone (1998), Prince of Time (2000/2001).
- Standalone/Other: River of Eden (2002, contemporary romantic adventure set in the Amazon rainforest, often regarded as a genre classic).
Books under the pseudonym Tara Janzen (primarily the Steele Street series of romantic suspense/action-adventure, with New York Times bestselling titles):
- Steele Street Series (12 books, Dell/Bantam, 2005–2020): Crazy Hot (#1, 2005), Crazy Cool (#2, 2005), Crazy Wild (#3, 2006), Crazy Kisses (#4, 2006), Crazy Love (#5, 2006), Crazy Sweet (#6, 2006), On the Loose (#7, 2007; aka Steele Street), Cutting Loose (#8, 2007), Breaking Loose (#9, 2008), Loose and Easy (#10, 2008), Loose Ends (#11, 2009), Crazy Hearts (#12, 2020).
Her output as Glenna McReynolds focuses on adventurous, sensual romances and fantasy, while Tara Janzen’s work shifted to fast-paced contemporary suspense. No new books have appeared in recent years under either name.
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