Crazy Sweet
by Tara Janzen/Glenna McReynolds

- The Steele Street Series Book 6 of 12
- ISBN-10: 1980469148
- ISBN-13: 978-1980469148
- Publisher: Independent Author
- Publication date: October 31, 2006
- Print length: 352 pages
Genres:
- Romantic Suspense (Personal revenge threat tied to Gillian’s past, high-stakes danger, car chases, shootouts, and survival tension, all wrapped around the central romance)
- Contemporary Romance (Modern Denver setting with a steamy, emotionally raw love story between Gillian “Red Dog” Pentycote and Travis “Angel” James)
- Action-Adventure Romance (Explosive action sequences, high-tension ops, and the crew’s involvement in protecting one of their own)
- Military/Black-Ops Romance (Centers on the SDF (Special Defense Force) team, with Gillian as a battle-hardened operative recovering from a previous mission and Travis as a loyal, lethal team member.)
- Additional overlapping tags: Romantic thriller, erotic suspense, reunion romance, and some darker, gritty vibes from trauma/recovery elements. (The book’s emphasis on Gillian’s physical/emotional scars from captivity and drugs, plus the raw, intense healing process, gives it that darker edge compared to lighter entries.)
Tropes:
- Second chance / ex-lovers reunion (Gillian “Red Dog” Pentycote and Travis “Angel” James have a shared, complicated past; old flames reignite when circumstances force them back together)
- Trauma / recovery romance (Gillian’s severe scars (physical and emotional) from a botched mission are central; the story explores healing, vulnerability, and rebuilding trust)
- Protector / guardian romance (Travis steps in to protect Gillian from a dangerous threat tied to her past, becoming her shield while confronting their history)
- Damaged / haunted heroine (Gillian: tough, battle-hardened operative who’s been through hell, carrying visible and invisible wounds that make her guarded and fierce)
- Bad boy / reformed rogue hero (Travis: street-smart, lethal, with his own shadows and a reputation for being untamed, but deeply loyal and gentle when it counts)
- Forced proximity / shared danger (thrown together in a high-risk situation involving revenge and old enemies)
- Steamy / erotic romance (intense, passionate reconnection—heat that builds from tension, trust, and vulnerability, often noted for being raw and emotional amid danger)
- Found family / team loyalty (Steele Street crew supports the pair, reinforcing the series’ unbreakable bonds when one of their own is in peril)
- Redemption / healing arc (both characters confront past pain, regrets, and demons while fighting for a second chance at love and normalcy)
- Opposites attract / complementary strengths (her fiery resilience paired with his calm, strategic edge—two damaged warriors who balance each other)
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 long-awaited finale, the core team confronts a massive, multi-layered threat that tests every alliance and skill they’ve built. Amid global stakes, personal crises, and explosive finales, old favorites find closure, new bonds form, and the Steele Street legacy roars to a close with signature speed and passion.
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 Sweet by Tara Janzen/Glenna McReynolds (Steele Street Book 6 of 12)
🌟🌟🌟🌟 (a solid entry in the hoard, but not the one that keeps me up all night)
We—boookwyrm and the Cybernet Book gnomes—settled in for this expecting the series’ usual full-throttle sprint, but Crazy Sweet downshifts into something more deliberate, more internal. Gillian “Red Dog” Pentycote has been through hell: a botched mission, captivity, experimental drugs that wiped her memories and rebuilt her into a lethal operative with scars that run deep. She’s not the same woman she was, and she’s still figuring out who the new version is—fierce, guarded, determined to reclaim her life on her own terms. Travis “Angel” James is the one piece of her past she can’t quite shake: the man who knew her before the drugs, the one who painted her as his angel in Nikki’s art (foreshadowing that ties the crew together beautifully), and the guy who shows up when a vengeful threat from her old life resurfaces.
The pull between them isn’t the usual spark-and-explosion. It’s a careful rebuild, like tuning an engine after a wreck. Travis doesn’t charge in as the savior—he’s there, steady, giving her space while making it clear he’s not walking away again. The attraction simmers in quiet moments: a hand on her shoulder when the nightmares hit, shared silences in the garage, trust rebuilt one small gesture at a time. The heat is there—intimate, earned, less frantic than some of the earlier books—but it’s woven into Gillian’s recovery arc rather than dominating the page. Janzen gives the emotional weight room to breathe: Gillian’s struggle with her altered self, Travis’s guilt over how things ended before, and the slow realization that they might still fit.
The action is there—revenge plot, threats closing in, Steele Street crew stepping up when it counts—but it’s not the nonstop chaos of the jungle or Denver chases. It moves steadily, focusing more on the characters’ inner worlds than constant explosions. Some readers find it slower or less “crazy” than the others, and yeah, it can feel like it lingers in places where the series usually accelerates. But that pacing lets the layers sink in: the cost of the black-ops life, how the team holds space for healing, and why these people keep fighting together.
This sixth book adds real depth to the Steele Street world—showing that even the most unbreakable crew has cracks, and love can be the hardest mission to complete. It’s not my favorite (the momentum dips compared to the earlier highs), but it rounds out the series in a way that makes the whole run feel richer. Worth the ride for the character growth and quiet moments that stick. We turned the last page satisfied, even if we didn’t stay up all night.
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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