Secret Surrender - Review for WCP
Secret Surrender
Wild Child Publishing.com © 2007
Title of Book: Secret Surrender
Author: Lisa Dawn MacDonald
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
ISBN Number: 1-60154-006-X
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 2006
Author's Website: Lisa Dawn MacDonald’s website
Vivian Ashton has been widowed for just over a year. It has been the longest, hardest year of her life. She had to take a menial job at a flower shop to make ends meet for herself and her three children, two of whom are teenagers and growing up way too fast.
Trevor Ashton has been a playboy most of his adult life and likes it that way. When his brother dies he comes to the aid of his sister-in-law, Vivian, and in the process becomes her best friend. It is natural for him to shoulder the responsibilities of his brother’s family but all too soon he realises he wants more. He starts thinking of Vivian as a desirable woman, as a partner. He wants her in his arms, and in his bed, forever.
Would Trevor and Vivian’s growing love and desire for each other tear her already broken family further apart? Or would it be the bond that brings them back together?
The poignancy of Secret Surrender is very real. We find a mother trying to keep her family together after a devastating loss and leaning heavily on her brother-in-law. I found the growing relationship between Vivian and Trevor to be believable. Ms. MacDonald has done well in layering the friendship between these two so that we see the transition from friendship to lovers. She also does a great job of portraying both Vivian’s journey and that of the children’s reaction to the news of their mother’s new love.
While this is a heart-warming tale of a woman’s second lease on life there were, unfortunately, a few things that stalled the story for me. The head hopping and tense (past and present) changes between the hero and heroine pulled me out of the story time and again, while I figured out who was saying what and what was going on. Then, quite unbelievably to this reader, was the fact that the other man interested in Vivian had one date with her, and only one, before presenting her with a diamond tennis bracelet. One date where I thought her lack of interest was made perfectly clear to him. Even if it wasn’t I find it hard to believe his next step would be to present diamonds! In addition, there was a side storyline in Secret Surrender that left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied but I think that may have more to do with the way I think it should have been handled, rather than the way it was.
I give it 3 cats
Labels: Rating 3
InSINerator, Review for WCP
InSINerator
Wild Child Publishing.com © 2007
Title of Book: InSINerator
Author: Joseph DiFrancesco
Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1-55404-355-7
Genre: Suspense
Length: Category
Release Date: May 2006
There is a serial killer on the loose and detective Bob DiStanza is determined to find him. What he doesn’t want to find is any more dead women. He’d really love to just concentrate on his own life and happy ever after.
When things suddenly take an odd turn and the killer’s M.O. changes Bob has to follow a new trail. He can’t figure out whether there is one killer or two. The killer himself is suddenly made aware that changes have been made and that makes him nervous, as well, especially when an arsonists seems to be following his every move.
When all is said and done, who will catch the killer? And whose side is he on?
InSINerator is a great suspense that builds from the very start and comes to a very satisfying conclusion. The author layers everything in such a way that the reader is eagerly anticipating what will happen next. What I liked about this book was that I only guessed who was behind something at the same moment that the detective did. I love it when a suspense is able to keep me in the dark for as long as possible. If I figure it out too soon then the book isn’t quite as interesting to me.
While not labeled a romantic suspense, there was a sweet romance building alongside the mystery/suspense of this story. I found it very believable and loved the way the main character kept trying to reach out to his girlfriend’s daughter, to include her in the relationship.
This book is told in third person omniscient and, after the prologue where that was clear, it took me a while to figure out that we weren’t head hopping through scenes. This was slightly distracting to me as we’d be in one head and then the other and sometimes it was confusing who was talking and/or thinking.
If you are looking for good suspense with a twist and just a darned good plot, then I highly recommend InSINerator.
I give it 4 Cats
Labels: Rating 4
I'll Be There For You, Review for Gotta Write Network
I'll Be There For You
By Ellen Fisher
Contemporary Romance
Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-59998-038-XNovella, 130 pages
June 2006
Jeri Winston and Alexander Frost have been best friends since high school but Alexander has secretly carried a torch for Jeri the whole time. When an old high school crush of Jeri's shows up and is interested in her she decides to see if she can change history and finally win the most popular guy in school. Xander realizes he had better find a way to make her notice that he is more than just a friend and fast and starts turning up the heat.
Will Jeri be able to move past her old defenses and find the love of her life or will she settle for the man she once thought unattainable just because he's the prize catch from her past?
This tale is all at once funny and poignant. I think both the hero and heroine are relatable to so many of us. You get: That feeling that we were so geeky in high school and that the popular kids were unattainable. The feeling that you have at your high school reunion when you notice the geeks are suddenly hot and that popular girl isn't quite what she once was. The feeling you get when you look at your best friend and suddenly realize he's the one you've been wanting your whole life, while you were busy looking elsewhere.
Ms. Fisher has done a great job of building likeable characters and giving them many layers. In a short time you are rooting for Alexander and hating Connor, but then you think that Connor is a decent guy and you aren't sure if Jeri even deserves Alexander. Then you change your mind again. There are parts where you just tell the heroine to "get over it. Why can't you see that he's awesome and so are you?" Then you realize what she went through as a teenager in that very impressionable time and you forgive her.
All in all, I’ll Be There for You is a great read and a wonderful, feel good story. It is a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Sometimes what you seek has always been there.
I give it 4.5 prom dates out of 5Labels: Rating 4.5
Hallowed Ground, Review for BE Reviews
Hallowed Ground by Lori G. Armstrong
Bear Butte county PI Julie Collins is struggling to learn the business while her partner dears with his own issues. Left on her own she gets involved with a case that leads to several disturbing murders. While trying to track down a missing girl, nothing is what it seems and everyone around her is getting hurt.
Hired to find the missing girl by Tony Martinez, Julie starts to get suspicious when things don't add up. Nothing about the case, or her feelings for Martinez, are simple and as the body count rises she becomes the next target for the killer.
From page one of this book I was taken in where, frankly, I didn't expect to be. I'm not sure why. The blurb on the back of the book is good but something in me hesitated. Maybe I've just read too many "just ok" suspenses lately so I didn't want to expect too much.
Hallowed Ground has a lot going on from a missing child and a Lakota Holy group, to rival Casinos and an east coast crime family, reminiscent of the Mob. Add to that one badass hero who heads a version of what I assume to be the Hell's Angels. Even with all that the author keeps everything straight. There was no time where I had to go back and re-read something to figure out what she was talking about. The only thing I was kept guessing about until the end was who did it and I love that.
Told in the first person we get to see the world through Julie's eyes. She is a is a kickbutt heroine, with a scarred past and an interesting way with dealing with things. She's tough and yet, not so tough. Like so many of us, her mouth gets her in to trouble on more than one occassion - she's feisty and real. I like her, although I'm not sure I'd want to hang around with her, as trouble seems to follow wherever she goes.
Having not read the first book in this series, Blood Ties, I will now be placing it on my to be read list. While this is definitely a stand alone book I'd like to see more of Julie Collins and her world. Ms. Armstrong has me hooked and it looks like I will have to wait for November of this year for the third installment. I highly recommend you get Hallowed Grave.
I give this a 5Labels: Rating 5
Visting Donna Dee, Review for WCP
Visiting Donna DeeWild Child Publishing.com © 2006
Title: Visiting Donna Dee
Author: Zinnia Hope
Publisher: Amira Press
Genre: Inspirational
Length: Short Story
Release Date: February 2007
Author's Website:
Zinnia Hope's websiteRegina Mayse is the store manager at a bookstore, which she happens to live above. When she hears about Arnold Cuttshaver she thinks her boss is out of his mind to have hired an ex-con. An ex-con who served fifty years for murder no-less.
Arnold Cuttshaver is the cantakerous ex-con who just wants to do the job he was hired to do and be left alone. When he was locked up he lost his freedom and the wife he loved so much. Whether he actually committed the crime he was incarcerated for wasn’t the point.
In this short story Zinnia Hope tells a unique tale of friendship between a young girl and an old man. I really liked Arnold and found his character to be especially well written. I completely believed the fact that he saw his ex-wife Donna Dee in Regina. The rising floodwaters added to the tension in this very nice story but unfortunately I thought the wrap up to be slightly abrupt and didn’t necessarily believe the very last line.
However, this author knows how to layer characterization and build the story. I found this to be a delightful, feel-good read.
I give it 4 Cats.
Labels: Rating 4
Precious Things, Review for RORR
On her way to a job interview with one man at Bulwark Mutual Funds, Jewell Kincaid witness an employer being rude to his employees and stops to intervene. When she realizes he is hearing impaired she signs to let him know what she thinks. She finishes her interviews and leaves, and although acing the interviews she is unsure what standing up to a manager at the company will do for her hiring chances. When she is hired on for a higher position that what she applied for, with a higher salary to match, she has no idea what she’s in for.
When Jewell Kincaid stands up to BP (Benjamin) Roth he is taken aback. After perusing her resume and seeing how well she can handle herself, in addition to the fact she is fully capable of using ASL, he decides to manipulate things and hire her himself.While he hires her based on his libido Benjamin has no idea that it is his heart that is in danger.
Together Jewell and Benjamin become a formidable force in the office, both personally and professionally. As they draw closer together Benjamin’s life explodes. The murder of his sister rocks his already fragile world. Being brought up by an abusive father and a seemingly indifferent mother has made him tough. Very tough. The only one to get through to him, before meeting Jewell, had been his sister, Victoria, and now she was gone.
Can Jewell show Benjamin that love makes all the difference and that she will stand by him no matter what? Or will Benjamin retreat to his cold, silent world where it is easier to not love anyone than continue to be hurt by them?
Katelyn Hughes has done a masterful job at creating both these characters and the world in which they live. I love the way she has made Benjamin both soft and hard with his emotions. The way he is at war with himself, the way he strives to be better than he is told he would be, yet how he believes that he is unlovable, touches the reader. It would easy to let him fall to the bitterness yet Ms. Hughes intersperses sections where you can see how much love and tenderness this hero really has. Jewell is no wilting lily either; even though she is sweet and giving she is also feisty and strong. She stands up for herself when needed and realizes when just stepping back is a better idea. Growing up in a diverse, loving family has given her a solid background and her family’s back story is very well thought out.
My one and only caveat for this story is if you buy it based on the cover, as some people do, then you will be slightly confused as it really has nothing to do with the story. Also, for myself, I didn’t really like the addition at the end of the story where the heroine is pregnant. I think this was a typical plot line in an atypical book. It wasn’t needed as the book “had me from hello” so to speak. However, this is a minor thing and it didn’t upset me too much. With writing this good I’m not sure there’s much to ruin.
Precious Things is wonderful, touching novel that will leave you, at times, gasping in horror at how awful people can be and then smiling in delight at how good they are. This isn’t your classic good versus evil, although there is that element, it is the growth of two people, both individually and as a couple, and how they come together to prove that love is a precious thing that can overcome even the most heinous of circumstances.
I give it a 5Labels: Rating 5
Seven of Cups Review for RORR
Izzy MacPherson seems to have trouble keeping her boyfriends alive. After the second one in a year is killed she starts to think she is cursed. And she should know, she comes from a family of famous witches. She’s been avoiding her own legacy for years, although her senses are telling her it’s time to get on board, and she’s not who she thinks she is. In her search for a killer, Izzy finds herself, can she find love too?
Eric Baxter is the crime novelist who arrives to take on the case of the murders from a year before. Originally determined to paint the MacPherson sisters as the culprits behind the real murderer he starts to realize everything he knew about Izzy was all wrong. Now instead of wanting to put her away he wants to keep her away from all who are trying to harm her. If only she’d let him.
When I started to read the Seven of Cups I wasn’t that appreciative of the first chapter, in fact I was already thinking about how I was going to rate this book. That was a mistake. In fact the parallels between my assumptions of that first chapter and the assumptions made about the heroine, Izzy MacPherson, are uncanny.
I truly enjoyed this book. The more I read the more I wanted to read. Written in the first person the reader enters Izzy’s heart and mind and grows as she grows. We see how she goes from girl that just wants to have a good time to the girl who is ready to become a woman and take on the world and save those that she loves. Eric Baxter is hot and, although I would have liked to see him fleshed out a bit more (which is hard to do when the story is written in first person I know), a wonderful accompaniament to Izzy.
The secondary characters in this book are also well done and make me now want to go back and read the first book. I didn’t know this was a series and this book certainly stands alone but I had an inkling there must be another one and I was happy to find out I was right.
If you are looking for a romantic paranormal with suspense then you should pick up Seven of Cups. You won’t be disappointed.
I give it a 4
Labels: Rating 4
