Dear Author » Georgia

REVIEW: Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton

SarahF — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:00:10 +0000

Dear Ms. Sexton.

I’ve enjoyed your writing before, but it was Kaetrin’s review of this one that made me pull it out of Mt. TBR. I was interested in the concept and knew I could trust your writing. I’m glad I did, even if it wasn’t what I expected.

Levi Binder works in a gay bar and enjoys the “perks” of his position at least once a night in the bar’s storage room. He’s uninterested in relationships and is happy in his “work.” The only fly in his ointment is phone calls from various representatives of his Mormon family, trying to get him to see the error of his ways. Oh, and his hip and thigh, which after being abused by standing all night and then surfing during the day, hurt like a bitch. So he sees a neuro-muscular massage therapist (and I learned something new there–had no idea that neuro-muscular rehabilitative massage existed, let alone what it was). His therapist is Jaime, a quiet sort of guy who seems a bit skittish. Levi keeps coming onto Jaime, Jaime refuses and finally, when Levi won’t back down, kicks him out. And good for him, I say.

With the help of some friends, Levi figures out why Jaime not only won’t consider sex, but categorically refuses to be touched–he realizes that Jaime was probably sexually abused as a child. We already know this, because Jaime has thought about it, giving us a bit of an info-dump. Levi and Jaime work their way back to a professional relationship and then a friendship, because Levi now understands the boundaries, without ever actually discussing the sexual abuse with Jaime. He and Jaime also figure out that Jaime can sleep without nightmares in Levi’s bed because he finally feels safe, so they spend a lot more time together. But Levi starts to fall for Jaime without realizing it, and ends up changing as a result. First he tries to abstain from his easy bar sex and when he falls off the wagon spectacularly and dangerously with a bar patron, he quits the bar.

All of this is interwoven with Levi’s continuing struggles with his family, who variously want him to stop being gay altogether, or stop having gay sex, or stop having meaningless sex, gay or not, or stop working at the bar, his means to meaningless gay sex. But Jaime adores Levi’s large family (parents, Levi and five siblings, nineteen sibling offspring), and when Jaime and Levi finally start exploring the sexual side of their relationship, after they’ve figured out they’re in love, they have to navigate the shoals of Levi’s family’s disapproval, their place in it, Jaime’s past, and their growing love for each other.

I can’t believe that summary had to be so long, because the plot isn’t that complicated. It’s not a Romantic Suspense. No one has to save the world from the Big Bad. But it IS complicated nonetheless, with relationships and interpersonal tangles and the book is all the richer for it. Levi has a LARGE family, but most of the siblings and his parents have solid, individual personalities, which is a pretty good trick. Or, you know, damn hard work as a writer. :)

Here’s the thing, though: this book was an Inspirational. Now, admittedly, I’ve read one “true” Inspy in my life (Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love), and while I enjoyed it in an academic way, atheist me doesn’t particularly want to read any more. And although this book is a m/m romance, it’s definitely an Inspirational, proving that the two are NOT mutually exclusive (and really, it’s only the Christianist h8ers who claim they ARE mutually exclusive). While I appreciated the writing and the characters and understood how the inspirational nature of the story was good and right, even necessary, for the characters, it was…unexpected to me.

Because the story is REALLY about how Levi finds his way back to the bosom of his religious family, finds his way back to his religious beliefs (although not necessarily to his church), through his relationship with Jaime. It is precisely his religious family who help Jaime heal. And Levi eventually believes that God brought him to Jaime, precisely as a gay man in a Mormon family, not only to help Jaime heal, but also to draw Levi back to his family. (Clarification: although the narrative itself is as much about Levi’s emotional journey as it is about Jaime’s, Levi’s own motivation is ALL about making sure Jaime is safe and happy. So while my description here might make Levi sound selfish, he really really isn’t. All he wants in life is for Jaime to be happy and to feel safe.)

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Inspirational aspects are brilliantly done. The story is utterly compelling. The characters were solid, consistent, even fascinating. And while I absolutely could see that anonymous sex was, indeed, wrong FOR LEVI, the book felt to me like an utter condemnation of anonymous sex for everyone (although, don’t all romances that believe in finding “The One” and living together in happy monogamy forever after, amen? I guess so). And it’s not like I felt the religion was pushed on me or was trying to convert me. I did NOT feel proselytized to in the slightest, like I did with the Rivers. But readers who care about this type of thing one way or another should be aware that Levi’s journey back to God is a huge part of this book.

There was one stylistic thing that made me want to scream. EVERY TIME Jaime wanted to talk with Levi about something difficult, he’d start massaging Levi’s hand. And EVERY TIME he did that, you’d tell us why:

Jaime found it easier to look back down at Levi’s hand rather than to face him.

He concentrated on massaging Levi’s hand, and Levi realized the massage gave Jaime a sense of security–he was relying on what he knew to get him through something that made him nervous.

Instead, he took one of Levi’s hands and began to massage it in a familiar way. It meant he didn’t have to look in Levi’s eyes when he started to talk.

I got to the point that I was screaming at my phone, “Yes, I get it! I really really do!” Trust your readers to get it a bit more than that, okay? Say it the first time, then…don’t. Trust your readers.

All in all, you took serious risks with this book, as you did with Strawberries for Dessert, and the characters carry the day. But the sexual abuse and Inspirational aspect, no matter how brilliantly handled (and they are, don’t get me wrong), means this book probably won’t make it to my Desert Island Keeper file in Dropbox.

Grade: B

Best regards,
-Sarah

Goodreads | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

REVIEW: On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

Janine — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:00:13 +0000

Dear Ms. Andrews,

On the Edge was the first of your books that I’ve read, but it will not be the last.

Rose Drayton and her two young brothers, Jack and Georgie, live in the Edge, an area where two dimensions known as the Weird and the Broken overlap. In the Weird, people have magical abilities and magical creatures exist there as well. The Broken is our world, where no one possesses magic.

Rose and her brothers do have special abilities, and in Rose’s case, hers are powerful enough that men from both the Edge and the Weird want to marry her in order to make use of her gene pool. Rose has refused all these offers in no uncertain terms.

Since her mother died and her father abandoned her family, Rose has been raising Jack and Georgie. To support the boys, Rose works as a cleaning lady in the Broken. She has to save every penny just to buy Jack shoes, and between his shifting and Georgie’s raising creatures from the dead at the expense of his own health, she has her hands full.

One day an earl from the Weird turns up on the Draytons’ doorstep. The man, who goes by the name of Declan, wants Rose to come away with him to the Weird. Declan possesses powerful magical abilities and can therefore do Rose a great deal of harm, so Rose cuts a deal with him. She will issue Declan three challenges and if he completes all of them successfully, she will go with him. If not, Declan will go away and leave Rose and her brothers in peace.

Shortly thereafter, Rose loses her cleaning job through no fault of her own. Because the household is in desperate need of money and because Declan rescues Jack from two menacing magical creatures which he calls hounds, Rose agrees to let Declan stay under her roof in exchange for a gold coin a day.

Rose soon finds herself attracted to the handsome and clever Declan but she mistrusts his motives. The boys, who have no male figure in their lives, begin to look up to him. As the four of them join forces to fight the dangerous hounds, the connection between Declan and the Draytons deepens.

While I liked them both, at first I felt that Rose and Declan were a little too good to be true. As I kept reading, though, I began to see that they had a few limits and flaws. Rose is stubborn and mistrusting where men are concerned, though she has good reasons to be that way. Declan isn’t always as upfront as he could be, though he too has his reasons.

It takes a little while for the story to get rolling and for Declan to appear, but the wait is worth it. The romance between Rose and Declan echoes fairy tales and folk tales, while at the same time being refreshingly grounded in the reality of Rose’s daily struggles to make ends meet and cope with all the trouble her brothers get into. The secondary characters, especially the shape-shifting Jack and the necromancing Georgie, are also delightfully real.

The villain of the story is really over the top, and that was one of the very few problems I had. I felt that the book lost some of its grounding in the real every time this villain or his minions made an appearance.

The romantic in me would also have liked for Rose and Declan to have more time alone together than they did, but I was pleasantly surprised at how satisfying their courtship was even with two children around most of the time.

I really enjoyed On the Edge, and I especially loved the way reality intermingled with fantasy in the world of the book. The characters might have magical powers needed to save their world, but they also shopped at Wal-Mart and had to stretch their pennies to pay for gas and groceries.

I would recommend this book to fans of Charlaine Harris and Patricia Briggs, and to anyone who enjoys a romantic fairy tale now and again. I had great fun reading it and I feel that its spot on my top ten list of 2009 favorites was well-deserved. My grade: B+/A-.

Sincerely,

Janine

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in Mobi/eReader/epub format from Fictionwise or other etailers.

This book was provided to the reviewer by either the author or publisher. The reviewer did not pay for this book but received it free. The Amazon Affiliate link earns us a 6-7% affiliate fee if you purchase a book through the link (or anything for that matter). We do not earn an affiliate fee from Books on Board through the book link.

REVIEW: Mistletoe Mommy by Tanya Michaels

Jayne — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:51:36 +0000

Dear Ms Michaels,

When I finished “Mistletoe Cinderella,” I knew I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with the nice people of Mistletoe, Georgia. Good people who care about each other, genuine issues mixed with a little humor and a series that you don’t have to have read the previous books to follow along. Yep, win/win all around.

I’m feeling like a lazy slob today so I’m just gonna steal your blurb.

Brenna Pierce is a pet sitter who thinks the biggest complication in her life is a broken-down car-’until Dr. Adam Varner and his three children roll into town for summer vacation! Trying to get her self-owned business up and running, Brenna doesn’t have time for romance. And Adam certainly isn’t looking for a relationship. He already has his hands full trying to bond with a teenage son, surly "tween" daughter and a little girl obsessed with getting a cat for her fifth birthday. Yet, amid the chaos of animals and kids, Brenna and Adam discover love and something that feels remarkably like family.

There are lots of things to like about this book. The kids aren’t all sweetness and light – they act their ages and no lisping! – but are basically decent children. Yeah rah that Adam doesn’t try to buy his children’s affections – the man makes enough money (though as a cardiothoracic surgeon he sure as hell earns it) and could do the “throw money at them to prove my love in place of spending time with them” routine but he doesn’t. Yes, he hasn’t had much time lately to spend with them but with this vacation, he’s trying. Geoff appears to be earning money on his own for a used car, no mention is made about Eliza having designer YA clothes or the latest electronic gadgets and all Morgan wants is a real kitty. Kitties rule.

Brenna is a pet lover heroine! Brenna makes her living in a cool way as a pet sitter, dog walker, all around animal care giver. I haven’t seen too many of them in romance novels. The support Brenna gets from her family and friends is wonderful and again proves this is a nice, small town. She had a tough childhood but doesn’t wallow in angst. She knows it affected her though she doesn’t let it get her too down.

I like how she relates to each child. Geoff as an employee she can trust, Eliza as a young woman who is feeling similar things that Brenna did at that age and Morgan as a sweet child as well as one who – or really all – who has/have taken on the responsibility for a living pet. Kitties rule. Brenna doesn’t try and toady up to them or slick talk her way with feel good moments.

Brenna and Adam start out on a professional basis – after giving her a lift back to town she agrees to pet sit for their newly acquired kitty. Kitties rule, especially gray ones. Each thinks the other is hot but there’s no inappropriate mental lusting. They do take things quickly once they decide to see where a short vacation relationship might go but, what the hell. It’s a short book.

I’ve only read one earlier book in the series but I didn’t feel I was swimming in the names of people I ought to know or trying to figure out all the relationships. There was a two paragraph section of “wrap up” that threw me just a little but really, that was the only spot in the book. The rest of the time, when mention was made of people it was about how they were pertinent to this book.

One moment I found really touching was between Brenna and her stepmother Maggie. When Brenna told Maggie how much the older woman meant to her and how much of a difference in her life Maggie had made. I hope Brenna is going to follow up on saying this more often given how Maggie almost broke down in tears she was so happy to hear it.

I was curious to see how you’d work out the final arrangements to get Adam and Brenna together given their geographical distance apart and his three children. I do get that he’s only seeing them on weekends and some holidays now anyway but that’s going to be a ton of miles on his SUV. Yet, given the nature of Brenna’s business and the discussion Adam had with a colleague, I figured that was what would occur.

So, this is two good grades for two books greatly enjoyed. I’ll have to make sure to be ready for the last book due in October. Kitties rule. B

~Jayne

This book can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers on August 1. It is available now at eharlequin.com.

REVIEW: Being Plumville by Savannah J. Frierson

Janine — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:00:18 +0000

Note: This is Janine’s entry for Keishon’s To Be Read challenge.

Dear Ms. Frierson,

It is 1953 in Plumville, Georgia, and seven year old Benjamin Drummond considers four year old Coralee “Ceelee” Simmons his best friend. Little Bennie loves to read to Ceelee and is determined to protect her from the bullying of Tommy Birch. But when Bennie announces that he wants to marry Ceelee when they grow up, his mother insists that Ceelee’s mother stop bringing her to their house.

In Florence Drummond’s eyes, it won’t do for the two children to remain close. Coralee’s mother, Patty, is Florence’s housekeeper, while Florence’s husband is a state judge in whose footsteps Benjamin is expected to follow. But that can’t happen if Benjamin remains so openly friendly toward Ceelee. Benjamin is white; Coralee is black. The two must be separated.

Flash forward fifteen years to 1968. Benjamin and Coralee are both attending the newly integrated Solomon College in Bakersfield, not far from Plumville. Twenty-two year old Benjamin is a senior political science major, football team quarterback, and a member of a “Good ole Omega Kappa Psi” fraternity. Nineteen year old Coralee, who has skipped a couple of grades, is a junior English major and a member of the Black Students Union.

The two have avoided each other for years. Coralee thinks Benjamin, now a friend of the bully Tommy Birch, bears little resemblance to the boy was so kind to her. Benjamin thinks Coralee lost interest in their friendship as a child, and accepts that that was for the best: after all, as the son of a state judge, he is Plumville, and you can’t associate closely with black people and be Plumville.

But all that changes when Benjamin’s English professor — a northerner — insists that his grades are too low for him to keep playing football. Benjamin will have to be tutored, Professor Carmichael tells Ben and his coach. And the tutor Professor Carmichael has chosen is none other than Coralee.

Like Benjamin, who desperately wants to keep playing football, Coralee has reasons to agree to the arrangement. She plans to become a teacher, and tutoring experience is an important step toward that goal. But Coralee requests that the tutoring sessions be kept a secret, and because they could rock the divided campus, Benjamin, his coach and Professor Carmichael agree.

Benjamin is quickly attracted to Coralee during their study sessions in a remote corner of the library, and he tries to be friendly to her, but she is understandably wary. She only grows more aloof when Benjamin and his fraternity brothers show up to disrupt a meeting of the Black Students Union. But her coolness serves to make Benjamin aware that he wants to be her friend again. He is torn between maintaining the social order of the Old South, and what he wants to have with Coralee, between being Plumville, and being true to himself.

When the Black Student Union plans a rally in support of founding an African American Studies department at Solomon College, Tommy Birch and other members of Benjamin’s fraternity plan to show up bearing Confederate flags. They want Benjamin to accompany them. He is the quarterback and his father is a state judge, so if he’s there the school administration will look the other way.

Benjamin is confused and torn between what he really wants — to have nothing to do with the plan, which revolts him — and what’s expected of him by his fraternity brothers and by society. In the end, he goes along with his friends, at least until he sees Coralee fighting off an attacker at the rally. That’s when Benjamin grabs Coralee and carries her to safety.

The day is a turning point in Benjamin and Coralee’s relationship. Benjamin is so kind and gentle that Coralee begins to trust him and give in to his overtures of friendship, even as she fears the outcome of such feelings. And Benjamin vows to protect Coralee and remain her friend. Obviously, their emotions take a turn toward the romantic, and just as obviously, the course of their love does not run smooth.

I purchased Being Plumville after you mentioned it in the comment section of the Smart Bitches thread on interracial romance last year because the premise (interracial romance in the 1960s south) caught my interest. It languished in my TBR pile, partly, I think, because the writing style didn’t entice me to read far and partly because of the bland cover. But because I’m participating in this year’s TBR challenge and May’s theme is friends-to-lovers, it seemed like the perfect time to read and review this book.

So how did I like Being Plumville? Unfortunately, even though I really wanted to like it, I ended up feeling lukewarm about the book. One of the things that kept me from getting emotionally involved in the story was the writing. I often felt that the characters were being described from the outside, explained to me, rather than being revealed from the inside. This kept me from identifying with their feelings deeply. Also, while some of the metaphors were nice, others did not work as well for me. For example, there’s this description of the effect of Benjamin and Coralee’s first kiss on Coralee, which I think stretches too far:

It was major, and though it didn’t seem to affect the overall scheme of things, her internal world had been rocked, shifted, and set in a new galaxy, spinning in a new orbit around a sun whose light was so bright it blinded her.

A second difficulty I had with the book was that I felt it relied too much on Benjamin and Coralee’s childhood friendship, which was only shown in a brief prologue. Benjamin’s feelings seemed to simply pick up where they had left off, and the getting to know one another stage of the relationship was glossed over. I would have liked to see Benjamin and Coralee discover more shared interests or ways they complemented each other.

Another problem for me was that I had a hard time warming to Benjamin. No matter that he was torn about it, his lending of his presence to his bigoted friends’ harrassment of Coralee and her friends really rubbed me the wrong way. I understand that he was young and that his actions were shaped by his upbringing, but I had a very difficult time forgiving him for them.

Even after Benjamin came to regret what he had done and vowed to protect Coralee, and even after he had fallen for her, it was hard for me to trust him. Not because he was a bad person, but because in comparison with Coralee, he came across as spoiled. I was never sure he understood the gravity of the situation, the risk he was putting Coralee in by dating her, even in secret. Despite being told that he was the most sought after guy on campus, despite his blue eyes and his being a quarterback, he sometimes came across to me as nothing more than an overprivileged frat boy.

I liked Coralee much better. She was a hardworking student determined to overcome racial and social barriers, to become the first person in her family to graduate from college and to then go on to further her education. Coralee cared about justice and depended on her friendships with the members of the Black Students Union as a source of support on the campus. She also helped her parents, who worked long hours in a struggle to support the family, and worried about her brother LJ, fighting in Vietnam.

But all of this just made me wonder if Benjamin deserved her. Truthfully, the romantic relationship was not that romantic to me, since I was constantly stressed on Coralee’s behalf and questioned whether her heart was safe with Benjamin.

The parts of the book that worked best for me were scenes involving secondary characters like Benjamin’s fraternity brother Felix, who had an innate, colorblind sense of justice and fairness (I would have rather seen Coralee with him), Coralee’s mother Patty, who worried desperately for her daughter, Coralee’s brother LJ, particularly when he talked about his experiences in Vietnam, and Benjamin’s father Paul, who was willing to support his son’s unconventional choice for reasons which only gradually become clear.

I liked the concept of Being Plumville better than the execution, but I appreciate that you wrote a different, unique and risk-taking book. It is not every day that I get to read a story that revolves around such a fresh conflict, and I genuinely wish I had enjoyed it more. C.

Sincerely,

Janine

This book can be purchased in mass market from an independent bookstore or in ebook format from iUniverse.

REVIEW: Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

REVIEW: Countdown to Death by Debby Giusti

Jayne — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:00:18 +0000

Dear Ms. Giusti,

I’ve got to say that this is one of the most original romantic suspense plots I’ve encountered in a long time. In a subgenre overflowing with serial killers, secret government operations, ex-SEALs, and other sometimes hard to believe plot elements, you’ve given us something different. Double value coupon points for that!

Allison Stewart works in research at Magnolia Medical in Atlanta, Ga. Specifically she’s trying to develop a lab test for units of blood collected for transfusion to patients. As if hepatitis and HIV aren’t enough to worry about, now there are too many units being lost due to worry about prions – the proteins responsible for scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and, most importantly, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. She hasn’t perfected the test yet leading to the board of directors questioning whether or not they want to keep funding her research.

If that wasn’t bad enough, three units of blood recently collected during a blood drive have tested positive for possible prions. With the blood supply chronically below that of demand, the pressure is on to release those units for use in surgical procedures. Allison’s got three days to head to the small town where they were collected and try and determine a possible link between them that might also explain and validate her test results.

It doesn’t take long before she starts to stir up the local population. In fact, one night and the B&B in which she’s staying goes up in flames. After her rescue by an intriguing local loaner, Allison at first can’t find the answers she needs. The people she’s interviewing are willing to talk but nothing is adding up. She does quickly pick up on the fact that Luke Garrison and his family are somehow linked, if only in the minds of the townspeople, to a brutal murder which took place ten years ago. With the clock ticking, Allison wonders how it all ties in together and if someone might be willing to murder again to keep her from finding out.

From your bio, I know that you’re a medical technologist and thus know all about lab tests and results. I think it’s wonderful that medical professions other than doctors and nurses are finally getting a turn in the spotlight. Now we just need to have a radiology tech crack a murder case as well! Thank you for doing a bang up job explaining what is going on with Allison’s tests and the possible consequences without making it either too simplistic or overly technical.

As well, I appreciate that you’ve made the small town of Sterling, GA into a place where people might actually want to live instead of a throwback to something out of the movie “Deliverance.” In the South, we’re not all redneck cousin marrying crackers who go out to terrorize the tourists for weekend fun. The secondary and tertiary characters in the town seem like normal, nice, hard working people especially the Sheriff who doesn’t lose his head when a local politician attempts to make trouble for the hero.

Allison is a smart heroine. She’s dedicated to her job, not just because, if she perfects it, her lab test stands to rake in the bucks but because she genuinely cares about keeping the nation’s blood supply safe. However, her back story needed to have been elaborated more since her issues with her brother’s death and subsequent estrangement from her father felt like little more than a surface wash to her character’s crisis of faith.

Luke is a gallant hero who saves the day yet I thought it more than odd that he would continue to stay near a small town that he feels suspects him of murder. And odder still that he would spend ten years basically sticking his head in the sand instead of trying to clear his reputation in this cold case. Add to this the fact that neither hero nor heroine apparently has had any kind of romantic relationship with anyone lately and the too sudden marriage proposal (they’ve known each other for, what?, a week?) rang false.

Luke’s aunt and handicapped sister are little more than ciphers. I felt that they were only in the story to add the Christian slant to it – what with Aunt Bett’s background and Shelly’s innocent, childlike acceptance and trust being the litmus test of Luke’s innocence for Allison.

As I said, the basis for the plot is quite original as is the way you tie it to the cold case murder and the small town in which that happened. The book is fairly short in length and this might be the cause for the above mentioned problems I had with it. With more room, perhaps some of these issues could have been expanded thus adding more depth to the story. It is a promising start to a new series that will hopefully shed some light on a little known ancillary medical service. C+

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.

REVIEW: Scream for Me by Karen Rose

Jane — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:00:36 +0000

I have 20!! copies of this great hardcover to giveaway. Drop a comment and let me know why you are interested in reading this book.

Dear Ms. Rose:

Congratulations on going hardcover. It’s a tough time to make the move, what with the cratering economy and all. Even before it cost be $10 to drive from home to work and back again everyday, I always held hardcover books to a higher standard. After all, at the increased price, the book had to be 3 times as good as other books because of the foregone opportunity cost. (e.g. I could buy 3 paperbacks at the price of 1 hardcover). While Scream for Me isn’t a perfect book, I’d still rather read it than three other romantic suspenses on the market.

Before I talk about what I liked (which was most everything, particularly the romance), I’ll state what I thought was the major flaw of the story. This book is part two of a set of three stories. The first is Die For Me and without having read it, I do wonder whether readers will be lost. The second problem I had with the story was the murky motivations of the villian. I can’t really state more without giving much of the mystery away, but I felt like his choice of victims weren’t consistent.

Daniel Vartanian is a special agent with the Georgia State police. He’s just been part of a high profile case where his brother, Simon, who had been presumed dead, had been caught killing a number of people in Philadelphia, including Daniel’s parents. Simon had a lot of secrets, some of which Daniel knew, but most he did not. The one secret that he knew was that Simon had photographed fifteen girls being raped. One of those girls was murdered thirteen years ago in Dutton, Georgia – Daniel’s hometown. When a body of a young woman is left wrapped in blanket in a ditch in Dutton with the details markedly similar to the previous murder, Daniel requests to be put on the case. He feels that perhaps he can find vindication for these unknown girls.

Alex Tremaine is the twin sister of the girl was who killed thirteen years ago. She had left Dutton after her sister’s murder and her mother’s suicide to go live in Ohio with her aunt’s family. But when her stepsister, Bailey, goes missing and leaves her four year old daughter alone, Alex returns to Dutton to face the demons of her past.

This is confusing when I write it out in this review, but it actually makes sense in the book. It’s a twisty and convoluted story of a villian who was done wrong and bided his time to gain revenge. His revenge is two fold, though, and that’s where it gets confusing. The two fold revenge is necessary to involve Alex and to ratchet up the conflict. Could it have been done differently and less confusing and still be full of suspense? Hard to say.

Because all of your past books have had themes, I looked carefully for the connecting thread here. Both Daniel and Alex suffer from survivor’s guilt and in some cases, it is warranted. They both suffered mightily as kids and escaped when they had the chance, not looking back. The failure to look back, the determination to keep running ended up hurting people close to them.

Alex and Daniel have great chemistry and even though this story takes place over a compressed period of time (a few days), I still believed in both their connection and their future together. I thought the sex scenes, which are so often contrived and somewhat superfluous, were very well placed and tender. I loved their first kiss.

He’d put his car in gear when the bungalow door opened and Alex stepped onto the porch and his breath caught in his throat. She wore a sensible robe that covered her from her chin to her toes. It should have made her look dowdy and plain, but all he could think about was what lay underneath. The wind had kicked up, tossing her glossy hair, and she scooped it back with one hand to stare at him across the tiny front yard.

There was no smile on her face. The thought registered as he killed his engine and crossed her yard, single-minded in his intent. To leave her, to drive on by, never entered his mind, only to have now what he’d wanted earlier, what the call from the Fun-N-Sun security chief had kept him from taking. He needed to see that wide-eyed wonder again, the look in her eyes when she’d finally understood what he wanted from her. He needed to see that she wanted him, too.

Without slowing for a greeting, he took the porch stairs in one step, took her face in his hands, covered her mouth with his, and took what he needed. She made a hungry sound deep in her throat and leaned up on her toes, trying to get closer, and the kiss exploded into motion and heat.

She let go of her hair and her robe to clutch at the lapels of his coat, propelling her mouth into his. Daniel let go of her face to pull her arms around his neck. He splayed his hands across her slender back and pulled until her body was flush against him and he took what he wanted as the wind whistled and screamed around them.

It had been too long, was all he could think, all he could hear over the wind and the pounding of his own pulse in his ears. Too long since he’d felt like this. Alive. Invincible. Too damn long. Or maybe never.

Alex and Daniel shared similar pasts, ones marked with tragedy, and they served as a good foil for one another. My blogging partner, Jayne, talks about how much she enjoys the “real guy” talk and there is certainly some of that in Scream for Me. In fact, the points of levity in this suspense book come from Daniel’s interaction with his male co-workers and friends.

Daniel watched her go, wishing he could make her sorrow and fear go away and a little guilty that he couldn’t quite get the picture of her in a proper bed out of his mind. He turned back to find Chase looking at him with scornful disbelief.

“You just couldn’t stay on that sofa, could you?”

Daniel couldn’t stop the grin that seemed to take over his face. “Actually, I did.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake, Daniel. On the sofa?”

Daniel shrugged. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

…

His eyes were that piercing blue that made her shiver. “You’re beautiful.”

“So are you. I hope I didn’t get you into any trouble, answering the phone like that.”

He got out of bed, stretching his shoulders one way and then the other while she watched for the simple pleasure of doing so. “No,” he drawled. “Chase already knew.”

Her eyes widened. “You told him? Daniel!”

“No,” he drawled again. “I’m a guy, Alex. When we have head-banging sex on a sofa, it’s written all over our faces. Everybody knows.”

The two leads are so likeable, even though they may have been less than responsible earlier on, that I could not wait for their happy ever after to arrive. They certainly deserved it.

I’ve read every book you’ve written so far (except for the novella) and I don’t think I’ve rated any lower than a B- (if that). Your consistency in writing good suspense paired with good romance is to be applauded. A-

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.

REVIEW: Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

Jayne — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:02:22 +0000

Dear Mrs Andrews,

You seem to really like to knock your heroines down at the beginning of your books then slowly let them pick themselves back up again. Keeley Murdock’s problems fit the pattern. On the eve of her society wedding to a handsome young man from one of Madison, GA’s richest families, Keeley finds him and her BFF/maid of honor going at it like monkeys in the board room of the country club. Keeley’s subequent meldown and world class hissy fit cements her into town lore. But worse follows as the influential family of the “two-timing, lying, cheating son-of-a-bitch” try to use their financial influence to ruin the interior decorating business owned by Keeley and her aunt Gloria. Keeley becomes another version of your typical “Steel Magnolia” heroines as she pulls herself back from the brink of disaster and discovers just how strong she is. But while this book is a lot of things, it’s not really a romance.

As a “how to” redecorate a home in antiques, fine furnishings and luscious fabrics this book is to die for. I’d love to have Keeley’s job or just let her loose in my house with Will’s money. As a woman who enjoys buying architecture, decorating and design magazines then drooling over them, I was in heaven. Watching Keeley help return a lovely antebellum mansion to pristine condition for the wealthy client who’s bought it as well as the local, almost defunct bra plant was a joy. Following her through antique stores and auctions as she hunts down the perfect Federal and Empire pieces — all without any budget in sight — was a dream come true. And since I also love wandering through fine fabric stores — we have a great one here in town with bolts of drool worthy Brunswig & Fils to name just one — my heart sang at the mention of fabric swatches. Don’t get me started on tassels and trim.

As a slice of “southern style life in a small town,” it’s funny without being filled with cartoon ‘characters.’ Well, maybe Austin, Keeley’s gay florist friend is too much like a caricature but I guess most Southern set books have to have at least one. I’ve seen small towns like this one. Towns that banked their all on one or two factories and industries which are all being taken overseas now due to the cost of wages.

As a mystery story with a realistic if bittersweet ending, I enjoyed Keeley’s search for her missing mother, her desire to finally have closure and how her friends helped her achieve it. As a story about getting over a broken heart, growing and realizing she can stand on her own two feet, it’s fine. As a romance…. it’s not so good. But then I’m not sure a romance is exactly what you meant to write as after all, this is listed in “mainstream” at Fictionwise. I did enjoy Keeley’s relationship with her older aunt who helped raise her and with her father who adores his little girl but who doesn’t hesitate to jerk a knot in her when he thinks she’s gone too far. I like that Andrew, while a cad, turns out to be not such a terrible one – yes I like this. Instead of getting a total shit who it would be impossible to believe that Keeley could have ever thought she loved, we get a guy who had some problems with his parent’s marriage and the choices they made and who, yes there’s no doubt, screwed up royally but who is maybe not a total loss to humanity.

I did have problems with Keeley’s mother’s cousin. Does she have to haul God and Jesus into this? Not all people who are religious are this hypocritical. And for such a small town where 5 minutes after something happens, everybody knows everything, the secret was certainly kept for a long time by a lot of people. Will and Stephanie were disappointments. How can Will, a smart man who’s made a fortune at such a young age and who manages to revitalize the town, be so blind? And Stephanie becomes little more than a two dimensional paper doll, only interested in the cost of things who suddenly blows her lid just when it’s needed and in front of just who needs to see it. Though I’ve heard that at a certain age, men get the nesting urge and the first woman they see who might meet their preconceived notions is the one they subbornly set on.

I liked the book, I liked the characters but I felt the romance, even though it’s only beginning, at the ending was too quick. But in my heart of hearts I’ve got to admit that I’d love to pitch a hissy fit like Keeley did at least once in my life. A good old, down home, “raise the roof to get your point across to the moron in customer service” hissy fit. B

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in mass market and ebook formats.

REVIEW: Hidden Moon by Lori Handeland

Jayne — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 09:00:43 +0000

Dear Ms Handeland,

I think I’ve figured it out. With each location change, I find the books in the Nighcreatures series get fresh and interesting again. Then as the series continues in that location, things get stale, you have to pull out more tricks to keep things interesting and I lose interest. With the geographical move to Lake Bluffs, GA, I get to perk up again. But then what next? Will Grace have a book? Something to do with Cherokee legends? And will my grade go down until you move to something new? We’ll see but for right now, I’m glad I am still sticking with this series and that I asked Jane to get me an arc.

Claire is a heroine I can like. She’s a small town girl who tried the big city and who discovered that maybe her own backyard isn’t so bad after all. She’s usually levelheaded, not prone to hysteria and neither immediately believes all the supernatural stuff with which she’s confronted during the town’s annual Moon Festival nor holds out in disbelief way past when it’s obvious that things aren’t normal anymore. She doesn’t try to act like a Wonder Woman but instead uses her head to think her way out of danger.

By having all the old werewolf stuff revealed through Claire’s internet searches, you save the info dump scenes that have been at the end of the past few books. Also, I enjoyed the fact that you used a different character to explain the Mengele thing and was frankly glad that so few Jager-Suchers were in this book. And that it didn’t end with a hundred more people learning about this super secret government society. I guess Claire and Grace are lucky that the villain didn’t decide to turn the entire town into werewolves with the swastika incantation once the lightning bolt hit apple tree was found.

While I enjoy first person novels, sometimes I feel that I don’t get to know the other characters as well. It’s not a problem here with Claire’s best friend Grace as you provide lots of background information about the Cherokee town police chief but I don’t feel like I got to know Malachi Cartwright (and that name never did sound like a Gypsy one to me). Yes, I know his background history and what happened to him but I never felt I really got to know him. And how did Mal know Claire was The One and thus know to use the mist on her to get her used to him? Or did he just guess and take a chance? And how did the gypsies trace the descendants of the witch? They’re not exactly hooked up to the web. Plus the romance between Claire and Mal is a little fast even with the LoveMist. A week by my calculations.

Still, I’m just so darn happy that this book worked better for me as I do have a lot of time invested in the series so far and I enjoy seeing strong heroines. Bring on “Thunder Moon.” I’m ready. B-

~Jayne