Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Dear Ms. Higgins,

This isn’t quite a straight contemporary and yet is not all the way to Chick Lit. I was firmly in Maggie’s corner as she searches for Mr. Right but I gotta say, it’s sad when two priests join your family in trying to find blind dates for you. Yet Maggie stays upbeat during the search. She isn’t too picky, demanding Mr. Rich-and Handsome, nor does she sink to accepting Mr. Merely Breathing. It’s also the second story set in Maine I’ve read in the past month. Is this the new Idaho?

Thank you for not trying to catch the local accent in the writing. One character is portrayed with only the Maine accent but you didn’t pepper the rest of the book with more than an occasional “ayuh” thereby avoiding a major peeve of mine - the Faux Highland Brogue Syndrome.

Yet there’s a lot of local color and habits - “jeezum” and stuff about lobstermen, and the fact that they think 55 degrees is weather for short sleeves and suntanning. Really? And May is the beginning of warm weather - oh burrrr says the Southern Girl in me. …

Dear Ms. Kantra:

Sea Witch is a departure from the paranormals that I prefer. It’s the real world with a paranormal aspect instead of fully developed alternate reality. This type of paranormal is usually not my favorite but really worked in this situation. I’ve not read a lot of Kantra books. I think the last one I read was Mad Dog and Annie, a Silhouette Intimate Moments. I’m certainly on board for more Kantra’s, though, after reading this one.

The heroine, Margred, is a selkie whose love for the sea is greater than all else. Her husband was taken from her years ago; but while she misses him selkies, by their nature, are very solitary. Her only need is one of physical companionship and this drives her from the water to a small island community. “Your island is between the Arctic current and the Gulf Stream, like . . . a convenient resting place for anyone making the ocean crossing.” Margred informs the hero, Caleb, at one point in the story.

Caleb Hunter is the police chief of World’s End. He’s taken the job to …

Dear Ms. Neggers:

I saw from your website that this is your first hardcover. I read your book directly after finishing Linda Howard’s Cover of Night. You would suppose that given La Belle Howard’s huge popularity and my love for many of her works, your placement in the reading order would result in a negative. Fortunately, I kept thinking throughout The Widow that this is how Linda Howard should have done it. Your book and Linda Howard’s have a couple of similarities.

Suspense thread
Grieving widow
Mild unrequited love (in Howard’s, this is a bit more pronounced).

On every level, this was a better story. Abigail Browning is a widow whose FBI Agent husband is killed on their honeymoon when the two of them went to stay in his home in upper Maine. One day, Abigail is attacked by someone and her necklace is stolen. Her husband, Christopher, comes home to find her injured. He is angry and believes he knows who is responsible. Later that night he goes out to confront the attacker. Chris does not return. Instead, he is found shot in the head …