HIDDEN NATURE

5 stars out of 5

Inquiring minds want to know: Could this be the start of a new series? If it is, count me in; Maryland Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper won me over from the git-go, and I warmed up to the rest of those I'd expect to be recurring characters almost as fast.

For most of the book, though, I almost felt like I was channeling another favorite series - Kate Carlisle's Shannon Hammer. Both lead females are strong women, and both are heavily involved in the construction industry (Shannon owns her own company, while Sloan's family, including her sister Drea, are in that business here in a place called Heron's Nest while Sloan focuses on the business of being a cop. I'll also say construction is a subject near and dear to my own heart after growing up with a DIY father who could build just about anything; what that means is for the most part I really enjoyed all the details about home construction and remodeling that might be a bit of a turn-off for others.

But that part aside, the plot centers on Sloan's returning to her family's home to recover from gunshot wounds when she was off-duty and unexpectedly attacked in a convenience store. As she begins to recover, she's afforded an opportunity for a promotion and relocation right where she is - an offer that takes on a whole new meaning when both she and her sister run into very intriguing - and very hunky - guys who relocated here to start a (what else!) construction business.

But duty calls as well; a young woman who's vanished under very mysterious circumstances catches her attention - and a search for similar disappearances is a great way to spend time while she's on limited duty. Soon, though, it becomes almost an obsession as several other cases turn up in three states; all vanished with no trace, no evidence and no apparent connection. Sloan, though, believes otherwise and sets out to find one while she's in the midst of kindling a new love as well as redoing a fireplace so she can kindle a fire on cold winter nights.

And so it goes, with chapters detailing progress on the building projects, Sloan's investigation and insights from a couple of very psychologically damaged people. Everything gets resolved by the end, though with no shortage of edge-of-seat action. It was a thoroughly enjoyable journey for me, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another book by a long-time favorite author.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2025); 448 pp.

MIND GAMES

4 stars out of 5

A titch scary. A little hard to believe. A lot sappy. But dang it all, I didn't want to put it down.

The scary part comes early on with the gruesome murder of 12-year-old Thea Cox's parents - a horrible incident that Thea and her grandmother, Lucy, both "see" as it happens. Thea and her younger brother, Rem, then go to live in Redbud Hollow in rural Kentucky, Thanks to Thea's visions, the killer was caught, convicted and sentenced to life in prison - and since then the children have for the most part thrived. But it seems the killer himself has the vision - and from his prison cell, he uses it to torment Thea by entering her mind. Over the years, she's learned to shut him out for the most part, but he finds new ways to burrow in again.

While in college, Thea learns how to develop computer games, which she turns into a highly profitable business. Grandma Lucy is a businesswoman as well, making handmade soaps and similar items from her home workshop in Kentucky. Over the years, Thea keeps her gift alive by helping police solve otherwise unsolvable cases - much as she did to bring her parents' murderer to justice. 

Things take a new turn when an elderly neighbor passes away, leaving her property to an on-hiatus rock star and his adorable young son. As chance would have it (yeah, right!), Thea once had a huge crush on the guy, which of course is rekindled when they meet. The romance heats up - until her gift collides with his way-over-the-top reaction (at which point I'd have kicked the idiot to the curb, but then that's just me). 

Finally, Thea reaches the limit of her tolerance and vows to bring the head games to a halt - hopefully without losing herself in the process. It all makes for an exciting ending. Definitely worth reading, and for the record, I wouldn't be opposed to reading more on the adventures of Thea and her grandmother. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. 

Mind Games by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2024); 352 pp.

IDENTITY

4 stars out of 5

I doubt I've missed a single book in the popular Eve Dallas series this author writes as J.D. Robb, but to the best of my recollection this is the first I've read that she's penned as herself. And my reaction is weirdly mixed; while I enjoyed it thoroughly - to the point of not wanting to put it down - in other ways it kind of made me crazy.

The story is a mix of romance and suspense starring Morgan Albright, who tends bar at night after her day job to earn enough money to refurbish the small house she bought in Maryland. At the bar, she meets - and takes somewhat of a liking to - a friendly, uber-considerate guy named Gavin. Not only does he steal her identity and wipe out her entire financial life, he's a monster who kills her beloved roommate Nina, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Morgan then learns from the FBI that he's a suspected serial killer, and it's likely she was to be his next victim.

In financial free-fall and owing thousands of dollars - I guess her bank and credit card companies had no fraud protection - she heads to her mother's home in Vermont, where her grandmother lives as well. There's a backstory there, too, but all seems to be rosy now as the other two women - "My ladies," as Morgan calls them - take every opportunity to assure Morgan how great she is and how much they love her. Their local "connections" help Morgan land a posh job managing the bar at a nearby upscale family-owned resort.

Hanging over her head, though, is the realization that Gavin is a psychopath who isn't finished with her; she's the one who got away, after all, and he will stop at nothing to get her back. That, in her view, threatens the job she loves and complicates her budding relationship with the resort family's eldest son, Miles, who isn't the most pleasant of characters in his own right. But here, too, Miles, Morgan's "ladies," all the family members who run the resort and all but one of the employees constantly reassure Morgan that she's smart, beautiful and far too valuable to be thrown to the wolf who hasn't found the door (yet).

The rest of the story tracks the romance and the killer's progress in working his way to Morgan - and of course, you'll get no details from me on those issues. The whole thing held my attention throughout, even if I did quickly tire of an excess of dialog, mostly arguments over who's more perfect, or who loves who more and lengthy explanations of why good bartenders know so much about so many things (hint: yes, there's a ton of repetition). The ending didn't come as a big surprise nor increase my fondness (or lack thereof) for any of the characters, but it was satisfying nonetheless. All in all, it's an enjoyable read - with the end result that I'm looking forward to the author's next book. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Identity by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2023); 448 pp.

QUARTER TO MIDNIGHT

4 stars out of 5

Romantic anything is about half a dozen genres away from what I enjoy reading, but "suspense" brings it more into line with my liking. More daunting, at least for me, is that this one is just over 600 pages in length. That said, once I finally made it to the end, it's really not bad at all. It features ex-Marine Molly Sutton, a former law enforcement officer in North Carolina who join her former commanding officer Burke Broussard in his private investigation firm.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Gabe Hebert has emerged as a top chef in the French Quarter. But then his father dies and it's deemed a suicide - not, Gabe insists. So, he turns to Burke, his late father's best friend. That puts Gabe in tune with Molly, and from the start, it's music for their hearts (and those of readers who are into such things).

Apparently, Gabe's father, a former police officer, had spent years digging around the edges of a cold case murder that happened during Hurricane Katrina. When he got too close to the truth, he was warned off; when he didn't pay attention, he paid with his life. The rest of the story follows the details of Molly's investigation and the sometimes steamy relationship between Molly and Gabe. All in all, it's a solid, action-packed story that would be perfect for a summer beach read or in front of a roaring fireplace when the snow flies. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.

Quarter to Midnight by Karen Rose (Berkley, August 2022); 604 pp.

RELUCTANT HEART

4 stars out of 5

Disclosure: Under normal conditions, I'd rather walk barefoot through hot

coals than read a romance novel. More disclosure: While I wouldn't recognize the author if I passed her on the street, we do share a local connection. And since one of the joys of my life is reading and reviewing books - 88 so far this year, mostly pre-release copies through NetGalley - I figured a positive review can't hurt. In this case, though, I decided to hedge my bets. Instead of begging for a free copy and hoping my request is approved as is the custom at NetGalley, I opted to get my own directly from Amazon. That way, if I couldn't make it to the end without losing my lunch, I'd just skip it and no one would be the wiser.

Well, you're reading this, so guess what? 

The central character is Kacie Parker, an early 40-something who lost her husband Todd a couple of years earlier in a helicopter accident. Their two grown children are off to college (although they live in Virginia, the daughter is enrolled at The Ohio State University - go Bucks). Suddenly, she gets a blast from her past when her husband's old friend Charlie Walsh knocks at her door. And suddenly, her lonely but comfortable life gets turned upside down; Charlie, it seems, has loved her for years. Now, he's come to stake a claim of his own (with fingers crossed that she's willing to even consider letting him in the game).

In truth, she is; she'd love nothing more than for him to lug his suitcase (and her) straight up to her bedroom. But immediately, self-doubts and what-ifs invade her head. Will her lust for Charlie sully memories of her late husband? Will the kids think she's a traitor? How will Todd's parents and their hoity-toity friends react? Ah, the guilt!

And herein lies the biggest issue I have with romance novels - my total disdain for (and admitted inability to relate to) wishy-washy females who just can't seem to get it together. And there's no lack of that here; Kacie straddles the fence more than I'd like, and several times I wanted to yell, hey lady, Charlie's got the hots for you, and you've got the hots for Charlie. Just get it on, already!

That said, Kacie's actions and reactions don't go that far over the top. Several uncomfortable situations arise that leave her confused about her feelings, but after she thinks through whatever the issue is, she is able to sort out and make sense of her emotions. It may take a while for her to come around (with no small amount of help from Charlie, who for a guy seems unusually sensitive to what the woman he's after wants), but it's clear that she knows her own mind and, in the end, will make sensible decisions. No, I won't reveal what those are - you'll have to read it for yourself (which I hope you do).

So it is that I reached the end not only with my lunch intact - actually, two or three of them, plus a couple of dinners - but also with the realization that this is a well-written, entertaining book that I don't hesitate to recommend to anyone who enjoys this genre. Mind you, I'm still nowhere near making a beeline for the bodice-ripper shelves at the library. But when the author finishes her next book (which she says she's working on now), I'll certainly be willing to give it a go. Good job!

Reluctant Heart by Lindsay Evanoff (independently published, August 2020); 338 pp.

SOLACE ISLAND

4 stars out of 5

Billed as a "contemporary novel with a strong suspense element," I must first and foremost warn those who, like me, aren't into "bodice-rippers" that this book is littered with the stuff. "He was envious of the strands of [her] hair for their right to caress her face at will," is a mild example; most of the rest is far, far more graphic. The suspense part didn't rear its much-anticipated head until the 50% mark (and boy, was I ever happy to see it).

Suffice it to say, then, that had I not received an advance copy for review (which I'd requested because the author is an award-winning actress I admire), it's likely that I'd have called it quits early on. But I didn't; and given the excellent writing and almost edge-of-seat action (once it got going), I must say that overall, this is a very good book with which anyone who loves romance combined with suspense should be absolutely delighted (put another way, just because the romance genre isn't my cup of tea doesn't mean it isn't well done).

It begins with 27-year-old Maggie Harris getting dumped by her five-year fiance the day before the wedding. As they've been running a successful business together, Maggie insists that he buy her out or else she'll sell her interest to someone else. To get some much-needed "me" time, Maggie agrees to her sister Eve's proposition to take a three-week getaway on Solace Island off the Washington coast. On the ferry trip to the island, a distraught Maggie is noticed by hunky Luke Benson, a baker who lives on the island and sells his popular breads at the weekly market. When Maggie gets lost trying to find their rental cottage in the dark, she once again encounters Luke - a meeting that, as readers might suspect, arouses Luke's prurient interest in getting to know her better.

Also as readers might suspect, there's many a slip between the cup and Maggie's lips; when Luke fails to show up for a "thank you" dinner at Maggie and Eve's place, the sisters are, well, not happy. Because they've decided to try selling Maggie's sweet treats at the market but are thwarted by the local rules and regulations, they ask Luke for help with getting their feet in the door. Wanting to spend more time with Maggie, Luke agrees.

As mentioned above, at about the half-way mark, the plot thickens as Maggie is nearly run down by a car. In fact, it's likely she'd have been killed on the spot without a last-second shove by Luke (which in turn brings into question who he really is and what he's doing on the island besides baking). His background comes to the forefront even more when, for their safety, Maggie and Eve move into his high-tech, spectacular home on the island. By now, Maggie has pretty much decided that she shares Luke's lust, but given what she doesn't know about him, can she trust him? Of course, readers learn the answer to that question as the story - and more attempts on Maggie's life - play out. Everything leads to an exciting finish, part of which I expected and part I missed by a country mile. My conclusion? Except for the focus on body parts and innovative ways they can be utilized, this really is a riveting book.

Solace Island by Meg Tilly (Berkley, November 2018); 301 pp.

MONSTER IN THE CLOSET

4 stars out of 5

Honestly, I don't think I've ever read a book that encompasses both the mystery/thriller and romance categories, and after finishing this one (which I truly enjoyed, BTW), I probably won't do it again. The thriller part is great - more than a few times I caught myself right on the edge of my usual seat at one end of our living room sofa. The romance part? SMH.

That's not because I'm anti-romance - heck, I've been married for 55 years, although I suppose some might say that's an argument for both sides of the equation - nor is it because I didn't like the characters. In fact, I liked them all a lot (except for the bad guys and gals, of course). But mostly, that sappy stuff tends to leave me cold when it's on paper. Here, my thinking was more like hey, it's the 21st century - any two people your age I know would have booked a room by now, especially when one of you, shall we say, gets aroused every time the other one of you as much as burps.

So, I'll concentrate my review on the thriller part, and it's pretty much all good. A young girl named Jazzie came home to find her mother lying on the floor dead - and the murderer rummaging around in the closet in the room. She hides behind a chair and - to her terror - sees who it is. About a month later Jazzie, who hasn't spoken a word since the day of the murder, and her little sister Janie are sent to an equine therapy facility. There, they meet Taylor Dawson, who's come from California for an internship after graduating college with a degree in psychology. 

At the facility, Taylor meets Ford Elkhart, the hunky son of the facility's owner (almost instantly, they become the two who really, really need to get a room). But Taylor has other issues; as a young child, her mother told her that her absent father was a terrible, mean person who someday would return to do her harm. She's since learned that her mother lied big-time, and she's desperately trying to find her birth father. Meanwhile, Ford's good friend and private-eye Clay Maynard has spent years trying to find the daughter he never knew, stolen by his spiteful ex-wife (hmmm, does two and two make four)?

Much of the tension happens when the murderer - who's been on the loose - begins to suspect that Jazzie could identify him. He finds out where the girl is, and his big question is whether she's shared her secret with anyone else and if so, with whom. How he answers that question threatens the lives of Jazzie, Taylor and several other fine folks.

Throughout if all, a number of other people are "connected" in various ways, with backstories that need to be kept straight (for the most part easy to do). Ultimately, they come together in an all's well that ends well finish.

I should also say that the entire book takes place over the course of a couple of days, making some of what happens a little tough to swallow. I'm pretty much willing to accept love at first glance. Believing that people who are willing to almost instantly forgive those they thought for years had done them wrong is a bit of a stretch. But when Taylor is injured during a squirmish, goes to the emergency room for stitches and the whole thing - from squirimsh to release - takes a total of two hours, it was all she wrote. I've known plenty of folks who had to visit an ER, and not a single one - not ever - got sprung in less than half a day.

My conclusion? Very enjoyable book. My thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Monster in the Closet by Karen Rose (Berkley, August 29, 2017); 508 pp.

THE LIAR

4 stars out of 5

As I neared the end of this book - which I'd call a romance/mystery, I guess - I thought to myself, I'm enjoying this. But when I tried to determine why, my brain just couldn't spit out an answer. The mystery part is predictable (I suspected the "twist" by the end of the third or fourth chapter and yes, I was spot-on). The romance part is borderline sappy - but then I admit I'm not big on the lovey-dovey stuff unless you count the interaction between the dashing Roarke and Lt. Eve Dallas, characters from one of my favorite series penned by this author writing as J.D. Robb. In fact, this is the first book by Roberts writing as Roberts that I've read in a very long time.

Still, whatever the reason, the book is worth reading; I won't say I hated to put it down when the need arose, but neither did I ever consider not finishing it. It begins as Shelby Foxworth, the mother of an adorable, precocious three-year-old, starts to collect her life following the death of her husband in a boating accident. What she learns is a real shocker: Not only was he a cheater and liar, he left her with a staggering amount of debt. A would-be singer, she'd run away from her small-town Tennessee home to pursue a career and married the guy on the spur of the moment, and now she is forced to return to her family and start life anew.

As she collects things from her highly mortgaged Philadelphia house that's headed for foreclosure, she discovers a key in one of her late husband's jackets that appears to be from a safety deposit box. She runs to every bank in town until she's successful (begging the question in my mind as to why a liar and cheat would open a box he clearly wanted to keep secret under his own name). In it, Shelby finds not only a substantial sum of money which she uses to help pay down some of the debt, but documents that reveal her husband had, and no doubt used, multiple identities.

Back home in Tennessee, she's welcomed with open arms by her picture-perfect family that includes a policeman brother and good friends (well, most of them, anyway), and within days she meets - you knew this is coming - the picture-perfect guy. Needless to say, she's more than a little gun-shy at this point, so there's plenty of angst as she tries to sort out her feelings. Then, her past comes back with a vengeance as outsiders come to town - both good guys and bad - all believing that she knows more about her late husband's illicit past than she's admitted so far. Spice things up with a couple of murders and an ending that wraps everything up with a big bow, and there you go.  

That the ending is too neat and tidy, I suppose, is my biggest complaint (in fact, that description pretty much sums up the entire book). Still, as I said at the beginning, it's quite enjoyable, if only for the in-depth look at down-home-style family dynamics and relationships. From now on, though, I think I'll stick with the author's far more enjoyable J.D. Robb books.

The Liar by Nora Roberts (G.P. Putnam's Sons, April 2015); 501 pp.

THE ACCIDENTAL ART THIEF

4 stars out of 5

Before I reached the midpoint of this book, which was offered to me free for reviewing, I concluded that anyone who read and enjoyed J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy (as I did), most likely will enjoy this one as well. Both focus on in-depth development of each and every character, warts and all, and, ultimately, showing how they're all connected. As in that book, all the characters in this one have "issues" - some more than others. Some are totally unlikable and others are tolerable, but there wasn't a single one I didn't want to smack upside the head after "meeting" him (or her) a couple of times.

The main character, for instance, is a 45-year-old poetry-writing recluse who has spent her last 25 years cleaning house and helping with an elderly man in New Mexico. She (Kathryn Winesky, a.k.a. Zinc), lives in a casita on the old man's property. She's perfectly content with the status quo, not caring about earning more money or trying new things. As for making her own decisions? Fuhgettaboutit. 

The old man, named Thomas Quickwater, loves to buy works of art; over the years as he acquires new paintings, he gives the ones he's replacing to Zinc. Quickwater has a daughter, Marge, who is downright nasty and has taken over his financial affairs - and she's made it clear to Zinc that the paintings are loans, not gifts. When the old man, who's almost 94, falls and dies (near the beginning of the story), Marge tells Zinc she wants all the paintings returned to the estate and that Zinc must leave her beloved casita. Marge expects to collect 44 - the number she has recorded as being on loan - but it turns out there's a 45th. Zinc discovers the error and - after considerable arguing back and forth with her conscience - chooses one to hide away for herself (thus, I assume, providing the book's title).

Zinc ends up staying temporarily with her brother, Frankie, who lives not far away and is an auto mechanic; her presence there is over his objections, since they don't get along well (like me, he finds it hard to understand her lackadaisical attitude toward her own life and difficulty making decisions). To that end, she waffles between feeling guilty for "stealing" the extra painting and the belief that it held special meaning for her former employer and he would have wanted her to own it. In the end, guilt wins out, and she decides to send Marge an email apologizing for her behavior and offering to return the painting.

As her [dumb] luck would have it, though, the email is sent to a man who has a similar name - Mark Quickwater, also a poet - who lives in Antigua. The two strike up an online relationship (more dumb luck, as Zinc somehow never realizes the error of the email she thought she'd sent to Marge), Zinc accepts his invitation to meet in person and hops on a plane despite just having landed a new job at the local Chamber of Commerce. They spend an idyllic week there, and Zinc returns home in love and with a suntan deeper than she's ever had before (making me wish I knew her secret; I don't sunburn easily, but if I ever spent outdoor time anywhere in the southern hemisphere, I'd be a crispy critter within an hour or two).

Anything more said about Zinc's adventures will spoil things, but given the complexities, peccadilloes and backgrounds of all the characters here, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that there's really no happy ending - in fact, there's not much of an ending at all (as we all know, life goes on with or without our permission). All in all, the book is very well written, and the detail and often seemingly pointless conversations really do happen for a good reason - tying everything and everyone together. 

Well, almost; there's a bit of a twist at the end that suggests there may be a follow-up novel in the works. Stay tuned!

The Accidental Art Thief by Joan Schweighardt (Twilight Times Books, May 2015); 232 pages.

THE FIRST WIFE

4 stars out of 5

After the first couple of chapters, I was afraid I'd gotten myself into a sappy bodice-ripper - definitely not my cup of tea. The earmarks were there: Instant falling in love (forever, of course), gazing so deeply into each others' eyeballs that each could see what the other had for dinner and character names somebody must have stayed up all night to come up with (twins Raine and Roane, for instance). But hey, the setting is South Louisiana, so maybe the name game is different in that neck of the woods.

Bailey Browne, a lonely young woman who's prone to dreaming about a white knight who will sweep her off her feet, goes on vacation and finds him in older hunka hunka Logan Abbott. He confesses that his first wife True, (another of those crazy names), disappeared one day and hasn't been heard of since. Relatively unfazed, Bailey agrees to marry Logan (since his first wife hasn't been found, I'm not sure how he managed a second marriage without becoming a bigamist -  but then again, this is South Louisiana). At any rate, the couple returns to Logan's expansive horse farm, expecting to settle down and live happily ever after.

Of course, life rarely goes as planned. Early on, Bailey learns that all isn't what it seems in LA-la land, and there's even a rumor that her gorgeous husband may have been involved in his first wife's disappearance as well as in that of other women from the area who have gone missing over the years. At first, Bailey begins to doubt Logan's love for her, flipping between "How can I live with someone who won't reveal his innermost dark secrets to me?" to believing with all her heart that he's being railroaded.

Emotional histrionics aside, it was at this point that the plot really begins to thicken and the book turned into one I had trouble putting down (I read the last few chapters while watching the 40th anniversary of "Saturday Night Live" on TV, just to show how intent I was on finishing it). There are several intriguing characters (a couple of whom have relatively normal names), and the backgrounds of each are fleshed out as part of the race to unearth what really happened to all those missing women. Along the way, Bailey's life is threatened (more than once), there's a lot more horsing around as other bodies pile up.

And, finding out whodunit kept me reading with gusto to the very end. I will say that almost from the beginning I had two characters in mind for that role, and by golly, I was right (well, one of them was) - but really, that only added to my enjoyment of the book. If you like romance mixed with mystery, don't hesitate to give this one a go.

The First Wife by Erica Spindler (St. Martin's Press, February 2015); 352 pp.