A sexy, generally affecting romance. This is the first entry in a two-book series. It was originally self-published in 2012.
Taylor and Hunter are inexplicably thrown together as roommates in a college dorm; drawn to each other despite—or perhaps because of—deep-seated wounds, they develop a close bond that leads to romance.
On move-in day of her sophomore year, Taylor Caldwell discovers that she has been assigned a male roommate. And a dangerously sexy one at that. Taylor has generally avoided men since a traumatic childhood experience left her distrustful of them, so sharing a room with one of the most gorgeous males she’s ever seen is disconcerting. The fact that he is also charming, talented and clearly attracted to her makes him terrifying. When it becomes apparent that he has his own traumas to overcome, the two forge an unexpected friendship that is complicated by blazing sexual tension. Taylor is convinced she’ll never want a man, and she's determined to never need one. At first, Hunter views Taylor as a challenge, but he soon decides she’s his once-in-a-lifetime mate, without even sleeping with her. The few sizzling kisses they share are evidence enough of a physical connection, and his emotions just keep getting more and more entwined with the prickly girl who refuses to get close to anyone. But Hunter is on a mission—he’s known heartache and once believed all was lost, so he recognizes the symptoms in Taylor. He wants to remind her how to trust and love. And when a shadow from Taylor’s past threatens to overwhelm her, he’ll stand by her side, no matter what. New adult author Cameron is a smooth writer who has a great feel for story and character. She deftly moves the pace along through realistic dialogue and a well-balanced narrative. However, readers could find the premise of the story—that an unknown male would be assigned to a dorm room with a coed and she wouldn’t deal with it immediately—far-fetched. Also, the buildup to Taylor’s trauma is so tensely drawn that it ultimately proves anticlimactic when readers find out what it is. Overall, though, a fine effort.
A sexy, generally affecting romance. This is the first entry in a two-book series. It was originally self-published in 2012.Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-373-77829-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal...
A gumbo seasoned with ghosts, love, and murder on the bayou.
When 30-something Declan Fitzgerald of Boston, a successful lawyer and a member of a large and loving family, breaks off his engagement to very suitable Jessica, he knows he needs to change his life. Lawyering is not fun anymore, so, recalling Manet Hall, an old deserted plantation house he once visited with law school classmate and New Orleans native Remy, he buys the property and moves down south. Declan is also a gifted craftsman, a born decorator, and very, very rich. Soon, he meets beautiful Lena, who’s visiting her grandmother Odette, Declan’s friendly Cajun neighbor. Declan is as certain that Lena is destined to be his wife as he was that Manet Hall would become his home. But, surprise, Lena has a troubled past (like the house) and is determined to resist Declan’s courtship. While he suits Lena and works on the place, Declan experiences troubling dreams. It seems he’s actually reliving the novel’s parallel story, which took place in 1899. In that year, the maid, Abbey Manet (from whom Lena, coincidentally, is descended, and who married wealthy Lucian Manet), was raped and murdered by her brother-in-law Julian as she nursed her baby daughter. Her body was dumped into the bayou by her mother-in-law, who despised her. And grief-stricken husband Lucian, away at the time, being told that Abbey had run off, committed suicide. Now, in an unconvincing twist of gender and reincarnation, it’s Declan who hears a baby crying , experiences childbirth and rape as the reincarnation of Abbey, while Lena is Lucian. The two accept all this with equanimity, and, Manet Hall’s secrets revealed, it becomes the setting for predictable and much foreshadowed resolutions.
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal fans will enjoy.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14824-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
With characters you care for, a smooth, engaging plot and an interesting reflection on values and success, romance/women’s...
Sonnet Romano has spent her adult years working hard to make a name for herself out in the real world, far away from her idyllic hometown, Willow Lake. But when life takes some unexpected turns, she may just realize that everything she’s been looking for is right back where she started.
Sonnet has checked off most of the big boxes on her "must-do-before-age-thirty" list, and she’s over-the-moon about her life in Manhattan, her job with UNESCO and the opportunities on the horizon from winning a prestigious international program fellowship. But everything comes to a screeching halt when she learns her newly married mother—who had Sonnet as a teenager and raised her as a single mom—is pregnant and sick. Forsaking the fellowship, Sonnet moves back to Willow Lake to be with her mother, risking disapproval from her father, who’s running for the U.S. Senate, and her fledgling boyfriend, who’s working on her father’s campaign. She accepts a job on a reality show being shot in the town, featuring an infamous female rapper and bunch of inner-city kids, and learns that her estranged best friend has been hired as the lead cameraman. Sonnet and Zach have been friends forever, but he is part of her past, and they are on different paths in life. Despite a sizzling newfound attraction between them, she wants her mom to get well, the baby to be born and the show to be wrapped, so she can get back to the city and her own fast track to the successful, prestigious future she’s always worked toward. But slowing down has a funny way of forcing Sonnet to take stock, and maybe her idea of a perfect life will alter with a little help from the old and new important people in her life and the picture-perfect town she grew up in.
With characters you care for, a smooth, engaging plot and an interesting reflection on values and success, romance/women’s fiction favorite Wiggs sends up another charming winner in the Lakeshore Chronicles series.Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1384-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2012
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