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THE LAST GOOD MAN

Heartfelt and homespun, with a believably gallant hero who (sigh) never asks stupid questions.

A good man is hard to find, but a romance by Eagle (What the Heart Knows, 1999, etc.) is a good place to start.

Flat broke and disillusioned model Savannah Stephens gives up her formerly fabulous career in New York and returns home to Sunbonnet, Wyoming. No one knows why she’s back, but Clay Keogh, a local rancher, intends to find out. Clay has loved Savannah ever since he can remember, although he suspects that her six-year-old daughter, Claudia, may be his brother’s child. He can’t be sure, however, since Savannah isn’t telling and his brother, an Indian activist, has been running from the FBI for years. Strong, silent Clay bides his time until Savannah reveals that she has been treated for breast cancer and now believes her once-perfect body is too flawed for a sexual relationship. Clay attempts to reassure her, but Savannah guards her heart. Then he makes an impulsive offer: bed, board, and (most important) health insurance so she can obtain the follow-up care she so badly needs. She’ll have to marry him, but in name only, no strings attached. Touched by his kindness, Savannah agrees and begins sorting through her emotions in a breast cancer survivor’s group. She decides to do something in return for Clay, a skilled farrier who often buys old, sick horses and nurses them back to health. Savannah pulls strings to help him start a retirement farm for horses whose owners can afford to buy them a happy old age. Clay is delighted, the wary Savannah is finally won over by his gentle strength, and soon Claudia is blossoming too, no longer afraid of losing her mother. Here, as in much of Eagle’s work, good things happen to good people, albeit after much travail. Unlike most romance writers, she avoids the usual ornate rhapsodizing in favor of a rugged lyricism that suits her mountain setting down to the ground.

Heartfelt and homespun, with a believably gallant hero who (sigh) never asks stupid questions.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-380-97815-6

Page Count: 384

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000

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THE SEARCH

A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may...

A dog trainer and a wood craftsman dance around love and danger in the Pacific Northwest.

Fiona Bristow is the only victim who got away from serial killer George Perry. Now a copycat, inspired and perhaps guided by the jailed Perry, is on her trail. After Perry murdered her fiancé, Fiona rebuilt her life as a dog trainer and search-and-rescue expert on lovely Orcas Island. She’s recently met talented woodworker Simon Doyle and his misbehaving puppy Jaws, and her dormant love life is about to revive as she and the reluctant Simon slowly build a complicated relationship. Though she’s done her best to overcome her fears and make herself whole again, this new series of killings, with herself as the ultimate target, can’t help but strain her nerves. As the police and FBI track the killer, a persistent reporter makes Fiona’s life more difficult by printing information about her life and location. Through it all, Fiona keeps working. As she continues to go on rescue missions with a team that may soon include Simon and Jaws, her friends help to keep her balanced. But ultimately it will be the trust she has built up with Simon and the talents of her dogs that will change her life forever.

A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may well add dog lovers to her legion of fans.

Pub Date: July 7, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-399-15657-1

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: March 6, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010

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THE VILLA

A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without...

Megaselling Roberts (River's End, 1999, etc.) goes to Napa Valley for the tale of an Italian-American family wine producers rocked by scandal and a series of murders.

Dynasty head Tereza Giambelli knows that her granddaughter Sophia is the only family member capable of running a multimillion-dollar wine business—and no one contradicts La Signora. It's just as well the lovely young woman is still single: Tereza has plans for her. The matriarch has recently married Eli MacMillan, the American founder of another famous wine company. Eli's grandson Tyler knows everything there is to know about producing wine, from the vineyard to the vat. Ruggedly handsome, intelligent and earthy, he's a perfect match for public-relations whiz Sophia—or so thinks Tereza. The two young people begin to work together; Tyler teaches Sophia the fine art of making wine and making love. But other family members hope to claim their share of the Giambelli fortune, and people start dying mysteriously, including Sophia's good-for-nothing father, Tony Avano. Long divorced from long-suffering Pilar Giambelli, Tony led an opulent, self-indulgent life that provides plenty of murder suspects. He might have been killed by the mob, or a jealous mistress, or his spoiled brother-in-law, Tereza's lazy son, who's produced a passel of brats with his foolish Italian wife in the hopes of making Tereza happy. Everyone has a motive, and nothing is what it seems, Sophia discovers, but Tyler stands by her. Then a bottle of tainted merlot kills a company exec. A tragic mishap caused by poisonous plants growing near the vines? Or deliberate product tampering intended to destroy the company? Sophia and Tyler will need to delve even deeper into the convoluted and sometimes unsavory history of the family and its three-generation business.

A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without a hitch.

Pub Date: March 19, 2001

ISBN: 0-399-14712-8

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001

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