Paranormal elements blend with everyday experiences to add a dash of the unexpected to a traditional romance story.
A traumatized woman heals a weather-beaten security agent with a combination of supernatural powers and ordinary human compassion, discovering her own identity in the process.
Jenna has spent two decades in Texas as the isolated captive of a religious cult, exploited for her superhuman healing powers. She manages to flee the cult and is being pursued by a band of armed men when she encounters Isaac Washington, an employee of a private security firm, as she tries to steal his SUV during the course of her getaway. Isaac sympathizes with Jenna, who's obviously been beaten, and is just offering to buy her a meal when shots ring out and he's hit by gunfire. Jenna miraculously heals Isaac's sure-to-be-fatal wound with the touch of her hands, and he develops a fierce attachment to this at-risk woman. Moved by a strong sense of possessiveness, and deeply unsettled by how little Jenna knows about herself and the outside world, Isaac marshals the formidable clout of Devereaux Security Services to protect her from imminent danger. Since the cult has brainwashed Jenna into considering herself a satanic burden, she is initially wracked with guilt for putting Isaac and his friends in mortal danger but gradually begins to believe that she deserves his concern and affection. However, her journey toward self-discovery is threatened by the looming specter of a powerful man who desires sole command over Jenna’s powerful gift. The fifth installment in Banks’ Slow Burn series (With Every Breath, 2016, etc.) simmers with emotional tension and steamy sex but stops short of delivering a truly combustible climax. Jenna perfectly embodies the wounded bird archetype, and her plucky personality has just enough chutzpah to rescue her from blandness. Although Isaac’s internal transformation seems abrupt because Banks doesn't spend much time unraveling the threads of his past, his tortured musings about Jenna’s plight will tug at the heartstrings of romance readers. Strong secondary characters—and hints about their painful histories—enrich the novel's emotional palette.
Paranormal elements blend with everyday experiences to add a dash of the unexpected to a traditional romance story.Pub Date: May 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-241018-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so,...
A tenacious reporter won’t let personal ties to a decades-old case stop her from finding the truth.
On the advice of her agent, Savannah Sentinel reporter and author Nikki Gillette is looking for fodder for her latest true-crime novel when she realizes that the perfect subject is about to be released from prison. Savannah’s notorious Blondell O’Henry has been locked up for some 20 years for the murder of her oldest daughter and Nikki’s childhood friend, Amity. Now that Blondell’s son Niall has recanted the testimony that put her away all those years ago, it looks as if she’ll be a free woman unless Nikki’s fiance, Detective Pierce Reed, can find a reason to keep her detained. Pierce and Nikki both work to discover what happened years ago at that cabin in the woods, though Pierce bridles at Nikki’s rather unconventional—all right, illegal—research methods. It seems to Nikki that the more she investigates, the more connections she discovers to her own family, beginning with the fact that her Uncle Alex was the original defense attorney on the case. But all of these uncomfortable connections make Nikki still more determined to learn the truth, even if she doesn’t like what that may mean.
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so, Jackson (You Don’t Want to Know, 2012, etc.) shows a mastery of the true-crime thriller formula that will please fans.Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5858-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
