With seven published contemporary romance novels and all the 5 star reviews spread across them, this author did not surprise me one bit with another great read. Mary has a way of weaving her words that sets you up with a warm and cozy feeling as you read through her novels and this book was no exception. It took me a few pages to fall into the story, at first it seemed too good to be true until I realized the story was based in how vulnerable women can easily be fooled and taken advantage of. There is a lesson in this read for everyone.
Widowed Jillian has finally met the man of her dreams in Travis and completely accepted his strange work routines without really knowing much about him. He seems like the perfect man, charming, attractive and generous with his words of adoration and because he makes her feel so loved after such a huge loss and then lonely period in her life, she trusts him. Widowed too young and having eventually remarried, Felicia’s story begins when she awakens from a year long coma and is completely smitten in love all over again because her wonderful husband Stephen waited for her. His sweet words of true love for her allow her to feel as if she’d not missed the last year with him at all and trust him even more since only true love would wait so long. As these characters develop and more of their lives unfold, you begin to wonder, wealthy widows, similarities in the men they love and the little moments that their lives cross paths tell you something is wrong with Travis and Stephen. Jillian’s daughter, Suzette goes from High School senior to her dream job and experiences lost love and true love as well, adding depth to the romance quality of the whole story and their dearest old friend Melody is there throughout. There will be moments when you realize just how small the world is and may even think of your own experiences with remarkable coincidences.
Truth and true love should always prevail and Mary did an excellent job of releasing tension and leaving this reader surprised and anxious for the next book in her collection. I particularly liked the quick pace of the book. Moving through time without accounting for every single day, takes skill and Mary pulled this off very cleverly, allowing the book to move smoothly and quickly through all of the events in the story. It’s always difficult to tell a potential reader how great a book is without revealing too much…if you like a romantic read that includes a little mystery, a little thriller action, a little reality, great characters and moves quickly with rich layers of story line, this is the book for you!
~~~~~~~~~~~> Debra L Hartmann, professional editor, published author, book reviewer for the fun of it…. http://www.theprobookeditor.com and come have an AHA moment with us at http://authorshelpingauthors.wordpress.com
I wanted, needed to do something a little different today. While Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the military, for me personally, its a sad day. It always falls right around my birthday and my soldier isn’t with me anymore to share that day with me. He died years after his service, after getting out of the military, like many other service men and women. He died as a direct result of what he did during his service in the military. It took me 3 years to finish a short story I wrote, hoping it would honor the months I had with him before he died, the memories that he wanted so desperately for me to be left with instead of the reality we lived while he slipped away. I share this, not to bring attention to my writing or to receive well wishes or sympathy from the public, please save them, I don’t need them; but instead to honor other men and women in various branches of military service that died years after serving and after spending the rest of their lives fighting the system to help them survive once they got out and to let the ones in that battle now know…you are not alone.
