Showing posts with label suspenseful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspenseful. Show all posts

28 January 2011

Duty Calls



Duty Calls

released on February 11th











Blurb:- She’d saved his life…

Rafe Hawk refuses to accept the inheritance, of a large English estate, and the title that goes with it, after his birth father’s death because the man chose duty over the woman he loved and their son.

So when he finds himself temporarily living at Kinsale Hall, he’s not prepared to trust anyone associated with the place, including Trudi Delaney and her daughter.

So why, when he looks into their eyes, does he suddenly remember a woman who vanished without a trace after saving his life one stormy night ten years earlier?

Now he could destroy hers.

Instinct warns Trudi Delaney the arrival of the contemptuous American architect at Kinsale Hall will change her life forever. Especially when she discovers he spends so much of his time in areas of Kinsale Hall off-limits to visitors.

Eleven years after escaping from her psychotic husband with a stranger, she’s still plagued by nightmares of events she can’t remember. Events such as, who fathered her beautiful daughter?

Now, more than a decade later, she is confronted by another stranger. Will this one destroy everything she holds dear?
~ ~ ~ ~

Excerpt:-
“Only Daniel Kinsale and his solicitors knew I’d arranged to meet him. No one knew I changed my schedule and arrived in England a week earlier than expected, and yet Denny Cadmore somehow discovered both my plans and identity.”

Rafe glared at his parent. “Given those facts, tell me why I should stake a claim on a god-forsaken English estate, when everything and everyone who means anything to me is here in Boston?”

The drone of the old-fashioned overhead fan broke the ensuing silence. The oppressive heat stalked through the room sapping the energy from anyone or anything in its path.

“Rafe you’re making me dizzy, sit down and stop prowling round the room.” His mother patted the cushions beside her. “How many times do I have to tell you, you were born from love, not lust? Whether you like it or not, you are the legitimate heir to your father’s estates.”

A shaft of sunlight caught a few silvery streaks in her blonde hair.

“But born out of wedlock,” Rafe snapped, before realising the words queued up for release.

“Yes, out of wedlock,” she sighed. “I’ve never denied it, nor have I stolen your entitlement to your birth name. Your birth father…” she paused for a few seconds, “…Daniel, loved me.”

She continued on a wistful note, “I knew he couldn’t divorce his wife and accepted we had no future together, only the present. I’ve explained why he felt duty bound to uphold his family’s expectations. Nor that you were unintended. Having you gave me reason to survive without Daniel. You are from the man of my heart.”

Rafe’s free hand crashed down on the table sending the letter floating to the floor. “If he loved you so much, how come another of his bastards crawled out of the woodwork? One whose birth certificate proves he’s ten days younger than me? How come that same bastard damn near sent me to my grave?

Explain that if you can!”

You can read the reviews HERE



25 January 2010

Absolute Write ~ Book Review Blog Chain

Absolute Write is running two blogs chains this month, so I have dipped my toes into another new venture and joined both.  In the book review blog chain each member picks a book we enjoy, and offer a detailed review on our blogs.
Members of the Absolute Write Blog Chain --->
Collectonian - http://collectonian.livejournal.com/
Lost Wanderer - http://www.lostwanderer5.blogspot.com/
DavidZahir - http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/
RavenCorinnCarluk - http://www.ravencorrinncarluk.blogspot.com/
were before me, and I am followed by
Forbidden Snowflake - http://alleslinks.com/
veinglory - http://thefleam.blogspot.com/


Today I am reviewing one of my all time favourites, ~ Northern Lights by Nora Roberts.
I have the paperback which contains 535 pages, published by Piatkus (http://www.piatkus.co.uk/)
I have the unabridged audio version, read by Gary Littman.
And on New Year night I recorded the film version from the TV.
Did I say Northern Lights is one of my all time favourites? LOL

In this electrifying romantic suspense, Nora Roberts takes her hero, Nate Burke and plants him in Lunacy, Alaska, and gives him the job of chief of police. This suits Nate down to the ground as he’s haunted by the failure of his marriage and loss of his partner in a shootout in a dark ally in Baltimore. All he’s looking for is survival and time to come to terms with his losses in this out-of-the-way law-abiding small town.


What he does not expect is to meet his fate in the form of loner bush pilot, Meg Galloway. Nor does he expect to be confronted with a sixteen year old murder to solve. Suddenly the sleepy township is full of dark secrets, a spate of new murders, and more suspects than he’s had hot dinners, and the reader enjoys pitting their wits against the author to see if they can discover the muderer before Nora is ready to reveal all.


As always Nora plants plenty of clues along the way, but it is not until near the end of the book that the culprit is revealed. Her secondary characters all have vital roles to play and as ever Nora brings out the idiosyncrasies in each one including the mountain called No Name.


Not everyone enjoys ‘head-hopping’, but Nora’s skill, in moving fluently from one character to another, adds pace and intimacy to her books.


If you want a book that will occupy you for hours and keep you guessing until the end, you will enjoy this book.


When you’ve read the book it can be hard to come to terms with another’s interpretation of your perception of a story. In the audio version of Northern Lights, Gary Littman, added, rather than detracted from my enjoyment.


Sadly, I cannot say the same about the film. The screen writer has taken the story, squeezed the life out of it, picked up a few of the last gasps that still survived, changed the integrity of the characters, butchered the story and offered 90 minutes of dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discontent that you actually sat through the whole film in the vain hope it would redeem itself. The actors had no chance to bring the original characters to life, so their familiarity and personal success had no chance of redeeming the hatchet job done on an incredible story. This was all the more disappointing because I loved the first four film interpretations of her books.


So, if you decide to go out and buy Northern Lights make sure you buy the book whether paperback, hardback or the audio version.