In 1910, New York socialite Olivia Stewart resists an arranged, socially advantageous marriage, and the mysterious death of her sister Eleanor in Northern California is an unhappy but convenient excuse to go West to investigate. On the way, she is thrown off a Bay area ship and nearly drowned, so she has a number of reasons to hide her identity when she arrives in Mercy Falls, Calif. Her shipboard rescuer turns out to be her dead sister's fiancé Harrison Bennett, about whom she has suspicions. Harrison in turn has his reasons to distrust the Stewart family. In this atmosphere of deceit and suspicion, attraction between Olivia and Harrison grows.
Romance:
Violence:
Fear/Horror:
Overall Opinion:
I had read many great reviews of Colleen Coble's work, so when my reading companion, Katy, and I decided to get this one to read and review together, I was excited to dive in. WOW! What a story! While I expected a sweet romance story with perhaps a bit of mystery, I was amazed to find much more in this book. Adventure, peril, mystery, and a charming romance all wrapped up between two covers - quite the find! ;)
Coble's writing style was easy to read and comprehend. It flowed extremely well and really made the story what it was - amazing. Her character's were also extremely well developed and were easy to get to know - something I really value in a book. They were humorous and at times a bit quirky - entirely lovable.
I loved Olivia's personality. Though she drove me batty with her lying/secret keeping, I still found her an awesome character and felt myself being sucked into her investigation as she searched for clues to her sister's death. I found myself chuckling to myself at her spunk - she was quite the rascally one at times! But at the same time, she was so sweet and generous...it was impossible to not enjoy her character.
Harrison Bennett was the absolutely perfect hero. He was fun, protective, and caring, yet at the same side had his downfalls which made him seem realistic. Something that always annoys me is when the hero is this completely perfect angel who has all good side and no bad. It's SO unreal! But Harrison was a great character that has ups and downs and made him who he was.
As for the content, there is only one thing I really need to mention aside from a couple kisses and embraces. A man and a woman are stranded in the woods for a few days/night. While nothing improper happens, after their rescue there are rumors. They are minor and only mentioned a few times, but it is a part of the story. Another thing was that it mentions a man finding a woman and a man in a bed together in a shack doing things they shouldn't as the woman was engaged. Nothing explicit at all - just mentioned. Other than that, this book was very clean.
To conclude, this book is one I highly recommend. I can't wait to get a hold of more of Coble's works! This one was a joy to read and I can't wait to read more! :)
I received this free book in return for an honest review from TBB Media. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
2 comments:
This one is at the top of my list to read, so thank you for the great review! Makes me want to read it even more. : )
Michelle - you're welcome! It was a great book!
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