Book Reviews

Description:

His pride made him believe the worst! 
Five years ago, Lisa Hayward had fled her exotic island home of St. Martin's, leaving her just begun marriage in ruins. 
Back in London, she concentrated on raising her son, Robbie--Rorke's son The child was all that remained of that bitter, beautiful time. 
Now Rorke had found her again, and intended to take her back--but not for love. He still believed Robbie couldn't be his! 
Why couldn't he remember that storm-shattered night they had spent lost at sea?

Review:

This is a typical Penny Jordan. I truly like some of her books, but occasionally I get quite annoyed with the constants in her books. They all tend to follow a similar patter: I hate > I love you but don't tell you > I love you and tell you with the occasional jealous bit in between and the woman never knowing what the man thinks and no deep conversations between the men and woman. 
This book was of a slightly different line of reading which made a refreshing change. In this book they loved each other from the beginning but there were to many problems, mainly the H having no faith in the h's faithfulness and not believing her even though she had never deceived him before. 
It was a good read and the writing flowed quite well but I was not completely hooked on the book. Sometimes the character's reactions seemed to contrived to be real and that the reactions to some situations were not entirely believable. I know I like a strong female lead, but sometimes this lead's reactions seemed stifled, I can't help wondering what would happen if the character had let her emotions and her anger out more often. I also think that she should not have slapped the guy more than once in the book, it started to feel to contrived to be believable. She should have used words to retaliate, they cut deeper than a slap and I am sure many people agree with me in that the pain and thoughts provoked from words are much longer lasting than a few seconds of pain caused by a slap to the face. 
Also, you gain very little insight into the male lead. Most of the book is the female leads opinions and thoughts. There is very little point of view from anyone except her. All of his thought patterns and actual personality is hidden because the books concentrates almost soley on the female lead and her reactions. The book is not very well-rounded because of this. I like to get to know the characters and have them be unforgettable, unfortunately this is not what happened in this book. Sadly the characters in this book are very forgettable. I don't see myself reading it again. 
Although to be fair, I suppose at the time when this book was written it was expected that books of this genre and books published by Harlequin all followed an allowed standard. My thoughts though are that this allowed standard has stunted the growth of the characters in this book and as such might have put many readers off of this type of book. 
But this is my opinion, you can always read this and see for yourself. I always like to know what others opinions are. Maybe someone else sees thinks differently. No one is the same, so I know there are many people who will think different thoughts about this review. So don't shoot me, because this is what I think.

Description:

Grace Lindstrom has followed her fiancé across three continents, starry-eyed and full of dreams. But when he dies in a plane crash, Grace discovers that their life together was the cruelest kind of lie—and swears to never lose herself to that kind of love again. Until one night, when a chance encounter leads her to the kind of man she's always dreamed of—and the deep family ties she's never known.
Noah McKay knows he can't offer Grace any kind of future—not when he spends every day putting his life on the line. But when Grace's grandfather suddenly falls ill and she's called home to the small island town where she grew up, he realizes he can't live without her. Aided by good knitting, good chocolate and deep friendship, Grace is slowly learning to trust again—but can she learn to love a man whose secrets run so deep?

Review:

All in all I like the book. It was a quick read and quite good. I just feel that the characters were slightly underdeveloped and I find it silly that Noah never tells her what he does, not even before the proposal. It just seemed a little unrealistic that she and her friends would not push to find out what he really did. Also, if he just works for a place that analyses and disarms bombs, why all the secrecy? He is not undercover. It does not make sense to me.
I also find it rather odd that they spend most of their time apart before and after their engagement. How can they really know each other when they are not even on the same continent? You also have speculation about what happened to her grandfather but no real proof. You also meet Noah's niece and sister-in-law but you never find out if they really move father away or if they don't. Nowhere in this book does it say that this is a series of books or is a book that has a sequel so shouldn't all of the questions have been answered by the end of the book.
The book just felt slightly incomplete. It is not a bad book, it is just not one of Christina Skye's best books. I did enjoy it. I just do not like walking away from a book when there are still so many unanswered questions and inconsistencies.
Again, I am just writing my own opinion and I know others opinions will inevitably differ from mine, but everyone is different and I love to know what others think!