Back Roads

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful debut
Review: Back Roads is an amazing debut novel by Susan Crandall.

Sheriff Leigh Mitchell has always been the good girl, never veering from the straight and narrow path. A milestone birthday is approaching and she feels edgy. A sexy outsider comes to her small town and set her world on fire.

Will Scott has returned to a place that had brought him happiness as a child. He is just passing through until he sees Leigh. Will has secrets he cannot share but finds himself wanting to share everything with Leigh.

A crime is committed and the new man in town is the target of the gossip. Leigh is torn between what her heart knows and her job.

Back Roads tells a tale of fighting for what you believe in and taking a stand. You can really feel the conflict and the passions that these characters are dealing with all through the book. It's a must read.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read! Couldn't tell it was a debut
Review: I read this in one sitting. Will Scott. Leigh Mitchell. Both were very believable characters. Sub-characters were lacking, but not enough to detract from the beauty of the story.

Will is on the run. He is hurting. He is real. He chooses the right, based on the information that he has.

Leigh is on the verge of becoming. She is good, solid, and mature.

They are good for each other. Strong enough to love, protect, and support one another. Mature enough to stand alone when need be.

I will definitely read Ms. Crandall's next offering: The Road Home.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, terrific characterization
Review: I simply loved this book and will keep watching for other books by this author. Her characterizations and plot were great, spiced with a sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, terrific characterization
Review: If anyone canvassed the townsfolk of Glens Crossing, Indiana as to whom was the most predictable person in town, Sheriff Leigh Mitchell would win unanimously. She never does anything outside her daily routines. However, approaching thirty, Leigh feels she is choking and needs to break out of her shell.

Will Scott is just passing through when he notices the Ferris wheel lights in the distance. Teenager Brittany Wilson gives him a ride to the carnival where he meets Leigh. They enjoy the events and soon go dancing together. Not long afterward Will obtains a temporary job as a mechanic. Though she wants to believe otherwise as she is falling in love with the mysterious stranger, she wonders if he could be dangerous as the main suspect in a potential tragedy. He finds himself falling for the local law enforcement official, but knows his past makes him the worst candidate for anything but passing through.

BACK ROADS is an interesting look at a rural Midwest town where everyone intimately knows each other so the slightest change in routine leads to concerns about the person. Leigh is an intriguing individual struggling with the feeling that there is more to life than the rut she feels she lives in. Will is enigmatic, telling little about himself until the reader gets deep into the plot. The story line initially moves like a Ferris wheel as Susan Crandall sets the background for an exciting police procedural romantic suspense in which the heroine speculates whether her beloved is a dangerous felon capable of atrocities.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: interesting look at a rural Midwest town
Review: If anyone canvassed the townsfolk of Glens Crossing, Indiana as to whom was the most predictable person in town, Sheriff Leigh Mitchell would win unanimously. She never does anything outside her daily routines. However, approaching thirty, Leigh feels she is choking and needs to break out of her shell.

Will Scott is just passing through when he notices the Ferris wheel lights in the distance. Teenager Brittany Wilson gives him a ride to the carnival where he meets Leigh. They enjoy the events and soon go dancing together. Not long afterward Will obtains a temporary job as a mechanic. Though she wants to believe otherwise as she is falling in love with the mysterious stranger, she wonders if he could be dangerous as the main suspect in a potential tragedy. He finds himself falling for the local law enforcement official, but knows his past makes him the worst candidate for anything but passing through.

BACK ROADS is an interesting look at a rural Midwest town where everyone intimately knows each other so the slightest change in routine leads to concerns about the person. Leigh is an intriguing individual struggling with the feeling that there is more to life than the rut she feels she lives in. Will is enigmatic, telling little about himself until the reader gets deep into the plot. The story line initially moves like a Ferris wheel as Susan Crandall sets the background for an exciting police procedural romantic suspense in which the heroine speculates whether her beloved is a dangerous felon capable of atrocities.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining Debut Novel
Review: Leigh Mitchell, the sheriff in Glens Crossing, Indiana, is fast approaching her thirtieth birthday. She would like to make changes in her life before it passes her by. She is not sure how to make those changes though until she meets Will Scott, a stranger passing through town. She meets him at the festival talking to Brittany Wilson, a town teenager. Leigh and Will ride the Ferris Wheel together then afterwards head to the local bar where they dance together, creating a scene for the townsfolk. Leigh believes Will could be the answer to her discovering a new self. A few days later when tragedy strikes the small town and Will is the prime suspect Leigh is torn between believing her heart and her experience in law enforcement.

Back Roads was a good book. This debut novel by Susan Crandall was well written with an excellent storyline and very believable characters. The story moves along at a good pace (with the exception of a few parts) and keeps teasing you until the end. Just when you think you know who Will Scott is Ms. Crandall throws you off course with suspicion.

I was pleased with the detail in this book. Even though it is a work of fiction the author included some "true" details. She talks of Bloomington, IN and the Hoosier National Forrest. Also included was the mention of the tv station from Indianapolis, channel 6. These details being included made the story more authentic, especially to someone from Indiana.

All in all this was a good story to read. It has romance and suspense well blended to make a very entertaining read. With more books like Back Roads this author is well on her way to being a well-known bestseller.

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining Debut Novel
Review: Leigh Mitchell, the sheriff in Glens Crossing, Indiana, is fast approaching her thirtieth birthday. She would like to make changes in her life before it passes her by. She is not sure how to make those changes though until she meets Will Scott, a stranger passing through town. She meets him at the festival talking to Brittany Wilson, a town teenager. Leigh and Will ride the Ferris Wheel together then afterwards head to the local bar where they dance together, creating a scene for the townsfolk. Leigh believes Will could be the answer to her discovering a new self. A few days later when tragedy strikes the small town and Will is the prime suspect Leigh is torn between believing her heart and her experience in law enforcement.

Back Roads was a good book. This debut novel by Susan Crandall was well written with an excellent storyline and very believable characters. The story moves along at a good pace (with the exception of a few parts) and keeps teasing you until the end. Just when you think you know who Will Scott is Ms. Crandall throws you off course with suspicion.

I was pleased with the detail in this book. Even though it is a work of fiction the author included some "true" details. She talks of Bloomington, IN and the Hoosier National Forrest. Also included was the mention of the tv station from Indianapolis, channel 6. These details being included made the story more authentic, especially to someone from Indiana.

All in all this was a good story to read. It has romance and suspense well blended to make a very entertaining read. With more books like Back Roads this author is well on her way to being a well-known bestseller.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to believe this is a debut! WONDERFUL!!!!
Review: This romantic suspense piece ranks up there with Howard's, Putney's, and other popular bestselling romantic suspense novelists in my opinion. The story flowed, the dialogue was natural and the plot unfolded like a gentle flower. The heroine was clever & feisty and the hero was sweet and tortured, but not so tortured that it interfered with the development of a very believable relationship. His secrets were many and were slowly and skilfully revealed. For readers who like the sensual, the lovemaking fit well into the story, furthering the development of the relationship and not just filling pages as requiste sex scenes that are so standard in many romanance/suspense books these days. I highly recommend this book, especially if you like lawmen/law-women and small town stories. I anxiously await her next publication.