Light in Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Krentz scores with compelling romantic suspense
Review: "Light in Shadow" is one of the better Krentz/Quick romantic suspense books in years. The characters are well-developed, the romance seems believable, and there's enough suspense to hold it all together.

Zoe and Ethan are great characters, and complex enough to hold on to our interest. Their romance is well-developed and believable, and Krentz manages to achieve a great deal of wonderful sexual tension between them. In addition, the book doesn't have an aloof attitude towards its own characters, a weakness that has characterized a few of this author's books the past few years.

The suspenseful plot line is gripping and, for the most part, well-developed. As with "Smoke and Mirrors," I was a bit disappointed with the final solution(s), because there seemed little to no build-up to the eventual true villains. In addition, there were almost too many small villains and not enough of a big one. But the initial hook of "Zoe as wrongly-imprisoned escapee from corrupt asylum" is a great one and brings a lot of tension to the book.

All in all, a good, gripping read with all that we've come to expect from a Krentz book.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: "Light in Shadow," is a good story but I thought it was a little too busy. Maybe it's me, I don't know but I had trouble staying focused at times. Still a very good book!

Rating:
Summary: LOTS OF TWISTS, TURNS AND TREMBLING IN THIS TALE!
Review: Accomplished voice performer Joyce Bean keeps listeners' pulses pounding as she gives a thrill packed reading to Jayne Ann Krentz's latest first rate mystery.

Zoe Luce is a top notch interior decorator in the Arizona town of Whispering Springs. Krentz fans know that's not all Zoe is. She's also gifted with psychic powers - she knows immediately if she goes into a room where a crime has occurred. Did someone do in his/her spouse? The very walls let Zoe know it.

She is currently assisting recently divorced clients to redo their homes, all the better to begin a new life. However, could it be that her newest client, Davis Mason, murdered his ex-wife? She's convinced that he did, and to bring the dirty deed to light she hires private investigator Ethan Truax.

Ethan takes more than a shine to Zoe, and the feeling's mutual. But Zoe has a few secrets of her own, which Ethan soon discovers.

The path of their love isn't running smoothly at all - in fact, the more Ethan pokes around the more he endangers both of them.

Lots of twists, turns, and trembling in this one!

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Not up to par
Review: Being a fan of Krentz, I was disappointed with Light in Shadow. The book had poor character development; I finished it not feeling much more strongly about the characters than I did on the first page.

One positive thing I would like to say is that the book did move. It almost seemed more like 2 or 3 books/stories in one. Unfortunately, I think this pulled away from the characters in the book and left them somewhat one dimensional and dull.

I am a big fan of this author and would recommend her books, I just hope this one was a fluke.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Romantic Suspense
Review: Crafty romantic suspense writer Jayne Ann Krentz is back again, this time with a tale chock full of greed, deceit, and unlikely romance. Interior designer Zoe Luce is quietly living her life in Whispering Springs, Arizona when a client asks her to redesign the master bedroom of his residence. But Zoe sometimes feels things that others don't, and the walls in this room "scream" that something terrible happened there.

Deciding to hire a P.I. to trace the whereabouts of the client's ex-wife, Zoe hires Ethan Truax, who just took over his uncle's one-man P.I. business. Two more unlikely lovebirds would be hard to find, but Ms. Krentz credibly shows that while they are physically attracted to one another, their underlying integrity is what makes their relationship click.

And finding the locale of the missing ex-wife is just the beginning of this suspenseful novel, as Zoe hires Ethan to discover who is blackmailing her to prevent them from revealing that she changed her name after she and friend Arcadia Ames escaped from the rest facility, Candle Lake Manor. Committed to the Manor by her deceased husband's family, Zoe is intent on staying free until she can expose her brother-in-law's role in her husband's death at the next board meeting.

With believable romance, spellbinding suspense, and several intertwined plotlines, this latest from author Jayne Ann Krentz is one of her best yet.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but 4 stars as a romance.
Review: Excellent, but 4 stars as a romance.

Let me start by saying I had decided after the excellent "Don't Look Back" that her next contemporary was not going to be a romance. Sensual maybe, but not sexy. I got over it, you can too.

As a suspense, Light and Shadow is full of multiple plots and connecting storylines without getting confusing. Even better, it doesn't have the dreaded convenient "Happy Ever After" ending. You are pulled along and into the novel without realizing just how complicated the story has become.
The basic facts are: 1) She is psychic and had a good marriage 2) He loathes psychics as crooks and has been married three times. This is the easiest part of the story. Here are more sub-plots: murders (yep, plural), evil relatives, corrupt and abusive hospital and doctors, demented profilers, million dollar deals, and romance with lots of suppressed desire (darn it). So much is going on that a lesser writer couldn't have succeeded as well. This book is great, as a suspense but isn't one of her "hot romances".

At this point I must admit that I often admire her work just to see how she can have so much going on without being disjointed or just plain silly.
I hope the sequel comes soon. And while I would like it if there was more sex, I have the feeling I will enjoy the next suspense novel just as well.

Rating:
Summary: Could there have been a divorce?
Review: I agree with the other reviewers who say this is one of the best of Krentz's recent books . . . strong plot, neat twists, likeable main characters, great secondary characters. However, I did not like the fact that the Ethan and Zoe's relationship was left hanging, as was that of the hero and heroine in Krentz's most recent Amanda Quick book. And I really did not like the fact a hero could be divorced three times - THREE - and that be explained away. WHOA! Any smart woman is going to be extremely leery of three-time-divorced man and not accept the rationalizations of his sister to justify his past. (He doesn't seem to be so much a star crossed lover as stupid.) Soooo, did anyone else pick on the fact that Krentz's husband, Frank, was not mentioned in the author bio?? The first time ever in all her books since she was writing little Silhouettes?? Could a divorce be the reason for the less than stellar recent books - and the lack of long term commitments by her latest couples? Hmmmmm

Rating:
Summary: Another enjoyable Krentz novel.
Review: I can't say this is the best book I've ever read, but it was a very enjoyable book. I read it in one night so I can say it certainly kept my interest. The book will go in my Keeper bookcase. The characters are interesting and while the plot is a little thin, it will keep your attention.

Rating:
Summary: This One Is Worth Purchasing
Review: I have been off JAK lately. She lost me for sure on Soft Focus, but redeemed herself with the Elipse Bay series. It just seems like lately her hardbacks are not quite worth the price of admission.

Fear not, this one is. Zoe and Ethan are very well written characters. Zoe has some limited unusual psychic gifts. Namely, she can feel if a violent act was commited in a room when she walks in it.

After entering a room of clients, (she does feng shui design) she knows without a doubt that her client killed his previous wife. She goes out and hires Ethan, a PI that just moved to town, and while she does not care for him, she can afford him. So the romance begins.

Ethan manages to bail her out of all of her lifes scrapes and does so with interesting side characters.

As usual Zoe is a pasta loving, tofu eating type that JAK prefers. Not my 1st choice, but I usually like their personalities. Ethan is sexy and decisive.

If you are not a huge JAK fan, wait for paperback or used store. But overall, I found that this one was a vast improvement over some of her other efforts. It did not feel so run of the mill.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it but ...
Review: I love Jayne Ann Krentz's books, own virtually all of them (under all her names), and reread them regularly, like visiting favorite old friends. That said, I found this one just a tad disappointing. Her characters are always likeable, but I found Ethan somewhat less compelling than some of her other male protagonists, his character not so clearly written. Don't get me wrong, I want to think he's wonderful, it just didn't come across to me as clearly as some of her other characters. I wanted him to leap off the page. I was also disappointed that the relationship between Ethan and Zoe was left hanging, as it was with Lavinia and Tobias in the two Lake-March Amanda Quick books. I assume Ethan and Zoe will be back for further adventures (since this is called a Whispering Springs story, implying there will be others), so perhaps Krentz doesn't want to remove dramatic tension by solidifying their relationship too quickly, but if J.D. Robb can do it with Eve Dallas and Rourke, why can't Krentz do it with her main characters? After all, one of the elements of fantasy in the romance genre is the satisfying feeling you get when two characters you like figure out that they are essential to one another and no one else will do. When the commitment is lukewarm (even though that happens in real life), some of the air goes out of the balloon. There are plenty of contemporary novels out there with imperfect and uncertain relationships; that's not what I read romance for.

I also thought the solution(s) to the murders came out of nowhere. I would have liked there to be a few more hints so that I could really go along for the ride.

Even a disappointing work by Krentz is better than most of the other romances or romantic suspense out there, so don't hesitate to read this one. But I will continue to look for a little more in the next book.