Rating: 
Summary: Great book!
Review: I absolutely could not put this book down. I thought it was great! It was mystery and romance mixed together in a perfect combination. There are a few confusing scenes, but for the most part, the flow of the book is excellent. The ending is happy, and all loose ends are tied up. The main female character suffers enormous losses that seem unfair for any person to have to go through. Of course, she needs a strong, handsome man to lean on. Overall, it's a really good book that I would suggest to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment....
Review: I await each new Dinah McCall/Saharon Sala offering with great expectation. What a disappointment it was to read this latest offering. The book plodded. Pieces finally fit together but it was no great surprise to discover the ending. I expect sizzle and clever and exciting. I got blech. Of course I hung in to the bitter end hoping against hope that the book would pick up.
Rating:
Summary: I Wasted My Time So That You Don't Have To
Review: I've read books by Dinah McCall that I've liked, but this isn't one of them. The "mystery" is obvious, the characters are uninteresting, and the threat is less than believable.Isabella Abbott is in her late twenties, raised in a small Montana town by seven now elderly men. She's been coasting along in life, running her family's small hotel, cocooned in the warm love of her widowed father and her elderly "uncles". Shades of Snow White! She is sexually/romantically awakened from her "slumber" by the presence of FBI agent Jack Dolan, who falls in love with her immediately for no discernable reason. The attraction between them is so superficial that it's laughable. The evil character is an ex-KGB agent/assassin who for some unexplained reason has been sent by Russia to "bring home" a scientist (one of the elderly uncles) who had faked his own death thirty years ago. A man who for all intents and purposes was believed to be dead until recently. Why Russia would want an old man who's been doing who-knows-what for the past thirty years was never explained. Of course our bad guy makes his way to Montana, figures out that he no longer wants to return to Mother Russia, and decides to kidnap Isabella and hold her for ransom because "something" the elderly uncles are doing must be worth paying blackmail. I found the story to be more and more annoying as I read it. I felt no connection whatsoever to the character of Isabella (who seems to spend most of her time either weeping over the death of her father and her "uncle", or else being an excessively nice doormat to people who are trying to harm her), and the whole deep, dark secret of the uncles and the fertility clinic was so obvious that both the ex-spy and the FBI agent should be stripped of their credentials for not figuring it out sooner. Don't waste your time with this book.
Rating:
Summary: I Wasted My Time So That You Don't Have To
Review: I've read books by Dinah McCall that I've liked, but this isn't one of them. The "mystery" is obvious, the characters are uninteresting, and the threat is less than believable. Isabella Abbott is in her late twenties, raised in a small Montana town by seven now elderly men. She's been coasting along in life, running her family's small hotel, cocooned in the warm love of her widowed father and her elderly "uncles". Shades of Snow White! She is ... romantically awakened from her "slumber" by the presence of FBI agent Jack Dolan, who falls in love with her immediately for no discernable reason. The attraction between them is so superficial that it's laughable. The evil character is an ex-KGB agent/assassin who for some unexplained reason has been sent by Russia to "bring home" a scientist (one of the elderly uncles) who had faked his own death thirty years ago. A man who for all intents and purposes was believed to be dead until recently. Why Russia would want an old man who's been doing who-knows-what for the past thirty years was never explained. Of course our bad guy makes his way to Montana, figures out that he no longer wants to return to Mother Russia, and decides to kidnap Isabella and hold her for ransom because "something" the elderly uncles are doing must be worth paying blackmail. I found the story to be more and more annoying as I read it. I felt no connection whatsoever to the character of Isabella (who seems to spend most of her time either weeping over the death of her father and her "uncle", or else being an excessively nice doormat to people who are trying to harm her), and the whole deep, dark secret of the uncles and the fertility clinic was so obvious that both the ex-spy and the FBI agent should be stripped of their credentials for not figuring it out sooner. Don't waste your time with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. McCall delivers another page turner!
Review: Isabella Abbott has spent her entire life on White Mountain, running Abbott House, and
taking care of her father, and his closest friends, who are honorary uncles. It comes as a complete shock when within the span of a few days her whole worlds changes. Her father passes away, and Frank, one of her honorary uncles, is found murdered in New York. FBI agent Jack Dolan receives a call to check out what a seems at first to be a small glitch-how was a man who died thirty years ago found murdered in New York city? Setting off to White Mountain to investigate what he's sure is just a defection, Jack find himself floored when he sees a portrait on the wall in Abbott House that seems to be speaking to him. After being told the Isabella in the portrait has long been dead, Jack is shocked once again when he runs into the very image of the portrait on a night forage in the kitchen. He thinks he's a seeing ghost!! Isabella quickly sets Jack straight, and finds herself drawn to this man who claims to be a writer. It's not long before Jack discovers there is much more to this case than he'd first thought, and that somehow Isabella is a key. What were her remaining four uncles up to here on White Mountain? And just how does Isabella, whom he's quickly falling for, play into the case? Ms. McCall once again delivers a top notch suspense story, with elements of the paranormal that will in turn shock you, and have you lingering in deep thought over the possibilities. I wish this book would have had a hundred more pages, to we'd have gotten to know the characters a little more in depth, but the story is vibrant and alive, and pulls you right in. Whether writing as Dinah McCall or Sharon Sala, her romantic suspense books continue to thrill and entertain!
Rating:
Summary: Ms. McCall delivers another page turner!
Review: Isabella Abbott has spent her entire life on White Mountain, running Abbott House, and
taking care of her father, and his closest friends, who are honorary uncles. It comes as a complete shock when within the span of a few days her whole worlds changes. Her father passes away, and Frank, one of her honorary uncles, is found murdered in New York. FBI agent Jack Dolan receives a call to check out what a seems at first to be a small glitch-how was a man who died thirty years ago found murdered in New York city? Setting off to White Mountain to investigate what he's sure is just a defection, Jack find himself floored when he sees a portrait on the wall in Abbott House that seems to be speaking to him. After being told the Isabella in the portrait has long been dead, Jack is shocked once again when he runs into the very image of the portrait on a night forage in the kitchen. He thinks he's a seeing ghost!! Isabella quickly sets Jack straight, and finds herself drawn to this man who claims to be a writer. It's not long before Jack discovers there is much more to this case than he'd first thought, and that somehow Isabella is a key. What were her remaining four uncles up to here on White Mountain? And just how does Isabella, whom he's quickly falling for, play into the case? Ms. McCall once again delivers a top notch suspense story, with elements of the paranormal that will in turn shock you, and have you lingering in deep thought over the possibilities. I wish this book would have had a hundred more pages, to we'd have gotten to know the characters a little more in depth, but the story is vibrant and alive, and pulls you right in. Whether writing as Dinah McCall or Sharon Sala, her romantic suspense books continue to thrill and entertain!
Rating:
Summary: A page turner...
Review: Isabella Abott never questioned the love and trust she felt for her father and six elderly 'uncles' who were fixtures in her life while she was growing up. When her father dies suddenly she is devestated. Being dealt another blow on top of that, she learns that one of her 'uncles' was murdered while he was on vacation in Brighton Beach, where the population is made of of mostly Russian immigrants. When 'writer' Jack Dolan shows up to do research for a book, Isabella is swept away by the feelings she has for the stranger. When her life starts unraveling more than she thought possible, Isabella turns to Jack, instead of one of the uncles. FBI Agent Jack Dolan came to White Mountain to find answers to why a Russian scientist faked his death more than twenty years ago only to end up on White Mountain as a seemingly respectable doctor. The more questions that Jack gets answered, the more he seems to have as the mystery gets bigger and bigger. I read the review where it was only given one star and I honestly had no idea what the mystery was early on in the book. The feelings between Jack and Isabella were not superficial as the writer stated, but unexpected and powerful. This is one of the better McCall books that I've read.
Rating:
Summary: A page turner...
Review: Isabella Abott never questioned the love and trust she felt for her father and six elderly 'uncles' who were fixtures in her life while she was growing up. When her father dies suddenly she is devestated. Being dealt another blow on top of that, she learns that one of her 'uncles' was murdered while he was on vacation in Brighton Beach, where the population is made of of mostly Russian immigrants. When 'writer' Jack Dolan shows up to do research for a book, Isabella is swept away by the feelings she has for the stranger. When her life starts unraveling more than she thought possible, Isabella turns to Jack, instead of one of the uncles. FBI Agent Jack Dolan came to White Mountain to find answers to why a Russian scientist faked his death more than twenty years ago only to end up on White Mountain as a seemingly respectable doctor. The more questions that Jack gets answered, the more he seems to have as the mystery gets bigger and bigger. I read the review where it was only given one star and I honestly had no idea what the mystery was early on in the book. The feelings between Jack and Isabella were not superficial as the writer stated, but unexpected and powerful. This is one of the better McCall books that I've read.
Rating: 
Summary: Taut thriller
Review: Retired Braden, Montana botanist Frank Walton comes to Brooklyn to "smell" the Brighton Beach "Little Russia" neighborhood a reminder of his homeland. He needs this because he knows he is dying from cancer. However, someone recognizes him as Vaclav Waller, a Russian Nobel Prize nominee, who died in a plane crash in 1970. Threatened to be returned to Moscow, Frank chooses death.
The FBI cannot understand how a Russian supposedly dead thirty years is a modern day murder victim. FBI agent Jack Dolan travels to Braden, Montana, the last known address of the victim, to ferret out the truth. In the remote small town a very popular, extremely successful fertility clinic services people from all over. The local boardinghouse owned and operated by Isabella Abbott caters mostly to clinic visitors, employers, and patients. Jack and Isabella share the magnetism that draws them towards each other even at their first encounter. Still, the Fed wonders how she is involved in the secrets of a person who died "twice" and the sensational accomplishments of the clinic run by her family and friends?
WHITE MOUNTAIN is an exciting romantic intrigue that starts off at a high level of tension and just keeps rising until the tale is finished. The story line is fast-paced whether its in Brooklyn or Braden. The lead couple is a delight and the support cast brings out Brighten Beach and Big Sky country so that readers will believe they have been to both while perusing Dinah McCall's taut thriller. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Obvious "mystery" and unsatisfying romance
Review: This book annoyed me. Granted, there is a formula to the books in the Mira Romantic Suspense line, but this was too much, even for them.
McCall picks up characters for no reason, gets you into their head for a moment, and drops them like hot potatoes scattered from Brighton Beach to the town under White Mountain. Once they've served their purpose and move the plot along (the cop in Queens, the thieves in Italy), she never feels the need to even give them another moment. That would be fine if she hadn't brought you deeper than necessary in the first place. With others (the couple in Queens), you never quite feel like you know or care enough about them for the (supposed) emotional payoff at the end. Same goes for all of Isabella's "uncles." By the end, I still didn't know who was who.
As for the "mystery," I knew the answer to that almost immediately--she just about hit us over the head with hints to that, which she did explain at the end, but no hints as to why the precipitating event (murder/botched kidnapping) happened to begin with! We are still at a loss, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Back to character development for a moment. Why do Jack and Isabella fall in love? He sees a painting and she sees an unattached male with whom she didn't grow up. There has to be more, you say? So do I, but we're not privy to it. I was also offended that Jack decides to keep some very crucial information about Isabella from her forever; this just adds to my lack of respect for his lack of respect for her as an adult. Yes, it would be hard to hear, but she deserves to know the truth. Or, I should say that she would deserve to know the truth if the author had written her with any kind of self-respect. The woman NEVER stands up for herself, even when crimes are committed against her. She just moans and faints and leans on whatever male is handy. Yes, I understand she was raised by eight older and old-fashioned men, but come on, even when she says she's breaking out of her shell, it is more like knocking on the shell from the inside, and asking for Jack to break it down for her. Ugh.
I got the book for free and it was worth it. The book is like a meal replacement bar: you go through it fast, it doesn't hurt, but in the end, you wish you had taken the time for something more substantial.
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