Where The Road Ends

Rating:
Summary: A mother's worst nightmare -- Very highly recommended
Review: A year after her husband dies, Amy Wainscoat reevaluates her priorities. Once she put work first, providing for her family and stepping into her deceased father's place. With Johnny gone, however, Amy comes to realize how precious her five-year-old son Charles is. Concerned how possessive her nanny Kathy Stead has become of Charles, Amy decides to step away from work responsibilities and devote herself to raising her son. Then the unthinkable occurs, and Charles disappears when she takes him to an amusement park.

After two lie detector tests, Kathy is exonerated of any wrong doing and disappears. Months of emotional torment send Amy searching for Kathy and searching for answers. Her quest brings her to Michigan showing pictures of her ex-nanny and son to anyone who might have seen them. But the road forces self-honesty. Where once the wealthy CEO wore designer clothes she now wears department store specials. Rather than five star hotels she stays in rat traps with rust drains. Soon her only tie to her former life is a voice on her cell phone -- at the other end is detective Brad Dorchester.

Amy discovers herself when she sees the truth of the world without the filters of privilege. She works off the guilt and self-loathing of her former life with every bathroom stall she cleans and with every customer she helps. Such amazing character development is the hallmark of author Tara Taylor Quinn's work. With mesmerizing prose, Quinn takes the reader through the darkest of shadows, weaving danger and intrigue into every step, until at last emerging into a dazzling world of new possibility and metamorphosis. Indeed, Taylor's profound observations of human nature and intimate understanding of values and priorities lends extraordinary psychological depth to all her work. WHERE THE ROAD ENDS comes very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An emotionally complex and powerful novel.
Review: Amelia Waingate had it all, an upstanding husband, an inherited fortune, and a darling little boy, Charles. Her non stop career kept her so busy that she needed a nanny to care for her son, and though she loved Charles, was able to spend little time with him. How she regrets that when, a year after she is widowed, the nanny, who she has decided is becoming too close to Charles, kidnaps the boy.

Thus begins her odyssey to find her son again. The process will cost her all stability, her identity, and at one point, possibly her life. Amelia reinvents herself as Amy Wayne, a wandering young woman, desperately seeking any clue about a boy and his "mother." Her only supporter for a long time is the detective hired to help her. Brad grows to admire and love the woman who he protects, as much as she will let him.

Amy lets only a few people become close to her. Once, she thinks she has found the two she is looking for, only to find that the nanny is dead, her son gone. Just when it looks like she will have to give up and start her life over again, alone, hope is reborn. With the renewed hope, the danger she is in heightens. In a surprising and shocking end, Amy has one shot at achieving her dream, one that will break her heart.

With this emotionally complex and powerful novel, Ms. Quinn achieves the greatness that her past series work has hinted that she possesses. Moving and deep, this book has much to say about priorities and love. It is the type of book I almost hate to review for two reasons. First, I want to tell you all about it, but that would spoil the book for you, and second, the next few books I read will pale in comparison. Look for a great future for this author. Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as they say....
Review: Amelia Wainscoat's son is missing. It's every mother's worst nightmare. She tosses her old life aside and sets out to find him. On her journey, she finds out things about herself...things she never imagined. In the end, her journey teaches her about what's really important.

A page-turning story that will make every mother's heart turn cold.

Rating:
Summary: She leaves to find her son...and finds herself.
Review: Amelia Wainscoat's son is missing. It's every mother's worst nightmare. She tosses her old life aside and sets out to find him. On her journey, she finds out things about herself...things she never imagined. In the end, her journey teaches her about what's really important.

A page-turning story that will make every mother's heart turn cold.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as they say....
Review: I was quite disappointed with this book and do not agree with the previous 5 star reviews.
This is my first Tara Taylor Quinn and I'm not eager to read another. Where The Road Ends is the story of a rich CEO Mom, who's only son is kidnapped. I found the first half to be long, drawn-out, boring and repetitive. Every town Amy went to sounded like the last one and they continued for at least 100 pages. Then, suddenly, about halfway through, the action picked up. I really only finished the book to see what would happen. In other words, the action and plot drove me, not the characters.
You may find this weird, but I can usually tell how much depth and character development there's going to be judging by the size of the print in a paperback. No, I'm serious! When the print is small and the pages packed, I know there's going to be good detail, great story and rich characters. I opened Quinn's book and I saw wide margins and lots of dialogue. Uh-oh, I thought. This may not be so good. And it wasn't. So many characters were made of cardboard, or so it seemed.
The character of Amy was decently done, in that she was a focused ( Ok, obsessed) guilt-ridden Mom, determined to get back her cute 5 year old son, who she feels she neglected. She runs herself into the ground looking for him but never gives up. I liked her and admired her.
But I had problems with many of the other characters, especially Brad. Who was he? We hardly found out a thing about him. He also seemed very cold and distant, and only a bit warmer than that to Amy. And he was supposed to be the Love Interest! Then her friendship with Kristen was soooo warm and cuddly, that I started to wonder if this was going to veer off into a girl-girl relationship. But no. It was just a Best Girlfriends scenario. And then this weird diversion with Josh and Danny - what a great couple of guys!! But they came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Were they added strictly as a device for Amy to understand she still wanted to be part of a family?
Anyway - I found this novel to be slow, disjointed and certainly not romantic. Too bad - it had potential and could have been really good.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting romantic suspense
Review: In Chicago Heights, Johnny Dunn dies in a boating accident. A year later his grieving widow Amy Wainscott, CEO of a construction company, decides to spend more time with her five-year-old son Charles. She fires Charles' nanny, Kathy Stead, who frightens her with her obsessive behavior towards her son. A few weeks later, someone abducts Charles from an amusement park.

Amy hires Denver based private detective Brad Dorchester to find her son, who she feels his former nanny kidnapped. However, Amy also works the field seeking anyone who looks like Kathy. Using the name Amy Wayne in Lawrence, Michigan, she feels she is closing in on Kathy and consequently Charles. As she nears her target, Amy worries whether her boy will remember her and even if he does will he feel she abandoned him hen she finally catches up with them?

This is an exciting romantic suspense that focuses on one mother's worse nightmare, the abduction of a child. The metamorphosis of Amy from CEO to hunter feels genuine because in either position she seems like she suffers from obsessive behavior syndrome (call me Dr. Harriet). A final twist will surprise readers, but seems out of character, as the groundwork of that relationship never emerged in the plot. Still fans will travel the road until the end as this thriller never eases off the throttle until the climax is done.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Exciting romantic suspense
Review: In Chicago Heights, Johnny Dunn dies in a boating accident. A year later his grieving widow Amy Wainscott, CEO of a construction company, decides to spend more time with her five-year-old son Charles. She fires Charles' nanny, Kathy Stead, who frightens her with her obsessive behavior towards her son. A few weeks later, someone abducts Charles from an amusement park.

Amy hires Denver based private detective Brad Dorchester to find her son, who she feels his former nanny kidnapped. However, Amy also works the field seeking anyone who looks like Kathy. Using the name Amy Wayne in Lawrence, Michigan, she feels she is closing in on Kathy and consequently Charles. As she nears her target, Amy worries whether her boy will remember her and even if he does will he feel she abandoned him hen she finally catches up with them?

This is an exciting romantic suspense that focuses on one mother's worse nightmare, the abduction of a child. The metamorphosis of Amy from CEO to hunter feels genuine because in either position she seems like she suffers from obsessive behavior syndrome (call me Dr. Harriet). A final twist will surprise readers, but seems out of character, as the groundwork of that relationship never emerged in the plot. Still fans will travel the road until the end as this thriller never eases off the throttle until the climax is done.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: I cannot recommend this book.
Review: This book was very disappointing. All characters were wishy-washy and uninteresting. This story could have been told in a novel half the size. It was drawn out with meaningless dialogue. I've never seen a hero and heroine with less chemistry than the two in this book.

What exactly was the point of the heroine having sex with a man who contributed nothing to the story line? He and his son came in and out of the story without a purpose. If there was a purpose then Ms. Taylor Quinn failed to deliver it.

Ms. Taylor Quinn should stick to writing for Harlequin Superromance. This book was truly her worst work.

Rating:
Summary: I cannot recommend this book.
Review: This book was very disappointing. All characters were wishy-washy and uninteresting. This story could have been told in a novel half the size. It was drawn out with meaningless dialogue. I've never seen a hero and heroine with less chemistry than the two in this book.

What exactly was the point of the heroine having sex with a man who contributed nothing to the story line? He and his son came in and out of the story without a purpose. If there was a purpose then Ms. Taylor Quinn failed to deliver it.

Ms. Taylor Quinn should stick to writing for Harlequin Superromance. This book was truly her worst work.