The Presence

Rating:
Summary: Good but somewhat dissappointing
Review: I am a huge fan of Heather Graham/Shannon Drake. I love her style of writing. After reading Haunted, I was a little dissappointed with The Presence. I had already guessed who the killer was and found the ending to be predictable and kind of abrupt. There were some misleading statements made by the other characters which were ignored and not explained by the ending of the book. It is still a good read but not as good as her other works.
I would recommend Haunted anyday over The Presence.

Rating:
Summary: Not the worst, not the best.
Review: I can't say I didn't like this book, but it was pretty predictable. The first chapter really draws you in, but then the rest of the story doesn't really match the first chapter. If you wan't some light reading that doesn't require too much thought, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, but too many different styles
Review: I enjoyed reading The Presence, but it did have some problems that might bother other readers who aren't already fans of Ms. Graham's.

The story is a blend of historical romance, contemporary thriller, light humorous romance with a little ghost story tossed in too. Each of the elements is okay and the author blended them all in an interesting way, but the book would have been better if the author has perhaps used one or two less of them and concentrated more on the others. I was left with the impression that three short stories by different authors had been shuffled together.

The paranormal part was perhaps the weakest to me. The heroine is supposedly a very, very strong psychic and the opening chapter is pretty dark and violent. It leads you to believe the rest of the book will be similar, and there are parts that are, but mostly, the seriousness of the opening isn't carried through.

The main portion of the book is made up of the light, contemporary romance of the new Laird MacNiall and heroine Toni. Of course, both are the spitting images of the old Laird and Annalise, setting up the ghost story. The relationship between Toni and MacNiall is written well and is the best part of the book. Their dialogue is funny and the romance is steamy. MacNiall is a very old-fashioned hero most of the time and Toni is probably the epitome of a feisty American.

The worst parts: the big serial killer murder mystery is a huge dud. One victim isn't even a victim, the killer has the strangest motive, there are implausible red herrings and resolutions everywhere and the supporting characters are inconsistent (Gina, Ryan and Thayer, in particular). The promise of a dark paranormal psychic story is unfulfilled for the most part; the heavy and atmospheric quality of the psychic storyline is diluted very heavily by the other areas.

This was still a good book and was an easy read over the course of an afternoon. I liked the lead characters a lot, but felt overall the author muddied up their story in the interest of producing a paranormal story similar to Kay Hooper's writing. This appears to be the beginning of a series, also very much like Hooper's, with an older man heading up a group of psychic detectives.

Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: I love the paranomal. When I started this book and saw it was a romance book too, I was incline to put it down but then I got into the story and couldn't put it down! I'm not a romance novel reader but mixed with a good paranormal story it was better then I thought! I was shocked at the ending cause I thought I figured it out!

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!!!!!!!
Review: This book is a must read. I had a really hard time putting it down. It has a fantastic plot and a cast of characters that will make you laugh. I just loved the touch of suspense that kept me guessing to the end. This is a wonderful book by one of my favorite authors.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't decide what kind of book it is
Review: This was one of those books that was alittle bit paranormal, alittle bit suspense, alittle bit gothic , and a little bit romance, also there is some time travel aspect. To tell you the truth each one needed abit more to make it enjoyable.

First we have a psychic who has shut down her powers when she was a child, The descriptions at the begining sound like a seer psychic, later on they tell us she is a medium. But in the book she only sees one ghost and he isn't very scary.

We have dead bodies appearing in the forest. We have a laird who comes home unexpectedly and finds his castle has been rented by a group of friends who put on a performance of history art for tourists.

The ghost appears and leads our heroine, toni, around the castle at night but no one believes her.

Toni and the laird seem to jump in bed at the drop of a hat. He doesn't believe her even though he has had an unexplained experience himself, when he was a cop hunting a killer. Some things are never explained. If this is romance, spare me.

The killer is obvious and with everything else going on there is very little revealed about him until the last few pages. There is very little revealed about his motivations and with only 3 bodies found over 1 and 1/2 years, somewhat slow. The search for the latest victim is not very well done. Maybe because this is Scotland?

If you start this book, you will probably be like me and finish it, but it left alot to be explained and by the end you are so tired of the mess you just want to finish.

Rating:
Summary: The Presence
Review: Toni Fraser and her friends have come to Scotland to rent a run-down castle and turn it into a tourist attraction by putting on medieval performances that combine fact and fiction. This will include local history, murder and an imaginary laird named Bruce MacNiall. But when the actual castle's owner comes charging in on his great black horse and claims to be Laird Bruce MacNiall, Toni is shocked because she had invented him. However, every part of him is eerily familiar. Soon the group is drawn into a real-life murder mystery involving a serial killer who is killing women and dumping them in the nearby forest. Toni begins having life-like dreams in which she sees through the eyes of the killer--dreams that suggest a connection to Laird MacNiall.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has a number of elements to keep you interested throughout. The mystery of how Toni invented a living man; the mystery of who rented them the castle when Bruce did not give his approval; the mystery of who is killing the women and why. Not only does this keep you totally involved, but periodically throughout the book Graham skips back to medieval times with a storyline involving the original Bruce MacNiall. I would highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: exciting paranormal romantic suspense
Review: Toni MacNally and her five friends (David, Kevin, Ryan, Gina, and Thayer) convert a dilapidated Scottish Castle into a tourist attraction using reenactments of stories of love and lore. As Toni and the others perform for a crowd of visitors, a big hunk in kilt shouts for the leader of this charade to face him. Laird Bruce MacNiall apparently has arrived.

Bruce informs the sextet that his castle was not for leasing and they were conned, but allows them to at least recoup their costs by continuing their performance for now. An ex-cop Bruce investigates a series of murders in which the culprit dumps the corpses on his land. Toni has weird dreams in which she sees through the eyes of the serial killer, but also feels a strange connection to Bruce. As she falls in love with the Laird of the castle, Toni wonders if he is the killer. Bruce shares her feelings of love and wants to keep Toni safe even at the risk of his life.

This is an exciting paranormal romantic suspense romance that stars two wonderful lead characters and several fine support players especially the troupe members. Readers will agree with Toni and Gina questioning why Bruce suddenly appears after their show begins to draw crowds (his travel excuse with modern communication seems lame). Still fans will enjoy this tense thriller as Toni struggles between visions that make her fear Bruce and a love for him that makes her fear herself. Heather Graham once again shows why she is a strong presence within the genre.

Harriet Klausner