What LIes Beneath

Rating:
Summary: three for one price- a great deal
Review: First let me say that these are three new stories- a plus for this genre. I really enjoyed the first two, 'The Road To Hidden Harbor' by Anne Stuart and 'Remember Me' by Joanna Wayne. The third 'Primal Fear' by Caroline Burns was okay but slower and a bit disjointed.

In Joanna Wayne's tale Dr. Nathan Wayne is smitten by his new patient, a young woman who has just saved the life of a two year old child and endangered her own in so doing. Jill Jacobs is rushed into surgery for a subdural hematoma and as Nathan watches his patient awake from the anesthesia he is certain he knows her. The story of her heroism makes local headlines and even appears on the national cable news network. Rather than enjoying her celebrity status Jill is terrified and Nathan wants to know why. He also begins to suspect he knows who she really is and he wants to renew his relationship. His investigation and Jill's sudden fame put their lives in jeopardy as their romance blossoms. This is a beautiful story and my favorite of the three. This one deserves five stars!

In Anne Stuart's contribution Professor Molly Ferrell travels to Hidden Harbor, Maine to complete the research for her book about her favorite obscure writer, 'a long dead poet', Michael O'Flannery. Her obsession with O'Flannery intensifies when it seems the whole town is hiding the truth of his mysteriuos death from her. When she meets Jake Marley, the carpenter at the bed and bath she's staying at things begin to heat up and danger is not far behind. This one is also a good read. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars.

I did not enjoy 'Primal Fear' as much as the first two stories but others might and its included at no extra charge. All in all this is a good deal.

Rating:
Summary: three for one price- a great deal
Review: First let me say that these are three new stories- a plus for this genre. I really enjoyed the first two, 'The Road To Hidden Harbor' by Anne Stuart and 'Remember Me' by Joanna Wayne. The third 'Primal Fear' by Caroline Burns was okay but slower and a bit disjointed.

In Joanna Wayne's tale Dr. Nathan Wayne is smitten by his new patient, a young woman who has just saved the life of a two year old child and endangered her own in so doing. Jill Jacobs is rushed into surgery for a subdural hematoma and as Nathan watches his patient awake from the anesthesia he is certain he knows her. The story of her heroism makes local headlines and even appears on the national cable news network. Rather than enjoying her celebrity status Jill is terrified and Nathan wants to know why. He also begins to suspect he knows who she really is and he wants to renew his relationship. His investigation and Jill's sudden fame put their lives in jeopardy as their romance blossoms. This is a beautiful story and my favorite of the three. This one deserves five stars!

In Anne Stuart's contribution Professor Molly Ferrell travels to Hidden Harbor, Maine to complete the research for her book about her favorite obscure writer, 'a long dead poet', Michael O'Flannery. Her obsession with O'Flannery intensifies when it seems the whole town is hiding the truth of his mysteriuos death from her. When she meets Jake Marley, the carpenter at the bed and bath she's staying at things begin to heat up and danger is not far behind. This one is also a good read. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars.

I did not enjoy 'Primal Fear' as much as the first two stories but others might and its included at no extra charge. All in all this is a good deal.

Rating:
Summary: What Lies Beneath
Review: Harlequin presents three very different romantic suspense novellas in "What Lies Beneath." From Anne Stuart, we get a highly romantic and atmospheric tale. From Joanna Wayne, a suspense tale with a sweet love story. From Caroline Burnes, a mystery novella with a dash of romance. The authors' voices and styles are so different that I'm not sure any reader will love all the stories equally, as each will appeal to a different reading tastes, but "What Lies Beneath" serves as a good sampler of the varied styles and types of stories available in romantic suspense.

Anne Stuart's "The Road to Hidden Harbor" is my favorite of the three. In fact, this story is the best thing I've read from her recently, better than her last two full-length novels, "The Widow" and "Still Lake" despite being a third as long. She pulled me in from the first paragraph and held me to the page until I'd finished the story in one sitting. It's a relatively simple, character-driven plot that still provided some good twists and suspenseful moments. Jake and Molly are familiar Stuart characters, but better versions than some that we've seen recently. Yes, Molly is inexperienced, but she's also smart and determined. Yes, Jake is dark and secretive, but I loved that he's a real bad boy, not some watered down version. The story has strong conflict between this dangerous man and the woman who doesn't know whether or not she can trust him. One thing I especially liked is the way Stuart captured the magic of good writing and the effect an author's work can have on a reader. While most of us won't have the obsessive reaction Molly does to O'Flannery's work, Stuart proves she's worthy of our admiration and appreciation with this novella. I would have thought this book was worth the cover price based on this story alone. Five Stars

Joanna Wayne's "Remember Me" is more typical. Like the summary up above states, this is another "Sleeping With the Enemy"-type story. Crazy husband. Battered wife on the run. Sensitive protector hero. This is a plot most readers have seen before. The romance was more sweet than passionate, which seemed to make it a poor fit coming after the Anne Stuart story. It does move quickly and goes down easily, but I never got involved in the clichéd storyline. Two Stars.

Caroline Burnes's "Primal Fear" is more mystery/suspense than romance. Readers who don't mind that there's not much of a love story should enjoy this one. The characters don't spend that much time together and their relationship never goes much deeper than flirting, but as a mystery plot it's solid and very original. I liked the unusual setting and storyline that aren't often seen in romantic suspense. Libby the marine biologist and Chad the scavenger/pirate were good characters, and the action-driven story moves with Burnes's usual quick pace and smooth style. "Primal Fear" also has a pretty good climax where there are two possible bad guys each looking dangerous which keeps the suspense high to the end, even if I did figure out which one was the real villain a little too easily. Still, a good example of this author's work. Four Stars

One thing I did appreciate about this collection is that none of the three stories features the usual kind of Harlequin hero, the cop, the PI, the cowboy or the soldier, proving that there are romantic suspense stories to be mined with different types of characters. If only Harlequin was willing to publish more stories like this in its full-length books.

"What Lies Beneath" is a good collection that should appeal to fans of romantic suspense.

Rating:
Summary: What Lies Beneath
Review: Harlequin presents three very different romantic suspense novellas in "What Lies Beneath." From Anne Stuart, we get a highly romantic and atmospheric tale. From Joanna Wayne, a suspense tale with a sweet love story. From Caroline Burnes, a mystery novella with a dash of romance. The authors' voices and styles are so different that I'm not sure any reader will love all the stories equally, as each will appeal to a different reading tastes, but "What Lies Beneath" serves as a good sampler of the varied styles and types of stories available in romantic suspense.

Anne Stuart's "The Road to Hidden Harbor" is my favorite of the three. In fact, this story is the best thing I've read from her recently, better than her last two full-length novels, "The Widow" and "Still Lake" despite being a third as long. She pulled me in from the first paragraph and held me to the page until I'd finished the story in one sitting. It's a relatively simple, character-driven plot that still provided some good twists and suspenseful moments. Jake and Molly are familiar Stuart characters, but better versions than some that we've seen recently. Yes, Molly is inexperienced, but she's also smart and determined. Yes, Jake is dark and secretive, but I loved that he's a real bad boy, not some watered down version. The story has strong conflict between this dangerous man and the woman who doesn't know whether or not she can trust him. One thing I especially liked is the way Stuart captured the magic of good writing and the effect an author's work can have on a reader. While most of us won't have the obsessive reaction Molly does to O'Flannery's work, Stuart proves she's worthy of our admiration and appreciation with this novella. I would have thought this book was worth the cover price based on this story alone. Five Stars

Joanna Wayne's "Remember Me" is more typical. Like the summary up above states, this is another "Sleeping With the Enemy"-type story. Crazy husband. Battered wife on the run. Sensitive protector hero. This is a plot most readers have seen before. The romance was more sweet than passionate, which seemed to make it a poor fit coming after the Anne Stuart story. It does move quickly and goes down easily, but I never got involved in the clichéd storyline. Two Stars.

Caroline Burnes's "Primal Fear" is more mystery/suspense than romance. Readers who don't mind that there's not much of a love story should enjoy this one. The characters don't spend that much time together and their relationship never goes much deeper than flirting, but as a mystery plot it's solid and very original. I liked the unusual setting and storyline that aren't often seen in romantic suspense. Libby the marine biologist and Chad the scavenger/pirate were good characters, and the action-driven story moves with Burnes's usual quick pace and smooth style. "Primal Fear" also has a pretty good climax where there are two possible bad guys each looking dangerous which keeps the suspense high to the end, even if I did figure out which one was the real villain a little too easily. Still, a good example of this author's work. Four Stars

One thing I did appreciate about this collection is that none of the three stories features the usual kind of Harlequin hero, the cop, the PI, the cowboy or the soldier, proving that there are romantic suspense stories to be mined with different types of characters. If only Harlequin was willing to publish more stories like this in its full-length books.

"What Lies Beneath" is a good collection that should appeal to fans of romantic suspense.

Rating:
Summary: THREE STORIES that are super!
Review: Listen up Anne Stuart fans - this is a reprint of some golden oldies - and super ones. As always from Anne Stuart mesmerizes! They are dark, moody and mysterious and an excellent read! One great anthology.

In the first one, we have Molly Ferrell coming to a small New England fishing village to find out what happened to the brilliant writer/poet Michael O'Flannery. Supposedly, twenty years ago he took a gun into the forest and killed himself, leaving behind a set of near genius works that have obsessed Molly for decades. His writing touched her, reached her in a way men never did. So she is determined to exorcise the ghost of O'Flannery once and for all by writing a book about him. Visiting his hometown, she is determined to find out why a man of such talent would destroy himself - and maybe break her obsession, once and fall. There she finds instant resistance in the town folk. There's an empty grave with a headstone, people lock their doors or stop talking when she entered a room, and heavy, dogged resistance from Jake, a carpenter. He hints there were other deaths in the town and maybe Michael did not kill himself, but was murdered. Stuart owns the talent of dark, moody alpha/gamma heroes, and she is flying high with this tale.

I am not familiar with the works of Joanna Wayne or Caroline Burns, but I will be checking to see other material as their stories also impressed me.

Wayne gives a tale of a woman running from her past, trying to keep it secret, who falls for Dr. Nathan Duncan. He is drawn to his new patient, but is sure they have met before. How long can she keep her past secret from her doctor?

Burnes tale is very effective, very sinister. A body is found on the shores of a sleepy Florida coast. First people say it is a shark attack...but could it be something more? Marine biologist Libby Phillips is not sure its a shark attack. Distracting her from the investigation is a modern day 'pirate' one sexy Chat Watson. But is he trying to win her in his bed or keep her from discovering the truth about the body? A very enjoyable mystery.

Delightfully dark tales perfect to curl up with on a dark and stormy night.

Rating:
Summary: THREE NEW STORIES that are super!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Listen up Anne Stuart fans - this is not a reprint of old Silhouette and Harlequin stories but THREE NEW ONES - and super ones - as always from Anne Stuart!!! They are dark, moody and mysterious and an excellent read!!

In the first one, we have Molly Ferrell coming to a small New England fishing village to find out what happened to the brilliant writer/poet Michael O'Flannery. Supposedly twenty years ago he took a gun into the forrest and killed himself, leaving behind a set of near genius works that have obsessed Molly for decades. His writing touched her, reached her in a way men never did. So she is determined to exorcise the ghost of O'Flannery once and for all by writing a book about him. Visiting his hometown, she is determined find out why a man of such talent would destroy himself - and maybe break her obsession once and fall. There she finds instant resistance in the town folk. An empty grave with a headstone, people that lock their doors or stop talking when she entered a room, and heavy, dogged resistance from Jake, a carpenter, who hints there were other deaths in the town and maybe Michael did not kill himself, but was murdered. Stuart owns the talent of dark, moody alpha/gamma heroes and she is flying high with this tale.

I am not family with the works of Joanna Wayne or Caroline Burns, but I will be checking to see other material as their stories also impressed me.

Wayne gives a tale of woman running from her past, trying to keep it secret, who falls for Dr. Nathan Duncan. He is drawn to his new patient, but is sure they have met before. How long can she keep her past secret from her doctor?

Burnes tale is very effective, very sinister. A body is found on the shores of a sleep Florida coast. First people say it is a shark attack...but could it be something more? Marine biologist Libby Phillips is not sure its a shark attack. Distracting her from the investigation is a modern day 'pirate' one sexy Chat Watson. But is he trying to win her in his bed or keep her from discovering the truth about the body?

Very enjoyable all around, and so delight to have NEW stories instead of just reprints.

Rating:
Summary: Great New Stories
Review: The book was a fast read. All three stories were well written and gripping. Joanna Wayne did a great job of capturing the very real danger connected with a woman being stalked by a madman. I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys romantic suspense.