Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Read!
Review: Delightfully entertaining, but lacking in the suspense area. This was a very good story with characters you really come to care about. Especially Raphael. His story tugged at my heart with every turn, as well as Jade's. It was so good to see her triumph in the end. Getting the kind of life and love she so deserved.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Read!
Review: Delightfully entertaining, but lacking in the suspense area. This was a very good story with characters you really come to care about. Especially Raphael. His story tugged at my heart with every turn, as well as Jade's. It was so good to see her triumph in the end. Getting the kind of life and love she so deserved.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of the Dark
Review: Disillusioned by life, Margaret Cochrane finds an illusion of joy with the People of Love. Drawn in by their snake charming leader, Solomon, she steals her baby and leaves her husband, Sam, behind, never dreaming that instead of Heaven, she was consigning herself and her little girl, Jade, to Hell.
Twenty five years later, Jade and her friend, Raphael, have escaped the People and been on the run for longer than they can remember. The art that sustains them will be their salvation. One of Margaret's acquaintances sees a portrait Jade did of her mother, and that is enough for Sam's detective friend, Luke, to find Jade. The years have left scars on Jade's soul. After her mother died, she became a commodity, sold to the pedophile who would pay the most. Only when maturity made her unappealing to that brand of pervert could she and Rafe escape. Yet, unknown to Jade, Rafe is dying because of what was done to him. Being found by Luke and Sam is an answer to his own prayers; now he knows he can leave Earth with Jade cared for, he just doesn't know how soon. Those who hurt them the most have seen the pictures as well, and want to silence the two runaways. When they kill Rafe, Luke becomes determined they won't do the same to the woman he's come to love.
***** Light and dark contrast in this complex novel. Jade and Rafe will wrench your heart with the beauty of their souls. Somehow, both retain an innocence despite the hardness of their lives. A round of applause must go to Ms Sala for avoiding the overused angst that might be used in characterizing Jade and Luke's relationship. Overall, this novel is suspenseful, sweet, and hopeful all at once. *****
Rating: 
Summary: Read with caution
Review: I am a very big fan of Sharon Sala's and I love her books. However, I would read this book with caution. Take to heart that this book is about a difficult subject and is rather depressing. I know that child abuse happens, but this book is just sad. The book starts out slowly and seems to really be building the characters and then wham everything just starts happening and then it's over. I could get past the time issue with the Vietnam War having been over by 1977 even though that bugged me in the beginning, but it's hard to get past the idea that so much could happen to one person so quickly as this book does that Jade would feel capable of having a relationship with a man she only met a few days ago. I've been trying to rationalize the reality of this in my head and just can't do it. I think a person would need some serious therapy first. These things bugged me about the book, but I could get past that. What I found hard to read about this book is that I have a four year old daughter and more than hating what the men did to Jade I truely hated the mother. I think the book should have had a little more focus towards the mother's roll in all that she obviously did wrong. She just died and nothing else was dealt with about her. That's what bugged me most of all. Then Jade's only life line through everything dies horribly and painfully from AIDS, the only saving grace about that situation was his revenge on the killer. All in all it's a good book, but could be better and any mother that can't stand someone who isn't also a good mother, but isn't made out to be a bad mother will probably have a hard time with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ritual Abuse in Romance?
Review: I am very pleased Sharon Sala tried to touch on the very basics of what Ritual Abuse can do to a person. I am a survivor of a multi-generationaly abusive family, and a survivor of Satanic Ritual Abuse. No one is going to full expose all the ramifications of this type of abuse and the intiricacies involved in one short romance novel. My biggest problem with the plot was Jade "making love" so quickly without a lot of therapy. We are reading fiction here, fantastic heroes and loving families can accomplish almost anything within the walls of a book. I am just pleased this topic was handled at all. If anyone has complaints with the plot or characterizations they need to fully understand how to put a complex and controversial subject into a small romance novel, let alone completely understand what this type of abuse does to a person.
Rating:
Summary: Deserved nothing less than 5 stars
Review: I don't understand how even one person could give this story less than 5 stars. While some would not like reading that there is child abuse out there, the fact is, there is. If the reader below hadn't skipped so much of the book, maybe she would have understood it better. I think Ms. Sala did a wonderful job throughout this book (as she does with all her books) Commenting on the dates of the war is irrelevant to the storyline; frankly.. who cares? I certainly don't. If I did, wouldn't be reading romance novels, I would be reading history books. That said, I enjoyed reading about Jade and Rafael. Jade kidnapped by her mother was placed in a situation where men abused young children. Rafael was the friend she met at that place and while they led a very harsh life, they got through it together. It was very sad to learn that Rafael was sick but what he wanted most was to be remembered. Jade had a wonderful father and a man who truly loved her to help her through the sorrows in her life. I truly enjoy reading books where all get get their just desserts in the end; and this was one of them. I have yet to read a Sharon Sala book that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. This is a great story and one I will never forget.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I have been a fan of Sharon Sala/Dinah McCall since I picked
up a copy of "Deep In The Heart" several years ago. After that,
I made a point of getting a hold of all of her books, including
the early series romance. One thing I've always liked about
this author is that her heroes tend to be kind, honerable
men and they treat the heroines with respect and love, Unlike
so many romantic heroes that strike me as jerks and treat
the women horribly before suddenly deciding they're in love.
Luke is not exception, so my complaints about the book have
nothing to do with that. As usual, the romance is sweet
and sensitive. I guess I started off bad with this book when I realized in
the very first paragraph that the author refers to
the Vietnam War dragging on in 1977. I would suggest a
little research, which would presumably enlighten Ms Sala
that we were out of Vietnam by then. But, that is a minor
complaint. My main issue with this book is the subject
matter. Perhaps other people will not have so much trouble
reading about Jade's childhood. For me, child sexual abuse
is not a topic I can find entertaining on any level.There
were HUGE sections of this book that I completely skipped
over after realizing what the subject matter was going to
be. If that wasn't disturbing enough Ms. Sala then
presents us with a main character dying of AIDS as a result
of that sexual abuse. It was just too depressing for me.
I suppose it seems contradictory that I can enjoy Romantic
Suspense about murderers and stalkers, but not child abuse,
but that is the case for me. It's just NOT a subject I
want to read about. I've found that recently this author seems to be trying to
be more and more "topical" in her writing. She's writitng less
and less about the small townn, rural characters that seemed
to be so much a part of her earlier books and taken on
much deeper story lines. I have yet to finish her last
Dinah McCall book, I found it so boring, and, as I said,
I only made it to the end of this one by skipping large segments
of the book. I haven't completely given up on this author yet and I will
continue to re-read her early, wonderful books. But I hope
she reverses this trend toward more and more disturbing subjects.
Rating: 
Summary: Not believable
Review: I really enjoy Sharon Sala's books, and I picked this one up with great expectations.
Sadly, it was poorly researched. The implausability begins with the behaviors and personalities of Jade and Rapheal, which are incorrect behaviors for incest/abuse victims.
And their living on the street for twelve years, yet being extremely educated, articulate and most of all, totally asexual is improbable.
Rapheal's illness doesn't ring true to classic HIV/AID's progression. It continues with Luke's ability to go into various sites and places completely against any legal police procedure. You have the suspension of belief required when they are accidentally seen on TV by Luke.
You have a candidate for governor being arrested with no more fanfare than picking up a vagrant off the street. Then being assaulted by Luke, a non-lawenforcement entity. Even Frank's lawyer standing up and telling him off was extremely improbable for legal reasons.
Then you have a woman who has been brutalized sexually for 6 years of her early years, then totally celibate for the next 12 suddenly saying "Gee, I think I am ready to try sex now" with a man she literally just met days before. And a man 'falling instantly' for a very damaged woman, basically on her looks alone. Their relationship is consumated way to soon and fast for both their own good.
Lastly, Jade's paintings, while dear, are not the kind that would sell for millions of dollars.
I have great hopes for other Sala works, but because of my profession and life experience, this book was improbable to impossible, to the point it was almost unreadable.
Rating:
Summary: Reader from IL - I loved it
Review: I thought this was a great book. Yes, the timing for the Vietnam war was a little off probably, but overall it was good. I thought that while the subject matter was controversial it was something that many authors don't have the courage to write about. I have all of Sharon Sala's books and love them, but none is as good as her title, Remember Me.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I wished I had read the reviews before buying this book. At first, I didn't know if I could read a book about sexual child abuse. However, the more I read, I realized that Ms Sala just skimmed the surface of sexual child abuse. Most of story was unbelievable, which is insult to those that have been abused. Jade was abused as a child and lived on the streets until a private investigator, Luke, finds her after 10 years of unsuccessful attempts from other PI's. Wow, wish we had more PI's like him. Even though Jade has been abused, lived on the streets, not lived as normal adult and acts more like a child, PI Luke begins to fall in love with her the very first time he sees her. Jade is more resilient than most adults that were brutally abused as children. After only a week, give or take a few days, of being reunited with her father she is able to have intimacies with Luke and enjoy it. That alone almost kept me from finishing this book, but I paid good money for it and decided to make the best of it. This was just too unbelievable to relate to it in any way for me. Obviously, Ms Sala never researched what sexual child abuse does to a person. I give it one star because Rafie's character at least had some depth.
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