Snowfall

Rating:
Summary: Superb Romantic Suspense
Review: A beautiful author, a mysterious serial killer, and a hunky bodyguard are just a few of the elements that make this novel superb romantic suspense. Caitlin Bennett, wealthy mystery writer, has been receiving threatening letters, which don't seem serious to the police until she is pushed into the path of an oncoming truck. When her editor Aaron Workman learns of her "accident", he contacts his stepbrother, ex-cop and security company owner Connor McKee.

Upon Caitlin's release from the hospital, Connor returns with her to her New York penthouse apartment to install a security system and keep guard over her. Connor and Caitlin have never gotten along and continue to struggle to be civil to each other as Caitlin's letters become more threatening. When the police become involved and a link between Caitlin's case and several murders becomes apparent, Connor becomes more protective than ever. The evolution of romance between Caitie and Mac is rather inventive as intense animosity turns to desire. Can Mac protect Caitlin from the unknown threat before it is too late?

Ms. Sala has penned an intensely suspenseful novel with both depth and substance. Supporting characters abound including Aaron the editor, Kenny, the publicist, and several of New York's finest (police). With skillful writing, suspects are carefully eliminated from list of possible criminals until the reader is left with only one likely perpetrator. And the connection between Caitlin and the evildoer is intricately woven into the plot line and adds another dimension to this read. For sure-fire romantic suspense, Ms. Sala's latest can't be beat.

Rating:
Summary: A DEFINITE SURPRISE!
Review: After reading REMEMBER ME by the same author, I thought never again would I waste my money on a SS book. However, I had forgotten that I also bought SNOWFALL so I decided to grin and bear it. WELL. . .can't believe it was written by the same author. Where REMEMBER ME was amateurish - writing, plot, characters - I found SNOWFALL to be an intelligent read. Romance, danger, murder, a smart but not perfect heroine and a strong hunky hero. Pretty good secondary characters and a good pace. Maybe I will check out some more SS books after all.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping story, tender romance
Review: Bestselling mystery author, Caitlin Bennett, is getting death threats from a "fan." The threats escalate to violence when Caitlin is pushed into the path of an oncoming truck. Her friend and editors calls in a bodyguard, Conner McKee. Caitlin and "Mac" don't particularly like each other, and now they're practically living together. They say odd circumstances call for odd friendships, and friends is something Caitlin doubts she and Mac will ever become. But maybe, just maybe, they can become something more?

Sharon Sala pens a gripping story and a tender romance in Snowfall.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Get "Snowed" by This Book
Review: Caitlin Bennett is a well-known, well-respected mystery writer. She has been receiving threatening letters for the past few months that she has shared with no one except the police. They can't help her until a crime has been committed. Caitlin leads a sheltered life. She has few friends that she can confide in. One of those friends is Aaron, her editor. Aaron is concerned because the publishing company has received a bomb threat unless they stop publishing Caitlin's books.

Then Caitlin is involved in an accident. Someone pushed her in front of a speeding truck. Aaron insists that Caitlin allow his stepbrother, ex-cop Connor "Mac" McKee protect her until the police can find out who is terrorizing her. Caitlin and Mac had met once before when Aaron set them up on a blind date. Things didn't go well then, and aren't about to go well now.

This book didn't work for me. While there are some good scenes involving the murder of women who resemble Caitlin, it wasn't any surprise who was the bad guy. The romance read like it was forced and I was disappointed in the character of Caitlin. The relationship between the lead characters seemed stilted and the dialogue was sappy.

This is one of those situations where the author had something going with the suspense, but the romance ruined the story. In my opinion, if more had been put into the suspense angle and less on the romance, Ms. Salsa could have had a good book. I have enjoyed books by Sharon Salsa/Dinah McCall before and will probably continue to gamble on buying her books.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for a rainy or snowy day.
Review: From the moment Caitlin Bennett and Conner McKee met three years ago, they hated each other on sight and did nothing but fight. However, when Caitlin's best friend (who just happens to be Conner's brother) calls Mac and tells him that Caitlin is being stalked and has made an attempt on her life, he drops everything and comes to Manhattan to serve as her live-in bodyguard. Sharon Sala takes you on a fantastic joyride including obsession, fear, anger, disdain, and even love. Despite their disdain for each other, Caitlin and Mac find their feelings growing for each other all the while wondering when Caitlin's stalker will try and strike again. With a wonderful plot twist at the end, this is definitely a must read for any snowy or rainy day when you've got the time to curl up and devote to a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for a rainy or snowy day.
Review: From the moment Caitlin Bennett and Conner McKee met three years ago, they hated each other on sight and did nothing but fight. However, when Caitlin's best friend (who just happens to be Conner's brother) calls Mac and tells him that Caitlin is being stalked and has made an attempt on her life, he drops everything and comes to Manhattan to serve as her live-in bodyguard. Sharon Sala takes you on a fantastic joyride including obsession, fear, anger, disdain, and even love. Despite their disdain for each other, Caitlin and Mac find their feelings growing for each other all the while wondering when Caitlin's stalker will try and strike again. With a wonderful plot twist at the end, this is definitely a must read for any snowy or rainy day when you've got the time to curl up and devote to a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Very average read
Review: I am an avid reader of all types of novels but I love romance. I have read quite a few romance novels and this was basically very very average. Meet Caitlin Bennett poor little rich girl who has no one in her life. She is a mystery writer and keeps herself locked up in her penthouse apartment. She starts to receive hate mail and is pushed in front of a car. At this point she knows that someone is stalking her. Her friend asks his brother to come protect her, and enter Mac, the bodyguard. These two have never liked each other and now are forced to spend time together until the stalker and of course later we find out he is a killer is caught.

I don't expect much of a plot when I read a romance. In fact, I'm used to the plots being "corny" and "underdeveloped." But not only was this story line silly as a "mystery" but the romance was awful. The Caitlin character spent most of the time whining, but you were supposed to like her because she treated her chaffeaur like one of the family. She's extremely wealthy and thinks someone is stalking her, but never bothers to hire private security. Her publisher gets a bomb threat and doesn't hire private security. When she is finally assaulted, one person comes to her rescue. This story had the usual flaws I find in many poorly written stories (e.g. the killer enters her apartment very easily through the roof). This was so hard to swallow - how many of the rich and famous have their homes poorly equipped so just about any nutcase off the street could enter. How many rich people would stay terriorized and not hire anyone to protect them? (The answer is zero, only a poor person would stay terrorized for months). Also the heroine's actions are just plain dumb (e.g. going on tv) And finally the killer was so predictable you knew who he would be in the first few chapters. Because in every poorly written story I've read, that's who the killer usually is. Very average read.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother!
Review: I got this book from the library (thank goodness!) expecting it to have a good romance intertwined with a good suspense story. What I got instead was a terrible romance that got in the way of a decent suspense. I have read more than 200 romance novels from historical to contemporary by a huge variety of authors and this was absolutely the worst romantic paring I have ever run into.

My major dislike of this novel had to do with the two lead characters. With Mac, the reader never got any sense of who he was. We never learned who he was, what he really looked like other than being big and tall, or why he was supposedly in love with Caitlin. He was nothing more than "Caitlin's bodyguard" through the whole book, he never had an identity of his own. Mac was about the worst developed main character of any novel I have ever read and I have read hundreds.

Caitlin was a better developed character, but that wasn't really a good thing. The entire novel seemed to just go on and on about how Caitlin was just a poor little lonely, misunderstood rich girl. I prefer my lead heroines to care about people other than themselves, have strong personalities, and to show some spine. Caitlin was too self-centered, self-pitying, and helpless for my tastes. She ended up turning into a hysterical mess more times than I cared to count and Mac was always having to take care of her and save her. She didn't seem to be able to do much for herself. She also wasn't what I would call a nice person. For example, she was constantly treating her agent very badly. Yes, he was a very annoying character, but she had no reason to be as mean to him as she was. I found myself disliking Caitlin early on and finished the book still disliking her.

The romance itself was bad. I had no idea through the whole book why these characters would like each other, let alone love each other. The author never really gave us any reason why they loved each other, they just somehow suddenly did. They somehow went from disliking each other one day to proclaiming their love for each other a couple days later. It just wasn't believable for me. Also the heat between the two was just about non-existent.

The suspense story was better, although it was pretty easy to figure out who the villain was early on. There were a few surprises there, but I would say that the suspense would only be worth about a 3 star rating. If you're looking for romantic suspense, there are many better choices out there.

This was my first book by Sharon Sala and it will be my last. I'm surprised at the number of 4 and 5 star ratings this lackluster book received.

Rating:
Summary: it could have been better
Review: I have only read about two of Sharon Sala's books and I liked what I read, but I expected more out of this then I got. I was really into it until I got toward the middle and I found myself frowning more then anything. The Catilin character started to get on my nerves and the romance felt forced. I usually don't care for mysteries but the way the romance was written I felt that it should have been left out of the story.
Caitlin Bennett is a mystery author who also happens to be rich from her late father's estate. Caitlin has been receiving threating letters and the police doesn't take her seriously so she decides that it must not be that big of a deal. She then start's to take it seriously when she is pushed infront of a moving truck. Then comes in Connor "Mac" McKee. Mac is an ex-cop who is asked to bodyguard Caitlin. Of course we all know what follows soon after. They later find out that the "serial killer" who has been killing woman and slashing their faces might be connected to Caitlin's stalker.

Rating:
Summary: Possible Ghost Writer?
Review: I have read many books by Sharon Sala/Dinah McCall and this one was a major disappointment. The writing was terrible. The clues as to the killer were so obvious, you knew who he was in the first couple of chapters. In addition, the phrase :Oh, My God" and it's variations were used to express every emotion from suprise to disgust to dispair - over and over again. I had to force myself to finish reading it just to see if maybe I had been wrong about how the murderer was. Unfortunately, I wasn't. Sala has written so many good books but if I had read this one first, I would never have bought another one. I'm hoping she didn't really write it - that she used a ghost writer for this one.