The Innocent (Intrigue, 622)

Rating:
Summary: The Romance is a little thin
Review: "The Innocent" starts off a trilogy that takes place in Eden, Mississippi where Naomi Cross gives birth to twins on a night where two hurricanes hit and nearly destroyed the town. Sadly, one of the girls, Sela, dies at birth, and the other, Sadie, is kidnapped five years later.

Naomi's sister, Abby Cross, is a police sergeant and when two other children are kidnapped, the FBI sends in a profiler, Sam Burke.

We follow Abby and Sam as they search for the missing children. The mystery is great, but when Abby and Sam fall in love, I had to wonder when they had the time. It didn't feel quite right, almost as if the romance was thrown into the story as an afterthought.

Even with the romance on the thin side, this Harlequin Intrigue novel puts a nice start to the Eden's Children saga.

A Harlequin Dreamers review by Tiffany Ann.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book
Review: Amanda Stevens is my favorite Intrigue writer. Her books, including THE INNOCENT, have everything--action, romance, suspense... My only complaint is that I hate to put them down when it's time to stop reading and start cooking. In this book, Abby Cross is the perfect heroine. She's strong, yet has her weaknesses--in other words, she's a real person. The hero is a perfect foil for her. I thought the romance sizzled!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Innocent
Review: Amanda Stevens returns with a new kidnapping trilogy in Eden's Children, beginning with "The Innocent." Ten years ago, police sergeant Abby Cross's niece was kidnapped in Eden, Mississippi. Now two more children are missing. FBI profiler Sam Burke offers his help. But Sam has secrets of his own and hidden motives he can't tell Abby about. She could use his help. Is trusting him a mistake?

"The Innocent" gets this trilogy off to a solid, if unspectacular, start. Two thirds of the book, the parts containing the mystery, work well. The other third, the romance, does not. As with her last trilogy, Gallagher Justice, Eden's Children begins with a book that has a solid mystery and a romance that takes too long to build. (Actually, with all three of her Intrigue series, Stevens begins with a book where a cop falls for someone keeping secrets about their identity. And the second book in each is a reunion story. HmmmmE In that book, the romance was still believable. In "The Innocent," it's not.

It's always nice to read an Intrigue where the people actually investigate a case and isn't just 250 pages of running. Stevens does a good job showing Abby and Sam as professionals who are good at their jobs. Both are law officers who know what they're doing, and it's especially nice to see a smart, strong woman like Abby. Readers who enjoy following clues and trying to put the case together while the hero and heroine do will find Stevens in top form. It's too bad the sexual tension is so low. This is one of those books where you'd think the characters would have more important things to think about than falling in love, where the suspense doesn't enhance the romance, but detracts from it. Both Abby and Sam have personal stakes in the little girl's disappearance and most of their attention is rightly drawn to it. The love story is almost an afterthought, thoroughly unconvincing in every way. Every time the attention is drawn toward it and away from the mystery, it feels forced. Abby and Sam show little chemistry, fall in love far too quickly when they've spent most of the book thinking about the case, not each other.

As a police procedural with a good mystery and nice twists at the end, "The Innocent" works well. As a romance, I'm not convinced. Fortunately, the next book, "The Tempted," manages a happier medium.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book
Review: Amanda Stevens returns with a new kidnapping trilogy in Eden's Children, beginning with "The Innocent." Ten years ago, police sergeant Abby Cross's niece was kidnapped in Eden, Mississippi. Now two more children are missing. FBI profiler Sam Burke offers his help. But Sam has secrets of his own and hidden motives he can't tell Abby about. She could use his help. Is trusting him a mistake?

"The Innocent" gets this trilogy off to a solid, if unspectacular, start. Two thirds of the book, the parts containing the mystery, work well. The other third, the romance, does not. As with her last trilogy, Gallagher Justice, Eden's Children begins with a book that has a solid mystery and a romance that takes too long to build. (Actually, with all three of her Intrigue series, Stevens begins with a book where a cop falls for someone keeping secrets about their identity. And the second book in each is a reunion story. HmmmmE In that book, the romance was still believable. In "The Innocent," it's not.

It's always nice to read an Intrigue where the people actually investigate a case and isn't just 250 pages of running. Stevens does a good job showing Abby and Sam as professionals who are good at their jobs. Both are law officers who know what they're doing, and it's especially nice to see a smart, strong woman like Abby. Readers who enjoy following clues and trying to put the case together while the hero and heroine do will find Stevens in top form. It's too bad the sexual tension is so low. This is one of those books where you'd think the characters would have more important things to think about than falling in love, where the suspense doesn't enhance the romance, but detracts from it. Both Abby and Sam have personal stakes in the little girl's disappearance and most of their attention is rightly drawn to it. The love story is almost an afterthought, thoroughly unconvincing in every way. Every time the attention is drawn toward it and away from the mystery, it feels forced. Abby and Sam show little chemistry, fall in love far too quickly when they've spent most of the book thinking about the case, not each other.

As a police procedural with a good mystery and nice twists at the end, "The Innocent" works well. As a romance, I'm not convinced. Fortunately, the next book, "The Tempted," manages a happier medium.

Rating:
Summary: The Innocent
Review: Amanda Stevens returns with a new kidnapping trilogy in Eden's Children, beginning with "The Innocent." Ten years ago, police sergeant Abby Cross's niece was kidnapped in Eden, Mississippi. Now two more children are missing. FBI profiler Sam Burke offers his help. But Sam has secrets of his own and hidden motives he can't tell Abby about. She could use his help. Is trusting him a mistake?

"The Innocent" gets this trilogy off to a solid, if unspectacular, start. Two thirds of the book, the parts containing the mystery, work well. The other third, the romance, does not. As with her last trilogy, Gallagher Justice, Eden's Children begins with a book that has a solid mystery and a romance that takes too long to build. (Actually, with all three of her Intrigue series, Stevens begins with a book where a cop falls for someone keeping secrets about their identity. And the second book in each is a reunion story. HmmmmE In that book, the romance was still believable. In "The Innocent," it's not.

It's always nice to read an Intrigue where the people actually investigate a case and isn't just 250 pages of running. Stevens does a good job showing Abby and Sam as professionals who are good at their jobs. Both are law officers who know what they're doing, and it's especially nice to see a smart, strong woman like Abby. Readers who enjoy following clues and trying to put the case together while the hero and heroine do will find Stevens in top form. It's too bad the sexual tension is so low. This is one of those books where you'd think the characters would have more important things to think about than falling in love, where the suspense doesn't enhance the romance, but detracts from it. Both Abby and Sam have personal stakes in the little girl's disappearance and most of their attention is rightly drawn to it. The love story is almost an afterthought, thoroughly unconvincing in every way. Every time the attention is drawn toward it and away from the mystery, it feels forced. Abby and Sam show little chemistry, fall in love far too quickly when they've spent most of the book thinking about the case, not each other.

As a police procedural with a good mystery and nice twists at the end, "The Innocent" works well. As a romance, I'm not convinced. Fortunately, the next book, "The Tempted," manages a happier medium.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Contrary to what one of the reviews says about this book, it has no flashbacks. Did we read the same book? What it does have is a gripping mystery and an emotional love story. Powerful stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, not great
Review: The Innocent was a good book but I didn't love it. There wasn't too much romance and I never felt like I got to know the hero. The suspense was pretty good though. I think gt6243c, the first reviewer, is talking about the second book in the Eden's Children series, The Tempted. That book does have a lot of flashbacks that seem to take up a lot of the book. The Innocent doesn't. It all takes place in the present and it IS the first book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, not great
Review: This book is part of a miniseries, which seems to be centered around the disappearance of children in Eden, Mississippi. Because this is the first book I had read but not the first in the series, it took me a few chapters to get into the story. The story relies heavily on flashbacks that make it more difficult for the story to flow. The story's resolution is a too neat in some ways but does not give the reader that sense of closure that I feel is important.

Rating:
Summary: Kind of Confusing
Review: This book is part of a miniseries, which seems to be centered around the disappearance of children in Eden, Mississippi. Because this is the first book I had read but not the first in the series, it took me a few chapters to get into the story. The story relies heavily on flashbacks that make it more difficult for the story to flow. The story's resolution is a too neat in some ways but does not give the reader that sense of closure that I feel is important.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: This story has everything I love in a romantic suspense--a compelling plot and deep, complex characters. When two little girls are kidnapped from a small town in Mississippi, Sgt. Abby Cross is convinced they're looking for two different suspects. She does believe, however, that one of the kidnappings is tied to the disappearance of another little girl ten years ago--Abby's own niece. When ex-FBI profiler Sam Burke arrives in town to help with the case, Abby soon realizes that Sam is a very complicated man with a few secrets of his own. The way they interact with one another--two lonely souls seeking solace from a very grim case--is both touching and realistic. I loved them both. THE INNOCENT is a romance, to be sure, but also a very gritty suspense. I can't wait for the next book in the Eden's Children series.