Rating: 
Summary: Good Sequel!
Review: "Truth Or Dare" is the sequel to "Light In Shadow".Many of the characters from "Light In Shadow" return and there is a lot going on in this story. A) Ethan and his family deal with the third anniversary of his brother's kidnap and murder, B) the growing attraction between Ethan's sister-in-law, Bonnie and biker, bookstore owner, computer expert Singleton Cobb, C) Ethan looks into solving the old mystery of writer Walter Kirwan's death and missing manuscript, D) Grant Loring, Arcadia's husband, is trying to eliminate her, E) Zoe must deal with a person from her past, F) Can Zoe and Ethan make their marriage work?, G) Zoe has interior decorating competition in the form of Lindsey Voyle, H) Is Nelson Radnor's wife having an affair? This is just a little of what is happening in this very busy novel. The story is so busy that there is very little time for romance but the author does a good job weaving the story that you really don't notice it. Now that Ethan and Zoe are married, there is a different approach to the romantic segment of the book. The writing is fast-paced, easy to read and precise. All loose ends are tied up with a heartwarming finish except one tiny issue that dogged Ethan and Zoe throughout the book. You will have to read it to find out what it is. I was delighted with this very entertaining read. I would like to read more Whispering Springs novels in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: not enough romance, mystery or plot
Review: I adored JAK's Light in Shadow - the first in the Whispering Springs Novels. The characters were crisp, witty and it was JAK at her best.
This does measure up to that book. Not that it is bad. It's just this is in the pattern of her recent trilogies of books. One really good and then two weaker continuation of the same story. I really hoped since Light and Shadow was so strong that she would break that curse. I love JAK - she is one of my favourite writers, but I do feel a wee bit let down by these weaker part 2 and 3 books. Only the Eclipse Bay books were as good all the way through, in fact got stronger as they went. In paperback, maybe you would grump less, but at hardback prices her fans might feel they deserve a little bit more.
When we last saw the Whispering Hills gang, it was just a month early. Ethan Truax, PI, had married Zoe Luce to stop Zoe's brother-in-law from trying to pop her back in to the high-priced Candle Lake Manor Psychiatric Hospital. The bluff had worked and the mystery - who killed Zoe's husband - was solved. Zoe's fellow escapee from Crystal Lake - Arcadia was now living with Harry, Ethan's PI friend. Neither Zoe or Arcadia had mental problems, but Crystal Lake specialised in hiding rich people's "embarrassments" - for enough money they quietly keep the problemsome relative away from prying eyes. However, in Arcadia's case, she was actually hiding from a husband, and deliberately checked herself into Crystal Lake. Grant Loring tried to kill her. She figured her husband would never look for her at an institute for the mentally ill.
Arcadia suddenly fears, Grant's still alive - not dead from a skiing accident as reported - and that he has now decided to come after his wife who has too much information on him. She fears her "new" identity has been compromised.
The whole gang, for one reason or another is uneasy. It's November, the month Ethan's brother was murdered, leaving Ethan, Bonnie, his sister-in-law, and his two nephews dealing with the grief. Ethan also is concerned about his marriage. He jumped at the chance to use the excuse of protecting Zoe, when he really wanted to marry her. Now, he fears she may be having second thoughts. Zoe is having seconds thoughts, but not because of love. She loves Ethan, but he refuses to believe Zoe is psychic, just chalks up her "gift" to good intuition. She feels if he cannot accept WHAT she is how can he love her? This is a sticking point, especially when she starts running into "spider webs" of dark emotions somehow connected to Crystal Lake. But those worries, take a back seat when someone tries to kill Ethan. Is it connected to his brother's death? Connected to Zoe's stay at Crystal Lake? Or the con man that Ethan exposed?
Frankly, this books is a enjoyable read, with some really fine JAK's humour. On the whole, she once again has too many story lines going all at once - to hide there is not much of a mystery (Smoke and Mirrors problem). The romance between Zoe and Ethan is pushed aside as it become the "Gang's" Story. Maybe it's a transitional period for JAK. That passion for writing romance seem to have lost that brilliant spark. She covers with extra story threads, lots of chatter about food (yes, we know JAK doesn't like meat!!) food, food and more food (Quick's Don't Look Back's Problem).
This is enjoyable, diverting, and will please fans, but they would do well to wait for paperback.
The same complaints I see from other readers concerning her last half dozen books - thin mysteries, too many story threads shifting the focus from the leads - and the biggest zinger - not enough romance. This book just seems to anti-climatic after the first brilliant Whispering Springs tale which I adored.
Rating:
Summary: lighter Light and Shadow - not enough romance
Review: I adored JAK's Light in Shadow - the first in the Whispering Springs Novels. The characters were crisp, witty and it was JAK at her best. This is not. Not that it is bad. It's just this is in the pattern of her recent trilogies of books. One really good and then two weaker continuation of the same story. I really hoped since Light and Shadow was so strong that she would break that curse. I love JAK - she is one of my favourite writers, but I do feel let down by these weaker part 2 and 3 of her JAK and Quick efforts of late. Only the Eclipse Bay books were as good all the way through. In paperback, maybe you would grump less, but at hardback prices her fans deserver a little bit more. When we last saw the Whispering Hills gang, it was just a month early. Ethan Truax, PI, had married Zoe Luce to stop Zoe's brother-in-law from trying to pop her back in to the high-priced Candle Lake Manor Psychiatric Hospital. The bluff had worked and the mystery - who killed Zoe's husband - was solved. Zoe's fellow escapee from Crystal Lake - Arcadia was now living with Harry, Ethan's PI friend. Neither Zoe or Arcadia had mental problems, but Crystal Lake specialised in hiding rich people's "embarrassments" - for enough money they quietly keep the problemsome relative away from prying eyes. However, in Arcadia's case, she was actually hiding from a husband, and deliberately checked herself into Crystal Lake. Grant Loring tried to kill her. She figured her husband would never look for her at an institute for the mentally ill. Arcadia suddenly fears, Grant's still alive - not dead from a skiing accident as reported - and that he has now decided to come after his wife who has too much information on him. She fears her "new" identity has been compromised. But the whole gang, for one reason or another is uneasy. It's November, the month Ethan's brother was murdered, leaving Ethan, Bonnie, his sister-in-law, and his two nephews dealing with the grief. Ethan also is concerned about his marriage. He jumped at the chance to use the excuse of protecting Zoe, when he really wanted to marry her. Now, he fears she may be having second thoughts. Zoe is having seconds thoughts, but not because of love. She loves Ethan, but he refuses to believe Zoe is psychic, just chalks up her "gift" to good intuition. She feels if he cannot accept WHAT she is how can he love her? This is a sticking point, especially when she starts running into "spider webs" of dark emotions somehow connected to Crystal Lake. But those worries, take a back seat when someone tries to kill Ethan. Is it connected to his brother's death? Connected to Zoe's stay at Crystal Lake? Or the con man that Ethan exposed? Frankly, this books is a pleasant read, with some really fine JAK's humour, but on the whole, she once again has too many story lines going all at once - to hide there is not much of a mystery (Smoke and Mirrors problem). The romance between Zoe and Ethan gets pushed aside as it become the "Gang's" Story. It's like JAK has lost the heart to write romance, so she covers it with food, food and more food (Quick's Don't Look Back's Problem). This is enjoyable, diverting, and will please fans, but they would do well to wait for paperback. Then you won't feel so let down. The same complaints I see from other readers concerning her last half dozen books - thin mysteries, too many story threads and not enough romance on the leads - seems to be a trap JAK is falling into over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: What an awsome sequel to JAK's Light in Shadow!
Review: I could hardly wait to get my hands on this book once it came out in paperback! The sequele to Light in Shadow, Truth or Dare rapped up all the lose relationship strings. Arcadia's 'deciesed' husband showed up and her relationship with Harry finally cemented. Bonnie and Singleton movied further along in there progressing relationship and Eathan and Zoe finally solidified there marrige.
Jayne Krentz's book provids twists and turns that just when you think you have the protaganist nerrowed down she unfold some new clue that makes you second guess yourself.
Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: PURE TORTURE!!
Review: I elected to listen to the unabridged audio version of this book. Boy, it was full of fluffy dialogue that had nothing to do with the "plots". A few action scenes squeezed in between boring interaction between the characters. It got painful to listen to every detail the character did while speaking. Do we really need to know that she opened the car door, took the grocery bag out, closed the car door, walked 3 steps to the green gate, etc. It went on and on. Maybe actually reading the book wouldn't have been so bad. Or maybe I should have listened to the abridged version. It could have been condensed to 2 discs!
Rating: 
Summary: better books
Review: I know this is supposed to be intellectual fluff. The book equivilent of TV to be read when you don't want to be challenged, and I accept it as such. I don't know if she has just gotten complacent, ran our of time, or what? I have read several of her books under one of her other pseudonyms Jayne Castle, and I expect better writting and story development. If you like this type of book try reading Orchid, After Glow, or After Dark, published under that "other" name instead.
Rating:
Summary: What a RIPP-OFF!
Review: JAK used to be an auto-buy for me and though I was hesitant about her earlier book, Light In Shadow, it did turn out a little better than I expected. Not so with Truth Or Dare. JAK finished Ethan and Zoe's story just fine in Light In Shadow and if she felt it needed more, then it would have been better to lengthen it with a couple more chapters. I expected this book to be about Arcadia's story but no such luck. It was Ethan and his baggage dragged around even longer and Zoe's insecurity over her marriage and husband making me cringe.
I saw no reason for writing an entire book just to continue Ethan's and Zoe's story. I was expecting a new suspense plot but there wasn't. Arcadia's character was also inserted as if JAK happened to remember she was in the previous book and so merited a casual inclusion.
This book was lacking in everything that had made JAK one of my favourite authors. I have no idea why and hope she returns to her old form. This hardback is going straight to the USB!
Rating:
Summary: Bland, bland, bland
Review: Jayne Ann Krentz and all of her literary alter egos have always been hit or miss for me and this book was most definitely one of the misses.
The beginning promises some dark paranormal thriller mixed with Krentz's generally heavy duty romance, but the book fails to deliver either. Instead, it's a muddled mishmash of characters who never gel on the page; instead of focusing on heroine and hero Zoe and Ethan, the author distracts with supporting characters that I couldn't have cared less for.
Zoe's supposed to have big angst from her time in a psychiatric institute and her ability to literally read the walls of a house. Both could have been devices to ramp up the drama, but instead Krentz can't get a psychological grip on Zoe and winds up turning the character into a confused and lifeless cariacature. Ethan gets the same short shrift: what could have been a deep, dark and sexy character is instead insecure and disrespectful and not all that sexy.
The mystery is so convoluted that there's no way for a reader to be engaged in solving it. The clues come and go, red herrings that don't make sense keep popping up and just when you think the story is moving along, bam - Krentz switches gears to one of the incredibly boring subplots involving the supporting characters.
I hate it when authors push out books for the sake of having something on the shelves. Truth or Dare feels like Ms. Krentz's editor wanted a contemporary paranormal book (and a sequel to an existing book) of a certain kind and rushed this into print even though the author herself didn't have a cogent storyline for it. Every single aspect of it seems rushed and as if the author herself didn't care much how it came out; if she doesn't care, the reader won't either.
Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: Krentz created the characters on paper and then did not bother to breath bring some life and character into them. She used to be one of my top 10 authors that were a must buy, now don't waste your money. It's like someone else is writing her books for her, where's her editor and publisher? You don't even like the characters they are like paper dolls, no depth at all. i am was very disappointed in her last 3 books. She used to write real hot romance, a class act.
Rating:
Summary: Could have saved a few trees
Review: Maybe I should have read "Light in Shadow" first, or maybe I shouldn't have read the flyleaf, because this bestselling novel did not deliver the suspense, intriguing subplots and romantic twist that were luridly promised.
Many of the supporting characters are two dimensional for most of the book, and then suddenly beefed up in a few paragraphs at a suitable time to enhance whichever tangent the writer was angling for at the time.
The main characters all have dark or unhappy pasts, which they bear either stoically (most of the men) or hysterically (most of the women), and even though there are some good parts peeking through the cobwebs, it rambles around all sorts of other space-filling things, and when you get to the ending, everything wraps up at warp speed, not even pausing for a coherent thought.
As a romance it fails miserably, because there's nothing even vaguely rapturous or tempestuous in there. As a suspense novel, it does a little better, but the ending drags it down considerably. The jury is still out on the intriguing subplots, because I seemed to have missed them completely.
If you have enjoyed other books by this author, and are having a slow afternoon, maybe this book will serve to pass a few hours, but wouldn't be the best choice if you've got other stuff on your to-read list. It's a 2.5 star effort at best.
Amanda Richards, February 5, 2005
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