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: What a Disappointment!!! 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: 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: The center cannot hold Review: ... because there IS no center. The plot wanders, the characters talk too much about nothing important, and they all seem dead from the neck in both directions. Very disappoinging.
Rating: Summary: The center cannot hold Review: ... because there IS no center. The plot wanders, the characters talk too much about nothing important, and they all seem dead from the neck in both directions. Very disappoinging.
Rating: Summary: strong romantic suspense Review: After escaping from a mental institution and proving her sanity to the in-laws who committed her, Zoe is happy that she and private detective Ethan Thax discovered who really killed her husband. Both Zoe and Ethan decide to give their marriage of convenience a chance to become something deeper as they settle into domestic tranquility in Whispering Springs, Arizona. Zoe's peace of mind suffers a severe setback when she senses some disturbed psychic energy, the kind that she felt in the mental institution. While Zoe worries that she might be going crazy, her friend Arcadia who also lives in Whispering Springs finds herself in danger from the husband who once tried to kill her. She has something he wants and Grant will use any means to retrieve it. He muddles the works by making it look like Ethan is the target and if they don't discover the truth soon Arcadia will find herself in deadly danger. TRUTH OR DARE is Jayne Ann Krentz at her very best. Her quirky characters include a Feng Shui psychic interior decorator, a body guard that looks like a skeleton and two cute children who play matchmaker for their mother. They make this work of romantic suspense a delightful reading experience. There are three different couples and several sub-plots that lead into the main storyline that adds a sense of family to what is essentially an action oriented tale. Ms Krentz's talent continues to grow and change in amazing ways that will please fans of this talented author. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: ANOTHER POTBOILER! Review: Average is the word for this book. Like others I eagerly await the release of any new JAK, this one is disappointing. The characters are wooden, the speech stilted and the plot virtually non-existent. Why write this in the form of a trilogy at all? all of the content of this book would have made a good 2 chapters at the end of the previous one, thus finalizing the tale of Zoe and Ethan Truax and the other inhabitants of Whispering springs without the added expense of yet another pricey hardback. As far as I was concerned this was much too formulaic and totally without the finesse in her older books.
Rating: Summary: Not her best, but still JAK Review: Even when she is not at her best, she's better than many of the authors out there. I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed so many of Ms. Krentz' books and hope she continues with the story of Singleton and Bonnie.
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: 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!
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