|
Publisher:
Amber Quill Press |
Release
Date: November 2003 |
ISBN:
1592798861 |
Awards:
|
Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Contemporary Romantic Suspense [California & Texas]
|
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewer
Notes: Some sex |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
|
Dreams
By Catherine
Snodgrass
It is
always encouraging to find an author who is prepared to resurrect
a long-dormant genre, and Catherine Snodgrass has written a real
gothic novel. If, like this reviewer, you once thrilled to the works
of Victoria Holt and Virginia Coffman, you will enjoy this tale
of romantic suspense.
Jenny
Matley has no idea that she even has a father until she sees a man
on television appealing for his long-lost daughter, and there is
a picture of her as a child. Something terrible happened the night
that she and her mother fled from her father's home twenty-seven
years ago and now dreams haunt her. She is reunited, too, with her
childhood friend Jared Russell, who is now a widower with six children
as well as being drop-dead gorgeous. But no sooner has she arrived
back at her father's house when it becomes clear that somebody is
trying to kill her, and too many people don't want her to remember
what happened on the night that Uncle Frank fall from the balcony.
This has all the trappings of an enjoyable
modern gothic novel. A young woman in jeopardy, a handsome but bereaved
man with children who need a mother's love, large mansions, lots
of money to inherit, frightening dreams and a sinister, stalking
murderer at large.
There
is more romance than suspense though, with childless Jenny mothering
the six children and falling in love with Jared while the gothic
part of the tale takes a back seat. This caused it to lose momentum
somewhat, but then the story's darker side crept back and it was
gothic all the way to the end. This did make the whole seem a little
disjointed, but also appealing to fans of both the romantic and
the gothic. The protagonists were sympathetic and modern people
and I didn't guess all the secrets; I was left wanting to read another
novel by this author and if you are a fan of this type of tale,
so will you.
|