No safe haven

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Without explanation, Ethan Decker deserts his wife, Sydney, just as they are mourning the loss of their son. But Ethan is soon forced back to Sydney's doorstep and all the unfinished business between them in Patricia Lewin's riveting romantic thriller, Blind Run. A former covert agent, Ethan is hiding out in the desert when a figure from the past appears on his doorstep to drop off two young children. Ethan returns to Sydney with the two mysterious kids. It turns out Ethan and Sydney aren't the only ones interested in Danny and Callie, as they learn from the gunfire that turns their reunion into a bloodbath. Desperately they escape from Sydney's Dallas home, determined to find out who is pursuing them and why they're so bent on capturing the brother and sister. In Blind Run, Lewin deftly demonstrates that the controversial subject of genetic engineering has ramifications transcending science. Her exhilarating debut thriller races with a compelling urgency—readers won't be able to put it down.


None so blind

Giving up her daughter at birth doesn't close her heart to what she surrendered. From half a world away, Jessie Ryder returns to Texas and the tangled bonds she shares with her sister Luz and Lila, daughter to them both, in Susan Wiggs' compelling novel, Home Before Dark. Jessie and Luz have shared much, even their passion for photography. A lifetime of secrets is put to the test between the sisters when Jessie returns and confronts the man who fathered Lila. But past secrets take second place for Jessie as she faces impending blindness, and life becomes even more complicated when Lila and her teen-aged friends' thrill-seeking night ride turns into a twisted wreckage. Jessie's already volatile emotions are further tested by Dusty Matlock. He's the single dad of a toddler with his own unique story of love and sacrifice, a story the media is eager to exploit. Susan Wiggs tackles contemporary issues in the crucible of family with gutsy poignancy and adroit touches of whimsy that make for an irresistible read.


Woman overboard

They meet in the briny depths as Adam Carlyle forgoes his planned death to rescue the songstress who plummets from the back of a clipper ship in Katherine Kingsley's mellifluous Song from the Sea. Callie's rescue gives each the opportunity to relaunch their lives. Her past is lost in the fog of amnesia; his is a tormented yearning for his lost wife and son. For the first time in two years, Adam's interest is roused by the mystery woman. He persuades his friend Nigel to research her background. Nigel learns that Callie is engaged to the one man Adam loathes more than any other, his cousin Harold. Nigel's fateful decision to keep his knowledge secret sets in motion Adam's determination to take care of Callie. While her memory remains stubbornly blank, budding love takes root, until she confronts Harold's first claim on her and Adam's true motivations. Kingsley's charming tale of two lost souls drawn together is as alluring as the call of the sea that united them.


Rock on

Every woman needs a rock star in her past. In Elise Juska's cheeky novel, Getting Over Jack Wagner, Eliza's rock star Karl comes with unique baggage—a throbbing Saab Turbo 9000, and a mama who pinches his cheeks and eyes Eliza with suspicious dismay. Eliza has her own baggage—fear of commitment in the relationships she bounces through. Still, she always has her two dearest friends to confide in. But even Hannah and Andrew can't give her the answers to life and relationships that she seeks. Juska takes 20-something chicklit one step further into real life in this quasi-autobiographical search for the great truths of living. Eliza audaciously refuses to let the disappointments of life bring her down. And when she goes home again, she discovers it's okay to do her living on her own. Addictive as dark chocolate, the home truths surreptitiously woven into this story are just as delicious


© 2003 ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com