Review: A truly well written, engaging romantic suspense novel!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
ARC received by the author in exchange for an honest reviewAs you know, I am not a writer myself, but I wholeheartedly believe that one of the most difficult genres to write must be romantic suspense. You have to do a whole lot of research, keep your reader interested in solving the mystery and, at the same time, make sure that the reader also feels invested in the romance between the main characters. I am very happy to say that this book must be one of the best I have ever read in this genre.Meet Jada McLean: a smart businesswoman, resilient, strong, yet with plenty of soft spots as well. After walking in on the worst situation imaginable - catching her fiancée, Richard, having sex with her best friend, Koto - she deals with her grief the only way she knows how, which is by leaving her business in very capable hands and licking her wounds at a beautiful location - Lake Tahoe - and doing this alone. She runs into Jonathan Kole one of her first days there, and let me just say that their encounter is less than friendly - but it still made me smile a bit.Soon after, Jada learns about the fact that her very ex-fiancée is very much dead, and, naturally, it comes as a big shock: who would kill Richard? And to make matters worse, she then becomes the prime murder subject!Thus follows a story ripe with suspicions, harassment, violence, and kidnapping. But let me not forget to add romance as well...I am being very vague about the storyline here, I know, and it is quite on purpose. You cannot really expect me to give away too much, because 1) it defies the purpose of a review, and 2) I would hate to accidentally give you any clues about the plot, hence ruining it for you.One of the things I love about this story is the fact that it is set over a rather long timespan, and Miss Rohman really makes you get to know both Jada and Jonathan. I enjoyed how the story was told from both of their point of views, and what I particularly love is that we are shown the different range of emotions that Jada goes through: grief, anger, betrayal, vulnerability, depression, insecurity - both in terms of her being a murder suspect, of course, but also when dealing with her feelings towards Jonathan. I found her to be a most appealing and believable character - especially when I learned about her photography: she is not a complete workaholic - and it was easy to connect with her. I would also like to stress that the fact that Jada holds herself back from exploring her feelings towards Jonathan is more than acceptable: remember, she has just suffered from experiencing the worst possible betrayal, only to find herself being framed for murder, so it is only natural that she does not believe in her instincts anymore.And Jonathan? From the very beginning, he sees something in Jada that he wants to explore further and he is rather protective of her early on. He can have quite a volatile temper - believe me, I wanted to throttle him more than once - but at the same time he is caring, sweet and, in many aspects, just as vulnerable as Jada. He falls hard for Jada, but her being unsure about herself in turn makes him feel insecure.Being the D. A. does present a whole set of problems for Jonathan and Jada ever becoming a couple, and I must say that I found their situation to be very realistic - and yes, even Jada's mistrust in Jonathan in the beginning is more than founded. Had these characters simply thrown caution to the wind immediately upon meeting, I would not have believed in them, and I would not rate the book as high as I have.At no point in time did I have the faintest idea about who the murderer was, or even why Richard was killed, and I must say that I applaud the author for having thought of every single detail, however small it may seem, and keeping me invested in the story from beginning to end. Miss Rohman gives the reader one small tidbit of information at a time, but the story never seems unnecessarily drawn out - every detail counts in order to make the pieces fit into the puzzle. At least that is how I feel.I want to conclude my review by saying, again, that this really is one of the best books I have ever read. Both Jada and Jonathan are likeable, honest, real people, and I love the fact that we get to experience the sweet, loving moments between them despite the severity of Jada's situation; the pacing of the story is perfect to me, and I love this author’s writing style. There is also a whole set of secondary characters which all play a part in the story without switching the focus away from Jada and what she is facing. And yes, to the readers who want to know: the sex scenes are very steamy and they will make you tingle in all the right places *wink*. I was feeling all kinds of emotions while reading this book, and my adrenaline really picked up quite a bit in the last 25-30% or so – Miss Rohmann had me extremely worried once or twice, which I liked, and I will most definitely be reading more of her work now.