"River Road" was a pleasant surprise for me. It was a quick, easy page-turner -- half murder mystery and half slightly steamy romance -- that I didn't want to put down. It was just the kind of refreshment I needed after my long, hard two-week slog through "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan. (Which, by the way, is a not only a kids' book but part of a series I have loved thus far. I'm still not sure why I struggled so mightily with this installment.)
But back to the topic at hand, I never would have picked "River Road" up on my own. Confession: I always judge a book by its cover. And this cover does not appeal to me in the slightest. It's also been a while since I've read anything in the way of romantic crime thrillers, a la Nora Roberts. But a co-worker at the library cruised through this book in one day and was raving about it, and since I'm trying to be a more open-minded reader this year I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did!
Lucy Sheridan has just returned to the small California wine-country town of Summer River after 13 years away to handle her Aunt Sara's estate following her death in a car accident. Also back in Summer River is no-nonsense, sexy-as-hell ex-cop Mason Fletcher. When Lucy was a teenager spending the summer with her aunt 13 years ago, Mason saved her from what would have been a very unfortunate situation. Back then Mason thought of Lucy as a kid and Lucy saw Mason as an overprotective and unnecessary guardian angel. Now, all grown up, they come together over their suspicions that Aunt Sara's car wreck was no accident and that many of the dark secrets floating around Summer River are all tied back to that crazy summer when Mason rescued Lucy.
"River Road" is definitely not the best book I'll read this year. It was predictable, and Mason was just the kind of unrealistic perfect man you'd expect to find in a romance novel. The writing itself wasn't anything special -- Krentz has a knack for overusing the phrase "it was true that..." and the word "that," both pet peeves of mine. But I gave "River Road" four stars because it was a thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing story. I'll remember Jayne Ann Krentz next time I'm in need of some fast and fun reading. (FYI: Jayne Ann Krentz also writes different genres under the pen names Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle.)
I've seen books by Amanda Quick before, interesting that she uses 3 different pen names.
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