Author Profile/Book Review: Against the Edge by Kat Martin

kat martinKat Martin is a New York Times bestselling author of over fifty historical and contemporary romance suspense novels.  She currently lives in Missoula, Montana with her husband.  Kat is a graduate of the University of California where she majored in Anthropology and studied History.  Before starting her writing career in 1985, she was a real estate broker.  That’s where she met her husband, Larry Jay Martin, author of more than 20 westerns and mysteries.

Most of her ideas for books just pop up in her head, but she does occasionally get ideas from newspapers and television.  Her books are published in twenty foreign countries.

Against the Edge is book number eight in the Against series.  You  don’t need to read the others in any order as they stand alone just fine.

Former Navy SEAL Ben Slocum receives the shock of his life when a stranger appears on his doorstep announcing that a child he didn’t even know he had is missing.  Claire Chastain is a friend of the boy’s late mother and is desperate to find him and seeks Ben’s help.  They band together to track down the kidnapper, all the while trying to fight the attraction they feel for each other.  Ben enlists the help of his fellow private investigators and end up traveling through several states in search of an off grid survivalist group who might have his son, Sam.  To add an interesting twist to the story, Claire’s old boyfriend shows up with his own trouble that Claire gets drawn into.

This book is filled with drama, suspense, action, romance, and likeable characters.  It is fun to watch Ben and Claire’s relationship take hold.  The author weaves a believable story of both characters’ pasts that adds great interest to the book.  The secondary characters (some have been introduced in past Against books) add another enjoyable layer.

Top Twenty Book Club Picks

book clubBelow is a list of the top 20 favorite books for book clubs.  How many has your club read?

  1.  The Help – Kathryn Stockett
  2. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
  3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer
  4. Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay
  5. Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
  6. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
  7. The Art of Racing In The Rain – Garth Stein
  8. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
  9. The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
  10.  Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jami Ford
  11.  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
  12.  The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
  13.  The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
  14.  Little Bee – Chris Cleave
  15.  Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese
  16.  Life of Pi – Yann Martel
  17.  The Memory Keepers Daughter – Kim Edwards
  18.  The Paris Wife – Paula McCain
  19.  Still Alice – Lisa Genova
  20.  The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

BOOK REVIEW: What She Wants by Sheila Roberts

This is book three of the Life in Icicle Falls series.  I didn’t read the other two and do not feel like I needed to.  This book took me completely by surprise.  Most romances center around the angst of women trying to find true love.  This book centers around men!  It was very refreshing to read a story from the man’s perspective.

Jonathan Templar and his poker buddies are single, married, separated, height challenged, balding, overweight and geeky.  Not your typical romance heroes!  But they all have good hearts and no knowledge on how to get the love of their lives, or keep the loves of their lives.

The main character of this book is Jonathan who has been in love with his childhood neighbor his whole life.  She only sees him as her “good friend”.  Their 15 year high school reunion is coming up and he is determined to change from geeky, skinny, computer nerd, to stud-muffin he-man.  He’s also determined to learn how to talk to women and learn what they want.  His poker buddies also have their women challenges from Adam who thinks he’s in love with someone at work, to Kyle whose wife kicks him out for taking her for granted, to Vance who has known love and lost love and has quite the surprise!   Ms. Roberts deftly weaves their stories and other secondary characters around Jonathan’s.  Jonathan’s sister starts planting the seed of reading romance novels to learn about women.  They attend their local library’s book sale and Jonathan ends up buying a ton of romance novels.  He approaches reading them as if they were textbooks, highlighting passages and taking notes.  He ends up actually enjoying them!  His poker buddies accidentally come upon his new hobby and he hooks them into reading the romance novels too.  It is quite interesting, humorous and thoroughly engaging to watch these men transform.

This book will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for the underdog.  It is very well written, with great character development and scene setting.  You’ll fall in love with the Town of Icicle Falls and all its characters!

Author Career Achievement Awards – 2012

awardRomantic Times Book Review magazine announced the 2012 winners of the prestigious Career Achievement Awards.  Fifty reviewers and editors chose these winners from a long list of nominees.  They are:

  1.  Contemporary Romance – Jill Shalvis
  2. Erotic Romance – Jaci Burton
  3. Historical Romance – Mary Balogh
  4. Inspirational – Mindy Starns Clark
  5. Mainstream – Kristin Hannah
  6. Mystery – Sara Paretsky
  7. Paranormal – Maggie Shayne
  8. Romantic Suspense – Cherry Adair
  9. Science Fiction – Jo Walton
  10. Series Romance – Diana Palmer
  11. Urban Fantasy – Kelley Armstrong
  12. Young Adult – Christopher Pike

BOOK REVIEW: Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts

I have mixed feelings about this latest book from Nora Roberts.  It was very good –  entertaining, intriguing, enjoyable – but it just didn’t flow as well as some of her other books.

Eli Landon is a Boston lawyer who endured an intense year being accused of murdering his soon-to-be ex-wife.  There wasn’t enough evidence and the case was dismissed, but his reputation, life and career are ruined.  He needs to get away and he chooses to go to his family’s home in Whiskey Beach, Mass.  Bluff House has sat above Whiskey Beach for more than 300 years and not only is it stunning in its appearance, it holds the key to a long ago mystery of death, treasure, and betrayal.  Eli not only needs to heal from his ordeal, but he has promised his grandmother, who lives at Bluff House, but is currently recuperating in Boston from a fall, that he would look after the house.

Abra Walsh has been caring for Bluff House and Gran for a few years now.  She was once a mover and shaker in Washington, D.C., but has escaped to Whiskey Beach to become a jill-of-all-trades:  maid, cook, massage therapist, yoga instructor, jewelry maker.  She, too, is escaping a terrible ordeal and chose Whiskey Beach to do her healing.

It takes awhile for Ms. Roberts to give the reader some insight to Abra’s past and Eli’s troubles.  The story moves a bit sluggishly.  But the characters have vintage Roberts’ charm and likeability.  You are still drawn into the story (there is danger, murder, mystery, pirate treasure and romance) and are anxious to read the book to its conclusion.  The characters are multi-faceted and likeable, although Abra Walsh seems just a little too good to be true.  I was quite disappointed in the ending.  It took a long time to get there, then was hurried and stingy in details.  But the theme of love, trust, and friendship ring true.

Nora Roberts fans will enjoy this book, she truly has never written a bad book.  It just doesn’t have the “zing” some of her other books have.