Review - - The River House

The River House

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin / Mira

Release Date: March 27, 2018

Reviewed by Janga

Felicity MacGregor and Gabriel Flanagan grew up in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts, best friends from an early age who shared their lives and their dreams of leaving their small town for a larger world. For one night, they were lovers as well, but, fearful of jeopardizing their special friendship, they retreated. Their friendship remained solid during their college years and their early post-college years. But when Felicity crashed and burned in a series of jobs as a financial analyst, Gabe, in a move that exemplifies the difference in male/female communication styles, gave her not the comfort and support she was seeking but the blunt truth as he saw it: she had chosen a career that was all wrong for her in an effort to please her family, and she needed a career change. Felicity left his apartment where she had retreated after her most recent failure, broke and disheartened, and her departure marked the end of their friendship.

Felicity discovered Gabe was right about her career. Three years ago, she stumbled into corporate event planning and found she liked it. Nine months ago, she returned to Knights Bridge and bought a house designed by Gabe’s brother Mark and built on river-side Flanagan land as familiar to Felicity as her own childhood home. She started an event planning business, and with her finances in better order, she is beginning to feel like a successful adult. She loves her job, but she is taken aback when she learns that the corporate boot camp organized by Dylan McCaffrey (Secrets of the Lost Summer), her first corporate event since her return, has added a new speaker to the lineup. Gabe Flanagan is returning to his hometown.

After selling his latest business for a bundle, Gabe is at loose ends while he decides what start-up he will focus on next. When he met Dylan in California and received the invitation to speak at the workshop for entrepreneurs, it seemed a good opportunity to pay a brief visit to Knights Bridge and spend some time with his family before he started a new venture. But he was not expecting to encounter Felicity nor to find that Mark had sold her the river house. Gabe decides that it is time to call in the favor he did Felicity three years ago and invites himself to be her guest during his stay in Knights Bridge. Thrown into each other’s company, Gabe and Felicity discover that their shared memories are stronger than the difference that ended their friendship. Will they also discover that the feelings that turned friends into lovers for one memorable night are also still very much alive?

This novel is the eighth book in Neggers’s Swift River Valley series. I have found it to be an uneven series, with some books fully engaging reads and others barely sustaining my interest. Unfortunately, The River House falls into the second category. Gabe and Felicity are likable characters, and reunion stories are my favorite. I wanted to like this book, but I had two major problems with it. First, too much of the story is recapping earlier books. Since I’ve read the other seven books, all the repetition quickly became irritating, Second, there is a stalker sub-plot that seems irrelevant and eventually fizzles out. It is difficult to believe that Neggers, who has written some excellent romantic suspense novels, could produce so inept a suspense thread.

The River House is not a throw-it-against-the-wall book, but I did find it disappointing. If you are a fan of the series, you may find updates on couples from earlier books reward enough for reading this one. Otherwise, I suggest skipping it and reading the first two books in the series.

Review - - Red Clover Inn

Red Clover Inn

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: April 1, 2017

Reviewed by Janga

  

Charlotte Bennett is visiting the village in the Cotswolds where designer Alexandra Rankin Hunt and her fiancé, Ian Mabry, live (Christmas at Carriage Hill, 2014). The occasion is the destination wedding of Charlotte’s cousin Samantha Bennett and Justin Sloan of the Knight’s Bridge, Massachusetts Sloans (Cider Brook, 2014). Charlotte, a marine archaeologist, is dealing with the lingering effects of a serious case of decompression illness that she suffered while rescuing a fellow diver and coming to terms with the fact that the illness means she can no longer dive. Because she and Samantha are as close as sisters, Charlotte agreed to be Samantha’s maid of honor, but they are both aware that the wedding will be Charlotte’s first since she left her groom waiting at the altar on their wedding day. The combined stresses leave Charlotte in need of a relaxing drink at Ian Mabry’s pub where she has joined other wedding guests for a meet-and-greet on the eve of the wedding.

Greg Rawlings, a friend of Brody Hancock and a colleague in the Diplomatic Security Service, stopped in London to visit with Brody and his wife, the former Heather Sloan, (Echo Lake, 2015) and found himself added to the wedding guests. Greg is exhausted from an intense job, his first since he was critically wounded when an assignment went awry. A recent divorce, amicable though it was, has had an emotional impact, particularly concerning his awareness of his limited role in the lives of his two children, Andrew, fifteen, and Megan, 13, who live in Minnesota with their mother.

Charlotte and Greg meet at the pub where they are both guests and share a drink and some banter. They also share a dance at the wedding. A spark is struck. Greg is intrigued, but Charlotte is wary. However, Greg knows something that Charlotte does not. They have both been asked to housesit for the honeymooners. The “house” is the Red Clover Inn, located in Knight’s Bridge, which Samantha and Justin are in the process of restoring. Charlotte is on leave from her job while she considers what changes new physical restrictions will mean for her career. Greg has a few weeks before he is to report to his new job at his agency’s headquarters in Washington, D. C. Greg was planning to make his excuses since he could not imagine himself contentedly spending two weeks in quiet Knight’s Bridge, but once he learns Charlotte will be there, he invites his kids to join him in New England.

Charlotte, who is anticipating two weeks of peace at the unoccupied inn, is not pleased to find Greg will be sharing her space, but as the two of them spend more time together, the attraction between them strengthens. They are warmed by the genuine welcome extended to them by the residents of Knight’s Bridge. When Andrew and Megan join them, the foursome enjoys the lowkey lifestyle and one another’s company. The kids even engage in a bit of matchmaking. Charlotte and Greg find time to consider the changes in their lives and the fact that they are gradually falling in love. But is this new love worth risking their bruised hearts?

Red Clover Inn is the seventh book in Carla Neggers’s Swift River Valley series. It is different from the other books in that portions are set in England, Scotland, and Washington, D.C. as well as in Knight’s Bridge, but many of the characters, including Greg Rawlings, will be familiar to readers who have read earlier books in the series. The Knight’s Bridge connection and the sense of home the small town offers continue to be central. Like the leads in other Swift River Valley books, Charlotte and Greg are likable, interesting characters for whom it is easy to root. I especially appreciated the appeal of Andrew and Megan and their relationship with their father.

I have frequently said that if I like a book’s characters, I can forgive other flaws. I have also often expressed a fondness for quiet books. In fact, my sister sometimes accuses me of liking books where “nothing happens.” This book taught me that I need to be more cautious making such generalizations. Despite my affection for these characters, I grew restless because the book is so free of conflict. The life-altering experiences of Charlotte and Greg take place before the story opens, and while both need a period of introspection, there is no doubt that they will accept the changes and get on with their lives. There are also no real obstacles to their romance other than Charlotte’s wariness, which any romance reader knows will be overcome. The mystery involving Grandmother Sloan’s time capsule seems tangential, and the resolution is anticlimactic. The honeymoon scenes in Scotland are sweet and will doubtless be popular with fans of Samantha and Justin, but they add little to the story.

This is not a bad book, but it is a disappointing one when measured against the richness of the first three books in the series. Fans devoted to the series will doubtless enjoy the wedding and the gathering of many popular characters as well as a return visit to delightful Knight’s Bridge, but the book’s appeal to new readers is limited.

Review - - The Spring at Moss Hill

The Spring at Moss Hill

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: January 26, 2016

Kylie Shaw wound up in Knight’s Bridge, Massachusetts, because one of her art professors had a country home there that happened to be empty when Kylie needed a quiet spot free of distractions to focus on her work as an illustrator. What was supposed to be a brief stay stretched into many months. When the professor decided to sell her home, Kylie, not ready to leave Knight’s Bridge, became the first occupant of the loft apartments that were part of the Moss Hill complex, a nineteenth-century hat factory renovated by local architect Mark Flanagan.

Kylie found the small town perfect not only to concentrate on her latest project, illustrations for a series of fairy tales, but also to work on the wildly popular children’s books she writes and illustrates as Morwenna Mills. No one, not even her family, knows that Kylie is Morwenna, and since Kylie is unsure of how people will react to her unexpected fame, she is not eager to disclose her dual identity. Learning that a private investigator will be moving into the apartment across from hers disrupts Kylie’s peace. It wouldn’t take much digging for a smart PI to discover Kylie and Morwenna are one and the same. But once she meets Russ Colton, Kylie finds it difficult to dodge his questions and more difficult to ignore the attraction she feels for the hunky investigator.

Russ Colton is not happy about becoming a temporary resident of some small town that he never heard of until his client, Hollywood designer Daphne Stewart, insisted that he check it out before she returns to the place where her design work began (That Night on Thistle Lane, Swift River Valley #2) to conduct a master class in costume design. Daphne is not sure whether the bad vibes she’s getting about her trip are warnings of a real threat or the result of her paranoia about her past. Russ is convinced it is the latter, but almost as soon as he gets into town, he learns that rumors are circulating about the safety of the Moss Hill complex. Then there is his neighbor: Kylie Shaw clearly is hiding something, and neither her evasions nor the probable irrelevance of her secret to Daphne will stop Russ from unlocking the puzzle of the blonde artist who arouses his curiosity and his libido.

This is the sixth book in Neggers’s Swift River Valley series. Like the other books in the series, Knight’s Bridge itself with its history and the entangled threads of the town’s old families is a large part of its appeal. Fans of the series will doubtless be pleased at the updates the author provides on couples from most of the other books. Kylie and Russ are likeable characters who find friends in the welcoming community and the promise of an HEA with each other. Russ’s California ties not only to Daphne but also to his brother Marty add interest to the story.

Despite these strengths, however, the story never quite came together for me. Kylie’s desperation to protect her alternate identity seems incomprehensible given the lack of any threat, physical or psychological. Daphne’s fears are a bit more understandable, but they still seem exaggerated in light of her years and achievements. There is a secondary romance that fizzles, and the “villain” threatening Moss Hill is more pathetic than dangerous.

If you have read and liked the other Swift Valley books, you will likely find enough of interest in this one to make it worth the read. If you are new to the series, I recommend you start at the beginning with Secrets of the Lost Summer and Night on Thistle Lane, foundational books with engaging characters and tight, comprehensible plots.  

 ~Janga

Review - - A Knights Bridge Christmas

A Knights Bridge Christmas

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: September 29, 2015

 

Carla Neggers takes readers back to Knights Bridge, Massachusetts for this sweet holiday romance, the fifth book in her Swift River Valley series.

Widow Claire Morgan and her six-year-old son Owen are new residents of Knights Bridge, having relocated to the small town from Boston when Claire accepted the position as director of the local library, successor to Phoebe O’Dunn, now happily married to Noah Kendrick (That Night on Thistle Lane). Claire’s marriage was brief but blissfully happy. Since her husband’s death, she has found her happiness in work she loves and in her young son who resembles the father who died before he was born. A devoted mother who tries not to be overprotective, she makes the move to Knights Bridge largely for the sake of her son. At first meeting, she writes Logan Farrell off as rude and arrogant, but his clear affection for his grandmother makes her reconsider. She may not be immune to Logan’s charm—or his kisses. But he plans to be in Knights Bridge only briefly, and Claire knows herself well enough to know that she is not a one-night stand type.

Dr. Logan Farrell is a busy ER physician who is in Knights Bridge only to see Daisy, his eighty-something grandmother, settled into her new quarters in Rivendell, the town’s assisted living facility. He plans to return to Boston and his fast-paced life there just as soon as he is sure Daisy is happy with the change in her life, but then Daisy asks him to decorate her home for Christmas one more time before the house is sold, making certain to place a particular candle in a window. Unable to deny his beloved grandmother her request, Logan begs Claire to help with the decoration.

When Claire agrees, the two, along with Owen, spend time together. Claire’s initial antagonism toward Logan soon yields to friendship and a growing attraction. Logan, who falls not only for Claire but also for her young son, finds himself spending more time in Knight’s Bridge than he had planned, enduring the taunts of his urban friends with a smile. But can the wary Claire open her heart and her life to a new love, and can the adrenalin addicted Logan be happy in small-town Knights Bridge?

Neggers offers readers a sweet romance with a generous portion of Christmas traditions and sentiment. Although this is not the strongest book in the series, it is an appealing holiday read, and fans of the series will be pleased to see characters from earlier novels appear in secondary roles. Knights Bridge is an attractive setting with a distinct regional flavor. However, I suspect that I will not be the only reader who finds the love story of Daisy and her late husband the most engaging part of the book. I recommend this book for readers who can’t resist a Christmas contemporary romance and for those who appreciate small-town romances with a low sizzle factor. Book six in the series, The Spring at Moss Hill, will be released January 26, 2016.

~Janga

Review - - Christmas at Carriage Hill

Christmas at Carriage Hill

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Release Date: December 1, 2014

Alexandra Rankin Hunt, a rising star in London’s fashion industry, recently relocated to a village in the Cotswolds where she met Ian Mabry, an RAF pilot whose family owned the local pub. For a time, Alex thought Ian was “the one,” but he turned out to be just another heartbreaker. Now Alex is looking forward to a trip to Knights Bridge, Massachusetts, to attend the wedding of her American cousin, Dylan McCaffrey to Olivia Frost. She has a particular interest in being present for the ceremony since she designed and made the wedding gown and the bridesmaids’ dresses. She also hopes her visit will allow her to avoid Ian and make it easier to begin the process of forgetting him. To Alex’s dismay, she arrives in Knights Bridge to find that Ian has also been invited to the wedding. To make matters worse, both English visitors are staying at the Farm at Carriage Hill. Not only is Alex unable to avoid her former love, but they are constantly thrown into one another’s company.

Time together is exactly what Alex and Ian need to clear up their miscommunication problems. As they participate in wedding festivities, share English recipes with their American hosts, and visit the elderly woman who was beloved by Alex’s great-grandfather, another RAF pilot, they find their way to their own HEA.

This novella falls between Cider Brook (January 2014) and Echo Lake (February 2015), the third and fourth books of Neggers’s Swift River Valley series. Fans of the series will enjoy the long-awaited wedding of Olivia and Dylan and a sweet touch to the poignant romance of Dylan’s grandmother and the man she loved, a war hero. Readers who like recipes mixed with their fiction will find several to add to their collection, including one for scones and one that makes Brussel sprouts sound appetizing. But the central romance is slight, and despite the title, this is not a satisfying Christmas story. Alex and Ian are likeable enough, but characters and plot are too thinly developed to engage readers fully. Those already invested in the series will find enough of interest to make the read worthwhile, but others may find themselves confused by references to characters from earlier books. I suggest readers unfamiliar with the series not start with the novella. I do recommend highly the first book in the series, Secrets of the Lost Summer, Olivia and Dylan’s story.

~Janga

Guest Review - - Cider Brook

Cider Brook

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: January 28, 2014

Samantha Bennett comes from a family of adventurers. A treasure hunter by profession, Sam has a particular interest in pirates, an interest she traces back to her childhood fascination with them and to conversations about famous and not-so-famous real life pirates with her grandfather, a renowned explorer most famous for barely surviving a trip to Antarctica. In fact, it was a painting of a cider mill and a manuscript with the intriguing title “The Adventures of Captain Farraday and Lady Elizabeth” handwritten in an obviously feminine hand that Sam discovers among her grandfather’s treasures after his death that sends her back to Knights Bridge, a small Massachusetts town that Samantha never expected to visit again. It was her first, secret visit to Knights Bridge that led to her being fired from her job with treasure hunter Duncan McCaffrey, something Sam has always regretted, especially since Duncan died before she could explain her secrecy to him. But even knowing Duncan’s son Dylan is now making Knights Bridge his home is not enough to keep her away from the chance of finding answers to her many questions about Captain Benjamin Farraday, a Boston privateer turned pirate in whom Samantha is particularly interested.

Justin Sloan, volunteer firefighter and one of the sons of Sloan & Sons Construction Company bought the old Cider Brook cider mill when the town sold it for unpaid taxes. When an unseasonably warm day erupts into a major thunderstorm, he decides to check on his property. He finds the mill in flames, the result of a lightning strike, and the missing lock warns him that someone is inside. It is only after he carries the young woman he finds inside to safety that he learns that she is Samantha Bennett, the same young woman whose surprising interest in Knights Bridge he reported to Duncan McCaffrey two and a half years ago, a report that led Duncan to fire her. Justin has the feeling that Samantha Bennett may prove to be trouble for him and for his town.

Samantha and Justin try ignoring the attraction that sparks between them, but neither can stop thinking of the other. But can strong chemistry overcome the secrets and distrust that persist between the outsider from a famous family at home all over the world and a hometown boy who knows Knights Bridge is exactly where he belongs?

Cider Brook is the third novel in Neggers's Swift River Valley series. Readers who liked the earlier books will be pleased to see many familiar characters appear in this one. Olivia Frost, heroine of Secrets of the Lost Summer (Book 1) welcomes Samantha to The Farm at Carriage Hill, and Dylan McCaffrey consults with Justin often about the house the Sloans are building for Olivia and Dylan, who are planning a December wedding. Phoebe and Noah are scheduled to return from their honeymoon soon, Maggie and Brandon are enjoying their reunion, and Jess and Mark’s wedding takes place in this book. Even Loretta Wrentham and Julius Hartley are hovering on the brink of true love (That Night on Thistle Lane, Book 2). I enjoyed the updates on all these characters, but I’m not sure how a reader new to the series will respond.

As she did in the first two books, Neggers weaves together threads of a mystery rooted in the area’s past with contemporary concerns of an unlikely pair of lovers. She switches things up a bit this time and makes the heroine the one who has led a more sophisticated life. Once more Neggers vividly evokes the past and present of this small New England town. Despite the mystery and the dramatic opening with the hero saving the heroine from a burning building, this is a quiet, slow-paced book.

I like quiet books, so the pace did not bother me. But I never felt the emotional connection with these characters that sets keepers apart from books that engage me in a more limited way. I sometimes found myself more interested in updates on former pairs of lovers than on the progress of Sam and Justin’s relationship. I never understood why Sam’s first visit to Knights Bridge was such a huge betrayal of Duncan, and the secrets of the padlock and the journal seemed silly to me. I did enjoy the exchanges between Justin and his brothers and between Samantha and her rather eccentric family.

In the final analysis, while this book never made me want to throw it in the nearest trashcan, there were times while I was reading it that I cast longing looks at books waiting in my TBR queue. If you like slow-paced books with multiple plot lines that cover the distant past, the near past, and the present, you may find this novel more engaging that I did.

~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com

Guest Review - - That Night on Thistle Lane

That Night on Thistle Lane

By Carla Neggers

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: January 29, 2013

Carla Neggers returns to Knights Bridge, Massachusetts, for the second book in her Swift River Valley series. Librarian Phoebe O’Dunn is a sensible woman. The mystery of the hidden attic room in the Knights Bridge Library and the glamorous gowns it contains may stir her imagination but she resists the encouragement of her sister Maggie Sloan and her friend Olivia Frost to wear one and join them at a charity masquerade ball. But after Maggie (wearing the gown Grace Kelly wore in To Catch a Thief) and Olivia (wearing the gown Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) leave, the combination of wine and an Edwardian gown fit for a princess weakens Phoebe’s resistance. With a wig and a mask to complete her disguise, Phoebe dons the silk satin gown and sets out for the ball.

At the ball, this Cinderella meets not a prince, but a swashbuckler in black whom she calls D’Artagnan after the adventurer and swordsman who is the hero of the Dumas novels. Their dance is a scene from a romantic dream, but Phoebe, like a fairy tale princess, runs away before she is recognized. The last thing she expects is that her swashbuckler will turn up in Knights Bridge. The swashbuckler is Noah Kendrick, the billionaire genius who founded NAK, a high tech company that has recently gone public, leaving Noah at loose ends. He’s in Knights Bridge because his best friend and former NAK associate, Dylan McCaffrey, is there with his fiancée, Olivia Frost.

Although the initial attraction between Phoebe and Noah is strong, they are both wary of relationships. At twenty, Phoebe thought she was on her way to her own fairy tale ending, but the man she expected to marry jilted her mere days after her father died in an accident. Phoebe stopped believing in romance outside the covers of books and filled her life with her family and her work at the library. Dylan’s experience with women more interested in what his money can do for them than in him as a person has made him a skeptic in the romance department. Their mutual wariness is about all the wealthy entrepreneur from San Diego and the small-town librarian have in common. Yet neither can forget the moments they shared at the ball, and the more they see of one another, the steadier the flame of attraction burns.

Their romance plays out against a low-stakes mystery and a subplot involving Phoebe’s sister Maggie and her estranged husband Brandon. Knights Bridge is an appealing setting, and the family dynamics and community history add interest to the story.

Phoebe and Noah are likeable characters, but their relationship moves slowly. I enjoyed all the details about the dresses in the secret room, but I found the mystery more distraction than vital thread in the story. The beginning had a certain fairy tale appeal despite its clichés, but the development of Phoebe and Noah’s relationship seemed missing some essential ingredient. I found myself more engaged with the secondary romance. I liked Secrets of the Lost Summer, but I thought That Night on Thistle Lane was a weaker book. Still, I like Knights Bridge and its people enough to at least check out any other books in the series.

~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com