Review - - Spring Forward

Spring Forward

By Catherine Anderson

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: January 2, 2018
Reviewed by Janga

More than six years ago Tanner Richards headed his own accounting firm and enjoyed a six-figure annual income, but his wife’s death in an automobile accident left him with a determination to live in the moment and a need to spend time with his two young children, then three and five. He sold his business and moved his family to Crystal Falls, Oregon, so that his mother could help with the children, and he took a job as a deliveryman for Courier Express so that he would have more time with Tori and Michael, now eight and eleven. For the past three years, he has enjoyed a plum assignment on a rural route that allows him to be home by the time his kids are out of school. He has developed a genuine fondness for some of his regulars, particularly Tuck Malloy, an octogenarian, rough-edged former rancher. When Tuck, who has landed in an assisted living facility after a fall that left him with broken bones and required hip-replacement surgery, calls and asks him to smuggle in contraband beer and chewing tobacco, Tanner knows it is unwise but can’t deny the old man his pleasures.

Crystal Malloy is struggling to keep her upscale beauty salon functioning at optimum level and to care for her grandfather and Rip, the Australian cattle dog who is her grandfather’s boon companion. Tuck is the one person who has always been there for her, and she is determined not to fail him. She is doing all she can to prepare for the time when he has recovered enough to move into her home, but in the meantime the level of help he requires means an assisted-living apartment is the best place for him. Crystal panics when the rigid, mean-spirited administrator threatens to evict Tuck because of his beer and tobacco.   She allows herself to be blackmailed into filing an official complaint against the deliveryman who brought the contraband.

Tanner and Crystal meet when he is demoted to a Mystic Creek route. An apology and the withdrawal of Crystal’s complaint prevent any antagonism between them. There is no reason they cannot act on their immediate attraction. They share a commitment to Tuck, basic values, and an unpretentious approach to life, but both are wary of long-term commitments, Tanner because of his kids and Crystal because of the trauma in her past that has left her terrified of love. Meanwhile, Tuck has found a romantic interest of his own and the confident, take-charge Essie has shown him that life in assisted living can be more rewarding than he thought possible. These relationships play out against a background of warm community, the complications of family, and pets with personality to give readers a rewarding, feel-good read.

Anderson’s fourth Mystic Creek book is a strong addition to the series. There’s a lot going on in this book, and the pace may seem slow in the opening chapters. But the characters are endearing enough to make these concerns small ones. All the adult characters bear scars, but Crystal’s problems are complex and deep-rooted. They are not rendered simplistically. Nor, despite the suggestion of an HEA, are they resolved with a single, miraculous counseling session. Anderson makes it easy for readers to become invested in the lives of her characters and to root for their happiness. I think the lingerie-stealing burglar could have been omitted with no loss, and I thought the “spring forward” theme was rather overdone at the end. Nevertheless, overall, I found this an engaging read. It can easily be read as a standalone. I recommend it for fans of contemporary romance with more sweetness than sizzle and lots of family and community contexts.

Review - - The Christmas Room

The Christmas Room

By Catherine Anderson

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: September 26, 2017
Reviewed by Janga

 

Cam McClendon fulfills a dream when he buys land in Mystic Creek, Montana, and moves there with his teenage son, Caleb, and his widowed mother, Maddie, a famous mystery writer. Shortly afterwards, he meets Kirsten Conacher, daughter of a local rancher, and is instantly smitten. Kirsten is as interested in Cam as he is in her, but her father has proved that there is bite to his bark by ruining the reputation and careers of other men who pursued his daughter. Having lost his wife to ovarian cancer, Sam Conacher is determined that he will not lose his daughter. With only himself and his Mexican foreman to depend on, he needs her help running the vast ranch that will one day be hers. And he needs her emotionally, especially since the bitterness and hot temper that consumed him after his wife’s death have alienated his friends and neighbors and the men who once worked for him. Kirsten resents her father for treating her as if she were sixteen rather than a decade older, but because she loves him and remembers the man he used to be, she tolerates his behavior. Reluctant to quarrel with her father and aware of Cam’s vulnerability to Sam’s brand of retaliation, she persuades Cam that they should meet secretly.

Cam, an upfront type, is unhappy with the clandestine nature of their relationship, and when it becomes clear that what is between him and Kirsty is more than physical attraction, he introduces her to his family and insists upon confronting her father. Cam and Kirsty are unaware that his son and her father have both, separately, seen them together. Caleb’s response is benevolent, but Sam’s is not. Brooding over the “white trash” stranger who has dared touch his daughter increases his rage and ensures that the meeting between him and Cam is a violent one. Cam, who refuses to retaliate against Sam’s attack, is battered but undeterred from his courtship. Kirsten, furious with her father, finally stands up to him, threatening to leave if he continues to interfere in her life. Maddie McClendon has no hesitation in standing up to Sam either, and their verbal battles are intense.

When Cam saves Kirsten from being crushed by a bull and is seriously injured himself, Sam changes his opinion. Even more radical is his change toward Maddie. He goes from burning her books to longing for her touch. But a secret Maddie has kept places their romance in jeopardy. It will take the spirit of the Christmas season to change a stubborn heart and bring happily-ever-afters all around.

The family dynamics are interesting. I’ve seen enough of controlling parents to find the relationship between Kirsten and her father believable, and the three-generation McClendon family, all devoted to one another, is endearing. But Sam’s redemption is so quick that it left this reader’s head spinning. I found Cam, a single father who assumed responsibility for his son when he was still a teenager, an interesting character, but Kirsten’s character was too thinly developed for me to see her as a satisfactory heroine. Caleb is a sweet boy but too close to perfect. Perhaps after more than three decades of teaching young people in their teens and early twenties and with seven teens in the family (thirteen to eighteen this year), I am too aware that the best of them have faults to believe in this one. Anderson devotes as much attention to the romance between the older couple as she does to Cam and Kirsten’s relationship. Sam and Maddie’s relationship also had more depth and more compelling conflict.

The best part of this book is that it succeeds in capturing the meaning of the holiday. The scene from which the book takes its title has a genuine sweetness, and it effectively demonstrates that the best gifts cost more than dollars can measure. The gift becomes even more effective as the celebration in the Christmas room widens to encompass the community and give peace on earth, good will to all a welcome immediacy.

I have several Anderson titles on my keeper shelves. At her best, she is excellent. However, this is not her best work. I did enjoy Sam and Maddie’s romance. I would have enjoyed it more if either Sam or Cam had been given a different name. That monosyllabic rhyme made me laugh at inappropriate moments.  I do give the novel extra points for its Christmassy feel. If you are addicted to Christmas romances or are looking for romances that feature love after fifty, you may find that the strengths of The Christmas Room outweigh its flaws.

Review - - Silver Thaw

Silver Thaw
By Catherine Anderson
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: January 6, 2015

Whenever I read a new-to-me author, I always think about my high school literature textbook.   In front of every unit, whether it be the Reformation or the Romantics, there’s always an introduction explaining what was happening in history at that time.  

I think that’s an important thing to consider when delving into a new author.  What’s their writing history?  What style can I expect?   How fair is it to expect shape-shifting vampires from principled beta-heroes?   Setting your tastes for a specific kind of story is the essential task of any reader, to my thinking.    

So I set my tastes for a contemporary romance set in the kind of frigid winter landscape that seems to be dominating the news of late.     

Terribly abused by her husband for years, Amanda Banning has finally found the courage to escape his punches by fleeing, along with her six-year-old daughter, to Mystic Creek, Oregon.    Starting over is difficult enough with the little money Amanda’s earning at the elementary school cafeteria, but the constant fear of being found is what's really whittling Amanda down.   She must guard her every move, even resorting to paying her rent in cash so her ex can't trace her actions.   As such, Amanda’s only outlet is to write down everything--her hopes, problems, and dreams--on little pieces of pink paper and let them go in the wind.     

Jeb Sterling wants to know who's littering on his property.   Annoyed, he collects handfuls of pink papers only to turn one over and read the message on the other side:    "My only weapons are a cast-iron skillet and a butcher knife...I will die before I let him hurt my baby again."   He reads them all only to find himself strangely drawn to the person on the other side of the pen.  He can already sense who she is:  loving, loyal, damaged.   So he figures out where the messages are blowing in from and volunteers to check the citizens of that particular section of Mystic Creek when a terrible winter storm threatens.   At the end of the day, he finds Amanda--guarded and suspicious--living with her shy daughter in a dilapidated rental that has lost its power.  Knowing they may not make it through the night, Jeb insists they stay with him.   And when Amanda's roof collapses the very next day under the heavy snow, Jeb is surprised to find himself convincing her to stay with him indefinitely.  

What ensues is the gentle drama of gaining Amanda's trust while taking care of her in such a way so as not to damage her pride and newly found independence.     

Silver Thaw is written in a manner that allows the reader to tuck right in with it.   It has all the elements: damaged heroine, uber-patient hero, the specter of the heroine’s abusive husband out there (somewhere), and one hell of an ice storm.   My complaint, however, is about chemistry between Amanda and Jeb, but that may stem less from the quality of Anderson’s writing as it does from the story structure at its foundation.    One can't have panting, steaming hot chemistry in a story about an abused heroine.  She'd be a flight risk at the first puffing up of an alpha male.   It just doesn't work.   Not with her emotional state of mind.  At the same time, the plot structure of the book seems to work against itself in that the endless patient coaxing between the h/h becomes a little tedious, particularly in the middle.   But even the title, Silver Thaw, suggests the pacing of the book.  It isn’t called Ice Boom, after all. 

Readers can be sure, however, that the book picks up when the suspense kicks in.  There’s even a subtle twist in the resolution that honors Amanda’s resilience and newfound strength.   And since Anderson’s writing is solid, I can recommend Silver Thaw, especially if you’re in the mood for a good winter read in which love heals the worst wounds.   Set your tastes for it.   And bring a warm blanket.   

~J Perry Stone

J Perry Stone is an aspiring Historical Romance writer who is a giant proponent of books and of love... romance being the place where the two live happily ever after.  She lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband and two children.