Review - - Carolina Dreaming

Carolina Dreaming

By Virginia Kanta

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: February 2, 2016

 

When rootless Gabe Murphy is acquitted of a murder charge and released after nine months in jail, he heads for Dare Island, North Carolina, the home of his friend Luke Fletcher (Carolina Man). With an abusive father and a mother too broken by years as his victim to stand up for her son or herself, Gabe never felt he had a home. With the death of his maternal uncle, he had no emotional ties either, and he’s been on his own since he turned seventeen. But he has good memories of the Fletchers and their warm reception when he visited with Luke, his buddy from their Marine boot camp days. These memories bring him to Dare Island when he’s looking for a place to start a new life. Luke is delighted to see his old friend, but Hank Clark, Luke’s hard-nosed colleague in the sheriff’s office, convinced Gabe is trouble, warns him “Stay away from Jane.”

A shy child, motherless from the age of eight when her mother abandoned husband and child, Jane Clark grew up on Dare Island. She always knew her father loved her, but his immersion in his law enforcement job plus his inability to communicate his feelings left her emotionally needy. She thought she had found the love and family she lacked when she fell in love and married at nineteen, but Travis Tirlett was an abusive jerk who abandoned her before their child’s first birthday and resurfaced years later only to give her more grief (Carolina Blues). Jane has gained confidence over the years, and she is proud of her bakery, Jane’s Sweet Tea House, and the life she has created for herself and her seven-year-old son Aiden. She still doesn’t trust her taste in men, however, and when Gabe Murphy shows up looking like the new and improved version of her ex, she knows she should avoid him.  

Gabe thinks she should avoid him too. Jane is obviously a forever kind of girl plus she has a kid. Gabe is convinced he has nothing to offer such a woman regardless of how attractive he finds her. Jane is fearful of losing her heart and fiercely protective of her son. She’s convinced that acting on her attraction will lead to disaster, but when Gabe offers to work overtime to see the renovations to her bakery finished quickly, the chemistry between them proves explosive. And when Jane does act—wow! If they can trust themselves and each other, they may find the love and the family of their dreams.

Dare Island has become one of my favorite fictional places, and I eagerly anticipate each new novel in the series. Carolina Dreaming was one more opportunity to fall in love with the place and with the engaging characters Virginia Kantra creates. Gabe and Jane are scarred by their pasts, and their scars are part of them. But they refuse to let them be the whole. They are each determined to build a life in which they can take pride. I knew this was going to be one of those books in which the primary characters are adults worth knowing when early in the novel Gabe thinks “It didn’t matter where he’d been . . . He had to focus on where he was going. Even if he had to crawl to get there.”  

The secondary characters are also richly drawn. Aiden is a real kid, a small person with his own history and quirks and interests. One of my favorite parts of the story was his interaction with Gabe. I also found Jane’s relationship with her father interesting, particularly since he is a fully human character, an interesting mix of weaknesses and strengths rather than a stereotypical bad cop.

As a fan of the series I loved seeing characters from earlier books appear, but I loved even more that their appearances were purposeful rather than having the feel of a rollcall of characters. The secondary romance was unexpected and endearing. In fact, my only complaint about the novel is that I would like to have seen some degrees fewer internal monologues and a bit more of Hank and Marta’s romance.

When I finish a book knowing that it is only a matter of time before I am ready for a reread, I know the book is a keeper. Carolina Dreaming is another Virginia Kantra book that left me with this feeling. I highly recommend it.

 ~Janga

Review - - Carolina Blues

Carolina Blues
Dare Island - Book 4
By Virginia Kantra
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 7, 2014

Psychology grad student Lauren Patterson had no idea that a simple stop at the bank would change her life forever. Caught in a robbery that turned into a three-day hostage event, Lauren bonded with her captors, convincing them to free the rest of the hostages and eventually surrender to police but not everyone escaped unscathed, especially not Lauren. Struggling with the emotional fallout and notoriety of the publicity surrounding both the robbery and her bestselling book about the experience while up against a deadline for her second follow-up book and battling writer's block, Lauren's new publicist, Meg Fletcher convinces her to come to Meg's parents' inn on Dare Island, North Carolina. There, Lauren hopes to escape from those making demands on "Hostage Girl," finally finish her book and return to school to reclaim her life. There's no room in those plans for a relationship with a hot local cop.

New Dare Island police chief, Jack Rossi is settling into island life, enjoying the slower pace and not missing the chaos and complications he left behind in Philly. Sure, he misses his close-knit Italian family but when his wife, also on the force, cheated on him with his partner Jack knew there was no way he could stay. Now divorced, he has no interest in a new relationship with a high-profile woman but that doesn't stop every nerve in his body from jumping for joy when he meets the mysterious Lauren.

Ignoring the attraction between them doesn't work for either Lauren or Jack as they gradually become better acquainted.  Eventually, they give in to the sizzling desire with the understanding that it comes with an expiration date: the end of summer when Lauren's book tour begins followed by her return to school. Sounds good in theory but when hearts become involved, all bets are off. However, both Lauren and Jack have significant baggage, not the least of which is Lauren's continuing struggle with PTSD. And when the past comes calling, the strength of the bond forming between them may not be enough to overcome the obstacles.

This is the fourth book in Virginia Kantra's Dare Island series and the first time the book has not centered around members of the Fletcher Family. While the Fletchers are still on the periphery, their page time is limited with the central focus on Lauren and Jack as well as well as new characters who, I presume, will play more significant roles in future books. While I missed my time with the Fletchers, their smaller roles in no way diminished the strength of this book.

I fell hard for Jack Rossi with his tough guy exterior and soft heart but it's Lauren, and her PTSD struggles, with which I most identified. Kantra doesn't sugar coat the trauma suffered by our heroine nor its lingering effects. I don't know what kind of research she did to develop this facet of the character but she was spot on in her depiction: the panic attacks, flashbacks, guilt, being startled by loud noises, inability to enter a bank, empathy for the perpetrators. I know these symptoms well. It's been thirty-nine years since I suffered them but there were times in this book when I was transported right back there to 1976; when I started to sweat, my heart raced and I not only understood, but experienced exactly what Lauren was feeling. That, dear readers, is superb writing.

I also enjoy the pace of the Dare Island books. Like the island on which they are set, the stories flow gently, like waves lapping at the shore, neither rushed nor stagnant but just right. The characters are true to their surroundings as well as the experiences that have shaped them. There are disruptive forces that keep things exciting and move the plot along but, in the end, it's the characters, their growth and their journey, that make these books so special.

If you have not yet visited Virginia Kantra's Dare Island, I enthusiastically encourage you to do so. It's fine to start with Carolina Blues. It stands on its own perfectly well or start at the beginning and learn why many readers, myself included, have fallen in love with these wonderful characters and the island they call home.

~PJ


Readers, are you reading the Dare Island series?

Do you have a favorite book or characters from this series?

What's your favorite beach?  If you don't go to the beach, where's your favorite getaway to relax and renew?

We have a signed copy of Carolina Man and Carolina Blues to give to one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on this post. (U.S. only)

Review - - Carolina Man

Carolina Man
Dare Island - Book 3
By Virginia Kantra
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: March 4, 2014

When his high school sweetheart dumped him and left town, Luke Fletcher was sure he'd never hear from her again.  When family attorney Kate Dolan tracked him down in Afghanistan ten years later, the Marine Staff Sergeant was shocked to discover not only that his former girlfriend had died but that she had left him custody of her ten year old daughter, Taylor.  Their daughter.  A child he hadn't known existed.  Taylor has been living with Luke's parents for the past four months while Luke finished his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Now he's home on leave, trying to get to know this prickly, quiet daughter who is now his responsibility; determined to do the right thing but not quite sure how.  Then there's his daughter's attorney, a buttoned-up woman who holds everyone at a distance but sets off sparks in Luke that he'd be happy to explore.

Hardworking attorney Kate Dolan has dedicated her life to helping women and children in difficult situations. Because Kate is Executor of Taylor's mother's estate but mostly because the dead woman was Kate's employee and friend, she is determined to see that Taylor is placed with the right people.  Based on her own experiences as the daughter of a Marine, Kate is initially not certain Luke Fletcher is the best person for that role. She thinks she knows what to expect when Luke returns from Afghanistan but the reality is vastly different from her expectations.  Instead of the harsh, controlling, short-tempered man she expects, she finds him to be caring, funny, honorable...and desirable.  Oh, so desirable. But while Kate may be willing to indulge in a mutually satisfying affair, she has tall walls around her heart and no idea how to be part of a close, loving family like the Fletchers.  It will take a special man with the patience and insight to see beyond her starchy, aloof exterior to the tender heart beneath to earn Kate's trust and love. Luckily for us, Luke Fletcher is a very special man.

In Carolina Man, Kantra takes readers back to Dare Island and into the heart of the Fletchers, a family quickly becoming one of my fictional favorites.  While this book tells the very satisfying love story of Kate and Luke, there are many layers to this journey; other important threads to follow.  We see the changes that have occurred in the Fletcher family dynamics following the accident that seriously injured Tess (Luke's mother).  We follow the progression Tess has made in her recovery, the changes in her relationships with her husband and children.  We journey with Matt and Allison as well as Meg and Sam as they move toward marriage.  Then there's Matt's son, sixteen-year-old Josh.  It's so enjoyable to watch his journey from a boy to a man. (I'm hoping Kantra will stay on Dare Island long enough to tell his story!)

Josh's relationship with Taylor is especially heartwarming and Luke and Kate hit all the right notes for me but it's Luke and Taylor who completely steal my heart in this story.  Kantra has done a superb job of showing the journey these two take from initial awkwardness to tentative trust to finally accepting love for one another in their hearts.  However, their journey to a happy ending (for Luke, Taylor and Kate) is not without it's share of potholes, including the unveiling of the secret that has plagued Taylor with nightmares since she was first introduced in book one of the series, Carolina Home.

While Carolina Man is able to stand on its own it's because of the continuing threads above that I strongly recommend reading the three books, Carolina Home, Carolina Girl and Carolina Man, in order. When I began reading this series I anticipated a three-book trilogy for the three Fletcher siblings.  By the time I reached the end of Luke's story I knew I was nowhere ready to say good-bye to Dare Island or the people who call it home.  I am so excited to know I won't have to!  Kantra's next book, Carolina Blues will tell the story of hot cop Jack Rossi, Dare Island's sexy Chief of Police.  I've punched my ticket for my next trip to Virginia Kantra's Dare Island.  As long as she keeps setting stories there, I'll keep returning right along with her.  For me, I hope those visits continue for many years to come.

~PJ

*ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Are you reading Virginia Kantra's Dare Island series?  Do you like small-town romances?  What are some of your favorites? 

BONUS GIVEAWAY:  We are giving away a signed set of the first two Dare Island books, Carolina Home and Carolina Girl to a randomly chosen person leaving a comment on today's post.  (U.S. only)  Deadline for leaving a comment is Midnight (EST), March 15th.  

Review - - Carolina Girl

Carolina Girl
Dare Island - Book 2
By Virginia Kantra
Publisher:  Berkley
Release Date:  June 4, 2013

Meg Fletcher couldn't leave Dare Island fast enough.  Determined to follow her dreams, she headed off to college at Harvard then on to New York City, never looking back at what she'd left behind. At the age of thirty-four, Meg has everything she's always wanted:  an important corporate position, an expensive NYC condo and a relationship with a high-powered, live-in boyfriend that's more corporate merger than love affair.  When her mother is seriously injured in a car accident, Meg flies home to Dare Island for three weeks, confident that her life in NYC will be waiting for her when she returns.   It isn't. She returns to discover her position at the firm has been eliminated and her boyfriend of six years, who is on the transition team at work but didn't fight for her, suggests, with a decided lack of sympathy, that she return to Dare Island to "think things over."

For Sam Grady, the Fletchers have always represented what a family should be. Best friends with Meg's older brother, Matt since they were boys, Sam spent more time at Meg's house than his own. Meg's family represented love, affection and support rather than the succession of increasingly younger step-mothers and a father whom Sam could never please that could be found at his own home.  And then there was Meg, his best friend's younger sister, a girl to whom he was increasingly drawn until one New Year's Eve when Meg and too much drink had Sam giving in to his desires...then running scared.  It's been eighteen years yet Sam is still attracted to her, still has feelings for her, still owes her an apology.

Both Sam and Meg are back on the island to help their respective families.  For Sam, it's his opportunity to finally prove his worth to his demanding father before returning to his company on the mainland.  For Meg, it's a chance to help her family while figuring out the fastest way back to New York.  And, for both of them, it's their time to figure out what's really important, what they really want from life. It's an opportunity to discover reality versus perception; to dig below the surface and discover the person inside, to realize that happiness is there, just beyond their fingertips if only they have the courage to reach for it.

The Fletchers are one of my favorite new fictional families!  I've been anticipating my return visit to Dare Island through the pages of Carolina Girl and I wasn't disappointed.  Virginia Kantra has once again brought us a beautifully written, character-driven story that takes us into the heart of this complex, loving family.  We follow the difficult recovery of Tess, the Fletcher matriarch, the progression of the romance between Matt and Allison (from book one, Carolina Home) and the ongoing battle to retain custody of Taylor, the newly discovered ten-year-old daughter of Meg's brother, Luke, a soldier on assignment in Afghanistan.  We also receive more clues about the secret that causes Taylor's nightmares and a possible peek at Luke's heroine (if my guess is correct).

While the Fletchers and other residents of Dare Island form a rich supporting cast, it's Meg and Sam who hold center stage in this book.  Meg is prickly, opinionated, single-minded and not easy to like at first.  Her goals are seriously skewed, mostly because of her determination to not have a life like her mother's...or what she perceives her mother's life to be.  Sam is charming, sexy and has enough vulnerability lurking below the surface to make me (and probably every woman) fall in love with him.  He's one of the good guys and I couldn't help but want the best for him.  As Meg's eyes are opened to what her life could be as opposed to what it's been, as she softens without losing any of her strength, as she learns what love is supposed to be...well, I couldn't help but cheer for her too.

I highly recommend Carolina Girl as well as the first book in the trilogy, Carolina Home and strongly suggest that the books be read in order.

~PJ

Today's Special - - Virginia Kantra

It's always a great day when Virginia Kantra comes to visit.   Not only does she write some of my favorite contemporary romance characters but she's also a genuinely lovely person whose smile lights up any room.  Her current Dare Island series, set on an island off the North Carolina coast, evokes a sense of warmth, emotional complexity and strong family unity that has me enjoying each visit while already anticipating the next.  The pages of a Virginia Kantra book always offer a happy place for me to linger. Please welcome Virginia as she blogs about finding your happy place.  

Finding Your Happy Place – Virginia Kantra

Last week when I changed my profile pic on Facebook, the talented Judith Arnold http://www.juditharnold.com/ commented, "You look relaxed and happy – not like a writer at all."

I laughed, but there is this notion that writers are depressed or angry alcoholics drifting around the house in their bathrobes. (In contrast to the stereotype of romance writers as pink silk-clad matrons with a lap dog, rather than a lap top, a boa, and—these days--a pair of handcuffs.)  In truth, of course, writers have to deal with the same stresses that all women face--messy houses and messy lives, broken nails and broken promises, worries about our parents, our children, and our world.

That's why we love romance. In our stories, the heroine always triumphs.  Good wins. Love conquers all.

But it can be hard to write about hope and faith and courage and happy endings when your own life is not following the storyline you set out for it. Friend and mentor Suzanne Brockmann http://www.suzannebrockmann.com/ and I were talking about this a couple of years ago when I intoned, "We must find the Happy Place."

See that beach behind me in the photo? That's my happy place. I’ve been in love with the North Carolina coast

since my husband took me there on vacation years and years ago. His dad was stationed at Camp Lejeune, like Meg's dad in Carolina Girl. We went there with our kids, and we still sneak away every chance we get.

That's the setting for the Dare Island stories, and one of the joys of writing this series is the feeling of coming home. My first stories (the MacNeill brothers' books, now available for Kindle and Nook) were family-centered romance also set in North Carolina. These are stories about the ways we help each other through tough times, neighbor to neighbor, families pulling together.

Writing about the Fletchers of Dare Island evokes that same sense of joy and escape, warmth and memories for me.

Because the real search for the "happy place" is about more than setting. It's our longing for a place to belong. For roots. For family. And for love.

Excerpt:

Raleigh-Durham Airport the Tuesday before Thanksgiving was crowded with comings and goings, the usual business travelers almost lost in a sea of students with backpacks and ear buds, soldiers with duffles, young families with strollers. Mothers kissing daughters, fathers hugging sons, old friends and young lovers going into each other’s arms, reconnecting with relief and joy.

All going somewhere, Meg thought. Not in control of every step of the journey, but hopeful about their destinations.

Like her.

She wheeled her bag into the terminal, determined to hit Starbucks before she hit the road.

01

And there he was, in almost the same place. Part of the landscape of her heart, her signpost home.

Sam.

--from Carolina Girl

What's your happy place?

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