I didn't mean to read two books in a row where the hero is an actor with issues, but by sheer coincidence, that happened. I finished The Spiral Path (which ended up being oh-so-bad. And if Ms. Putney knows anything about either surgery or the law, I'll eat my shoes. Don't even get me started on the whole 'the hero's face is not his own' stuff. I laughed long and hard). And then I read Darkling I Listen by Katherine Sutcliffe.
I am not sure I'd classfy DIL as a romance - a romantic thriller/gothic perhaps. And I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Our hero is Brandon Carlyle, a washed-out actor and recovering alcoholic who's come to his small Texas hometown to try to put his life back together after his 3-year jail stint for manslaughter. Our heroine is Alyson James, a tabloid reporter who is looking for a scoop so as to ditch her sleazy tabloid for something grander - not that she has any ambitions writing for the New Yorker, more like People or US Weekly. She does track down her quarry only to get hopelessly tangled in his life. And of course they fall for each other. However what stands between them and a happily-ever-after is not the secret of her career or even Brandon's considerable demons, but a homicidal stalker called Anticipating, who is equal parts obsessed and violent - and soon people around Brandon begin to die.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED this book! It's no secret I love wallowing in angst and dysfunction and this book had plenty. Also, I ended up really caring for the protagonists, which helps. Also helps that while Brandon has horrible things happen in his past, it's not so ridiculously eye-rolling OTT overboard as in The Spiral Path (where hero's backstory seriously made me roll my eyes so hard, they almost fell out of my sockets), but something I can see happening to a person. Oh, and Alyson is a total HBIC. I gotta love a book where the heroine saves the hero not with the power of her love (though the book is quite romantic) or hot sex (though this book features possibly my favorite sex scene in a while) but with her detectiving skills and a gun. You go, girl!
I would have totally loved an epilogue - Alyson's shrink friend does warn her that our hero is going to be coping with major trauma after stalker loon and she guarantees to help him cope, and I'd love to read about that, but I suppose the novel already had enough h/c to satisfy pretty much anyone but an utter h/c junkie like me.
There are niggles if I were so inclined - I don't buy hero's horrid mother being marginally decent and not visiting him at the end (though seeing that Alyson would probably come out on top confronting a dozen grizzlies, maybe it was just self preservation) and I would hope Brandon would show the stalker letters to the FBI if the local cops weren't interested (though I suppose he doesn't want any spotlight on himself), but they are minor. If you want a romantic, sexy-as-hell, deliciously creepy read, go get this one! But keep all the lights on, if you are scaredy-cat like me.
Oh, and for some reason, though she doesn't look anything like her, I kept picturing Alyson as a grown-up Veronica Mars :)
I am not sure I'd classfy DIL as a romance - a romantic thriller/gothic perhaps. And I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Our hero is Brandon Carlyle, a washed-out actor and recovering alcoholic who's come to his small Texas hometown to try to put his life back together after his 3-year jail stint for manslaughter. Our heroine is Alyson James, a tabloid reporter who is looking for a scoop so as to ditch her sleazy tabloid for something grander - not that she has any ambitions writing for the New Yorker, more like People or US Weekly. She does track down her quarry only to get hopelessly tangled in his life. And of course they fall for each other. However what stands between them and a happily-ever-after is not the secret of her career or even Brandon's considerable demons, but a homicidal stalker called Anticipating, who is equal parts obsessed and violent - and soon people around Brandon begin to die.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED this book! It's no secret I love wallowing in angst and dysfunction and this book had plenty. Also, I ended up really caring for the protagonists, which helps. Also helps that while Brandon has horrible things happen in his past, it's not so ridiculously eye-rolling OTT overboard as in The Spiral Path (where hero's backstory seriously made me roll my eyes so hard, they almost fell out of my sockets), but something I can see happening to a person. Oh, and Alyson is a total HBIC. I gotta love a book where the heroine saves the hero not with the power of her love (though the book is quite romantic) or hot sex (though this book features possibly my favorite sex scene in a while) but with her detectiving skills and a gun. You go, girl!
I would have totally loved an epilogue - Alyson's shrink friend does warn her that our hero is going to be coping with major trauma after stalker loon and she guarantees to help him cope, and I'd love to read about that, but I suppose the novel already had enough h/c to satisfy pretty much anyone but an utter h/c junkie like me.
There are niggles if I were so inclined - I don't buy hero's horrid mother being marginally decent and not visiting him at the end (though seeing that Alyson would probably come out on top confronting a dozen grizzlies, maybe it was just self preservation) and I would hope Brandon would show the stalker letters to the FBI if the local cops weren't interested (though I suppose he doesn't want any spotlight on himself), but they are minor. If you want a romantic, sexy-as-hell, deliciously creepy read, go get this one! But keep all the lights on, if you are scaredy-cat like me.
Oh, and for some reason, though she doesn't look anything like her, I kept picturing Alyson as a grown-up Veronica Mars :)
