Deadly Ties
Jaycee ClarkRomantic suspense
Available from New Concepts Publishing
ISBN: 1-58608-389-9
July 2004
| Taylor and Gavin meet over sad circumstances. Taylor is a social worker and
one of the girls she was trying to help died on Gavin's watch, her unborn
child with her. Taylor knows the doctor isn't responsible, that the girl's
father is, yet she still manages to get to Gavin. They meet again, later,
when Taylor's car goes off the road. He finds her to be irritating and
argumentative, and also very beautiful. Even her adopted son, Ryan,
captivates him. Ryan and Taylor have secrets though, and when Taylor's home
is vandalized, with nothing stolen, Gavin learns that Ryan's real mother,
Nina, is in prison for nearly killing him. And if she's not out, then she
must have help from the outside because the vandalism, and the phone calls,
seem to be directed at Taylor for taking Ryan. Gavin wants Taylor and Ryan
in his life, and he wishes to protect them from any harm even more.
Deadly Ties is a mainstream romance with overtones of suspense. The real story lay in the developing relationship between Taylor and Gavin, and in the developing relationships between Ryan and Gavin and his family. All three characters were central to the story; Ryan wasn't just thrown in, his character was developed with the story just as any main character would be. In fact, the author was very strong in the area. When I first "met" Taylor, she seemed standoffish and slightly irritating to me, but the more I read, the more I believed she was someone entirely different. I'm not sure if it's because the author developed the character slowly very well, or if the character just changed a little when she met Gavin. Either way, it worked very well. Gavin was also a fairly good character, mainly in that the author conveyed his emotions, especially concern and anguish, and thoughts very well. As I haven't read the first book, I can't say if there was any further development within the Kinncaid family, but I'm guessing readers who enjoyed the first would like seeing more of them. The only bump in the story for me was the slightly slow pacing of both the romance, and the story itself. That, in itself, may actually appeal to many mainstream readers.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Tara Black |
