Title: A Soft Place to Fall (Shelter Rock Cove #1)
Author: Barbara Bretton
Publication Date: April 14, 2012 (Kindle Unlimited; Original Publication 2001)
My Grade: C
This is the third book and the second series I’ve read by Barbara Bretton. There seems to be a pattern to her book duos wherein the first book in the series is most often rabid in timeline and weaker in story while I enjoy the second book better. They seem more involved, more depth.
In this novel, we are introduced to Annie, a widow who after settling all the debts of her late husband is finally moving to her own place and is free from the collectors. A local businessman who once gave her a scholarship to college sells her his childhood home.
He also rents the former home of his sister, which is a little down the street from Annie’s, to a man he mentored when he was a teenager. His name is Sam and he is hiding while waiting for the FBI to close a case involving a firm he worked at as an investor.
Now if the book had delved into Kevin’s (Annie’s late husband) gambling, or into the case around Sam a bit more other than a quick drama at the very end, the book may have improved its impression on me. It mostly is about the whirlwind romance between Annie and Sam which basically is they decide they are attracted to each other and its instantly love. And there is this weird B-plot with one of Annie’s friends having been in love with her 20 odd years. And everyone at the start of the book seems unaware of Kevin’s gambling problem yet at the end without being told they all seem to know.
It wasn’t completely horrible, just didn’t seem to live up to its potential. I did however like Claudia’s storyline even if it did jump to a point that was convenent for the lead guy to charm her over.
Sokorra Lewis 