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The Search
The flyer reads…
Missing: September 1870 – Chinese Mail Order Bride, Mei Ling. Last seen boarding a train to San Francisco, California… Hasn’t been seen since.
Rain Deerfield, free-born woman, half-breed tracker for the missing minority class and bounty hunter for the United States Militia is on a search that hits close to home. Her childhood friend, Mei Ling, is among the hundreds of missing in the San Francisco territory. Could it be a coincidence or was all the missing somehow connected?
After advertising and paying for a mail order bride, handsome Dr. Wen Da Yang’s potential “wife,” Mei Ling, never arrives to his home, Alcatraz, “Island of the Pelicans.” Feeling he was duped of a bridal trousseau and train fare, Wen gives up on the idea of a wife and instead searches for the perfect domestic.
Miss Rain Deerfield embarks on the old abandoned military fortress and none too soon in Wen’s opinion. With the arrival of his new housekeeper, his serene world as he has known it is turned completely upside down with intrigue as one unexplained ghostly encounter after another occurs. Is Dr. Yang’s island home truly inhabited by ghosts or is there something more sinister going on?
Missing: September 1870 – Chinese Mail Order Bride, Mei Ling. Last seen boarding a train to San Francisco, California… Hasn’t been seen since.
Rain Deerfield, free-born woman, half-breed tracker for the missing minority class and bounty hunter for the United States Militia is on a search that hits close to home. Her childhood friend, Mei Ling, is among the hundreds of missing in the San Francisco territory. Could it be a coincidence or was all the missing somehow connected?
After advertising and paying for a mail order bride, handsome Dr. Wen Da Yang’s potential “wife,” Mei Ling, never arrives to his home, Alcatraz, “Island of the Pelicans.” Feeling he was duped of a bridal trousseau and train fare, Wen gives up on the idea of a wife and instead searches for the perfect domestic.
Miss Rain Deerfield embarks on the old abandoned military fortress and none too soon in Wen’s opinion. With the arrival of his new housekeeper, his serene world as he has known it is turned completely upside down with intrigue as one unexplained ghostly encounter after another occurs. Is Dr. Yang’s island home truly inhabited by ghosts or is there something more sinister going on?
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 2013
3 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Shiree McCarver
28 books119 followersAlabama native Shiree McCarver is a freelance writer, poet and singer-lyricist. Writer of Interracial tales of romance in historical and contemporary settings, Ms. McCarver has written over eight novels. Her scope ranges from the Elizabethan period to modern day Tokyo. Ms. McCarver is quickly becoming best known for utilizing Asian males in romantic leading roles along with realistic less then perfect heroines. Her stories rips and repairs your heart like no other.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 21, 2013
3.5/5.0
“The Search” , set in 1870 San Francisco, is filled with malevolent spirits and an Alcatraz whodunit.
Read full review in the 2013 Dec/Jan Holiday issue of InD’tale Magazine.
“The Search” , set in 1870 San Francisco, is filled with malevolent spirits and an Alcatraz whodunit.
Read full review in the 2013 Dec/Jan Holiday issue of InD’tale Magazine.
January 29, 2014
I didn't know what to expect when I sat down to read The Search by author Shiree McCarver, and I have to say that I was taken by surprise. This book was different and I mean that in a good way.
What it's About: The story is a historical, supernatural mystery that takes place (for a majority of the story at least) on what we now know as Alcatraz. Our characters are Rain Deerfield and Wen Da Yang. Rain is a gun-toting African-American woman who prefers to wear men's clothing, is a bounty hunter, and who tracks missing POC for their loved ones. She's currently searching for her best friend on behalf of her (friend's) parents. Her best friend happens to be a Chinese woman whom she grew up with in the traveling circus that their parents were members of. Her search for Mei Ling takes her to San Francisco where she ends up pretending to be a woman seeking employment as a domestic on Alcatraz. Her new employer is Wen Da Yang, a doctor living on the island along with his uncle and aunt. Mei Ling was meant to be Wen's mail order bride but according to the doctor she accepted the money he sent, but never arrived. Rain has to figure out what happened to her friend, fight the attraction between herself and the good doctor, and deal with - ghostly encounters. Yes folks, there be ghosts on that there island and they've got secrets to tell...
The Good: I loved the ghost story-line in this book! How refreshingly different for this genre! These ghosts were adequately creepy with some desperate and others sinister. The mystery was a good one and although there was a certain amount of predictability to the mystery, there were just enough twists so that I couldn't figure out all of the details. Another thing that I enjoyed about this book are the emotions that it invoked while I was reading. I shivered in revulsion at certain discoveries made by the protagonists and felt sorrow as details of Rain's past were disclosed. I sympathized with what both characters went through and that's a plus when reading a book.
The Bad: The Search dragged in some areas that I felt didn't lend themselves to the actual telling of the story. These parts took you away from the meat of the story, which for me was the mystery. During these spots I honestly wanted to skip to more interesting and meaningful storytelling, but stuck it through for fear of missing some important detail. I also didn't feel that the love scenes between Wen and Rain were a strength in the story. I loved their love, and the ending was quite fantastic, but the love scenes, at least some of them, seemed as if they were there just to be there.
The Bottom Line: This is only my second book by Shiree McCarver and I'm finding that she's one author who isn't afraid to step outside of the proverbial box when it comes to writing IR romance. She is refreshingly unique and I admire that about her. I give The Search 3.5 stars and recommend it to anyone who wants a good mystery with a touch of supernatural flavor.
*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*
Read more of my reviews at >a href="http://romancebetweenthecovers.blogsp... Between the Covers
What it's About: The story is a historical, supernatural mystery that takes place (for a majority of the story at least) on what we now know as Alcatraz. Our characters are Rain Deerfield and Wen Da Yang. Rain is a gun-toting African-American woman who prefers to wear men's clothing, is a bounty hunter, and who tracks missing POC for their loved ones. She's currently searching for her best friend on behalf of her (friend's) parents. Her best friend happens to be a Chinese woman whom she grew up with in the traveling circus that their parents were members of. Her search for Mei Ling takes her to San Francisco where she ends up pretending to be a woman seeking employment as a domestic on Alcatraz. Her new employer is Wen Da Yang, a doctor living on the island along with his uncle and aunt. Mei Ling was meant to be Wen's mail order bride but according to the doctor she accepted the money he sent, but never arrived. Rain has to figure out what happened to her friend, fight the attraction between herself and the good doctor, and deal with - ghostly encounters. Yes folks, there be ghosts on that there island and they've got secrets to tell...
The Good: I loved the ghost story-line in this book! How refreshingly different for this genre! These ghosts were adequately creepy with some desperate and others sinister. The mystery was a good one and although there was a certain amount of predictability to the mystery, there were just enough twists so that I couldn't figure out all of the details. Another thing that I enjoyed about this book are the emotions that it invoked while I was reading. I shivered in revulsion at certain discoveries made by the protagonists and felt sorrow as details of Rain's past were disclosed. I sympathized with what both characters went through and that's a plus when reading a book.
The Bad: The Search dragged in some areas that I felt didn't lend themselves to the actual telling of the story. These parts took you away from the meat of the story, which for me was the mystery. During these spots I honestly wanted to skip to more interesting and meaningful storytelling, but stuck it through for fear of missing some important detail. I also didn't feel that the love scenes between Wen and Rain were a strength in the story. I loved their love, and the ending was quite fantastic, but the love scenes, at least some of them, seemed as if they were there just to be there.
The Bottom Line: This is only my second book by Shiree McCarver and I'm finding that she's one author who isn't afraid to step outside of the proverbial box when it comes to writing IR romance. She is refreshingly unique and I admire that about her. I give The Search 3.5 stars and recommend it to anyone who wants a good mystery with a touch of supernatural flavor.
*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*
Read more of my reviews at >a href="http://romancebetweenthecovers.blogsp... Between the Covers
August 25, 2014
I wish I could rate this higher because the story and characters were interesting and well thought out, I could tell Ms. McCarver put a lot of work into it.
The problem is with the non-existent editing that kept pulling me out of the story and a few inconsistencies. Wen's parents back story changed from what we were told at beginning, which was they went to England from China and his mother lost her first child on the voyage to his father met his mother in England. The words have, had, and has were interchanged incorrectly all over the story. I could nit pick about a few other things that pulled me from the story but they all would continue to fall under there being a lack of editing.
Rain, the heroine was a complicated character and I liked that when she seemed inconsistent Ms. Carver would explain a new detail from her past. Wen, the hero was exactly what he was presented from the time he was introduced. I wanted these two to get together and a no time did I feel like they were anything but meant for one another. The characters balanced one another out well.
The problem is with the non-existent editing that kept pulling me out of the story and a few inconsistencies. Wen's parents back story changed from what we were told at beginning, which was they went to England from China and his mother lost her first child on the voyage to his father met his mother in England. The words have, had, and has were interchanged incorrectly all over the story. I could nit pick about a few other things that pulled me from the story but they all would continue to fall under there being a lack of editing.
Rain, the heroine was a complicated character and I liked that when she seemed inconsistent Ms. Carver would explain a new detail from her past. Wen, the hero was exactly what he was presented from the time he was introduced. I wanted these two to get together and a no time did I feel like they were anything but meant for one another. The characters balanced one another out well.
November 24, 2013
I love reading romances that take place during this time period that features people of color having unique occupations. That and the gothic twist to this story was what drew me in. I could easily picture the heroine Rain's arrival and first meeting with the sheriff. Then when Rain and Wen the hero first met- I loved that scene! I really hope to see more IR romance taking place in this era with that gothic romance element in it.
May 25, 2021
Thank you
Thank you for writing this book. I've wanted to read a historical AMBW that included black and Asian history. This was great. I loved the chemistry between Wen and Rain. That Wen accepted her unconventional nature and that Rain eventually respected his analytical approach to things. The mystery behind the friend's disappearance was wonderfully revealed. And the ending was a great and believable cherry on top.
Thank you for writing this book. I've wanted to read a historical AMBW that included black and Asian history. This was great. I loved the chemistry between Wen and Rain. That Wen accepted her unconventional nature and that Rain eventually respected his analytical approach to things. The mystery behind the friend's disappearance was wonderfully revealed. And the ending was a great and believable cherry on top.
May 28, 2021
Inspiring
I loved this story from beginning to end. Although I wish her cover art was more elegant to match her writing, it still grabbed my attention!
I loved this story from beginning to end. Although I wish her cover art was more elegant to match her writing, it still grabbed my attention!
May 9, 2013
I cant say I liked this one. It was busy and confusing. I like most of this authors books but.... I didn't get it . Her women are usually strong and independent , brave and willing to go the distance for love. I was left wanting . Her story was sad but come on . I think I even cried a little when she was talking about losing her baby but still that was the best part.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews