Eclipse Bay

Eclipse Bay #1

by Jayne Ann Krentz

In the small town of Eclipse Bay nothing is more certain than the Harte/Madison feud. Hannah Harte and Rafe Madison are expected to continue the tradition but when they are thrust together by an unexpected inheritance, they soon discover that what they feel for each other is far from hatred. Unfortunately, their return to Eclipse Bay has also awakened a dormant threat that may jeopardize everything they are working toward.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Fiction, Suspense

338 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring, lacking any plot, chemistry between MCs and any depth of characterization. Romeo and Juliet this book isn't, but I would have settled for an interesting one.
I wouldn't recommend it at full price (9$).

[Cruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
First published: 2000
Length: 190 pages (in anthology)
Setting: Contemporary. Smalltown off Oregon Coast
Sex: Explicit once or twice.
Hero: Black sheep entrepeneur.
Heroine: Wedding planner.

Once you get past the repetitive Harte's do ..., Madison's always ...., it's an enjoyable, light mystery with a sweet romance. The romance could have been better developed but it was *shrug* enjoyable.

A good read.

Eclipse Bay Trilogy:
Book 1 Eclipse Bay - Hannah Harte and Rafe Madison
Book 2 Dawn in Eclipse Bay - Lillian Harte and Gabe Madison
Book 3 Summer in Eclipse Bay - Lacey Holbrook and Jed Merlin.

References:
Author's website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/eclipse-bay/

(Read in Together in Eclipse Bay ISBN 0-425-19250-4)

-CR-

[Kate McMurry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, witty romantic suspense novel from the year 2000

Eclipse Bay is Book 1 in a trilogy of three, contemporary, romantic-suspense novels. The second book is Dawn in Eclipse Bay. The third book is Summer in Eclipse Bay.

Eclipse Bay is a fictional, small, seaside, tourist destination in Oregon where all of the permanent residents know each other--and gossip is a communal sport. The most popular source of ongoing speculation for the past 40 years has been the Hartes and the Madisons. Mitchell Madison and Sinclair Harte were war buddies (presumably from WWII, as Mitchell is around 80 at the time of this story, which was originally published in 2000, making him born around 1920). After the war, they went into business together and were very successful until they brawled over a woman, whom they had both trusted and who stole all their assets and bankrupted their business. Both had been in love with her, and both blamed each other for this devastating loss. They have been enemies ever since.

Sinclair Harte recovered well, coming out of financial ashes into great wealth with his own business. He also made a very successful marriage with one son, who has followed in Sinclair's footsteps in his business, made his own successful marriage, and produced three children. The oldest is Nick, who writes thrillers and is the MMC of Book 3 of this trilogy. The middle child is Lillian, who runs a matchmaking service and is the FMC of Book 2 of this trilogy. The youngest is Hannah, who has been a successful wedding consultant for some years and is the FMC of this book.

Mitchell Madison's life has run along a much rougher track than Sinclair Harte's. He has had four failed marriages, many different girlfriends, and his only child, an emotionally unstable sculptor, had a long-term affair with his equally emotionally immature model. Out of that stormy alliance came two sons, Rafe, the MMC of this story, and his older brother Gabe, who is the MMC of Book 2. Their parents died in an accident when they were children, and they were raised by Mitchell.

The story begins with a prologue, in which Hannah is 20 and Rafe is 24. By coincidence, he and Hannah have each been dumped by their dates on the side of the road at the same local beach in Eclipse Bay. They spend hours talking to each other, there at the beach, and while Rafe walks her home. The locals have labeled virginal Hannah a “good girl,” who will soon complete a college degree, and who has a bright, successful, Harte type of future ahead of her. In contrast, Rafe dropped out of college after only a couple of years. He has been labeled the local "bad boy," because he rides around on a motorcycle, wears a leather jacket, and regularly has one-night stands with lovely female tourists who are just passing through town, and who "know the score," that he's not into having an actual relationship. The woman he was on a date with that night had been a rare exception to his rule to never date locals. He only went out with her because she was as promiscuous as he was and would not take him any more seriously than he did her. Rafe states rather flippantly to Hannah that his main career goal is to stay out of jail, a fate frequently predicted for him by the upright citizens of Eclipse Bay. Hannah adamantly declares that she doesn’t believe whatsoever in the local legend that Madisons are doomed to failure and states that it is entirely up to Rafe to make something of his life. Later that same night, the woman who had been Rafe's date is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. And only because of the lucky chance that Hannah can provide him with a valid alibi does Rafe actually avoid prison.

Eight years later, Hannah and Rafe are ages 28 and 32 respectively. (By the way, these two are the youngest contemporary romance MCs that JAK has ever written. Her MCs are typically 30-31 for the FMC and around 37-39 for the MMC.) The two of them have inherited a 50/50 ownership of a sprawling clifftop mansion in Eclipse Bay, which was left to them by Hannah's eccentric, never-married great aunt. Both want to buy the other out, but neither will agree to sell. Complicating the issue is the fact that they are extremely attracted to each other, and the whole town is avidly watching as they work out their business and highly personal concerns with each other.

My favorite JAK books are the ones with lots of witty repartee between the MMC and FMC, and this book is terrific in that regard. I also enjoy it when she provides quirky subcharacters--whether people or animals. In this case, Hannah's dog Winston is an adorable scene stealer, and the conspiracy theorist, athletically fit, 80-something Arizona Snow (nicknamed, AZ), is wonderfully wacky. (As another relevant aside, that I personally find intriguing, AZ appears throughout this trilogy and also shows up in multiple other novels written by JAK, as does the town of Eclipse Bay.) Rafe's grandfather, Mitchell, is a lovable grump, who appears throughout this series as well.

I like Rafe and Hannah very much. They are sympathetic MCs, especially Rafe, who is a highly talented chef. Importantly, there is plenty of emotional and sexual chemistry between them.

There are only two overt sex scenes in this novel, but as is the case with JAK in all of her novels, the sex is never crude, and it never dominates the story at the expense of romance. In addition, there is no foul language in this book, or any JAK novel, other than an occasional, mild, "damn," or, "hell." There is no binge drinking ever in a JAK novel, though every single one of her FMCs indulges in a glass of wine every evening with cheese and crackers, and all of her MMCs imbibe a shot of brandy when under stress from the book's murder mystery, as well as an occasional beer with pizza or at a hot, outdoor event.

The seaside setting is vividly drawn, which makes sense, because the Pacific Northwest is JAK’s own stomping ground and quite familiar to her. Technically, one could describe this novel as a "small town romance," though it has not been marketed as such. If it were, I would personally describe it as an ideal example of how to write that popular romance trope in a way that is quite entertaining rather than a boring rehash of a cliche Hallmark movie as, unfortunately, seems to be the case for the majority of romance authors who attempt this trope.

For those who like suspense novels that are gripping and scary, this is not that kind of book—which is fine by me, because I don’t particularly enjoy that kind of novel. There are definitely some mildly scary scenes caused by the villain who killed Rafe’s date eight years ago, after Hannah and Rafe begin working together to solve that particular murder mystery. But I am happy to report that the main plot in this novel is definitely the romance, and a really enjoyable one.

I have read this novel many times over the years, initially as a mass market paperback, later in Kindle format and, most recently, multiple times in audiobook format. The audiobook I own is narrated by the talented voice artist, Joyce Bean, who does an excellent job. I noticed on Audible today that this series has recently been re-recorded by a different voice artist. When such a choice is made, one would hope that the new voice artist would be an improvement over the previous one. But, sadly, that is not the case. I'm glad that I purchased the JB version of this series from Audible before it became unavailable. It will probably be available in CD format through your local library, if you would like to have access to that version. It is not available through Hoopla in electronic format.

I have found this book equally entertaining every time I have read it. Over the years, it has become a comfort read and a fictional palate cleanser for me when I have read one too many disappointing romance novels in a row.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I have mixed feelings on this book. It felt too much like a bland mystery for me.

There was romance, but it didn't draw me in as much as I would have liked. Rafe Madison and Hannah Harte are the two main characters. Their grandfathers were business partners turned enemies, with a feud that lasted thirty-some years. Hannah's Aunt Isabel owns a large mansion. She believes Rafe and Hannah are right for each other, even though they have never dated. When she dies she leaves her mansion to the two of them, half owners each. Rafe has learned to be a chef and wants to open a 5 star restaurant there. Hannah wants to open an Inn. As they negotiate what to do, threats are made on Hannah's life. The two of them proceed to investigate the threats which are linked to a murder from eight years earlier.

I was annoyed with the author repeatedly associating the family name with personality traits. For example: "When a Madison's got his heart set on something, it isn't easy to convince him to change course." "He's a Madison, he's got a temper." "No Madison ever let anything stand in his way once he made up his mind to go after what he wanted." "I realize that you Madisons are accustomed to being gossiped about here in Eclipse Bay, but we Hartes try to avoid being the subject of idle rumors and speculation." "Her voice was rising again. She'd have to watch that. She was a Harte after all." "There isn't any such thing as a dumb Harte." This family trait dialogue was too frequent and bothered me.

Hannah's personality annoyed me with her condescending and lecturing treatment of other people. Her manner was uptight and unemotional. I didn't enjoy reading about her. I liked Rafe. He was calm, solid and patient.

Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: two. Setting: current day Eclipse Bay, Oregon. Copyright: 2000. Genre: contemporary romantic mystery.

For a list of other books by this author that I have reviewed, see my 4 star review for Sizzle and Burn, posted 2-9-08.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eesh. I started out really liking this book and thinking it was way better than the second one in the series, Dawn in Eclipse Bay, which I read first. But things just kept going downhill until I was speed-skimming through the ending just to be done.


The biggest problem with this book is the heroine. She’s an annoying, prissy, judgmental, lecturing, hypocritical PRUDE who blows hot and cold with the hero, jerking him around like a plaything. There was seriously nothing likeable about her and I didn’t understand why the hero was such a lovesick puppy dog over her. Their romance wavered back and forth between boring, confusing and pathetic and I didn’t care one bit whether they got together in the end.

And the constant, CONSTANT, stating and restating of the family names was sooooo annoying. Every single scene, every single conversation, everything the hero and heroine did was linked back to their family. “I’m a Harte/Madison, everyone knows we always/never…” JAK seriously tried to make the family names their entire identity. Which was really lame because there was nothing especially interesting about either family. The “feud” that was touted on the back of the book was completely nonexistent. Neither family seemed to care about the other at all, let alone be “feuding” with them.

Okay, the story starts off great. Hannah Harte is on a date with a guy named Perry. On paper he’s an appropriate date for her illustrious rich self since he’s from a good family and is going to college, etc. etc. But in person he turns out to be a sexual predator who tries to force himself on the 20-year-old Hannah when she won’t put out on their date. He ends up leaving her stranded on an isolated road more than a half hour’s walk from her house. Lucky for her, Rafe was also kicked out of the car and abandoned by his own date when he told her he wasn’t interested in being one of the legion of men she was sleeping around with.

Rafe is the town bad boy. One of those ne’er-do-well Madisons who will never amount to anything. He rides a motorcycle and hangs out at the local adult books store and everyone is sure it’s only a matter of time before he winds up in jail. But Rafe is a perfect gentleman to Hannah and just makes sure she gets home safely. As they walk, they chat about their respective love lives and futures. Hannah reveals that she’s got a long list of requirements for her Mr. Right and rattles off about a dozen things. Then she natters on about her big plans for the future. Rafe, on the other hand, says that his only career goal is to not end up in prison.

This scene was poignant and sad because you really felt for Rafe. It was clear from what he said that dealing with the town’s negative opinion of him all his life had hurt. That he’d been told so often that he’d never amount to anything and didn’t deserve anything good, that he kind of believed it. It was obvious that he liked Hannah on a level deeper than just superficial attraction. It was like he thought of her as a pure, virgin princess while he was the dirty peasant not worth of being with her. And when she rattled off her list of Mr. Right requirements, it just depressed him because he knew he’d never meet her standards.

Unfortunately, as much as I felt for Rafe in this scene, it doesn’t actually stand up once you read the rest of the book because, as I said, the supposed feud and the town’s alleged negative opinions of the Madisons are bunk. The only real scandal in the Madisons’ past was that Rafe’s grandfather had been married and divorced 4 times. I’m not seeing what’s so allegedly sinister about that. It’s not like anyone in Rafe’s family was a criminal. So…where’s the supposed negativity the town feels towards the Madisons coming from? I didn’t get it. We’re TOLD that the town has always treated Rafe as if he’s a bad seed, but we’re never really shown any examples of that or justifications for why the town would behave that way. And seriously, if things were all THAT bad for the Madisons in Eclipse Bay, why the heck didn’t the grandfather move him and the boys away?

So this “Poor Rafe’s been unjustly maligned his whole life” thing that stirred up my sympathies in the beginning of the book felt really unjustified by the time I got to the end, which sort of ruins this scene for me. Honestly, the only negativity I saw directed toward him could just as easily been the result of him deliberately cultivating his bad boy, rebel without a cause image. But no, JAK constantly tries to bash us over the head with empty, unsupported exposition insisting that the whole town is against Rafe because he’s a Madison.

During their walk Hannah lectures Rafe on how he should have more ambitions for himself than just staying out of jail. She never says anything nice to Rafe during this unsolicited sermon, she just says that it’s stupid for him to not plan to go to college or whatever and says that he should “get a life.” If she’d actually told Rafe that she thought he was better than his reputation. That she saw the smart, sensitive guy underneath and believed in him, that would have been so much better and would have had a much more profoundly positive impact on him. Instead she comes off as a snobby know-it-all who’s schooling the dumb-dumb on life.

The next morning, Hannah wakes up to the sounds of her parents arguing with the town sheriff. Rafe’s ex-girlfriend’s body was found that morning and Rafe is their number one suspect. Hannah does the right thing and vouches for the fact that Rafe was with her during the murder. And that was apparently the end of things because the chapter cuts out here and we pick up 8 years later.

We’re told that in the aftermath of the murder, life was tough for Hannah because the gossip about her and Rafe went through the town like wildfire. Some people still assumed that Rafe had killed the ex-girlfriend and that he’d then seduced Hannah as an alibi. Others just occupied themselves with speculating that Rafe and Hannah had sex on the beach that night. But again, this all felt very hollow in terms of character and plot development because Hannah is totally fine. She weathered the storm of the town’s gossip and came out the other side being exactly the same person she’d been beforehand. This could have been a chance for her to grow and see how tough life had been for Rafe, growing up with everyone in town just waiting to pounce on any infraction and say “I always knew he was no good,” but no, Hannah doesn’t have that epiphany. No emotional growth on her part at all.

We pick up the story with Hannah learning that her aunt - who always liked Rafe and frequently talked about how romantic it would be for Rafe and Hannah to end up together a la Romeo and Juliet - has died and left a huge mansion to both of them. Neither one can use 50% of a house and both have a dream of turning it into a business, Rafe a restaurant and Hannah an inn, so neither wants to sell out. Underneath Rafe’s restaurant dreams, however, is his still-strong desire to have Hannah. He wants to use this house situation as a way of getting close to her. In the time since they last met, he’s become rich through day-trading, been married and divorced, and become a master-level chef. Hannah, meanwhile, has been running a successful wedding planner business and been engaged but was ultimately dumped shortly before the wedding (which makes her ex-fiancé the smartest one in the book).

The rest of the plot is pretty boring, especially on the romance front. Rafe keeps trying to put the moves on Hannah but she seems completely immune to him. She’s uptight and prim most of the time, but sometimes she turns into this sex-crazed wild woman for a few seconds only to immediately switch back to being an ice queen. Early in the book Rafe kisses her and they start making out. She’s super into it but then gets distracted by her dog and calls a halt to things. This had more to do with JAK’s tired old romance formula than anything the characters were feeling. Rule #1 is that the happy couple cannot have sex the first time they make out. Any contrived reason will do to break up the moment, even a dog walking by.

So Hannah stops the make-out session and then spends the next few chapters being completely indifferent to Rafe. Then Perry shows up. Rafe had spent the night at Hannah’s house (on the couch) for various contrived reasons and Perry arrives at 9:00 in the morning so most people would assume Hannah and Rafe were in a relationship. But Perry is one of those pompous jerks who is completely convinced of his superiority in all things so he not only dismisses Rafe as a potential rival for Hannah’s affections, he also confidently invites her to come to a political function the next day. Hannah asks a few questions and then accepts the invitation without cluing the readers in on why. Perry then arrogantly says that he’ll be far too busy to pick her up but he’s sure she can find her way on her own.

Rafe is a experiencing a rather sad mixture of disappointment, anger and low self-esteem. He thinks Perry is a jerk (which is kind of understating it for an attempted rapist) but sees Hannah’s acceptance of Perry’s invitation as a sign that she’s still into men who meet her list of qualities, which Rafe himself obviously doesn’t meet and never will. Coming on the heels of her rejection of him during their make-out session, he’s not feeling very confident.

Hannah basically orders Rafe to go to the party with her as her date. When Rafe says that he thinks Perry is under the impression that she’s going to be his date, she scoffs and says that Perry couldn’t even be bothered to pick her up. At the party we come in on Rafe standing on the sidelines watching Hannah and Perry dance together. Perry seems disgruntled, which makes Rafe feel a bit better about the situation. He chats amiably with Jed, the owner of the local paper and someone Rafe knew passingly in the old days. Eventually a dot-com billionaire comes on the scene and we find out that Hannah knows him because she organized his wedding. A friend of Hannah’s has been trying to get a job at the institute Perry works for but Perry has been blocking him. So Hannah uses her relationship with the billionaire to force Perry to stop blocking her friend. That’s why she agreed to come to this event. Perry corners her and is super-pissed about the whole thing. Things devolve as the incident 8 years ago is brought up and Hannah accuses him of attempted rape while Perry says she’s a c*ck teasing prude who’s too repressed to behave like a normal woman. He ends up grabbing her and finally Rafe, who’d been watching from the shadows, steps in to tell Perry to keep his hands to himself or else. Perry threatens to have Rafe arrested if he lays a hand on him and Hannah pulls Rafe away before things get violent. It was all kind of disappointing. In the car on the ride home Hannah has come down from the temporary high she felt at getting one over on Perry and now she’s worried that by making him so angry, he’ll make her friend’s life a living hell at the institute…which he probably will. And Rafe isn’t much better in his inner monologue thoughts since he’s not planning some uber-alpha way of ensuring that his woman’s attempted rapist is brought to heel. Lame.

They go back to the mansion and one thing leads to another. Suddenly Hannah and Rafe are so hot for each other that they can hardly make it up the stairs to the bedroom. They have a typical JAK sex scene where the woman is taken care of beforehand and the man lasts 5 seconds after penetration. A few hours later, Hannah wakes up as the ice queen again. She completely freaks out about them having slept together. Suddenly she’s worried that Rafe is playing her, trying to work some kind of angle to get the mansion all to himself. He sees her freaking out and asks what’s gone wrong, then when she asks if he’s playing her, he turns it around on her. He asks if she even planned to call him in the morning or if she was just using him, first to stick it to Perry by taking him as a date, and then as a convenient bed partner. She ends up running from the house like a ninny.

The next morning she waits until 10:00 to call him so she won’t seem so eager. Rafe answers sounding distracted but when he realizes it’s her, he calls her honey and says that he’s a little busy overseeing the local handy men. She freaks out that he’s having work done on the mansion without her consent and goes flying over to scream at him, saying that she KNEW last night had been all about the house for him. He says that they both want to turn the mansion into a business, so it doesn’t hurt anything to have the wiring and such inspected. Then Rafe asks if she wants to go partners on the business venture. He’ll run the restaurant and she’ll run the inn. Hannah basically spits on this idea and again accuses him of sleeping with her for ulterior motives. She ends up stomping off, but before she leaves, the chatty workmen mention that they once did a job at Rafe’s dead ex-girlfriend’s house and found a secret stash of women’s underwear and shoes that were in a man’s size. There were also a bunch of video tapes, though they don’t know what was on them.

This gets Hannah and Rafe thinking that the ex-girlfriend might have been murdered by someone she was trying to blackmail so they start investigating. They end up going to see the porn shop owner, figuring that if anyone knew about a local with these kinds of tendencies, it would be him. Hannah is a total stuck-up prude about this whole storyline. She makes it clear that any man who enjoys cross-dressing is a sexual deviant and that anyone who frequents a porn shop is a pathetic degenerate. She can barely even bring herself to be civil to the shop owner and very much looks down on Rafe for having spent some of his youth in the store. I really hated Hannah and her sanctimonious moralizing in this scene, especially since it came right on the heels of her having sex with Rafe. It just really demonstrated that she didn’t think he was good enough for her. They part ways with their relationship somewhat strained.

Then Hannah goes home and finds her dog missing. She follows the sound of his barking and ends up finding him on a rocky outcropping on the beach, locked in a cage and in the path of the incoming tide. Someone had deliberately left him to drown. She rescues him, but then the dog alerts her to the fact that someone is lurking in the shadowy night so she panics and runs to a convenient cave she knew from her childhood. She emerges from the other side to find Rafe frantically calling for her and she runs straight into his arms. Rafe spends another night on the couch for her protection.

The next day, they have Rafe’s grandfather over for dinner because Hannah had pushed Rafe to invite him to repair the two men’s strained relationship. As Rafe is preparing the food, he’s suddenly overcome with emotion about Hannah’s brush with death the night before. He recants to the readers how when he first arrived at her house to find her car in the driveway but her not answering the door, he’d thought that “the worst had happened” and she was upstairs having sex with another man. Then when he’d realized the dog wasn’t barking and it was an odd time for a walk, he’d become concerned. Now he’s come to the conclusion that the dog may not have been the villain’s ultimate target. If Hannah had arrived home later, the tide would have been higher and rescuing the dog would have been much more dangerous. The idea of Hannah dying practically brings Rafe to his knees.

Then he carries the hors d’oeurves in to Hannah and his grandfather he hears them talking. The grandfather is assuring Hannah that Rafe will “do right by her.” When Hannah asks what he means, he says that he’ll see to it that Rafe offers to marry her because “shacking up” with a woman like her just isn’t done. He goes on to say that Rafe just has a phobia of marriage because he’s been divorced. Things go downhill from there as Hannah doesn’t say a single thing to even hint that she feels anything romantic for Rafe, or that she thinks he’s a good person in general, and instead just gets haughty about the grandfather’s use of the term, “shacking up.” Eventually the grandfather mentions that he’d always known that Rafe didn’t kill the ex-girlfriend. Rafe has been standing frozen in the doorway the whole time they’ve been discussing him and gets a bit emotional over this declaration. Apparently he was never sure if his grandfather believed him.

Moving on, Rafe eventually convinces Hannah to move into the mansion with him for her protection but she makes a big stink about insisting that she have her own bedroom because they are NOT shacking up. They also find out that it’s the town politician who wore the ladies underwear in the ex-girlfriend’s house. But the politician and all the movers and shakers in town had been at a function at the institute the night of the murder so it can’t have been him that killed her.

Rafe and Hannah have sex again and again Hannah acts like an ice queen afterwards. There’s a bit of an argument where Hannah says that he’d never have been with her when they were younger because she wasn’t his type. He denies it and say he was desperate for her back then but knew he didn’t meet her stupid list of requirements. She says that’s not true, that she’d had a crush on him, all the girls in town had because he was so handsome and dangerous with his motorcycle and leather jacket. He says that it’s not exactly a compliment that everyone thought of him as the kind of guy they’d like to have a dirty little affair with but never bring home to their family. A bit later they’re driving in the car and stop for gas. A bunch of the local people happen by and all start making comments about how Rafe and Hannah are “shacking up.” Hannah goes ballistic and screams at all of them like a crazy woman. Insisting that she and Rafe are merely cohabitating in the mansion because they both own half, they are NOT in a relationship. Things take a weird turn when Rafe says that they ARE in a relationship and she says he’s never given any indication that he wanted a future with her. He then inexplicably says that he wants to marry her, which she takes offense to because she doesn’t think it’s a real or appropriate proposal.

Arizona Snow makes her usual crazy appearance to provide a log of all the people who were at the institute the night of the murder and who left early. They eventually figure out that the villain is Jed, the owner of the paper. Rafe goes to his house to confront him and finds that he’s packed up and left in a hurry. Back with Hannah, they’re walking along the beach when the dog starts barking and alerts them to the fact that the mansion is on fire. They get back in time to see Jed making a run for it. Hannah calls 9-1-1 while Rafe tackles Jed. He’s led away by the cops saying that he had “everything set” and had been about to make his move but then they’d ruined everything by coming back to town. We don’t really get an explanation for why he’d waited 8 years to make whatever move he’d been planning but who really cares.

Rafe and Hannah then declare their love for each other even though Hannah hasn’t demonstrated a single ounce of affection for him and he should be running as far and as fast as he can away from her shrill, hypocritical moralizing.


All in all by the end I pretty much hated this book. The heroine was a nasty prude and the hero was a weak beta who trailed after her lapping up whatever crumbs of affection she deigned to give him.

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you read a book where you fall in love with one of the characters? Of course you have!!!!! I did reading Jayne Ann Krentz’s Eclipse Bay, the first book in the trilogy of the Harte and Madison families of Eclipse Bay.
It’s a kind of modern day Romeo and Juliet…..the two families being at war with each other for three generations and what happens when Hannah Harte and Rafe Madison fall in love with each other.
Well, it’s a bit more than that!!
Rafe Madison is the local bad boy whose main goal in life is stay out of jail. Hannah has drawn up a list of what she wants in a man and certainly Rafe does not qualify for any of her points in that list.

They first meet on a deserted beach when both had been left stranded by their dates and it results in Hannah being Rafe’s alibi in the suspicious death of his girlfriend.

Eight years later they meet up again after both inheriting her Aunt Isabel’s home, Dreamscape in Eclipse Bay – her batty aunty always said that the two were like Romeo and Juliet and this was her way of getting them together.
And it certainly does!!!! In the end of course!!!!

I adored Rafe – sexy, gorgeous, moody, enigmatic with some secrets of his own and a great sense of humor with a fab Porsche and cooks like a dream only adds to the appeal of course!!!!! And wow can he make love!!!! The sex scenes….I would have loved to see more of them……are sensual, hot and sexy!!!!!!Hannah has always been the good girl, prissy, loves lecturing Rafe often, is unable to keep her hands away from him, and is the owner of one of my favorite characters in this story – Winston!!! How could I not fall in love with him…..the elegantly, trimmed gray Schnauzer. The scenes with him are amazing. The interaction between the humans and this pooch are priceless. I loved the scene where Hannah and Rafe take him with to visit the local porn shop!!!!!
“I can’t believe I’m taking my dog into a place like this.” Hannah scowled at the sign over the shop’s rear entrance as she snapped the leash onto Winston’s collar. “I can only hope that he doesn’t realize what sort of place this is.”
“Good grief, that looks like a used condom. Didn’t you listen to me, Winston? I said don’t touch anything.”

I love the scenes with Rafe and Hannah….there is so much chemistry between each other and you can almost feel the electricity and buzz between the two.
There are a lot of quirky characters in Eclipse Bay…..Arizona Snow who believes that the town is being taken over by aliens or something like that and keeps logs to prove her theories, Mitchell, Rafe’s grandfather, the Madison who began the feud with the Hartes, the local builders and more.


The story is basically how Rafe and Hannah discover the love for each other and being to heal the rift between the two families. There is a sub-plot where we learn more about the death of Rafe’s girlfriend eight years ago. Their return has opened up a can of worms and someone wants to put a end to their questions even if it means having to kill them.

Rafe and Hannah have their HEA and have a fabulous wedding where the feuding Harte and Madison men meet up again and slowly begin to thaw towards each other.

I can’t wait to read the follow up books on Gabe, Rafe’s brother and Lillian, Hannah’s sister’s story.

I love family stories and this book was a real good read.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite by this author so far. Since she seems to have dozens of titles, I suppose that's bound to happen sooner or later.

This book attempts to be a modern day Romeo and Juliet, with the children of two feuding families developing a romantic interest in one another. Something about the feud never resonated with me, though, and I got increasingly annoyed every time they talked about what the Harts would do or what a Madison would do, as if every member of the same family has the same personality.

I think the biggest problem I had was that I wasn't entirely fond of the heroine. She seemed too prissy and stuck up to me. I found her to be too dissimilar from the hero to really believe in a romance between them. I guess I'm not into opposites attract, although I did like the point (which this author makes in several books) that you can't just write down your preferences on a list and expect results.

I also didn't find the resolution of the mystery to be all that believable. I honestly just didn't buy that the person would have committed murder.

I recommend this author, but not this book.

[LianaReads blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libby read

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A modern day romance with a touch of Romeo and Juliet, a hunky leading man, a murder mystery, and a beautiful beach setting.

I wanted to love this book, I really did, but it fell flat in a few areas.

Rafe is the small town bad-boy from the Madison family. With a history of failed marriages, his goal in life is to stay out of jail. Rafe cooks like a God, looks like a God, and apparently has the patience of a God to put up with Hannah.

Hannah, daughter of the feuding family, the Harts, is a prissy, high strung, wedding planner with a list of her "Mr. Right" qualifications and a tendency to have a melt down whenever things don't go according to plan. Her dog is adorable, but Hannah leaves much to be desired.

When her Aunt dies, she leaves her mansion, Dreamscape, equally to Hannah and Rafe in an awkward attempt to play matchmaking to Hannah and Rafe who both have ideas of opening an Inn/Inn-Restaurant on the property.

The romance is shaky at best as Hannah is not a very likable character, although Rafe is. All through the novel I was hoping to get a glimpse of whatever magical quality Hannah possessed that made Rafe so interested in her, but I honestly, have no idea. The romance scenes were steamy, but the romance itself was week. And the "Hart" vs. "Madison" reminder was repeated so many times it got annoying. The characters couldn't do much of anything without identifying if it was a "Hart" or a "Madison" trait.

Through in an odd murder investigation, a quirky old grandfather, and a weird lady with a conspiracy theory and you have an interesting read, but not a can't-put-it-down novel.

I'm a huge fan of Jayne Anne Krentz and find her extremely talented, but this book fell a little short.

It's a good easy read or beach book, but not a favorite.

[Domino (aka Meme) · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was just alright. before starting the novel i thought it would be pretty good. the plot being about a fued between two families and how an individuals from each family fall in love and marry eventhough their families disapprove. well...the fued really didn't seem warranted and the relationship between the two main characters wasn't all that great and then there was this mystery that got solved like a Scooby Doo cartoon. seriously, i mean the villain actually said "if it weren't for u two i'd have gotten away with it." also, i forgot to mention there was a dog in the story too. haha. don't get me wrong, i love Scooby Doo, but i wasn't expecting to see his gangs tactics in this novel. i believe this is a trilogy, but i'm not rushing to read the next in the series. i'll get around to it eventually.

[Penelope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eclipse Bay is book #1 in the trilogy. Dawn in EB is #2, Summer in EB is #3. Each can be read as a standalone but the story arc follows through the 3. I highly recommend the series to readers of contemporary romance, romance suspense novels, and those who prefer HEAs. This was a delightful reread for me. In addition, for those familiar with JAK’s (later) contemporary “Arcane” novels, Arizona Snow makes her 1st character appearance in this trilogy. :D

The FMC, Hannah Harte, comes from a settled, wealthy, career focused, logically thinking family. At 20 and a young college student, she already exhibits such traits herself. The MMC, Rafe Madison, is raised singly by his grandfather who is more known for his temper, passionate ways and marital impulsiveness. Rafe, at 24, is struggling to find his own way and mainly “stay out of jail.” The story fasts-forward 8 yrs and we pick back up with Hannah and Rafe. Hannah’s aunt has died and willed a lovely, old property in the small town of Eclipse Bay jointly, to Hannah and Rafe. They have not seen each other in 8 yrs; the last time following an evening when Hannah provided a much needed alibi for Rafe. The novel Eclipse Bay is about seeing people for who they really are, believing in possibilities, and finding that special someone you can both love and trust, well into the future. I truly enjoyed Eclipse Bay.

Eclipse Bay contains several moments of sexual intimacy between the two main characters that is somewhere between sweet and steamy (2.5 or so on a 0 to 5, sweet to steamy scale). The sexual situations are not the main focus of the story; other unexpected action/suspense is present. Violence is very minimal. Profanity is present but minimal (25+/-words). Readers who would be offended by the aforementioned should be advised.

[Summerita Rhayne]

A good read. The only problem was the shades of patriarchy though subtle but present. The hero is blown out of proportion and so is the heroine. There's too much bashing about of the old family feud and in the end *spoilers alert* it comes out to be nothing. The dog is too much at the center, while cute, still not quite explained why he has almost human characteristics. Maybe a lead to another book. The mystery is good, but resolved too readily. I don't know why she couldn't go with him to investigate but his grandfather could.
Still it was readable. The dialogue is enjoyable and the back story was pretty nice.

[Diana (DomesticGoddess) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
First the caveat: I'm not the biggest fan of contemporary romance. This one was gifted by an esteemed friend; an author she obviously likes. It's just OK; a pleasant enough read for when I'm not too busy or inundated with novels that I really want to read. I've seen in other reviews that this isn't Krentz's best - I'll try again with some other of her works.

[ReadKnitHoard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, those innocent years at the turn of the millennium… when a conspiracy theorist was part of the plot as a supporting character for laughs. A charming, benign supporting character who turned up in more than one trilogy because she was just that ubiquitous. (Somehow, I've lost my taste for non-villain conspiracy theorists these days. I wonder why?)

Winston is the perfect dog, as ever.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!! I love Jayne Ann Krentz's books. They're the perfect mix of mystery and romance. I adored Hannah and Rafe❤❤ Cant wait to read the next 2 books in the series!

[Michelle Samis · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author , I very much enjoyed this fun witty suspenseful romance with a cute dog added in.

[Karen Leduc · Rating 3 out of 5]

As good the second time as it was when I first read it.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eclipse Bay
4 Stars

Synopsis
In the small town of Eclipse Bay nothing is more certain than the Harte/Madison feud. Hannah Harte and Rafe Madison are expected to continue the tradition but when they are thrust together by an unexpected inheritance, they soon discover that what they feel for each other is far from hatred. Unfortunately, their return to Eclipse Bay has also awakened a dormant threat that may jeopardize everything they are working toward.

Review
A sweet romance and a solid mystery.

The suspense plot builds slowly but surely toward a conclusion and while this aspect of the story is enjoyable, it fizzles at the end. There are a number of obvious red herrings that obscure the identity of the eventual culprit almost too well.

Dialogue and character development are two of Krentz's trademark skills and Eclipse Bay is no exception. Rafe's grandfather and the town eccentric, Arizona Snow, are particularly noteworthy in these areas, and Hannah's pet Schnauzer, Winston, has definite character all of his own.

Rafe and Hannah have good chemistry and their romance is believable because they compliment one another. Rafe is almost too perfect (he's gorgeous, intelligent and can cook), and Hannah is so intent on looking for perfection, she nearly misses it standing in front of her. While she is a likeable character, she can also be overbearingly bossy and aggravating at times.

The family feud theme is the weakest point in the book as it is not sufficiently developed, and fails to resonate with the reader because the core feelings of animosity between the two families is sorely lacking.

In sum, an easy, cute and entertaining read. The next installment with Gabe and Lillian is set up nicely and I look forward to reading it.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly average romance/mystery.

Eclipse Bay is in Oregon. The Madisons and Hartes have lived there for years, but a falling out between war buddies Mitchell Madison and Sullivan Harte over a business deal gone sour three generations ago had resulted in a long-standing feud between the families.

Their grandchildren, Rafe Madison and Hannah Harte meet by chance one night on the beach at Eclipse Bay when Rafe is 24 and Hannah 20. Hannah has her life mapped out in front of her, while Rafe's only ambition is to stay out of prison. That meeting ends up with Hannah becoming Rafe's alibi when his newly ex-girlfriend, Kaitlin, dies suspiciously that night, and an unlikely bond being forged between them.

The two don't meet for another eight years until Hannah's Aunt Isabel dies and unexpectedly leaves her home to both Rafe and Hannah. Hannah returns to Eclipse Bay determined to get Rafe to sell her his share of the house, while Rafe is equally determined to hold onto it. Their presence back in the Bay reopens old talk of the way in which Kaitlin died and reopens old passions and feelings between Rafe and Hannah.

The mystery of who killed Kaitlin was actually quite good and I didn't figure out the murderer, but the romance was pretty ho-hum, although Rafe and Hannah were both likeable characters.

Overall, an undemanding read that satisfies without satiating.

[Dede · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Oamenii spuneau că, atunci când un Madison era condus de pasiune, nimic nu îi stătea în cale.”

Mă gândeam de mult timp să citesc această trilogie și după un car de ani am reușit în sfârșit să o fac. Bineînțeles că am stat să mă întreb de ce nu am citit-o mai devreme, imediat după ce am avut seria completă, și de ce am așteptat atât după ea, dar n-am găsit niciun răspuns.

Mi-a plăcut tare mult! Foarte rar m-a dezamăgit vreo scriere de-a autoarei. ❤

Ostilitatea dintre familiile Harte-Madison durează de trei generații, de când o mică neatenție a condus la falimentarea companiei pe care acestea o conduceau. Nu e de mirare că tot orașul se așteaptă ca nepoții lor să continue cu vrajba și să se ocârască în continuare. Însă o întâlnire în miez de noapte între Hannah și Rafe de-acum opt ani și planul mătușii Isabel de a-i aduce împreună, lăsându-le o moștenire comună, îi forțează să revină acasă și să lupte fiecare pentru partea lui.

[Farah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have been a good read if it weren't for the stuck up heroine and the constant use of " A Madison doesn't do this .. A Madison doesn't do that .. Harte family this and Harte family that GAH enough already !!! every few lines we either hear the Madison name or the Harte name .. it was excruciatingly annoying .. also the whole family feud issue was ridiculous and way over the top. I didn't really like this one.

[Gizella Tóth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A régi jó JAK, amit úgy imádtam. Üdvös lenne, ha teljesen visszatérne ehhez a stílushoz a meglehetősen sikerületlen paratrilógiái helyett. (Mondjuk, olyan apróságokon elgondolkodtam, mi lehetett a kvintakármicsoda angol megfelelője, és miért kellett használni, tényleg nem volt más jelző... vagy azon, hogy a magyar nem színházat csinál, hanem jelenetet rendez vagy cirkuszol (cirkuszt csinál:)... és társain, de ezzel együtt az elejétől a végéig élveztem.

[Jane (PS) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook - 2.5 stars

This was OK. I can't say I liked it. It was all a bit ho-hum and... what wine are they drinking now? - Hmmm wouldn't mind a wine... Perhaps I'll put this book down and go get one... It just didn't grab my attention (except to make me thirsty). I don't think I'll continue with the next book.

[penelopewanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually reminds me of some by Nora Roberts... A good read, despite the heroine - characterized as prim and prissy and indeed, rather irritating on the whole. Hero much more fun to be around, and one can only hope she mellows before he loses the stars in his eyes..

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tedy, slupla jsem to jako malinu. Tohle jsem si měla dát o Vánocích a ne pohřbívání za živa. Parádní oddechovka, romantika, erotika a vražda. Dala bych 4,5*, tak dám tady 4 a na Databázi knih 5. :-D Recenze vyjde brzy na www.chrudimka.cz

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta trilogija mi je daleko najzanimljivija iz opusa doticne, svakako preporucam, i citajte po redu :)

[Shirlene]

Claudia Banner was the reason for the feud between the Madison's and the Harte's. Sullivan Harte and Mitchell Madison were in the army together and as soon as they got out the began Harte-Madison. Their plan was to buy parking garages and wait until the value went up and then sell them to developers for a huge profit. They hired Claudia to broker the sales and they were both infatuated with her. Sullivan tried to tell Mitchell that something was off and Mitchell refused to listen. Claudia soon took off with all their money and left them in debt. Mitchell accused Sullivan of working with Claudia and they fought. This began the feud.
Rafe Madison and Hannah Harte were two of the grandchildren. They met one night on the beach of Eclipse Bay. Hannah had been out with Perry Decatur to celebrate her twentieth birthday when he attempted to force himself on her. She got out of his car to walk home when she saw Rafe. He was at the beach because he had just broke it off with his girlfriend, Kaitlin Sadler. Rafe had enough of her sleeping around with others in town and told her that he was through with her. Rafe walked Hannah home and they talked about things they wanted in their future spouses their 5-year plans. Rafe said that he wanted to stay out of jail. Hannah said that she wanted to carve a niche out for herself in the service industry. Rafe casually kissed her goodbye when he dropped her off at home.
In the morning, the sheriff came by because he was investigating the death of Kaitlin Sadler. It appeared that she had fallen off a cliff by the bay and Rafe had told them that he was with Hannah the previous night. Hannah's family were shocked that Rafe would choose a Harte for an alibi but even more shocked when Hannah told them that she was with Rafe. The death was ruled an accident.
Eight years later, Hannah's Aunt Isabel had died. She liked Rafe and had mentioned that she thought that Hannah and Rafe would be good together. She left her huge house to both of them. Isabel had also spoke to each of them about remodeling her house into a bed and breakfast inn and they both had the idea of individually doing this. Rafe refused to give up the idea and so did Hannah.
Hannah had decided to sell her business, Weddings by Harte, and move back home. Rafe had money and drove home in his Porsche. Speculation was going around that he had made his money illegally. Rafe told Hannah that he had learned to cook and run a restaurant. He made a few meals for Hannah and she agreed that he could cook.
Hannah was staying at her parents cottage while Rafe stayed at Isabel's place because he had arrived in town first. Hannah's dog, Winston, had sensed something outside but Hannah wouldn't let him out because of him being a city dog. Hannah went into town to get some groceries and ran into Kaitlin's brother, Dell. Dell and Rafe began to argue because Dell still blamed Rafe for Kaitlin's death. Dell left and Kaitlin agreed to let Rafe cook dinner at her place so they could talk about the house. Rafe came over and ended up spending the night on the couch because Winston heard something or someone outside again. Rafe didn't feel that it was right leaving Kaitlin alone after having had the fight with Dell.
Perry came by to see Hannah and invited her to a fund raiser in town. Trevor Thornley was going to announce his bid for the US Senate. Perry told her that she could bring a guest but he was under the false impression that he could pick up where he left off with her. He wasn't thrilled when she brought Rafe as her guest to the fund raiser. Perry was further upset when it was his attention to get promoted up in his company, the Institute in town, and one of Hannah's clients happened to be at the fund raiser. Hannah's best friend's husband, Brad, was vying for the same position with the Institute and she persuaded her clients to only donate money if Brad were given the position either by himself or in partnership with Perry. Perry told Hannah that he still wanted her and Hannah told Perry that all he ever wanted from her was her money and she left with Rafe.
Hannah went home with Rafe that night and ended up in his bed. They talked a little about the house and Rafe suggested that they work together as partners. Hannah suggested that Rafe ask his grandfather over for dinner and show him that he could cook.
Hannah called Rafe in the morning and found out that he had some plumbers over to check out the house. Hannah told him that he couldn't do anything without her and rushed over. The plumbers were twin brothers and they talked about Kaitlin's death. They mentioned that they had been at Kaitlin's after her death and found some tapes and women's kinky underwear that appeared to be man-sized in her dryer vent. They said they had told the police chief but when they returned to the house to show him, the items had disappeared. Rafe went into town to invite his grandfather to dinner and stopped by the newspaper office to see his friend, Jed, the owner of the local paper. He asked to see the stories written about Kaitlin's death. He was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't an accident and that it wasn't investigated as well as it should have been.
Hannah went to her friend, Pamela McCallister's house and stayed with them for most of the day. She got back home late and couldn't find Winston. He turned out to be in a cage on some rocks and Hannah had to go into the ocean to get him. Winston started to growl so she thought that the person who did that to him was waiting by her house. She went through some caves and took another path up to her house. Rafe was there looking for her and was sure glad she was OK. They talked and were trying to figure out if someone was upset at their being together or if it was because there was talk about Kaitlin's death due to their return and people gossiping about it again. Hannah told Rafe that she didn't think it was her ex-fiancée, Doug and Rafe told Hannah that he was going to have a talk with Kaitlin's brother, Dell.
Hannah and Rafe spoke with Dell and determined immediately that he wasn't a threat. Dell had a dog that he loved and knew that he wouldn't hurt Winston. They both told Dell that Rafe didn't hurt Kaitlin and were fairly certain that he believed them.
Rafe's grandfather came over for dinner and they talked over their suspicions. Mitchell admitted that he had been having an affair with the widow of the town's previous newspaper editor. Rafe started cracking up laughing. He told Mitchell that he and his brother, Gabe, thought he might have been going to see a doctor. Then Mitchell told him that he would go see her in the morning to ask if she knew anything about a man wearing women's underwear. She suggested that it might be Trevor Thornley, soon to be senator Thornley.
Hannah and Rafe went to see Arizona. She kept log books of all the going's on in town. She had a log book that had the names with the cars that were at the institute party that happened on the night Kaitlin died. Arizona told them that it had been stolen but she had made a copy and put it away in storage. She told them it was an hour away and that she would get it for them.
They stopped in town to get gas and there were townsfolk watching them. They were asked questions regarding their relationship and when they were going to get married. Hannah told them that they hadn't even discussed getting married and she hadn't been asked. Rafe then asked her to marry him and she was upset that he would joke about it. She looked like she was about to start crying so Rafe got in the car and they left immediately.
Hannah knew that she overreacted. Rafe told Hannah that he'd wanted to marry her ever since he got notified that they both owned half of Dreamscape, the house. He told her that he finally knew what he wanted. He wanted her, the inn, a restaurant and a future. He knew that he probably wasn't what she wanted or what was on her list but he would work on the rest. Hannah told him that there was only one thing on her new list. Arizona Snow arrived to interrupt their conversation.
They started to go through the logs and Mitchell came over. The only person that they noticed left was Jed Steadman, the current editor of the local paper. Arizona mentioned that maybe he killed Kaitlin to get the tapes and was holding onto them until Thornley became a Senator and then he would blackmail him. Rafe decided he was going to break into Jed's place during a town meeting and Mitchell would go with him as a lookout.
They got into the house and found out that Jed had cleared out. His clothes were gone and there was an empty safe left open. Hannah was waiting when they returned and they took Winston for a walk. They were talking and Rafe told Hannah that he was signing his half of the house over to her. She asked why and he told her that he didn't want the house, he wanted her. She told him that she thought they were a package deal. He agreed but he wanted to let her know that she was the most important part of the package. She told him that she loved him and he admitted to loving her too. They agreed to get married. They were again interrupted, this time by Winston barking and running toward the house. It was on fire!
Winston charged into the house and bit Jed's leg. He tried to fight off the dog when Rafe knocked the gas can out of his hands and knocked him over. They fought for a bit and then Jed realized that he had lost the fight. The police and fire trucks could be heard in the background.
They were married two months later. Mitchell and Sullivan talked at the reception and saw that they were both older now but deep down they were still the same guys who had fought in a war together, started a business together, got rich together and there would always be a bond between them.
One month later, Rafe answered the phone and it was his brother, Gabe, on the other end of the line. He said that he was going to call Hannah's sister in the morning and work with her company, Private Arrangements, to find a wife of his own...

[Isabel Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

La tenía en pendientes desde hacía mucho tiempo y estoy en plan de desenterrar a las autoras de antes, xq las de ahora no es q me esten fascinando precisamente. Y no decepcionó, ha estado bastante bien, la historia es sencilla, sin grandes complicaciones q era el punto.
En el contexto de una suerte de rivalidad shakesperiana - x el lado de familias rivales en un pueblo - tenemos a los Madison y los Harte. Los abuelos de los protagonistas fueron socios comerciales y algo se torció en el camino, y la disputa q los separó en su momento se ha transmitido de generación en generación, pero a diferencia de Romeo y Julieta, no tenemos grandes escenas de peleas entre partidarios de una y otra familia, solo la enemistad pura y simple. Así encontramos a Rafe y Hannah, jóvenes universitarios q una noche x esas cosas de la vida, se encuentran en la playa a medianoche. A él no ha dejado tirado la novia, ella le ha dado calabazas al suyo y ahí están caminando a la luz de la luna de regreso a casa, tratando por todos los medios de negar la atracción q sienten el uno x el otro. Esa noche traería consencuencias, de una forma un tanto macabra, xq al día siguiente encuentran a al novia de Rafe muerta en el acantilado y es precisamente el encuentro con Hannah el q lo salva de la carcel. Sus caminos se separan pero se vuelven a encontrar ocho años después, gracias a una herencia en común q parece puesta para unirlos definitivamente.
La trama se centra precisamente en el romance de Rafe y Hannah y aunq hay muchos personajes secundarios q entran y salen, el punto focal de toda la historia son la pareja estelar. En particular me ha gustado mucho el abuelo Mitchell, y la forma q tiene de meterse donde no lo llaman. Me habría gustado más si le hubieran dado más destaque.
Aunq hay un poco de suspense, pero realmente es bastante insignificante, soso hasta diría, xq no se ha sentido peligro ni siquiera un chiki de riesgo. Si hay algo de romance edulcorado y un final feliz, y se q suena a q ha sido aburrido, pero realmente no lo fue, solo q tampoco ha sido la gran historia americana. Solo una historia romántica, para pasar una tarde de domingo escrito por una autora q sabe escribir. No pidan más xq no hay.

[Phat Ho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Đọc vì bìa đẹp và được xếp là trinh thám, phần giới thiệu khá hút nên bay vào đọc luôn, mình đã chủ quan không lượn trước Goodreads, và đó là sai lầm to lớn.

Đoạn đầu khá khen tác giả xây dựng bối cảnh câu chuyện và vụ án khá thú vị. Nhân vật chính là hai người cháu của hai gia tộc vốn là kẻ thù của nhau ba đời, tính cách ngược nhau như hai thái cực, một bên háo thắng, nóng nảy thích thì nhích luôn không kế hoạch gì cả, còn một bên điềm tĩnh lo xa luôn đề ra chiến lược và kế hoạch chi tiết để đạt được mục tiêu. Vậy nên hễ hai bên gặp nhau sẽ tạo ra nhiều đoạn đối thoại xéo sắc khá hài hước.

Với mình, yếu tố trinh thám trong truyện này là một sự thất vọng cực kỳ lớn. Mình đã mong đợi câu chuyện về vụ án sẽ bùng nổ ở đoạn sau, thậm chí khi chỉ còn ba chương cuối thôi, mình vẫn cố tự thuyết phục chắc twist nó nằm ở chương kế thôi, vậy mà diễn tiến cứ bình thường, nếu không muốn nói là quá dễ đoán, mình còn mong đợi cái trung tâm nghiên cứu kia nó còn có một thuyết âm mưu to lớn gì nữa cơ, một tổ chức đen tối nào đó, sẽ hành động để che đậy tội ác chẳng hạn, vậy mà KHÔNG HỀ CÓ, đọc xong hết sách rồi mà còn ngẩn người "Ủa chỉ có vậy thôi hả???". Tiểu thuyết tình cảm thì sex là không thể thiếu, nhưng một bữa tiệc mà bày hoài một món thì ăn nhiều quá thành ra cũng nhàm. Được một điểm cộng là mấy người già trong truyện này khá sung sức, máu lửa tham gia phá án nên dễ thương hết biết, đặc biệt ông nội Michelle tính tình nóng nảy, nói năng hơi tục nhưng chơi rất đẹp, nợ ơn phải trả ơn dù thù ghét dữ lắm. Bên cạnh đó, nhân vật con chó của nữ chính cũng là điểm cộng lớn cho câu chuyện.

Tóm lại ai mê thuần trinh thám, muốn đọc truyện kịch tính, đấu trí các bên, hay thuyết âm mưu, twist hack não thì nên né quyển này ra, không có đâu hic.

Còn lại nếu muốn đọc sách ngắn gọn, giải trí thôi thì cứ thế mà lao vào, ngọt ngào lãng mạn hài hước có đủ.

[Kathy Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Eclipse Bay trilogy

Hanna was socked and dismayed when she learns that her great Aunt left half of her inheritance (a large mansion called Dreamscape) to Rafe Madison. Everyone knows Rafe and his brother Gabe were no good boys. Now they have grown. And Rafe has become a no good man who refused to sell Hanna her rightful inheritance. This has nothing to do with eight years ago, does it?

Rafe was stunned to learn he inherited half of Dreamscape. Hannas great-aunt had a romantic streak a mile wide and since Hanna saved him from a stint in jail eight years ago, she wanted to see them together. It's too bad that she had to die before that happened. Now that he's made his fortune, made something of himself, maybe he can win the girl who's become a woman's heart.

Now they are back in Eclipse Bay and are planning on staying and turning Dreamscape into an inn and restaurant, the past is threatening them. Eight years ago, Hanna saved Rafe from a jail term by providing him an alibi for when his evening date died mysteriously. The past wants to keep the death as it is - dead and buried, and if that means adding more to that list, then so be it.

I enjoyed this story. I thought Hanna was a bit too prudish at times, especially after she'd aged. As a long time reader of Ms. Krentz, and her Arcane Society series, I wanted to see if a particular character graced the pages, and I was not disappointed. It was a great pleasure to see her and get another view point of her.