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A Woman With a Mystery
SHE HAD NO MEMORY AND NO PAST
A year ago Holly Barrows had raced through a raging snowstorm—convinced someone was trying to kill her—into the arms of Slade Rawlins. She'd appeared before him like a beautiful apparition in the dark of night. But she was real, flesh and blood, and his fingers had memorized every curve of her body. Then she'd mysteriously vanished, only to return the following Christmas with an outrageous claim of kidnapping.
COULD THEY HAVE A FUTURE? Monsters, she'd said, had taken her baby. But any baby she'd had would also have been Slade's. And he was consumed by his need to protect Holly and locate their child before the family he desperately wanted was lost…forever.
A year ago Holly Barrows had raced through a raging snowstorm—convinced someone was trying to kill her—into the arms of Slade Rawlins. She'd appeared before him like a beautiful apparition in the dark of night. But she was real, flesh and blood, and his fingers had memorized every curve of her body. Then she'd mysteriously vanished, only to return the following Christmas with an outrageous claim of kidnapping.
COULD THEY HAVE A FUTURE? Monsters, she'd said, had taken her baby. But any baby she'd had would also have been Slade's. And he was consumed by his need to protect Holly and locate their child before the family he desperately wanted was lost…forever.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
About the author
B.J. Daniels
519 books1,275 followersB.J. Daniels started her life in Houston, Texas, before her family moved to Montana at age five. She grew up in a cabin in the Gallatin Canyon near Big Sky and later on Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone. Because of her love for Montana, most of her books are set there.
Born into a storytelling family, all she'd ever wanted to do was write stories. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she wrote and sold 37 short stories before she finally wrote her first book, ODD MAN OUT. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award for romantic suspense.
She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two Springer Spaniels. When she isn't writing, she quilts, boats and. makes rope/fabric baskets. She always reads, loving to lose herself in a good book.
Born into a storytelling family, all she'd ever wanted to do was write stories. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she wrote and sold 37 short stories before she finally wrote her first book, ODD MAN OUT. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award for romantic suspense.
She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two Springer Spaniels. When she isn't writing, she quilts, boats and. makes rope/fabric baskets. She always reads, loving to lose herself in a good book.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 24, 2019
Mom and I loved this book. It was balls of the wall crazy, but that made it all the more fun.
The heroine has no memory and the hero can’t let go off his. It made for an interesting read. The story starts off very crazy but it just gets crazier and crazier. The part that was hard though is the chemistry between the heroine and hero was very subdued for the first half of the book, and when the heroine remembers the hero bam the chemistry does a complete 180. Mom wishes there was a little more build up to the chemistry. The author could have had them start to fall in love again.
But beside that mom and I liked the crazy story it was fun to listen to, and we recommend it you are looking for an unserious read than this is worth it.
The heroine has no memory and the hero can’t let go off his. It made for an interesting read. The story starts off very crazy but it just gets crazier and crazier. The part that was hard though is the chemistry between the heroine and hero was very subdued for the first half of the book, and when the heroine remembers the hero bam the chemistry does a complete 180. Mom wishes there was a little more build up to the chemistry. The author could have had them start to fall in love again.
But beside that mom and I liked the crazy story it was fun to listen to, and we recommend it you are looking for an unserious read than this is worth it.
February 12, 2014
For the first few chapters I thought "You've got to be kidding". The plot was so implausible and far fetched, I was sure that I would never finish the book. But I kept reading and things started coming together and I could see, if I closed my eyes and squinted, how this could, maybe, happen. Not that I believe it ever really could, you know. Still, having fully discarded reality is several other books, I decided to finish this one. B.J. Daniels writes a good romantic suspense story about a woman who has been taken advantage of by a powerful family and the P.I. she eventually hires.
A year ago on Christmas Eve Slade almost runs down Holly, although at that time she had memory and thought someone was trying to kill her. She stays with Slade for two months and then just disappears. Slade didn't know at the time he was taking advantage, he really doesn't come off as very sharp. A year later, Holly shows up at Slade's office door with a story of her live born baby being replaced by a stillborn one. This time Holly has no memory of Slade. It is absurd on the face of it until you dig deeper and Slade does the math and comes up as the baby's father
The plot also covers the murder of Slade's mother some 20 years ago alone with the mystery of Holly's baby. The plot paths of this novel are off in all kinds of different directions and it seems that everyone in Dry Creek. MT has something to hide and the town isn't that big, so how come no one picks up on what is going on?
A year ago on Christmas Eve Slade almost runs down Holly, although at that time she had memory and thought someone was trying to kill her. She stays with Slade for two months and then just disappears. Slade didn't know at the time he was taking advantage, he really doesn't come off as very sharp. A year later, Holly shows up at Slade's office door with a story of her live born baby being replaced by a stillborn one. This time Holly has no memory of Slade. It is absurd on the face of it until you dig deeper and Slade does the math and comes up as the baby's father
The plot also covers the murder of Slade's mother some 20 years ago alone with the mystery of Holly's baby. The plot paths of this novel are off in all kinds of different directions and it seems that everyone in Dry Creek. MT has something to hide and the town isn't that big, so how come no one picks up on what is going on?
April 18, 2018
December 26, 2001
B.J. Daniels delivers a Christmas Intrigue in "A Woman With a Mystery," an entertaining, though flawed, romantic suspense. A year ago a mystery woman walked into Slade Rawlins's life, became his lover, then disappeared. Now she's back. Except Holly Barrows doesn't seem to remember him. She wants to hire him to find out what happened to her baby, a baby Slade knows must be his. The doctors claim the baby is dead. Holly says it was kidnapped by "monsters." Can Slade believe her and find his child?
"A Woman With a Mystery" is a compelling pageturner, though Daniels regular readers may find it far too similar to her other books. It's interesting that out of the 12 Intrigues she's written, 8 (8!) of them have involved a secret child or baby being passed off as someone else's as part of the plot. That's two thirds of them. It's not surprising that this book starts to feel old from the start. I had the entire story figured out far too early, mainly because the author has taken me down this same road too many times before. I have the feeling she could have come up with this story in her sleep. Like most of her books, it's overly convoluted and stretches credibility in ways that makes it hard to believe several plot points. That isn't to say it isn't well written. Daniels's prose is typically engaging and fast-paced. Despite the predictability of the plot, I was never bored or anxious to put it down. I was never completely engaged either.
Part of this has to do with another element of the book. Daniels makes it hard to completely empathize with her heroine because so little of the book is told from her perspective. The book is 250 pages long, and no more than twenty-five of those are in the heroine's point of view. This makes it really hard to get into her head and know what she's feeling. She never really came to life for me. The book is hero-driven and we do get to know Slade and his motivations very well. Readers who enjoy good heroes might like this one. But Holly is mainly a victim who gets shuffled from one event to the next, and the lack of insight into her head only makes her seem more passive.
"A Woman With a Mystery" is a pleasant way to spend a few hours. I suspect though the author's talent would be better served with a more original storyline. Something without a secret parentage? Her upcoming entry in the Trueblood Texas series doesn't sound promising. Hopefully her upcoming gothic in the Moriah's Landing series will be.
B.J. Daniels delivers a Christmas Intrigue in "A Woman With a Mystery," an entertaining, though flawed, romantic suspense. A year ago a mystery woman walked into Slade Rawlins's life, became his lover, then disappeared. Now she's back. Except Holly Barrows doesn't seem to remember him. She wants to hire him to find out what happened to her baby, a baby Slade knows must be his. The doctors claim the baby is dead. Holly says it was kidnapped by "monsters." Can Slade believe her and find his child?
"A Woman With a Mystery" is a compelling pageturner, though Daniels regular readers may find it far too similar to her other books. It's interesting that out of the 12 Intrigues she's written, 8 (8!) of them have involved a secret child or baby being passed off as someone else's as part of the plot. That's two thirds of them. It's not surprising that this book starts to feel old from the start. I had the entire story figured out far too early, mainly because the author has taken me down this same road too many times before. I have the feeling she could have come up with this story in her sleep. Like most of her books, it's overly convoluted and stretches credibility in ways that makes it hard to believe several plot points. That isn't to say it isn't well written. Daniels's prose is typically engaging and fast-paced. Despite the predictability of the plot, I was never bored or anxious to put it down. I was never completely engaged either.
Part of this has to do with another element of the book. Daniels makes it hard to completely empathize with her heroine because so little of the book is told from her perspective. The book is 250 pages long, and no more than twenty-five of those are in the heroine's point of view. This makes it really hard to get into her head and know what she's feeling. She never really came to life for me. The book is hero-driven and we do get to know Slade and his motivations very well. Readers who enjoy good heroes might like this one. But Holly is mainly a victim who gets shuffled from one event to the next, and the lack of insight into her head only makes her seem more passive.
"A Woman With a Mystery" is a pleasant way to spend a few hours. I suspect though the author's talent would be better served with a more original storyline. Something without a secret parentage? Her upcoming entry in the Trueblood Texas series doesn't sound promising. Hopefully her upcoming gothic in the Moriah's Landing series will be.
January 14, 2019
Once upon a time I had a Harlequin book subscription, so every month or so I'd get a box of four paperbacks, and because it was Harlequin, they were all romances. What I'm saying is, I have a lot of Harlequinn romance books, and this is one of them.
I'm going to spoil things a tiny bit, the mystery is she has amnesia, it's a little more than that, but that is the gist of it. Actually it gets quite a bit weirder, and it's not entirely believable that the plot to this book could happen. It doesn't sell itself as a Science Fiction book at all, just pure romance, or "Harlequin Intrigue", which is basically a woman in trouble and Mr. Right helps her out.
Anyway, these are meant to be a quick, casual read, which it is, and it was enjoyable (I've read it before, years ago.) which is what its supposed to be.
I'm going to spoil things a tiny bit, the mystery is she has amnesia, it's a little more than that, but that is the gist of it. Actually it gets quite a bit weirder, and it's not entirely believable that the plot to this book could happen. It doesn't sell itself as a Science Fiction book at all, just pure romance, or "Harlequin Intrigue", which is basically a woman in trouble and Mr. Right helps her out.
Anyway, these are meant to be a quick, casual read, which it is, and it was enjoyable (I've read it before, years ago.) which is what its supposed to be.
May 16, 2017
3.5 stars
May 1, 2018
This book was different, it was about hypnosis, drugging people, killing people, artificial insemination, stealing babies from mothers, it literally had it all, but it was good.
Want to Read
July 19, 2020elibrary
February 9, 2021
Wow!!! Didn't see this ending. Action and suspense. I am surprised by who the killer is. I'm glad for the happy ending.
April 21, 2023
Really good read and enjoyed the mystery in this one
August 30, 2024
Slade & Holly
This story kept you on your toes. It’s got suspense, twists, sadness and everything you would want. I highly recommend this.
This story kept you on your toes. It’s got suspense, twists, sadness and everything you would want. I highly recommend this.
April 11, 2015
Loved it! Kept me guessing till the end.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews