Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)

Monday, April 6, 2015

E is for . . . Echo Lake (contemporary romance)

Echo Lake
by Carla Neggers

Series: Swift River Valley 
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 978-0778317432
Release Date: January 27, 2015 
Genre: Contemporary Romance 
352 Pages

format available: ebook, mass market paperback, audio and large print/hardcover 

Author's website | Twitter 

Book Blurb
Heather Sloan has landed her dream job—the renovation of Vic Scarlatti’s stately 1912 country home overlooking the icy waters of Echo Lake in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. It’s the perfect project for the family business, but for once, Heather is in charge.

Diplomatic Security Service agent Brody Hancock left Knights Bridge at eighteen, a few steps ahead of arrest and the wrath of Heather’s older brothers. Though Brody had never planned to return, Vic, a retired diplomat and friend, needs his help.

Staying at Vic’s guest house makes it impossible to avoid running into a Sloan at every turn—especially Heather. Seeing her again has affected Brody more than he wants to admit. But Heather is wary of Brody’s sudden interest in her, and she suspects there’s more to his homecoming than he’s letting on….


My Thoughts
The cover is beautiful and you can only assume that Heather and Brody get together. That is the purpose of the book, right?

I word about sex. It happens but not until half way through the book. It doesn't have the words that an erotic book would use and the scene isn't very long but it does not occur behind closed doors. Just wanted to let you know. I'd consider it one step sexier than sweet.

On to the book . . .

Brody acts a little too confident, like he has a secret. But then he does doesn't he. When he runs into Heather during a puppy rescue he introduces himself as Brody and that he was staying in the guesthouse. Not a last name, not as a friend or co-worker. Heather's all "Hi, I'm Heather Sloan" with a feeling she should know him.

And of course she does. She had a crush on him and he remembers that! I wanted to be embarrassed for her.
Heather wasn’t what he’d expected. Pretty, sexy, curvy...

He didn’t need that kind of distraction right now. An attractive woman— one from the hometown he’d sworn he would never step foot in again.

Also one with five older brothers.
Ah yes, her brothers. It wasn't so much what he did as what they thought he did but he still isn't sharing that with us!

I'm going to make a few assumptions before I go back to the book.
  1. Vic's house-sitter has ties with some other country.
  2. Heather's brothers take an interest in the job she's supposed to be over and she has it out with them.
  3. Brody comes clean with the brothers in order to do his job which leads to the previous statement. 
  4. The river the puppy fell in comes into play only it's Heather that's been taken in hopes that it will distract Brody enough that Vic can be taken care of. 
  5. There's a happy ever after ending with Heather traveling with Brody. 
  6. I'm going to enjoy the book so much that I'll start at the beginning of the series and end up reading it again, in the correct order.
That last one is the only one I'm sure of happening  ;-)

back to reading . . . .
She decided she would be smart to remain calm and in control around this man. Even without the bad blood between him and her brothers, she had no business messing with Brody Hancock in any way, shape or form.
and then there's this
He glanced at his watch. Not even two o’clock. The day stretched ahead of him like a giant yawn.
What the hell was he going to do with himself?
Can you feel his pain? He retired from the Foreign Service at 62. On the young side and while he took into account he had all the money needed for retirement he didn't take into account what he'd do with his free time! The man needs a hobby or two and just doesn't have a clue.

I'm not sure I like Adrienne, the house-sitter. It isn't really any one thing she's done, and I can't place my finger on it. Maybe it will come to me.
(Heather) wished she hadn’t witnessed the deeply personal scene in the dining room, but the lines between friendship and business had been blurred from early on with her work out here.
There's a main story between Heather and Brody but there are other characters and they have stories too. One of my favorites is a small snippet before a family dinner. Heather's mother and grandmother are making a baby quilt a someone mentioned there were quite a number of new romances in town. Then a little later Heather asked,
“Didn’t I have a baby dress in this fabric?”
For all you non-quilters out there, it is/was common practice to make a baby or wedding quilt out of the daughter's old dresses. At this point, they were only going on their first date!

I was correct about two of my assumptions and couldn't be happier about it.



Disclaimer: I received a complimentary review copy of this book without any obligation to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of the author, amazon, and the book itself.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

2 comments:

Stormie Kent said...

It looks like an interesting book. I look forward to what you review tomorrow.

Susan Kane said...

Carla Neggers planned her book well, with solid plot and characters. It would be an interesting read.

Disclaimer

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Book Dragon's Lair. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won in some kind of contest, or received in exchange for an honest review.