A Bridge to Love - A Book Review

SYNOPSIS

Widow Kate Chilton bravely raises two young sons alone, drawing on memories of her happy marriage to give her strength. When she discovers that her marriage was not what it seemed, her world is shattered. In her own unique revenge, Kate decides to spend one night with a man and then forget him. She finds the perfect candidate in notorious womanizer Randall Johnson. Magnetically attractive, he has a reputation for loving and leaving. But Randall's reputation is about to change.... Randall Johnson clawed his way up the ladder of success from a dirt-poor childhood. With no time for the complications of love, he prefers women who understand his rules. When Kate invites herself to dinner, his curiosity is piqued. When she kisses him, his self-control goes up in flames. And when she tells him he's just a one-night stand, he refuses to take "no" for an answer. Originally published by Berkley Books, Penguin Group USA

REVIEW

I was invited to read the first novel in one of Nancy’s new series’ here recently and fell in love with her and her style of writing.  Although she is a little outside of my normal staid, literary brand of book that I have fallen into reading and reviewing in the last few months, I found her work to be a breath of fresh air.  Stop.  Let’s correct that. Her work tends to make me catch my breath at the most in-opportune moments and take my breath away, sigh, like coming up for air.

When I saw this new delight hit the market, I snapped it up and lost a night of sleep plowing through the story of a widow who was too afraid to love again, only to find out that she had been crossed and double crossed by the man she thought had loved her in death.  Even though the steamy scenes made my heart pitter-patter a bit, and were rather steammmy(!!), those scenes were icing on the cake.  The real story lay all around those scenes and much deeper.

WHAT???, you say?  A good sexy, steamy story with a deep meaningful story beneath the surface?  Yup!  It is that story that captured my heart.  It is the story of the young widow and her devotion to her two children.  No matter what a horrid person her husband (dead and buried) turned out to be.  She did not allow his image of the devoted father diminish in the eyes of her children.  She retained the “family” throughout her own personal crisis and no matter what horrid things were going on with men in her life (good and rotten), she managed to keep her children lives on an even keel – not an easy feat.

This is not to say she and her husband, and then later, she had not done a fantastic job of establishing good moral and family ethics and values for the boys. What I also really appreciated was the tone Nancy set of the female character’s determination to establish her independence and to be able to care for herself and her family.  What really ticked me off was just how manipulative and nasty (low-down) the men who worked to dominate her life were, including the “hero”, before he got his act together.  Sometimes you just wonder why men cannot figure it out. (Excuse me guys, I know not all of you are like that.)

Now, the real question is, how is an author able to write a really good novel that has really hot steamy sex scenes in it (more than just a few) and still have a central core theme about the values of family, ethics, and morals?  Well Nancy Herkness managed to make this reviewer feel that this book is good enough for a romance award nomination.  You will have to read Bridge to Love to find out how she did it, for yourself.

I rated this book FIVE STARS for my review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Herkness is the author of the award-winning Whisper Horse series, published by Montlake Romance, as well as several other contemporary romance novels. She is a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. Her new series, Wager of Hearts, follows the romantic adventures of three very wealthy men who make a life-changing bet.

Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, New Jersey Romance Writers, and Novelists, Inc. She has received many honors for her work, including the Golden Leaf Award, the Maggie Award in Contemporary Romance, and the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English literature and creative writing.

A native of West Virginia, Nancy now lives in suburban New Jersey with her husband, two mismatched dogs, and an elderly cat.

For more information about Nancy and her books, visit www.NancyHerkness.com.

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