No Perfect Secret / Jackie Weger

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

An award-winning author, Jackie Weger has been writing romance novels off and on for thirty years. When she's writing, she's anchored in a tiny room with a desk, a chair and a cat. When not writing, blogging or chatting with fans, she's traipsing around the Internet searching for recipes, but much prefers to travel the good earth by foot, bus, canoe, sloop, mule, train, plane or pickup--and let somebody else do the cooking. Jackie's most popular book to date is The House on Persimmon Road. By popular demand The House on Persimmon Road is now available in paperback.

Description:

When Anna’s husband of ten years, Kevin, dies while overseas on business, it raises some red flags at the State Department. Anna assumes the government is concerned because Kevin is an international courier, but it’s more complicated than that. The story follows Anna as she tries to piece together her life after Kevin’s death.

Appraisal:

Although this novel begins as a romance—Frank, the State department investigator assigned to Anna’s case becomes her love interest—it has a lot of depth and nuance. The mystery that surrounds her husband’s demise is revealed slowly, like multiple layers of skin being stripped from an onion. Even when I thought I’d “got it,” a sudden twist started me wondering again whether I had.

Anna and Frank worked well together as a couple—very different people, but their romantic connection never felt forced. Their obvious physical attraction is constantly challenged by their personal qualms about jumping into a relationship under such unfortunate circumstance.

But, for me, a series of colorful side characters made the book special. Although the storyline followed the romance between Anna and Frank, these neighbors and acquaintances were so varied, interesting, and complex that they kept me smiling, occasionally cringing, and engaged throughout.

Format/Typo Issues:

Too few to mention.

Rating: ***** Five stars