Beloved Stranger [Paperback]

Patricia Crossley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

An old house in the Ontario woods, a mysterious stranger who seems eerily familiar, an ancient murder that must be solved. . .

Disappointed and disillusioned, Sarah gives her life new direction, renovating an old house, intending to build a new business and make a home for her brother. When she rents a cabin in the woods to Pierre, a business man from Toronto, she finds herself overwhelmed by the immediate and sizzling sexual tension that leaps between them. In addition, mysterious forces gather strength, bringing nightmares of cold and death. What messages is the past sending her? Why does Pierre seem to be connected with her dreams?

Editorial Reviews

Review

BELOVED STRANGER intertwines a mystery of a past tragedy with the paranormal... 4 stars. -- Romantic Times Magazine

Expertly written story, drawing in readers with wonderful characters and a mystery which begs to be solved... 4 stars. -- Simply Ebooks

The hero and heroine are richly complex, resulting in a fascinating read that keeps the pages turning... Recommended. -- Word Weaving

About the Author

Patricia would like to share this quotation with you: "Solomon said one of the most wonderful, mysterious things on Earth is 'the way of a man with a maid.' Every culture has a means of recognizing the delicate, breathtaking dance that takes place between a man and a woman -- getting to know someone, liking what you experience, falling in love. It used to be called courting. To be wooed and won was a beautiful, romantic process, one that fostered a lifetime of passion and commitment. Indeed, the civility and respect for boundaries that romance and courtship entail used to be the raw material of learning how to treat anyone well. They are foundational to culture as a whole. It is arguable that if this civility is not cultivated between men and women, it will not likely exist anywhere." (Elizabeth Nickson, in the National Post on May 11 2001)

Happily married herself and believing strongly in the bond of love between two people, Patricia delights in seeing what brings them together, how they fight the odds against them, how they stay together. All her books are about two lovers "finding" each other: across time, after betrayal, through history. She always says she writes "Romance with a twist."

Patricia was born and brought up in London, England. She was a real city kid, her life defined by tube stations and double decker buses. Very few people owned a car when she was little and if she traveled it was by long distance bus or steam train. No motorways then, of course, so everywhere, even on the other side of London, was a very long way away. The countryside seemed a magical place, but the family only went outside the city at holiday times. Her parents favored the south coast and she had an uncle with a dairy farm in Devon which she adored. She went back there two years ago and found the old stone farmhouse and the tiny village virtually unchanged. This farm was the inspiration for the Godwin House in the time travel romance, Journey's End, although she had to move it many miles closer to London in the story.

In her teens she spent a great deal of time in France, living and working with French families and attending university. Although she learned French very young as a second language, it seems to her now that she has always spoken it equally with English.

She grew up reading Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Jane Austen and particularly loved the "fictionalized history" where real people were brought to life. When she did her degrees, she was immersed in the literatures of France and Germany. Much of that literature is about the relationships between men and women, some of it rather cynical. This taught her an appreciation not only for the structure of a book, but also for the analysis of the relationships between people, and the observation of character.

If you are born in Europe, you cannot help but be steeped in history. Patricia's parents later lived near St. Albans, where there is an inn dating back to Roman times and which has therefore served ale continuously for over sixteen hundred years. The cockpit is now a bar. A new road being pushed through unearthed the remains of a magnificent Roman villa. Day trips when she was a child were to Museums, the Tower of London, Hampton Court. History to her was a part of life, and she thinks that is why she tries to bring historical detail into her books.

She became a second language teacher, married an engineer, whom she had first met when she was eighteen (another story) and had a daughter. When she was still a baby, they moved to Montreal, where Patricia found her bilingual skills in great demand. Her two sons are Quebecers. When she moved to Canada she was fortunate enough to live in the most historic area of the country, where Jacques Cartier landed in 1535. There was a seamless transition from the history of Europe to that of the New World. She was fascinated by the culture of Quebec, where for many years people were routinely isolated, physically and emotio

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Novelbooks (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591050480
• ISBN-13: 978-1591050483
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,657,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book, But Kind of Disjointed, April 29, 2004

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beloved Stranger (Paperback)

Sarah MacMillan just wanted to forget. To forget that she worked for an antiques firm that was laundering money, forget that her ex-boyfriend had left the country so he wouldn't be convicted of drug charges, forget that she didn't really have enough money to renovate the house she purchased. She loved the house in Harrison Corners, a small town in the Ontario woods and was determined to fix up the small lakeside cabin for her brother, Michael, who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. Sarah was happy just to work on renovations and dream of her new antique shop she planned on until Pierre Martin walked into her life.

Pierre Martin was determined to wipe drugs off the street - no matter what it took. After losing his beloved wife, Sue, in a drug hostage situation gone wrong, Pierre felt he had nothing left to live for. He was so close to busting up a big drug ring and then he could take a break. At first, Pierre thought that Sarah was involved. After all, with her background and her purchase of a house that had a reputation as a drug house, it just couldn't be a coincidence. However, the more Pierre gets to know her, the more convinced he is that she has nothing to with drugs - but there is something about her...

Sarah felt that she knew Pierre somehow, even though she knows that they have never met. When she starts having strange dreams and hearing someone talking in her room, Pierre tries to tell her that it is just stress. But then she finds the diary hidden up in the chimney and discovers the story of her ancestor, Captain George MacMillan, Queen's Volunteer Cavalry, who disappeared in 1838, leaving his wife and child behind. No one knows exactly what happened to George, but there is a rumor that he ran off with a woman he met during the war named Isabelle. Determined to figure out just what is going on, Sarah heads for Quebec and starts digging for clues, only to discover that Pierre is a descendant of Isabelle. The more Sarah investigates, the more mysteries come to light - what happened to George? how are Pierre's distant cousins involved? who else knows the story of George and Isabelle? why are women being attacked and murdered who have vital information for Sarah? As Sarah struggles with her feelings for Pierre, she also must come to believe that life and love come when you least expect it...

Beloved Stranger started off well, with a definite story line and strong characterization. I liked both Sarah and Pierre and thought that their romance would be one of those star-crossed lovers who have another chance at love type stories, but instead it turned into this weird, convoluted plot that wandered all over the place. First, there was the drug plot - Pierre believed Sarah was innocent, cleared her and was able to get her to forgive him despite her abhorrence of anything involving deception. Then her grandfather dies and her brother, Michael, says he doesn't want to live with her and moves off into his own life. Sarah feels guilty and them moves on. Then, Sarah goes on to investigating the disappearance of George, but Pierre doesn't believe in reincarnation and resists the feeing that they know each other with Sarah diving into things headlong. So she finally persuades him that this is really happening and to take some chances and then she decides that she just can't handle falling in love with someone who is a cop and doesn't want him to investigate or take risks and do anything. Then the wicked cousins come in and we have to figure out why people are dying or being attacked and how they are involved and work through that and then all of a sudden everything is great and we live happily ever after. It isn't necessarily bad to have so many plotlets running if they are tied together, but I felt the author introduced something, solved it, dumped it, introduced a character, used them for a brief moment or to create an argument, then they disappeared. I think the author was just trying to keep the story going so that it would be longer, but I was just so tired of hearing this argument then that one and then he doesn't want her and then she doesn't want him and on and on - just end it already! I just didn't have the patience to wade through all of the other stuff that the author threw into the story, taking it from a simple story about reincarnated lovers into this whole sprawling, wandering story that took forever to end with characters that I had long since ceased to care for, but still couldn't stop because I had suffered this far and deserved closure. Luckily, I bought it in ebook format so I didn't have to pay as much! Still, despite the saggy plot, I did give the book 3 stars for starting off well and having a nice writing style - bottom line, if there is nothing else to read, go for it, otherwise skippable.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating reincarnation romance, May 20, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beloved Stranger (Paperback)

In 1838 in the Upper Canada wilderness, Queen's Volunteer Cavalry Captain George Macmillan steps into a snow hidden animal trap. A man arrives, but is pleased to have snared George. Instead of rescuing the injured soldier, the man bids George a good life in heaven where he might eventually meet Isabelle.

Sarah Macmillan fled Toronto because she needs to start over after taking blows professionally and personally. Her employer, antique dealer/interior designer, apparently laundered money while her former-boyfriend sold drugs before leaving town for the Caribbean. Unfortunately for Sarah her newly purchased remote abode has a reputation too as drug dealers used the house. Mountie Pierre Martin thinks three connections to illegal operations are too coincidental and so he decides to go undercover and observe Sarah. He persuades Sarah to rent him a cabin. However, the last thing the law enforcement official expected is to have feelings for landlady especially since he loathes anyone connected to drug trafficking after dealers killed his family. Stranger is the sense that he and Sarah share a past that someone else is aware of and plans to insure the duo remains apart even if the actions of 1838 are repeated in the present.

BELOVED STRANGER is a fascinating reincarnation romance that never slows down until the final page is written as the audience is hooked into needing to know how the plot ends. The story line is loaded with action that leaves the audience believing in the impossible. However, the key to the tale resides in the two prime stars. Both are flawed individuals struggling with relational demons from their current life and coping with what seems insane, connections to mysteries of 1838. Fans of paranormal romance will delight in Patricia Crossley's exciting novel.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem Among Thousands!, January 8, 2004

By 

Margaret Marr "Published Author" (NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beloved Stranger (Paperback)

In 1838 George MacMillan vanished without a word to his wife and child. His disappearance was never solved. Did he run off with his lover? Or was he murdered?

Sarah MacMillan moves into her family's ancestral home in the Ontario woods, with plans to fix it up and run an antique business using one of the cabins on the property. She wants to be alone and make a life for her brother Michael who had been crippled in a motorcycle accident. Her plans don't leave room for anyone else, especially after the disastrous relationship with her ex-boyfriend who made his fortune by trafficking drugs and taunting Sarah with postcards reminding her what she could have had with him.

Pierre Martin rents a cabin from Sarah, but he has to leave it in a month so she can move her brother Michael in. This is fine with Pierre. He's an undercover Mountie investigating Sarah and the MacMillan house as a possible drug link. He'd lost his wife Sue to a drug-hostage situation gone wrong, and was out to get every drug dealer off the street. Those he works for call him the Ice Man for his cold intensity.

Pierre and Sarah find themselves fighting a mutual attraction. Pierre seems vaguely familiar to Sarah, but she can't figure out why. Ghostly voices are heard in the MacMillan house, and a dark entity threatens them both, bringing them together to solve the mystery before someone gets killed.

Are there dark and light forces warring unseen around us? Do evil and good battle with our lives? What unforeseen tragedy lurks in invisible places to take good unaware and destroy our hope for tomorrow? BELOVED STRANGER makes you believe love conquers all even across decades of time. Don't miss this super, good paranormal romance by Patricia Crossley!