Customer Reviews

Beloved Stranger

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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!

Beloved Stranger delivers all the lovely kick of a great romance, with the added bonus of a few delightful shivers.
If I had to assign this book to a single category, I'd be hard pressed. Crossley skillfully blends a ghostly background behind a contemporary romantic suspense. All the elements- paranormal, mystery and romance- are well balanced, adding up to more than your average read.
I was impressed by the intelligence of the characters- no overreacting, melodramatic heroines here!
And the scenes set in Quebec are particularly well done. I wallowed in the glimpse of French Canada, enjoying every bit of it.
This wasn't the first book I've read by this talented writer, and it won't be the last!