Customer Reviews

Broken Pieces (Signet Eclipse)

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

 

 

It's been 16 years since Mariah Sayers was home. Raped as a teen, she finds herself pregnant and unable to turn to her strict parents for support. She runs away to Chicago and starts her life over, but returns to bury old ghosts after her father dies and leaves the family home to her. With the intention of merely fixing it up and putting it on the market, a new romance blossoms with the unlikely boy who sat behind her in class. Jack Taylor is now the town vet - sending women swooning to shelters to get pets to have him treat them. He has always had eyes for Mariah. But the memories of that long ago night continue to haunt Mariah, and just when she starts to think it might be safe to think about staying in Missouri for good, her best friend comes to visit and is brutally attacked and nearly murdered. When the police start to think that the over abundance of runaways might be linked to the attack, Mariah fears that the man who raped her has escalated to murder and she has to decide whether or not to report the crime that caused her to flee in the first place, which might have a devastating effect on her daughter.

Cassidy is an always riveting writer. Her books are like truffles - you just want to devour them. I stayed up late into the night trying to guess who the baddie was - I was totally convinced I was right, and then wham - I was wrong. She creates tension, and tons of red herrings, and takes a storyline that has been used numerous times and makes it seem fresh. My only cirticism is that I would have liked to have more of the aftermath of the killer's reveal, as well as what made them crack. I loved the relationship between Mariah and daughter Kelsey. It was totally believable. And the romance between Mariah and "Dr. Hot" as Kelsey labels him is ... well, hot! I'm convinced that Cassidy could write want ads and keep me glued to the page!

© Tracy Vest, September 2008

Mariah Sayers has returned home for the summer to get her parent's house fixed up so she can settle their estate. She wants to spend as little time as possible in a place that has nothing but bad memories. She never saw the man who brutally attacked her 16 years before and never told anyone about it - except her mother who told her it was her own fault. After that, she ran away and never returned. Until now....

But the memories are there and so is her attacker and he's watching her.

I read this book in one day and have definitely found a new author for me.

16 years ago Mariah Sayers was raped. She couldn't tell her parents as her father was an abusive preacher who beat Mariah constantly. When Mariah realized she was pregnant and told her mother, her mother said it was Mariah's fault because she snuck out and that's what she gets. Mariah runs away abruptly and never sees her parents again.

After her parents death Mariah returns to Plains Point to get their house ready to sell and spend some quality time with her daughter Kelsey away from the streets of Chicago. While she always tried to tell herself her rapist was a drifter, when she starts getting threatening messages and other girls begin to disappear she feels she may have to tell her secret for it to stop.

But she'd falling in love with the handsome vet Jack Taylor or as Kelsey says, Dr. Hot. Jack used to be a quiet geek who sat behind Mariah in high school and had a major crush on her. Now he's falling in love again but this time it's an adult love.

As Kelsey makes new friends and Jack and Mariah hope to make a long distance romance work a killer is stalking.

This was my first Carla Cassidy novel. It was an excellent mystery that I couldn't put down.

Broken Pieces (Signet Eclipse)
This was an exceelent book a little too much romance for my taste by very suspenseful for the most part.

I just started reading Carla's books this year. I love to read and had thought I had run out of authors, until I picked up one of her books one day. Since then I have gone online and managed to get all of them. This is a very good book and lets you know that some people can come out of a bad situation and make it work for them. Mariah Sayers was a hero, to be the exceptional Mother she was from a product of rape overwhelmed me.

The assault from an unknown person frightened teenager Mariah Sayers as she expected to die; instead the man he zipped his pants back up and claimed he broke her and owned her before leaving. Frightened she ran from her hometown of Plains Point, Missouri. She vowed never to return and for almost sixteen years she avoided the place.

However with the death of her father, Mariah accompanied by her teenage daughter Kelsey has come home with plans to sell the family house. However, Mariah and Kelsey feel as if they finally came home as each enjoys living here and the mom is seeing Jack. Still, the shadow of the monster lingers in the background until a girl is murdered; Mariah believes her assailant is the killer just from the little she knows. This time she plans not to run as she decides instead to uncover the identity of her fiend.

Using the topics of teen rape and child abuse, Carla Cassidy provides a strong romantic suspense thriller starring a brave flawed woman and a deep support cast especially her daughter and her boyfriend, but especially the villain who for the most part is off page yet his few words emphasize the terror he causes. Years after her harrowing incident Mariah still suffers from nightmares as in his way the predator truly owns her. However, this time she refuses to run. Lights will be left on long after the reader finishes BROKEN PIECES.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book! I read it in two days, which is pretty good considering I have a 10 month old! I stayed up until 1:00 AM to finish it. Carla Cassidy does it again, I had no idea who the evil rapist was, she kept my guessing until the end - what a fantastic job!

This book was more about the feelings of the heroine than a chilling suspenseful tale about a unsolved crime. The storyline was so slow that about over half of the book repeated itself. The actual criminal was a true let down and did not add to the suspense of the book. I had to skim the book to finish it. Do not read this book if you are looking for a suspensful read.

This is usually one of my favorite authors, but this book was so boring all I could do was skim it, I wanted it done and over with so I could read my New Sandra Brown. I hope Sandra does not let me down.

Happy Reading!