Customer Reviews

Deep in the Heart

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

 

 

Samantha Carlyle has made it big in Hollywood, & she is also being stalked by a very clever enemy. The police & all her friends believe it's just a selfish publicity stunt because all the phonecalls, letters, etc. can be traced back to her in some way. At the end of her rope, Sam asks her childhood hero & former lover John Knight to believe in her. After narrowly escaping from an attempt on her life, Sheriff Knight decides to take her to a more secure environment--specifically, to HIS house in their old hometown. Because their bittersweet past ended in so much pain, they both try not to 'fall' for each other again. However, 'Fate' seems to have its own agenda...

Overall the story is pretty good, well-written & full of feeling. The main characters seem very real & had great chemistry. Unfortunately, I found myself greatly disappointed in who the villain turned out to be (even though I didn't guess it until the end). This one started out great but then the 'action' tapered off...Ms. Sala's other works are much better.

What can I say Ms Sala has done it again. She has managed to pen an emotionally charged read.

Samantha Carlyle and John Thomas (Johnny) have a past. Together they grew up, they were best friends, and before Johnny went away to boot camp they became lovers for one night but circumstances beyond their control seperated them. Both promised to always be there for each other. Samantha calles on her best childhood friend to come and save her. Someone is stalking her in Hollywood and no one not even the police believe there is someone out there wanting to kill her.

John Thomas receives the letter calling for his help and he does not hesitate to get on a plane for L.A. in order to help the only girl that he has ever loved.

John Thomas takes Samantha back home to Texas. He is a sheriff of a small town and feels that he can keep Sam safe if she is away from L.A. Once in Texas they start remembering the past that they both shared. They are both fighting feeling that are powerful and deep. At the same time it looks like the stalker has followed them to Texas. Samantha is now on edge and fearing for her life.

This was a wonderful read. I love Ms. Sala's characters since they are very believable and you find yourself falling in love with them as you read their story. I found myself surprised by whom the stalker was and was unable to guess it until the very end. Be prepared to feel all the emotions that this book touches on.

I had a hard time deciding on the number of stars for this review. On one hand, the love story was a great one, and the characters were likeable, the conflict believable, and the ending very satisfying.

What brought the score down was the odd anachronisms that kept jerking me out of the story. Here are just a few examples:

1) This book was first published in 1996, but we're told that Sam, who worked in a big Hollywood casting agency, used a typewriter, not a computer, for her work. Surely not. I think the author used a typewriter because she needed to use the uniqueness of typewriters in her evidence. She took the easy way out rather than doing research to find an alternative plot point.

2) The police, even when given pretty solid evidence that Sam was being stalked, not only dismiss the evidence out of hand, but they give it all back to her when she asks for it.

3) The police don't even attempt to use technology to trap the stalker, but the stalker somehow is able to follow Sam and Johnny back to a tiny little town in Texas. The FLEW there - how did the stalker find out where? Has the stalker access to better resources than the police?

4) When Johnny calls the LA cop with the name of the stalker, the cop recognizes the name immediately - even though the police didn't investigate the stalking enough to have developed a list of suspects. I got the feeling the author expected us to believe this cop knows everyone in town. I can believe that of Johnny and Cotton, Texas, but in Los Angeles???? I don't think so.

Another reviewer mentioned the fact that Sam could easily have carried a cell phone - I don't know about that (I didn't have one myself until 2000), but that is one more instance where the author used plot devises that fit more in an eighties book than a modern one.

As I said, though, the story itself is a very nice one, and if you can suspend disbelief enough to get past these lapses in technological know-how, you should enjoy this book.

Ms Sala has written another book with a similar plot that I actually like better, though: Tallchief, written under her penname Dinah McCall. I think it is a better book all around.

I liked this book. The romance was okay and it's better than some of the others that I have read of hers but once again Sala has included some glaringly unbelievable lines.

As stated by another reviewer, I also found it curious that the heroine worked for a big casting agency yet used a typewriter still. And I found it unbelievable that once the LA police had decided the heroine was at fault, they just handed back evidence on her request.

The heroine in the story came across as stupid to me at times. Whenever she was on her own, something happened to her (stalker wise). So what did she do? She kept sneaking off on her own cause she was bored.

Once again, I don't think Sala likes fat people as they are always sleazy, stupid or incompetent in her books and this one is no different. She writes of how the incompetent, arrogant detective Pulaski leaned back and placed his hands across his 'ample belly' just before the hero tells him off. She tells us nothing else about the man's physical appearance but makes sure to tell us he's fat - two paragraphs after describing in detail the hunky hero and his flat belly.

I'm not saying that fat people can't be arrogant / incompetent / lazy etc but when she uses the stereotype in every book, it gets really predictable. You know straight away that a character will be useless to the hero / heroine as soon as you read how fat they are.

And in Sharon Sala's style, once the hero leaves, the ample bellied detective stands and says something very melodramatic '... that, I think, is how the West was won. That man was a sheriff. A genuine pissed off, Texas sheriff '. Huh? Who on earth talks like that? And what does it mean? Moments ago Pulaski was arguing with the sheriff. Now he sounds like he wants to kiss him.

Sharon Sala and I have been friends a long time. I'm so very proud of her. She has been success at writing her romance novels. They all are so intriguing and you just don't want to put them down once you start reading it. She is a wonderful, loving person who God has given the gift of writing. SHe's does an excellent job with every book. She has other responsibilities but she never fails to put out her very best novels.

Dawn Wright

I've read many of Sharon Sala's novels, and I'm never disappointed. I have to say this one is probably my favorite though. I love the characters and story.

As always SS knows how to keep you thrilled with the plot as well as shedding tears with the love story. What else could you ask from a writer?

I won't go over the book again, since the other reveiwers
have covered it quite well. There are some stretches of
the imagination required to completely "get" this book.
For instance, it's hard to believe Sam never kept in touch
with ANYONE in her hometown and so didn't have any idea
what had become of her first love. One also wonders why
Sam doesn't have a cell phone. But that aside, I loved
these characters so much they make up for a few weaknesses
in the plot. John Thomas is strong and dependable, and his
obvious love for Sam, even as he tries to fight it, is touching.
Sam is funny and bright and not afraid to lean on him.
The supporting characters are interesting as well, although
the story primarily centers on Johnny and Sam. The suspense
is pretty good and the stalker almost impossible to guess.

I would love to see these two characters show up in another
of Ms. Sala's books just for an update on their story.

A really good read.