Customer Reviews

Last Kiss Goodbye

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

 

 

In Kudzu Hollow, eight years old Ivy Stanton finds her mommy lying in blood on the kitchen floor. Her abusive daddy, who never wanted Ivy, accuses her of killing her mommy. She flees her daddy only to have sixteen years old bad boy Matt Mahoney rescue her and one of the glass Santa's that were mostly broken near her mommy.

Fifteen years later, Ivy has always wondered if Matt, who has spent all this time in jail, could be innocent of the murders as he has always claimed. Attorney TBuck God Abram Willis proves another "Innocent" was railroaded by local politics; Matt is freed, but Ivy is not as she needs to know the truth. Both are returning to Kudzu Hollow seeking to uncover the identity of a killer, who will gladly murder again to remain anonymous.

Rita Herron writes an exhilarating romantic suspense with gothic and supernatural overtones. The atmosphere is incredibly vivid and frightening with the townsfolk wanting neither there to remind them of the homicides and their indifference as the audience sees through the eyes of Ivy the adult and at times the eight year old. The lead couple is a delicious pairing as they have a history and an attraction. Ms. Herron is at her best with this quality action-packed contemporary thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Fifteen years ago Ivy Stanton's parents were murdered. Now she returns to Kudzu Hollow to research an article for her magazine Southern Scrapbooks. Matt Mahoney, the man accused and jailed for the murders, has been released and has also returned to this small Appalachian town, demanding answers and justice.

Although Matt had saved her life that fateful night so long ago, should Ivy trust him now as she tries to seek out the truth and pick up the pieces of her life? Can the superstitious Lady Bella Rue protect the town with her potions and spells? What lurks beneath the Kudzu vines that threaten to choke the very life out of the town?

Rita Herron has captured the very heart of the eerie Southern ghost story. Even better, she brings it into the modern age interlacing the paranormal with tales of business corruption and new evidence releasing the falsely imprisoned.

Make a date with Rita Herron's Last Kiss Good-bye. Set your spine and heart atingle.

Ivy Stanton hasn't returned to Kudzu Hollow since the murder of her parents fifteen years ago. What happened that fateful night remains a mystery to Ivy, a trauma so significant she blocked it out. Matt Mahoney was convicted of the murders but is now being released, the case overturned as DNA evidence shows he is innocent. Ivy and Matt are both separately drawn back to Kudzu Hollow where time hasn't erased the horror of that night. Evil still lurks in Kudzu Hollow....

What a brilliantly written tale! Rita Herron draws the reader into this creepy story reminiscent of the old Appalachian folklore. The eerie atmosphere is superbly done, as the very town itself is a living, breathing entity. The vivid descriptions of the kudzu and the junkyard simply scream evil, adding to the overall haunting atmosphere.

Rita Herron's characterizations are superb. Matt, in particular, is a deeply wounded soul and it is beautiful to see peace being restored to him as the novel progresses. Ivy is an unusual heroine as she remembers only the good things from her childhood and her life since has been almost cold. Matt's passionate nature complements her perfectly as they smooth each other's rough edges out. Lady Bella Rue is a phenomenal secondary character and I have to admit that I would like to see more of this spooky lady!

LAST KISS GOODBYE evokes all of the legends and myths of the Appalachians. A tale such as this makes one easily believe that real evil lurks, just waiting for its victims, while ghost remain behind mourning their passing. Rita Herron is a gifted storyteller and LAST KISS GOODBYE showcases these skills well. Bravo, Ms. Herron!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

I will preface this review by saying I have read many well-written, entertaining examples of romantic suspense/mystery fiction. Rita Herron's "Last Kiss Goodbye" is not one of them.

Ms. Herron's editors did not serve her well. In one instance the author uses glass and ceramic interchangeably. In another, the hero is standing "stone still" - and removing the heroine's underwear at the same time! In another, a waitress has gray curls, but in the next paragraph her hair is a brown bouffant. A dinner appears and disappears and appears again, but never seems to be eaten. The hero drives somewhere, but his car had left the scene some time before, so whose car did he drive? Kudzu Hollow has a sheriff. It's a town, not a county-shouldn't it have a police chief? Dark secrets are alluded to but never explained, and there is at least one loose end left distressingly untied.

All of this is minor, and any one or two instances might not spoil the story, but there is so much of this carelessness that it makes the reading experience jarring. It's not that hard to get this stuff right!

Still, the worst problem cannot be laid at the editor's feet. The town where the action takes place is called Kudzu Hollow. Most southern appalachian towns predate the proliferation of kudzu in this country by many decades, even a century or more. So, how did Kudzu Hollow get its name? Is it a (relatively) new town? Did it undergo a name change? I kept waiting for an explanation. And waiting. And waiting.

Kudzu the vine has an interesting history, and behaves in a very characteristic manner. Ms. Herron spends very little time with this: in fact, there is not much about the weed in her story that makes it uniquely kudzu. So, is she ignorant of its history, or does she assume her readers won't notice that she has treated this unique Southern icon so cavalierly? As a Southern reader, I felt cheated, and, frankly, a little insulted.

Ms. Herron's genre does not require her to be literary. Her vocation, however, does require a degree of professionalism that is sorely lacking in this book.

This book was unreal! I had so many emotions going on while I was reading it! I am horrible with words but will say that this is a really good book and I would recommend it.

Last Kiss Goodbye is a spectacular mix of crime, mystery, romance, and implied supernatural elements. You watch Ivy unravel the horrors of her past that are now threatening her present. Her romance with Matt is sexy and born from shared pain and secrets. The crimes of the past and present are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat but Herron also mixes in an eerie supernatural context that ups the suspense without going over the top.

This was my first and last book I will waste my time reading by Rita Herron. Last Kiss Goodbye was painful to finish, but I always feel a need to finish a book no matter how bad. I cannot call this a romance when the Hero Matt is believed to have slept with Ivy's mother!! No way can I fall for a love story with that tainting it. This is not resolved until the third to last page. There are some subjects you just dont touch in a love story. Not worth your time!

Ms. Herron is masterful at weaving suspense and a meant-for-one-another romance in this book. With it's dark, gothic overtones, great characters, and a riveting mystery, I couldn't put it down.

Ivy Stanton returns to the small southern town of Kudzu Hollow 15 years after her parents were murdered, and the man jailed for the crime is released due to DNA results proving his innocence. She managed to block the horrific events from her past, but her memory is slowly starting to come back, much to the real murderer's irritation

Matt Mahoney returns for payback to the people that put him away. Even his mother thought him to be guilty and refuses to believe in his innocence once he's released. He hooks up with Ivy, and an instant attraction develops between the two despite their eight year age gap, and his 15 years of neglect in prison. As the two join forces to found the person responsible for the crime, and Ivy fends off an unwanted marriage proposal from her business partner, Ivy is threatened once again as strange occurrences start happening to her, and a hapless and calculating murderer will do anything to cover up a crime.

Herron provides plenty of sensuality and red herrings, but a clunky ending mars an otherwise engaging love story between two soul mates.

If only I had listened to the one negative review I wouldn't have wasted the last however many hours reading this ridiculous book (I am pathologically unable to not finish a book I've paid for). I rolled my eyes so often they were in danger of becoming permanently lodged behind my eyelids. At one point the 'heroine' becomes so exasperating I tagged her as that most dreaded of romance book cliches- too stupid to live. The painful truth came when I finally finished and threw the book against the wall. I'M too stupid to live for reading the damn thing.