Customer Reviews

Older Woman (Silhouette Special Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Calvin "Bugs" Doyle is recuperating from wounds received from a Black Hawk helicopter crash. He endured months in the hospital undergoing surgery, then rehab. He can't walk without pain. He doesn't know when (or if) he can return to the military. He has to cope when Rita Warren, the woman he loved but who didn't love him in return, marries his superior officer.

Everything changes when Bugs' landlady, Mrs. Bee, sends him over to see why Katherine Meehan, their next door neighbor, is standing out in the rain. He goes, in spite of his physical pain, to humor Mrs. Bee and also because he knows Kate. She was one of the nurses who took care of him after his crash. What develops is a friendship, then attraction, then love between a younger man and an older woman.

Cheryl Reavis takes her time with this book, allowing us to get to know Bugs *very* well. The book is mostly in his POV -- which is unique in romantic fiction. Kate remains distant through most of the story because of this, but it's believable since she's a tough woman trying to keep up a strong front to deal with the pain of her past.

I did enjoy reading this novel - a story about ordinary people who find love, strength and completion in a most unlooked for way. An enlisted man (not Captain as the cover of the book says) finds that whilst recovering from severe wounds he can offer solace and comfort to a woman who has suffered the trauma of breast cancer - an older woman who holds him at arms length but whose doubts he overcomes. The charming peripheral characters (Mrs Bee and her ladies, the pussycat and his MREs for cats) add to the story. Cheryl Reavis is a good writer although sometimes fails to live up to her potential. However, she did very well in this one in handling difficult issues. I passed this one on to my mother who also enjoyed it.

THE OLDER WOMAN held my attention from the get-go and didn't turn me lose until the end. A sexy tortured hero, a heroine with issues of her own, and a down-to-earth situation combined to make this story a winner in my book. I highly recommend it.

If your looking for a book with engaging characters and a page-turner then look no further. Reavis had all the right ingrediants to make this romance very memorable. It was a pleasure to read this book. The characters were very well developed and realistic, the dialogue was excellent as well. After this first contemp by Reavis, she is on my very short auto-buy list as far as contemporary romance is concerned. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won't regret it. My grade for this wonderful book is an A+.

Keishon

Cheryl Reavis hasn't won three RITA awards for nothing. She is a wonderful writer, with a gift for creating characters that you care about from page one. Combining warmth and humor, she has penned a lovely story about two wounded souls who help each other find the happiness and love that has eluded them. The thing about the book that impressed me the most was the fact it is told entirely from the hero's point of view, yet as a reader, I never missed being in the heroine's head, because Ms. Reavis is such a skillful story teller that you know what Kate is thinking and feeling simply from her dialogue and actions. There are some laugh out loud parts to this story, but there are also teary-eyed parts, too. Thanks, Cheryl, wish you could write faster!

Back Cover description: NO GUTS, NO GLORY...Or so paratrooper Captain Cal Doyle believed. But seduce tough-talking Nurse Katherine Meehan, who'd tended to him after his copter crash? Impossible! True, they were now next-door neighbors--yet they were years apart. And while Kate had survived breast cancer, Cal had barely survived hell... So just because Cal caught Kate crying in the rain...and her fussy feline cozied up to him...and the church ladies started matchmaking...and Kate suddenly looked so damn desirable--were those any reasons for a wounded warrior to woo a reluctant older woman? Besides, between Kates's stubborn defenses and Cal's mule-headed machismo, could these two survivors...survive each other?

This story is written from the guy's point of view. You don't realize it till you are really into the plot. This is a really nice guy. So is Kate and the church ladies. I even liked the cat in this one! The story moves, the pacing is smooth and the characters don't whine. Get it, read it.

Once again, Cheryl Reavis provides a well-written, shrewd and moving story of overcoming the stuff that happens. Calvin "Bugs" Doyle is recovering from a near-fatal helicopter crash when he becomes involved in Katherine Meehan's life. Friendship leads to attraction; attraction becomes love, even if Meehan thinks she's too old for him.

Outfacing Meehan's sisters and Meehan's doubts with the aid of his landlady, Mrs. Bee, Cal sets out to win the woman he wants with the same determination he's used to succeed as a paratrooper and to survive the accident that nearly killed him.

Cheryl Reavis is a wonderful writer: smart about people, with an easygoing, nearly conversational style that draws the reader in. I highly, highly recommend this book.

Captain Calvin (Bugs) Doyle is on the road to recovery after being terribly injured in an accident. He's also recovering from watching the woman he loves being married to a good friend of his. He finds himself being drawn unwillingly into nurse Katherine Meehan's life. Katherine has loads of problems of her own, besides being older than Cal, but can't help being attracted to him. Off to a rocky start, the story of these two emotionally and physically injured people finding each other is a really great story. And the little old church ladies led by Mrs. Bee adds a great bit of humor to this tale. I do highly recommend you read "Little Darlin'" and "A Long Way Home" first, as they are closely connect to this one.

Author Cheryl Reavis' has mesmerizing voice and uses it to great effect in THE OLDER WOMAN. Bugs narrates the story, either through internal dialogues or from his point of view, allowing the reader a shared intimacy and sense of immediacy. His career military past creates an interesting dialogue as it is riddled with the idioms of that lifestyle. Bug's self-honesty and persistence make him a strong, memorable hero. Kate's reticence to become involved and to reveal her own story lends the narrative a strong underlying tension. I admit to a personal connection to her story, as well. I share the same number of years between myself and my life partner, and while the age difference does not prevent the relationship, it does give cause for thought. Secondary character Mrs. Bee provides a bit of comic humor and an occasional dose of wisdom. Indeed, Reavis has a gift for injecting dry humor that frequently kept me in smiles. Very highly recommended.

I don't usually read a lot of category romance, but I'm so glad I picked this one up! This book is loaded with charm, and the characters are delightful, especially the hero, Calvin "Bugs" Doyle. Reavis does a bang-up job of narrating the book through Doyle's point of view, something not seen often in romance fiction. A talented author and a wonderful book. I'll be looking for more books by Ms. Reavis!