Customer Reviews

Riggs Park

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

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The plot is layered and satisfyingly complex. The characters are true-to-life. Nothing is sugar-coated. On top of all this, the language is beautiful, almost lyrical in tone.

What started out seeming to be a simple tale of two old friends facing their immortality and revisiting their pasts, regrets and all, turned into a tale of friendship, betrayal, love and a mystery with surprising twists and turns.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys mainstream women's fiction by Elizabeth Berg, Elaine Kagan, Eileen Goudge, et.al.

They met as little kids in the DC Riggs Park area and have remained friends for over fifty years though Barbara Cohen lives in Wrightsville, North Carolina while Marilyn Waxman remained in the Washington area. Marilyn informs Barbara that she is back and she needs to see her to discuss what happened to another friend Penny when they were in college. Knowing that it is cancer Barbara agrees to visit her best friend although she is having personal problems with her lover Jon.

Marilyn shocks Barbara when she mentions she will undergo a facelift prior to the experimental cancer treatment. Even more stunning is the secret that Penny had a child before vanishing; the father is either Marilyn's famous singing brother Steve or an unknown she apparently met on the "Bus Ride to see Steve. Reluctantly Barbara agrees to search for clues that would lead to Penny's offspring. As she begins her quest in the old neighborhood she realizes you can never go home, but continues her elusive venture.

This fine middle age amateur sleuth character study is a well written buddy tale with a cast that makes the ensemble cast especially the lead female friends seem real. The friendship between Marilyn and Barbara serves as the key foundation to an intriguing plot. Barbara's inquires begin somewhat late in the novel as she is not convinced she should follow the clues until she realizes her beloved buddy needs to know the truth. With a terrific final twist to the delightful RIGGS PARK, readers will look forward to what comes next from Ellyn Bache.

Harriet Klausner

I couldn't put the book down--loved the characters but also the depth and uniqueness of the story. Can't believe how much the author could pack into this size of book--will be looking for her books in the future. Highly recommend. The story was so human, so real, something all women could relate to...

Thank you,Ellyn, for putting into a story what many women have experienced. I could relate to the characters in this book. For years my group of 8 female friends, the Magnolias,met for Saturday morning coffee. Yes, we had all gone to see the movie. We cried when one was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, died, and served as her pallbearers. We were angry and supportive when husdands left two of our group.
Ellyn has captured the emotions and feelings that women, who are truly friends, develop over the years of their history together. This book will be my choice for my book club, Women of Words,when it is my turn to make the selection.

RIGGS PARK by Ellyn Bache
September 26, 2007

Amazon Rating: 4/5 stars

I have really enjoyed these books published by Harlequin under the NEXT line of books, what used to be unique stories about women of all ages and all walks of life. In RIGGS PARK, the book centers on a group of friends who grew up in an area of Washington, DC called Riggs Park. Events in their past have separated them, but now Barbara Cohen is summoned by one of these friends to come back home.

When Marilyn calls up Barbara without telling her the real reason for the summons, Barbara isn't sure what to think. Barbara is currently living with Jon, the love of her life, but is at a point where she isn't sure if her life is headed in the right direction. When she finally meets up with Marilyn, she learns two things: 1)Marilyn has been diagnosed again with cancer; and 2) there is some news regarding their childhood friend Penny, a girl that had a very difficult time growing up.

The story is involved and detailed, and takes the reader to the past when Barbara, Marilyn, and Penny were growing up during the 50's and 60's. Penny was the odd girl out, but the three of them somehow always ended up together. Other friends wove in and out of their lives including Marilyn's brother Steve, who ended up becoming a famous rock star, and whose first big hit song was based on Penny.

While Barbara is visiting Riggs Park, she meets up with Marilyn but is told to talk to Essie Berman (a woman who she thought had either disappeared or passed away years ago) who has secrets about Penny. Barbara eventually finds out what the secret is, and it shatters everything she had believed in all these years since they had lost contact with Penny.

I found this story to be very engaging (although I didn't buy into the fact that Steve was a world famous rock star) and couldn't wait to find out what the big secret was that Essie Berman had been keeping all these years. It was a "wow" moment for sure, and the story about the friends and how their lives related to one another was also very entertaining. I am sorry to hear that the NEXT books will no longer be publishing stories such as this, stories that are "outside the box" and not the typical Harlequin romance. I have nothing against romances, but I will always appreciate stories that don't fit a certain type of genre, with story lines that are unique and unencumbered by formulaic styles of writing.

Really liked Riggs Park and would recommend it to o my friends. The story captivated me from the first and the mystery of what happened to Penny and wondering what Marilyn was doing having a face lift kept me turning the pages.

The story shows that sometimes what we remember from childhood is very different from what actually went on.

The flashbacks were a bit confusing at times, but I was able to keep up.

Look forward to more books by this author.

Since I don't normally read romances, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one (although I would say that the romance element is secondary - other aspects such as the mystery that surrounds a dead character and the relationships among female friends are stronger). The characters were memorable and the story kept me reading for hours. After reading Riggs Park, I read more titles in Harlequin's Next series, but this one is the best by far.

This book was a great surprise to me! I know that the "Next" novels are not marketed towards women of my age group, but I had no trouble relating to the characters. In fact, I found them all very intriguing!

The price of mental peace for one friend threatens to disrupt the lives of others. When her lifelong best friend asks her to find out what happened to a baby they aren't even sure existed, a woman goes back to their hometown on a quest to uncover long buried secrets.

* Told in first person with many flashbacks, the plot is quite depressing and unengaging. *

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.