Someone to Believe In (Berkley Sensation) [Paperback]

Kathryn Shay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Berkley Sensation | Publication Date: September 6, 2005

"A master at her craft,"* award-winning author Kathryn Shay delighted readers with her firefighter trilogy. Now she continues to light up the pages with the story of a man and a woman on opposite sides of the political fence, but the same side of desire.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Bailey O'Neil and Clay Wainwright are sworn enemies. As a district attorney in New York City, Clay sent Bailey, who is dedicated to helping teens get out of gangs, to jail for harboring a criminal. Now Clay is a conservative New York senator, and he has blocked funding for Bailey's organization. When Clay and Bailey find themselves on the same gang-violence task force, they call a truce, then discover that in spite of their differences, there is some chemistry between them. But Bailey's family and friends hate Clay. And Clay's conservative law-enforcement friends despise Bailey's methods, and his mother has someone far more suitable in mind for a daughter-in-law. Once again, Shay shines in this starkly realistic story of gang members and people involved in prevention and intervention programs. She pulls no punches when describing brutal events, and secondary characters, including Clay's environmentalist son, Bailey's overprotective brothers, and Taz, a member of the notorious Good Girls gang, are especially well developed. This powerful story will stay with readers long after they finish the book. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425205304
• ISBN-13: 978-0425205303
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intensely emotional, September 20, 2005

By 

D. K. Stokes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Someone to Believe In (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)

Kathryn Shay's books are on my must-buy list for a reason: nobody does intense emotions better.

In Someone to Believe In, Bailey O'Neil and Senator Clay Wainwright have a real conflict. They've been public enemies for over a decade--ever since he sent her to prison for a year. She's known as The Street Angel for her work with kids in gangs. He's also concerned with youth gangs, but believes Bailey's going about it the wrong way, that she should leave things to the authorities, and that she shows a blatant disregard for her own safety.

The conflict doesn't go away just because these two fall in love. On the contrary, it makes their differences more important and painful. They make it in the end, of course--it is a romance, after all--but it's definitely not an easy journey.

The good:
The writing. Nobody does emotionally charged romance better than Kathryn Shay. The emotions of all the characters are right there on the page, and they're understandable.
The topic. Ms. Shay has done her research, making the problem of youth gangs real, and the differing opinions of how to deal with them clear.
The characters. Even the secondary characters--Bailey's son, brothers, co-workers, and Clay's son, and his political rival--are three-dimensional with clear motives and goals.

The bad:
I really had to agree with Clay: Bailey took too many stupid chances with her safety, particularly since she had a young son depending on her. It made me less able to connect with her as a character.
The final conflict went on a bit too long, and made me impatient.

The verdict:
This isn't a sweet, happy love story. It's painful and emotional, and you'll stay up way too late reading it to find out how Clay and Bailey manage to earn their happy-ever-after. But it's worth it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put this book down!, September 6, 2005

By 

Lashanwya (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someone to Believe In (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)

This isn't my first book by Mrs. Shay and definitely won't be my last. Shay gets better with each book released. The story moves along extremely well and the characters seem to come alive right before your eyes.

Senator Clay Wainwright and Street Angel Bailey O'Neil (name given due to her reaching out and helping gangsters get out of their gangs and off the streets of death) are bitter adversaries in the press. Have been for over 10 years. He sent her to prison, and she persecutes him almost on a daily basis now that she's released and he's up for another term as senator.

The story starts out with Bailey's trial 11 years earlier, while Clay is still district attorney. We see the support Bailey has from the citizens of New York, even from the Judge and the Jury. Clay doesn't quite get why many support a woman who harbors young criminals and allows them to hide out from the law.

Only serving a one-year prison term, a much wiser and stronger Bailey is still up to her old tricks, with Clay, now a popular Senator up in Washington, still fighting against her unorthodox ways. Where he is much more conservative and upholds the law religiously, Bailey isn't against helping kids get out of gangs any way she can and still stay within legal grounds because someone close to her suffered because there was no one else to turn to for help.

Now with Congress dishing out over $400 million dollars to social agencies and women shelters, etc, Bailey wants to expand her shelter for gangsters ESCAPE and build a much bigger program GUARDIAN to house, educate, and protect those kids willing to leave their gangs behind. She needs this funding from Congress but there's a one-man roadblock preventing this: Clay Wainwright. He feels she breaks the law and that this money should go to kids who aren't thugs and abused women and schools that need it.

We see that Bailey doesn't break the law, in fact puts her very life on the line to help a young woman escape a dangerous life. Tazmania, the young woman, is a great secondary character who pulls you into her life and makes you understand how hard it is to leave her homies. Taz reminds Bailey so much of her sister who died from being in a gang and the bond that develops between these two are very touching.

Bailey's relationship with her parents and four brothers is also beautifully woven in and will make you want Aiden and Paddy to have their very own book. We also learn that even families with a lot of love make mistakes and can overcome them.

Clay also has problems with those close to him, but not having that same support from his family that Bailey has. He has a young son, Jon, who sides with his rival for his seat in Congress; an on-again-and-off-again relationship with Jane (a snooty, spoiled, rich society dame); an ex-wife who resents him for not having enough time for their marriage; parents forcing a relationship upon him he doesn't want; on top of growing feelings for the Street Angel and a governor wanting him and Bailey to drop their fued and team up on a new anti-crime task force.

What we get is Clay and Bailey fighting each other in the media but heating the sheets (or the stairs, elevators, and the walls) up with love making). Talk about a hot book filled with great dialogue and love scenes.

This book is a must. I cried, laughed, and stayed up very late into the night and morning reading this book. I didn't want it to end.

You'll be greatly moved by Bailey's love of these troubled young teens and her fear of committing to Clay, as well as her love for her brothers and young son Rory; Then there's Clay risking his image as a senator, learning what it means to be a father, and willing to protect Bailey at any cost, including death.

You'll also enjoy the political and personal side to Bailey and Clay's relationship. Watching them go from bitter enemies to protective lovers was awesome. The fact that they both had the same goals, but went at it with different approaches was greatly told by Katheyn Shay.

Also the secondary characters keep things very interesting! They are just as well written as the main characters.

Mrs. Shay thank you for an incredible read. Please hurry with the next book :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More soapbox than romance, July 26, 2009

By 

J. Mullally "booklover4ever00" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Someone to Believe In (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)

This is a worthy book with a strong hero and heroine but the trouble was there was TOO much politics in it, and bickering. The story could have been condensed into a smaller time frame with a lot fewer pages.

I also found every single Irish cliche in the book really irritating after a while. Bailey is good hearted but foolish, Clay has his issues, they sparkle together but don't really scorch the pages because of all their bickering about the best ways to deal with gang violence, domestic abuse, and so on.

The author has really done her homework, I have to give her that, but it does not make for a sexy read. Also, with all of Bailey's brothers and family entanglements, I felt as though I was coming in at the end of a really loooong series of books, and yet when I looked at the ends for the author's other books, none of them seemed to be linked to this one. So it is good to have secondary supporting characters, but not to the point where it really detracts from the romance between the hero and heroine. It was hard to get involved with either character because their points of view were so extreme.

Finally, the ending was complete tell, not show, and very trite, and left me feeling fairly cheated after having read for sooo many pages.