Star Bright (Wheeler Large Print Book Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Catherine Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2009 | Series: Wheeler Large Print Book Series

Faking her own death to escape her murderous husband, Rainie Hall takes refuge in the rural community of Crystal Falls, where she finds work as a bookkeeper on a horse ranch run by dangerously good-looking Parker Harrigan. But as their initial attraction blossoms, Rainie fears she can never escape retribution from the man who has sworn to kill her—and that her mere presence could jeopardize everything the Harrigan family holds dear.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Catherine Anderson lives in the Oregon mountains with her husband and her Rottweilers, Sam and Sassy, who seem convinced that they are teacup poodles and that obedience training is for people. Catherine spends leisure time with her family and friends, including her sons and daughter-in-law, often discussing intriguing story twists for her books. Such talks can draw curious stares if they happen to take place in a restaurant and involve plotting the demise of a fictitious villain.

An award-winning author of twenty published works, Catherine is currently working on her next full-length romance for Onyx.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Parker was pissed. He seldom lied to anyone, and he expected the same courtesy in return. He tried to calm down as he headed for the stable, but it was an effort in futility. He'd trusted her. When he remembered their conversation the day before yesterday, humiliation seared his cheeks. She'd made him look stupid. Correction, he'd made himself look stupid by allowing himself to be taken in by those innocent hazel eyes.

Anna was standing at a file cabinet, hands full of papers, when he burst into the office. He made a conscious effort not to slam the door closed behind him.

"We need to talk," he bit out.

Her face drained of color. "About?"

"Sit down."

She put the papers on top of the cabinet and went to sit in her chair. Today she wore a fake suede skirt that had seen better times and a sleeveless blouse with one button that didn't quite match the rest. As Parker advanced on her, he noticed that her face grew paler by the second and that the cherry surface of her work area gleamed with fresh polish.

"I don't appreciate being lied to," he said evenly.

Agitated and needing something to do with his hands, he reached for the granite paperweight on the blotter. At his movement, she flinched and jerked up her right arm to shield her face, clearly convinced he meant to strike her. Whoa. Parker was angry. He'd be the first to admit that. But he'd never hit a woman in his life, not even his little sister when they'd fought as kids.

Fingertips still resting on the paperweight, Parker studied his frightened bookkeeper with mounting bewilderment. She had a small scar on her left cheek. It still bore the pinkness of a recent wound. Now that he examined it more closely, a very unpleasant possibility sprang to his mind.

In his younger years, he had occasionally gotten into honky-tonk brawls, and he'd seen his share of cheeks laid open by the force of a man's fist. Had some jerk struck her? The question no sooner entered Parker's mind than he knew the answer. Everything about her suddenly added up—her fear of him, the countless lies on her job application, the way she shrank from his most casual touch. She had recently been involved in an abusive relationship. He saw it in her eyes—a trapped, wary look that made his heart catch. Now she was on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the bastard who'd roughed her up. If he was wrong, he'd eat his hat for supper and his boots for dessert.

This added a totally new wrinkle. He couldn't very well blame a woman for lying to him about her references if she was trying to escape an abusive bully.

The anger that had made him see red a moment ago eased from Parker's body. Turning, he rested his hips against the edge of his desk and blocked her escape with his outstretched legs, angling them across the center aisle between the two workstations. He folded his arms loosely over his chest, hoping his relaxed posture might reassure her a little.

"You never attended Pepperdine University or Seaver College," he said without preamble. "The places of employment you listed don't even exist."

She pushed up from the chair. Parker was surprised that she could stand. Her legs were shaking like aspen leaves in a brisk breeze. She went to the file cabinet to collect her purse and then turned toward him, holding the bag to her midriff as if it were a shield. Without a word, she tried to step over his crossed boots. No way was Parker going to let her leave, not until he had some answers. He thrust out a hand to grasp her arm.

"Oh, no, you don't. I hired you in good faith. I offered you an extremely attractive employment package. The very least you owe me is some sort of explanation."

He could feel her arm muscles quivering under the press of his fingertips. He knew she was terrified. Yet still she said nothing.

"Well," he said softly, "if you've got no explanations to offer, let me venture a couple of guesses. I think some asshole beat the ever-lovin' hell out of you, and not that long ago, judgin' by that scar on your cheek." Her body jerked as if he'd slapped her. "My second guess is that your name isn't really Anna Pritchard. How am I doin' so far?"

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 629 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; Lrg edition (May 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597229334
• ISBN-13: 978-1597229333
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,572,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Anderson lives in the pristine woodlands of Central Oregon.

She is married to her high
school sweetheart, Sid, and is the author of more than twenty bestselling and award-winning historical and contemporary romances.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The story was fulfilling, enjoyable and entertaining up until the end, which was frustrating., January 11, 2009

By 

Jane (Chicago, IL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star Bright (Signet Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

STORY BRIEF:

Peter studied, courted and married three heiresses. The first two died under mysterious circumstances. The third is Rainie. He has been beating and abusing her. She believes he plans to kill her, so she fakes her death and runs away using a false identity. She gets a job as a bookkeeper for Parker, a horse breeder on a ranch near Crystal Falls, Oregon. When Parker discovers she lied on her job application, Rainie believes she must run again. Parker guesses her circumstances and convinces her to stay on, even though she will not tell him any details other than her real first name. She decides to trust him and stay.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:

Most of the book was wonderful. I loved how smart and careful Rainie and Parker were. I loved how Parker slowly charmed Rainie over time. I loved how Rainie slowly began healing and did some other things that I don't want to give away as spoilers. One of my favorite parts was the role Loni played when she first met Rainie. As I was reading, I thought "I agree with two statements on the back cover of the book," "heartwarming, gently sensual" and "emotionally involving, family-centered, and relationship-oriented." I think a person who experienced an abusive relationship would find some healing comfort in this story. Parker is a perfect hero, gentle, loving, devoted, patient and also a strong protector.

My problem was the end of the book. I had been planning to give this 4 stars, until the end. After finishing the book, when I woke up the next day, the first thing on my mind was how angry I was at the police dispatcher for not believing that Rainie was in danger and wasting precious minutes making Parker justify why the dispatcher should send help. Then I was angry at Parker and Rainie for not informing everyone at the police station that there was a chance that a serial killer may be after Rainie and at least to be on alert for a phone call. A protective order had been issued against the killer, and it was a small police department. Everyone there should have known about it. Then I was angry at Parker and Rainie. Most of the story was so good with them being smart and careful throughout, but at the end, they both were no longer smart and careful. Because of that, the killer was able to get to Rainie. I wish the author had come up with a clever way for the killer to get to her even though she was being smart and careful. I've read other books where the H/H do everything right, yet the bad guy does something so ingenious that he is able to get to the victim, and it's believable. That would have made the book better for me.

A couple of times the book was a little slow, but during most of the book, I was experiencing a variety of good feelings. After the book, the feeling I carried around with me was anger and frustration. I wanted some smarts at the end, not carelessness. I just read the review by Donna M. I love her idea of using a body double as bait instead of Rainie. That would have been smart.

DATA:

Story length: 408 pages. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 10. Setting: current day Seattle, Washington, and Crystal Falls, Oregon. Copyright: 2009. Genre: romantic suspense.

CAUTION SPOILER:

As mentioned above, I didn't like how the author made it too easy for the killer to get to Rainie. One of those things was the following. After Rainie's divorce, Rainie and Parker make plans to get married. They meet with a Catholic priest who doesn't want them to live together before the wedding. Therefore, Rainie continues to live alone in her low-income apartment 30 minutes away. What happened to being smart? Peter is a psychopathic serial killer wanting revenge. At the least, Rainie could have stayed with Parker's father or sister (on their high-security ranches) for the time before the wedding.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Star Bright, January 8, 2009

By 

D.M. (Lover of all things Heart) "laugh a lot... (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Star Bright (Signet Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lorraina (Rainie) Hall faked her own death, escaping aboard a ship, under the name of Anna Pitchard. Her two friends helped her with the escape. She faked her own death in order to try and outrun her homicidal husband.

I loved this line in the book: "When the crystal falls, Lorraina dies", the line is mentioned in the prologue, when Lorraina remembers why she had chosen the town of "Crystal Falls" in Oregon to go to, out of a sense of irony, since her husband beat her when she accidentally dropped one of his crystals. The prologue was really good, and very promising, and the epilogue was very good also with a church wedding scene. Unfortunately it was what was in between that wasn't that good.

Lorraina moves to Crystal Falls and is looking for a job. Parker is looking for a book keeper, so he hires Rainie. And so their relationship starts. For me the book was a little slow, and it fell flat. A few conversations between Lorraina and Parker felt stilted (especially in the first half of the book), but then there was some nice and tender moments too. Also the setting a ranch, the hero a rancher, the heroine running away from an abusive relationship, it all felt similar to previous books by this author, with the husband making an appearance towards the end. It was like a "been there done that" read, only before it was executed much better. For great reads featuring this theme try "Sweet Nothings" or "Baby Love" or "Forever After".

The thing that bothered me the most however, was towards the end of the book. When Lorraina told Parker her story. Then Loni encouraged Lorraina to go to the authorities. Lorraina takes Loni's advice and the FBI get involved since Lorraina's husband has killed his two previous wives and taken their money, but since there was no proof the police couldn't do anything. So now this is their chance to get him. And here is the part that really bothered me, so what is the FBI's plan? Use Lorraina as bait, and Parker lets it happen!

I mean when Lorraina was escaping on the ship, her friend pretended to be her so that Lorraina would have time to change into her disguise. And yet the FBI did not think of using a body double instead, a trained agent who would go live in Lorraina's apartment pretending to be her, waiting for her psychopathic husband to make a move. Parker doesn't even think about suggesting that to the FBI, and then he just moves aside and lets Lorraina be the bait! They don't even give her or teach her how to use a gun! Sure Parker taught her some self defense, but that is terribly insufficient in the face of such danger. And her husband did get to her, and she almost died.

In the end, I think that the author should take a break from this series, and start on something new. The spark/magic that used to be in her older books, is simply not there anymore.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than Morning Light :) 3.5 stars, January 9, 2009

By 

AngelDucky (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Bright (Signet Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok Catherine Anderson must have taken some of the criticisms of her previous book, Morning Light, to heart. The religious overtones in this book were much more subdued and felt more realistic and unobtrusive compared to her last book. I felt much more comfortable and they did not detract from the story nearly as much. That being said I agree with the previous reviewer about the theme of this book. This is VERY similar to books she has written in the past. I always anxiously awaited her books because they always felt fresh, but this one just felt very repeated. It would have been nice to see a new plot line, or at least one that differed more from her older books. Her writing has improved since the last few novels she put out but I would still recommend her earlier novels to see what this author can really produce.