Customer Reviews

Still Lake

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sophie Davis, according to her sister Marty, is known as the poor woman's Martha Stewart. Taking her skills as a homemaking columnist to a higher level, she's decided to convert an old farm house into a bread and breakfast. Stonegate Farm on Still Lake, in Colby, Vermont is Sophie's choice for her undertaking. Unfortunately, the area has a grisly history. Twenty years before, the murders of three teenaged girls occurred there. But, Sophie's determined, since her new farm will make a good home and project, for herself, her mother Grace, and teenaged sister, Marty.

John Smith, alias of Thomas Ingram Griffin, was convicted of the murders of the three girls. On a technicality, he was released from prison just a few years after his incarceration. John decides it is time to find the real murderer of the three girls. Or, did he really do it? He can't remember what happened the night the third girl was killed. As fate would have it, he returns to Colby to rent a cabin neigboring Stonegate farm. And, as fate would have it, Sophie and John will meet.

STILL LAKE is a fast-moving read. The descriptions of the beautiful countryside in Vermont, put me there. The relationship between Sophie and John is fascinating. While they appear as opposites at first, I understood their attraction, felt the sexual tension, and enjoyed their lustful, then loving, romance.

Secondary characters in STILL LAKE entertain also. Grace seems befuddled, Marty an angst-filled teen, and yet each contributes to the fast-moving pages.

While I think most readers would find the villian pretty obvious, I thought the real mystery was how and why the murders happened. Also, feeling the menace that comes from the villian throughout the book, adds to the suspense.

STILL LAKE is the kind of book I look for. It's a great story with a sexy romance, and page-turning suspense.

Was he a murderer? That question has haunted Thomas Ingram Griffin for over twenty years. On a summer day in 1982 Griffin woke up at a farm in Colby, Vermont covered in blood and accused of killing his girlfriend as well as two other girls. Convicted for murder but eventually released on a technicality, Griffin went on, in the ultimate irony, to become a successful lawyer. However, the time has come for Griffin to search for the truth. Changing his name and renting a cottage in Colby for the summer, he finds out that the farm where the murders occurred has been transformed into a country inn. Now, Griffin must somehow find a way to search the property for clues to a decades old crime and keep his hands off the delectable innkeeper.

Sophie Davis is trying to keep it together. She's burnt her bridges by leaving the city and buying a farmhouse in rural Vermont. Okay, so the property was the scene of a grisly triple murder. A little notoriety just might help jump start her bed and breakfast inn! In the meantime, Sophie's got to keep an eye on her eccentric mother and rebellious teenage sister and her hands off the new neighbor who seems to be everywhere. She absolutely does not need to get involved with a man who obviously has secrets to hide. Nevermind that he has the body of a god, gives earth-shattering kisses and owns a '74 Jaguar XJ6.

Anne Stuart is back and I'm happy to report she is in fine form, indeed. Her descriptions of the Vermont countryside are vivid, the plot is classic and the characters are varied and interesting -- from the mutinous Marty to the God-fearing town locals. The interaction between Martha Stewart wannabe (for the domestic goddess stuff, not the insider trading) Sophie and mysterious John Smith aka Griffin is sometimes farcical, always funny and downright steamy on occasion. Nothing's better than a good girl learning to be bad and nobody writes naughty good girls better than Anne Stuart.

TheSchemer

When one has written such masterpieces as Moonrise (my favourite Stuart) To Love a Dark Lord and Nightfall...it is hard to keep that level of superpower quality book after book. And this one sadly just misses. It seems rather rushed, almost like she did not have time to fully form the lead characters in her mind.

She still delivers a powerful read!! Anne Stuart's 2nd best are still away ahead of the pack!!

When Sophia buys a rundown inn, she moves her overly rebellious 19 year old half-sister and her mother, starting to lose control of her memory, into what she hopes it to be the answer to her problems and an island of peace. But that peaceful dream is shattered by echoes of murders commited 20 years ago. A man has rented the cabin across the lake, John Smith, and from the start, Sophia resents his presence, resents his virile attraction and would like him to leave.

The tension builds as we are told he was convicted of the death of the three girls who were murdered two decades ago, though released from prison after only 5 years. We learn John has few memories of that night and recalls nothing until he awoke covered in blood in the cabin.

John feels it is time to stir the embers of the past, find out who really commited those murders - even if it was himself, and finally put the past to rest once and for all. Stuart never convinces us he could have been guilty, so she throws away that bad to the bone Alpha male she conjures so deftly in Moonrise and others.

Stuart's tension between Sophia and John is excellent, but I don't think she had full grasp of just who John was because there are numerous conflicting errors in descriptions (shame on the editor, too!!) - which leads the reader to not fully know John either. The rebellious teen grated on my nerves - I read to escape the pains-in-the-rumps of the world, so this character really wears thin. But in a way, I guess that helps you empathise with Sophia - through it is with slightly gritted teeth!

I applaud Stuart for giving us a down to earth 'real' woman in Sophia who is more than willing to eat that second or third muffin, to give a sweet, tragic quality in her mother facing growing less and less able to live by herself. However, some readers just might think all of this is a little too real....lol

It is still a fine book, I just wish it could have been tightened up and not have that rush feel about it. There is no one better at giving us the bad-boy we cannot resist. Just think this one would have benefited from finetuning before being sent to the publisher (or an editor that took his job seriously and caught these mistakes before they got into print).

Even with the flaws, I truly enjoyed it and remain a loyal and devoted Stuart fan!!

I enjoyed reading "Still Lake" I am not much of a contemporary romance reader, but if there's suspense and thriller, I never pass it up! An added bonus were some pretty hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud. The main characters are Griffin (aka John Smith) and Sophie. They have this love-hate thing going with a lot of sexual tension. There's Sophie's mother, "Spacey Gracey" who just cracked me up and Sophie's "rebel without a cause" younger sister, Marty. (I won't summarize the story, since other reviewers have done so). The reason I gave the book only 4 stars was due to the fact that the plot was rather weak. I was hyped up in finding out "who done it", but I figured it out immediately. No surprises or mystery about it. It seemed that the whole story was mainly focused on Griffin and Sophie completely and their "blossoming" affair. There were no real thrills and chills in connection with "finding the killer" before he strikes again. All in all, I'd say it was a good erotic romance story, the down and dirty type in some parts...LOL. But if you are looking for those certain "thrills and chills" in finding out "who done it" or "why he or she done it" I do not recommend this book. I recommend Anne Stuart's other novel, "Into the Fire"...Happy Reading!

Sophie Davis writes a column providing household advice. "The poor woman's Martha Stewart", Sophie doesn't get much of a chance to actually apply that advice - until she buys an old inn in Vermont, and moves her mother and sister along with her. The inn was the setting for a gruesome triple-murder twenty years ago, but Sophie doesn't care much about that aspect of her new home. She's intent on renovating and decorating the place, although she's not too eager to have strangers invade her sanctuary. However, she knows that this is the only way to maintain an income in such a small city.

Sophie's life gets even more complicated when the enigmatic John Smith rents an old abandoned cottage near her inn. Why is he there? It's obvious to Sophie that his name is not really John Smith, and he seems to be asking way too many questions about the old murder, yet she can't figure out his true identity. Meanwhile, Sophie has other problems. Her mother, Grace, is slowly slipping away as she battles Alzheimer's disease, and her sister, Marty, is going through an extreme teenage rebellion stage. And why is Sophie so intrigued (and a little frightened) of John Smith?

Anne Stuart has created a gorgeous story of finding love when you least expect it. Both characters have issues, and they're as different from one another as could be, yet when they're around each other, sparks fly. The tension and attraction between them is strong, and the reader immediately gets pulled into their relationship, rooting for Sophie and John to make it despite their differences and the obstacles thrown at them.

The beautiful scenery and atmosphere works as a wonderful backdrop for the story. My only complaint is that I had the "bad guy" figured out about 1/4th through the story, so the ending didn't come as much as a shock as perhaps it should have. Still, the romance and the incredible sensuality in this story were enough to keep me eagerly turning pages until the end.

The mystery is easy to figure out but that's okay because the story is mainly about the developing relationship between Sophie and "John Smith". The secondary characters, Sophie's sister, Marty and Grace, her mom who seems to be failing mentally add enough to keep the story interesting.

A good fast summer read.

Courtesy of A Romance Review

Still Lake starts off with an unsolved murder in a beautiful Vermont town. The whole story is swirled around and clouded with suspense and mysteries. It isn't difficult to identify the real killer but you won't be sure until you read through the book. The portion of romance is quite little when comparing to the suspense and mysteries.

I enjoyed the book. It wasn't difficult to figure out "whodunnit" but the cast of characters kept my interest. The romance was fairly typical but the people weren't. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a break from their problems for a few hours.

Deciding she needed a change from her complex Manhattan lifestyle, advice newspaper columnist Sophie Davis relocates to Colby, Vermont where she plans to run an inn. The poor man's Martha Stewart takes her seemingly senile mother and her raging hormonal teenage half sister with her.

To Sophie's chagrin, as she wants no nearby neighbors, John Smith moves into a nearby cabin that has not been used in six years. John is actually Thomas Griffin who was convicted of murdering three teenage girls twenty years ago, but was freed five years later on a technicality. Thomas has come back to Colby to learn what really happened on that night in which he remembers nothing. As John and Sophie begin to fall in love, an eerily similar homicide similar to those of past occurs just two weeks before the grand opening of Stonegate Farm.

STILL LAKE is an exciting romantic suspense novel starring intriguing lead characters struggling with problems that leave both not welcoming love into their respective lives. Though Sophie is a bit too responsible, she represents the sandwich generation with troubles from her senior and her younger that surround her. Thomas is a wonderfully bewildered protagonist who does not know if he committed those murders. The support cast provides depth by enabling the audience to better understand what makes Thomas and Sophie tick as well as adding suspense to Anne Stuart's fine contemporary tale.

Harriet Klausner

Convicted of the brutal murder of three nubile girls in Colby Vermont he did not commit, Thomas Griffin returns to the grisly bucolic Still Lake to uncover the murderer and jolt his memory under the guise of a journalist John Smith. His enigmatic presence is unwelcomed by Stonegate Inn owner sans neigbor Sophie Davis. Disconcerted by her sister's pubescent attraction to the man, she fears John will lead her astray. Even her crime novel addict of a mother has been steeped in illusions since his arrival, accusing him of being the frightful serial killer that terrorized New England two decades ago.

Anne Stuart's murder-...-mayhem novel explores the deranged and the nihilistic as in her past suspense thrillers such as Moonrise. However the omnipresence of danger and erotic edges saturated in her earlier works falters here probably because of the unsatisfying length and a too predictible who-dun-it. What is unique about Ms. Stuart's romantic suspense though is her thoroughly unconventional protagonist who realistically emerges from our humdrum lives. Sophie isn't all glamor; she juggles with a crumbling dysfunctional family and a job as the poor woman's Martha Stewart and worries about assimilated calories because she is on the plump side. Her hero Thomas is dark, shadowy and even sinister with a complex that borders on danger. This oddball couple adds depth and smoldering sexual chemistry to this otherwise mediocre effort from Ms. Stuart.