Customer Reviews

Truth Or Dare

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In this sequel to Light in Shadow, we find Zoe and Ethan trying to settle into married life, but the fear of the other leaving has both of them holding their feelings back. Zoe's fellow escapee from the psychiatric hospital Arcadia Ames is also feeling out of sorts. She has also assumed a new name trying to escape the husband trying to kill her, and she feels someone is watching her. Zoe is still hiding her psychic abilities from Ethan. Ethan is still trying to deal with the death of his brother. Everyone is ill at ease.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. I was hoping Ethan and Zoe would solidify their relationship, but they didn't. As long as Ethan doesn't believe Zoe is psychic, they can never be truly happy. I was hoping for some event or something to happen that would convince Ethan of her ability.

I adored JAK's Light in Shadow - the first in the Whispering Springs Novels. The characters were crisp, witty and it was JAK at her best.

This is not.

Not that it is bad. It's just this is in the pattern of her recent trilogies of books. One really good and then two weaker continuation of the same story. I really hoped since Light and Shadow was so strong that she would break that curse. I love JAK - she is one of my favourite writers, but I do feel let down by these weaker part 2 and 3 of her JAK and Quick efforts of late. Only the Eclipse Bay books were as good all the way through. In paperback, maybe you would grump less, but at hardback prices her fans deserver a little bit more.

When we last saw the Whispering Hills gang, it was just a month early. Ethan Truax, PI, had married Zoe Luce to stop Zoe's brother-in-law from trying to pop her back in to the high-priced Candle Lake Manor Psychiatric Hospital. The bluff had worked and the mystery - who killed Zoe's husband - was solved. Zoe's fellow escapee from Crystal Lake - Arcadia was now living with Harry, Ethan's PI friend. Neither Zoe or Arcadia had mental problems, but Crystal Lake specialised in hiding rich people's "embarrassments" - for enough money they quietly keep the problemsome relative away from prying eyes. However, in Arcadia's case, she was actually hiding from a husband, and deliberately checked herself into Crystal Lake. Grant Loring tried to kill her. She figured her husband would never look for her at an institute for the mentally ill.

Arcadia suddenly fears, Grant's still alive - not dead from a skiing accident as reported - and that he has now decided to come after his wife who has too much information on him. She fears her "new" identity has been compromised.

But the whole gang, for one reason or another is uneasy. It's November, the month Ethan's brother was murdered, leaving Ethan, Bonnie, his sister-in-law, and his two nephews dealing with the grief. Ethan also is concerned about his marriage. He jumped at the chance to use the excuse of protecting Zoe, when he really wanted to marry her. Now, he fears she may be having second thoughts. Zoe is having seconds thoughts, but not because of love. She loves Ethan, but he refuses to believe Zoe is psychic, just chalks up her "gift" to good intuition. She feels if he cannot accept WHAT she is how can he love her? This is a sticking point, especially when she starts running into "spider webs" of dark emotions somehow connected to Crystal Lake. But those worries, take a back seat when someone tries to kill Ethan. Is it connected to his brother's death? Connected to Zoe's stay at Crystal Lake? Or the con man that Ethan exposed?

Frankly, this books is a pleasant read, with some really fine JAK's humour, but on the whole, she once again has too many story lines going all at once - to hide there is not much of a mystery (Smoke and Mirrors problem). The romance between Zoe and Ethan gets pushed aside as it become the "Gang's" Story. It's like JAK has lost the heart to write romance, so she covers it with food, food and more food (Quick's Don't Look Back's Problem).

This is enjoyable, diverting, and will please fans, but they would do well to wait for paperback. Then you won't feel so let down.

The same complaints I see from other readers concerning her last half dozen books - thin mysteries, too many story threads and not enough romance on the leads - seems to be a trap JAK is falling into over and over again.

I adored JAK's Light in Shadow - the first in the Whispering Springs Novels. The characters were crisp, witty and it was JAK at her best.

This does measure up to that book. Not that it is bad. It's just this is in the pattern of her recent trilogies of books. One really good and then two weaker continuation of the same story. I really hoped since Light and Shadow was so strong that she would break that curse. I love JAK - she is one of my favourite writers, but I do feel a wee bit let down by these weaker part 2 and 3 books. Only the Eclipse Bay books were as good all the way through, in fact got stronger as they went. In paperback, maybe you would grump less, but at hardback prices her fans might feel they deserve a little bit more.

When we last saw the Whispering Hills gang, it was just a month early. Ethan Truax, PI, had married Zoe Luce to stop Zoe's brother-in-law from trying to pop her back in to the high-priced Candle Lake Manor Psychiatric Hospital. The bluff had worked and the mystery - who killed Zoe's husband - was solved. Zoe's fellow escapee from Crystal Lake - Arcadia was now living with Harry, Ethan's PI friend. Neither Zoe or Arcadia had mental problems, but Crystal Lake specialised in hiding rich people's "embarrassments" - for enough money they quietly keep the problemsome relative away from prying eyes. However, in Arcadia's case, she was actually hiding from a husband, and deliberately checked herself into Crystal Lake. Grant Loring tried to kill her. She figured her husband would never look for her at an institute for the mentally ill.

Arcadia suddenly fears, Grant's still alive - not dead from a skiing accident as reported - and that he has now decided to come after his wife who has too much information on him. She fears her "new" identity has been compromised.

The whole gang, for one reason or another is uneasy. It's November, the month Ethan's brother was murdered, leaving Ethan, Bonnie, his sister-in-law, and his two nephews dealing with the grief. Ethan also is concerned about his marriage. He jumped at the chance to use the excuse of protecting Zoe, when he really wanted to marry her. Now, he fears she may be having second thoughts. Zoe is having seconds thoughts, but not because of love. She loves Ethan, but he refuses to believe Zoe is psychic, just chalks up her "gift" to good intuition. She feels if he cannot accept WHAT she is how can he love her? This is a sticking point, especially when she starts running into "spider webs" of dark emotions somehow connected to Crystal Lake. But those worries, take a back seat when someone tries to kill Ethan. Is it connected to his brother's death? Connected to Zoe's stay at Crystal Lake? Or the con man that Ethan exposed?

Frankly, this books is a enjoyable read, with some really fine JAK's humour. On the whole, she once again has too many story lines going all at once - to hide there is not much of a mystery (Smoke and Mirrors problem). The romance between Zoe and Ethan is pushed aside as it become the "Gang's" Story. Maybe it's a transitional period for JAK. That passion for writing romance seem to have lost that brilliant spark. She covers with extra story threads, lots of chatter about food (yes, we know JAK doesn't like meat!!) food, food and more food (Quick's Don't Look Back's Problem).

This is enjoyable, diverting, and will please fans, but they would do well to wait for paperback.

The same complaints I see from other readers concerning her last half dozen books - thin mysteries, too many story threads shifting the focus from the leads - and the biggest zinger - not enough romance. This book just seems to anti-climatic after the first brilliant Whispering Springs tale which I adored.

"Truth Or Dare" is the sequel to "Light In Shadow".

Many of the characters from "Light In Shadow" return and there is a lot going on in this story. A) Ethan and his family deal with the third anniversary of his brother's kidnap and murder, B) the growing attraction between Ethan's sister-in-law, Bonnie and biker, bookstore owner, computer expert Singleton Cobb, C) Ethan looks into solving the old mystery of writer Walter Kirwan's death and missing manuscript, D) Grant Loring, Arcadia's husband, is trying to eliminate her, E) Zoe must deal with a person from her past, F) Can Zoe and Ethan make their marriage work?, G) Zoe has interior decorating competition in the form of Lindsey Voyle, H) Is Nelson Radnor's wife having an affair?

This is just a little of what is happening in this very busy novel. The story is so busy that there is very little time for romance but the author does a good job weaving the story that you really don't notice it. Now that Ethan and Zoe are married, there is a different approach to the romantic segment of the book.

The writing is fast-paced, easy to read and precise. All loose ends are tied up with a heartwarming finish except one tiny issue that dogged Ethan and Zoe throughout the book. You will have to read it to find out what it is.

I was delighted with this very entertaining read. I would like to read more Whispering Springs novels in the future.

This may not be JAK at her absolute best, but it is still a very nice sequel to Whispering Springs. There were enough good characterizations and plot turns to keep the reader engaged, and personally, I enjoyed it a lot. The best part about the book was a very accurate portrayal of how lack of direct communication and misunderstandings can affect relationships, and she illustrated this very well.

Definitely recommended.

Maybe I should have read "Light in Shadow" first, or maybe I shouldn't have read the flyleaf, because this bestselling novel did not deliver the suspense, intriguing subplots and romantic twist that were luridly promised.

Many of the supporting characters are two dimensional for most of the book, and then suddenly beefed up in a few paragraphs at a suitable time to enhance whichever tangent the writer was angling for at the time.

The main characters all have dark or unhappy pasts, which they bear either stoically (most of the men) or hysterically (most of the women), and even though there are some good parts peeking through the cobwebs, it rambles around all sorts of other space-filling things, and when you get to the ending, everything wraps up at warp speed, not even pausing for a coherent thought.

As a romance it fails miserably, because there's nothing even vaguely rapturous or tempestuous in there. As a suspense novel, it does a little better, but the ending drags it down considerably. The jury is still out on the intriguing subplots, because I seemed to have missed them completely.

If you have enjoyed other books by this author, and are having a slow afternoon, maybe this book will serve to pass a few hours, but wouldn't be the best choice if you've got other stuff on your to-read list. It's a 2.5 star effort at best.

Amanda Richards, February 5, 2005

Jayne Ann Krentz and all of her literary alter egos have always been hit or miss for me and this book was most definitely one of the misses.

The beginning promises some dark paranormal thriller mixed with Krentz's generally heavy duty romance, but the book fails to deliver either. Instead, it's a muddled mishmash of characters who never gel on the page; instead of focusing on heroine and hero Zoe and Ethan, the author distracts with supporting characters that I couldn't have cared less for.

Zoe's supposed to have big angst from her time in a psychiatric institute and her ability to literally read the walls of a house. Both could have been devices to ramp up the drama, but instead Krentz can't get a psychological grip on Zoe and winds up turning the character into a confused and lifeless cariacature. Ethan gets the same short shrift: what could have been a deep, dark and sexy character is instead insecure and disrespectful and not all that sexy.

The mystery is so convoluted that there's no way for a reader to be engaged in solving it. The clues come and go, red herrings that don't make sense keep popping up and just when you think the story is moving along, bam - Krentz switches gears to one of the incredibly boring subplots involving the supporting characters.

I hate it when authors push out books for the sake of having something on the shelves. Truth or Dare feels like Ms. Krentz's editor wanted a contemporary paranormal book (and a sequel to an existing book) of a certain kind and rushed this into print even though the author herself didn't have a cogent storyline for it. Every single aspect of it seems rushed and as if the author herself didn't care much how it came out; if she doesn't care, the reader won't either.

Like a raft caught in a strong current, JAK's writing carried this reader along on a fascinating journey full of mystery, romance, companionship and good fun. I enjoyed the many story lines, woven together. I liked getting to know the 'old' characters better, and watched them wrestle with different angst than the typical romance. (The chapter with Singleton talking with Jeff about his murdered father was particularly poignant.) I laughed aloud several times. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

After reading the negative reviews on this book I tried to keep those complaints in mind when I sat down with my copy. I have to say that, for me, this book was thoroughly enjoyable. JAK delivered on all accounts as far as I'm concerned. We get more insight into Ethan and Zoe's relationship, which is beautiful and steamy as they share their insecurities. Ethan having been left by 3 previous wives causes him to question how long before Zoe does the same. And Zoe, knowing Ethan isn't big on the psychic "woo-woo" thing is afraid that he'll never fully know/accept her differences. Previous characters share in the story but not the "spotlight." That can be annoying, I know, but these are characters that you love to hear about and that also carry major roles in this Mystery and in no way detract from the story. I also love the fact that we follow a multitude of Ethan's cases. Some intertwine, while others are an added layer of interest. In my opinion you can't go wrong with this author, she is very talented. This is a romance/mystery mild on the suspence, not at all like Karen Rose or Anne Stuart darker novels. JAK is what she is, in my opinion always enjoyable.

I reached page 150, and NOTHING HAD HAPPENED YET!!! Except for lots of pizza dinners between the characters. I had thought this book would be solely about Arcadia, whose story I thought was a logical sequel to Light in Shadow. Instead, it was an epilogue, with more blathering on and on about how Ethan and Zoe (surprise, surprise!) still haven't trusted each other enough to share their inner-most secrets after a whopping 6 weeks of marriage. This story actually underscores how little Ethan and Zoe have in common, which is typical of this author's heroes and heroines. Thank goodness I didn't buy this book--got it at the library.