Title: Trapped

Author: Connie Mann

The Wild Rose Press

Romantic suspense Crimson Rose

Rating: Sensual Page Count: 339

ISBN: 1-60154-455-3

Release Date: 06-19-2009

$6.00

Blurb:

It’s every woman’s worst nightmare: Had her daughter witnessed a murder? Beneath the homey, small-town facade of Riverlake, Florida, an unnamed evil lurks. When a guest at the local Bed and Breakfast turns up dead, tough single mom Sam Collins is convinced her young daughter knows more than she's saying. Sam vows to do whatever it takes to protect Lindsey from harm. She’ll sell the family-run marina she’s devoted her life to saving. She’ll even join forces with Danny Hastings--the one man she never expected to see again--the one who can destroy everything she holds dear.

 But can they stay alive long enough to protect the daughter he didn’t know he had?

REVIEW: 

This is a very fine Romantic Suspense.  I really enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the tone of the book.

Samantha Collins is struggling to keep her family’s fish camp from going to developers.  Although Sam is a beautiful woman, she is known more as a tough single mother who has always been able to match her skills with many men in the area. Someone in the small river town is killing people and it’s not clear to authorities that the killer isn’t Sam. That is until it appears that Sam’s sweet daughter is threatened.  Meanwhile, Sam’s heart is threatened when the man she once loved unexpectedly shows up in town and she has to protect herself and her daughter from that threat too!

Danny Hastings is a developer who has come looking for his missing partner.  He never expected to find Sam or to feel the depth of emotions she and her daughter bring out in him.  He may not be able to commit to stay, but his first priority will be whether he can keep them safe from the evil that has left behind more than one unexplained death!

The setting for this story is a beautiful natural river in Florida.  It is very hot and full of native birds, wildlife and alligators!  The author obviously is familiar with a similar location and does a great job describing this. 

The writing flows well with the portrayal of everyday life in this small community. There are underlying messages showing the characters living by faith in God that are simply and subtlety woven into the story. The characters are real and the romance is compelling as the heroine and hero struggle to try to protect themselves from pain while being drawn into emotions that are stronger than they can fight.  A suspenseful, unknown evil is getting closer all the time and the mystery keeps this story moving quickly to a climatic confrontation.. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a sweetly sensual romance with a solid mystery!

Reviewed by MarthaE

WRDF Review