Marilyn Tyner

BET/Arabesque

1-58314-037-9

November 1999

(4) Melanie Schuster

Contemporary Romance

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

REVIEW: 

This is a book that I had a lot of fun with, because I was so awed with Marilyn Tyner’s work.  I have enjoyed her other books, but this one just sparkled!  It is a bit of a different style for Ms. Tyner, but one that she sank her literary teeth into quite handily.  Plus, I confess that I love a good old-fashioned story with some of the traditional elements.  Wayne and I tease each other about this—I love a good ol’ amnesia story, especially if it is fresh and exciting, whereas Wayne isn’t quite as fond of that plot convention.  But even Wayne will love FALSE IMPRESSIONS; it was so well executed.

It has all been a big mix up.  Just a big mix up that made Zoe Johnson seek refuge on a strange yacht.  She suspected her boss of some evil doings and was trying to get evidence to prove just that when she wound up in a situation that made her run for safety.  Any port in a storm, she figured and hopped aboard a boat in a nearby marina.  And she would happily tell the angry man that discovered her that very thing—if she could remember anything, including her name.

Ian Roberts has had it.  He could believe that the woman stowed away on his boat hit her head—that much is obvious.  But the amnesia story is a bit much for him to swallow.  Whatever her game is, he can’t let her out of his sight—he is too far along on a highly technical computer program that must be kept secret at all costs.  Which is why he on his way to his island to insure its security.  He can’t risk letting this woman loose with vital information about his project, so he keeps her with him on the island, much to her dismay.

But dismay turns to delight and distrust turns to passion as the days go by.  Both Ian and Zoe have to learn to trust--their instincts, their feelings and their newfound love.  There are forces at work that can endanger their lives as well as tear them apart and they have to decide if love is worth the risk.

Ms. Tyner surprised and delighted me with this one.  Her heroines are always strong and admirable, but they are usually quite serious.  Zoe is a departure—she is feisty and funny and spirited even in her bizarre situation.  This is a sexy, fun book with witty humor and a good plot line.  Ms. Tyner makes the story believable and ties up the details nicely.  Every time I would ask myself, “well what happened to...” the answer would be on the next page. 

This is proof that a skilled writer can take a shopworn convention, dust it off, remodel it, refurbish it and create something elegant and new.  There are only so many plots out there, something a creative writing professor was happy to hammer into my head as an undergraduate.  The skill, the challenge and the mastery of the genre comes when someone like Ms. Tyner brings a fresh perspective and a new treatment to an old favorite.  So, dear Wayne, this one is for you! The name is FALSE IMPRESSIONS, but believe me it will leave a fresh impression!

1st November 1999