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ILLUSIONS OF LOVE Marcia King-Gamble BET/Arabesque May 2000 (4+) Melanie Schuster |
Contemporary Romance |
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PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
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REVIEW: |
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Formerly a high school outcast, the plain,
pimply-faced Skyla Walker escaped her boring life by going to Paris to
participate in an exchange program. Time turned her from an ugly duckling into a
swan. When the book opens, Skyla is
a gorgeous, self-assured young woman as well as a respected journalist. She
returns to her home in Mill’s Creek, Pennsylvania--an up and coming town
nestled in the Pocono Mountains--to investigate and write an article about Creed
Bennett’s alleged role in the disappearance of several local women. Creed Bennett is Mill Creek’s answer to David Copperfield. He’s the talk of the town because he left home and became the elusive The Mighty Creed, a rich and famous illusionist who’s fine, rich, and oh so arrogant. He enjoys living the high life in his palatial Fort Lauderdale, Florida home and he can return to the Poconos to a spread equally as elaborate whenever he feels like visiting Mill’s Creek. Skyla and Creed meet after years of not seeing
one another when they both end up in Mill’s Creek.
Creed wants to escape the spotlight and figures that his hideaway in the
Poconos is the perfect place to escape the nosy press. But he is so wrong
because he soon finds out that Skyla Walker is the press and she’s
great at her job. His proverbial antenna goes up because he was burned by a
journalist (his former girlfriend) and he’s not trying for a repeat of that
fiasco. Skyla and Creed don’t agree on very much when they meet.
His arrogance comes to the forefront and she doesn’t get too far with
Creed because he is determined to keep her at bay-- and he does just that.
Sure that she’s up to no good, Creed puts up obstacles at every turn.
She’ll never get her story if he has anything to do with it! Again, time prevails and serves to soften
Creed’s attitude. The evidence mounts against him as more women disappear and
some are killed. He changes his mind about Skyla and wants to prove his
innocence to her. He tries hard not to address the sexual sparks between them,
but he can’t get her off his mind. Neither can Skyla, although following
her heart nearly costs her job and her well-being. However, she’s not
one to play by the rules, so she goes for it and their coupling has little on
the Fourth of July fireworks! ILLUSIONS OF LOVE
is undoubtedly Marcia King-Gamble’s best
book to date. She has written a winner that will keep readers up all night. It
did this reviewer. The book begins slowly at first, but the pace accelerates in
no time. King-Gamble methodically laid the plot’s foundation so that
the unfolding events are understood and make sense later in the novel. The well-crafted characters make this book
shine. Each of them has a purpose and add another dimension to the storyline.
Some examples are Jed, Creed’s alcoholic father, and Kareem, Creed’s best
friend. Jed is depicted as a drunk who lives in a rooming house in the hood, but
he is not pitiful. He’s intelligent and through excellent foreshadowing, is
set up to help his son prove his innocence.
Kareem is every woman’s dream--or so it seems. However, he is embroiled
in much drama and is not what he
appears. Skyla interacts with some of her family members--all of whom are
colorful and each of them adds some comic relief to the storyline. Overall,
ILLUSIONS OF LOVE is
a keeper. King-Gamble has written an excellent romantic suspense that has a
steamy romance just below the surface of the basic plot and is hung on the crime
story. She doesn’t give anything away too soon, but clues are intermittently
dropped throughout the story. There’s
even a red herring to throw readers of the track for a moment, but if they are
astute, they won’t be misled. Every element of writing is addressed and
included in this book. The Poconos setting is a welcome relief from the trite,
clichéd East and West Coast cities where so many romance novels are set. Clearly, King Gamble has found her writing niche. ILLUSIONS OF LOVE will infuse the hearts of readers with fire, passion and a wonderful story. If we’re lucky, King-Gamble will write a sequel. If not, perhaps she’ll write several more romantic suspense novels. They’re her forte and she should continue writing more of them for a while. Romance fans will be more than pleased with this book. As the younger set would say, ILLUSIONS OF LOVE is all that and a bag of chips! |
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1st May 2000 |
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