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Zane Bigelow grew up in a beautiful, perfectly kept house in North
Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Strangers and even Zane’s own aunt
across the lake see his parents as a successful surgeon and his stylish
wife, making appearances at their children’s ballet recitals and
baseball games. Only Zane and his sister know the truth, until one
brutal night finally reveals cracks in the facade, and Zane escapes for
college without a thought of looking back...
Years later, Zane returns to his hometown determined to reconnect with the place and people that mean so much to him, despite the painful memories. As he resumes life in the colorful town, he meets a gifted landscape artist named Darby, who is on the run from ghosts of her own.
Together they will have to teach each other what it means to face the past, and stand up for the ones they love.
Years later, Zane returns to his hometown determined to reconnect with the place and people that mean so much to him, despite the painful memories. As he resumes life in the colorful town, he meets a gifted landscape artist named Darby, who is on the run from ghosts of her own.
Together they will have to teach each other what it means to face the past, and stand up for the ones they love.
Genre: contemporary romance/romantic suspense
Publication date: July 2019
Mature content: yes
Review: The first two thirds of this book are great and compelling - yes, you need to overlook some details, such as the fact that it's amazingly easy, apparently, to set up your own business (Darby is a newcomer in a small town and in next to nothing has a new house, a new company, and with Zane it's almost the same - I wish it was so easy in the real world), but it worked for me and I was glued to the pages.
However, the story should have ended when Graham Bigelow (Zane's father) was arrested for the second time. The deeds were done (good and bad), the messages were passed, and Zane and Darby could have had their happily ever after moment.
But no, the story had to stretch for another 150 pages or so, adding in several more plot lines. It became muddled, and frankly, I was more than ready for it to end. Those additional pages - and plots - were unnecessary, did not add anything interesting to the story or the characters and just dragged on and on. It's almost as if the author had to meet some threshold, some minimum number of words and was struggling to fill the pages.
Halfway through the book, I was ready to rate it with five stars. I'm ending up with four just because I loved the first part so much, otherwise it wouldn't even get to that. Hoping for the next one by Nora Roberts is better than this one, as she's still one of my favorite authors.
Fair warning: Under Currents, especially at the beginning, is loaded with scenes of domestic violence and child abuse and it's not for the faint of heart.
However, the story should have ended when Graham Bigelow (Zane's father) was arrested for the second time. The deeds were done (good and bad), the messages were passed, and Zane and Darby could have had their happily ever after moment.
But no, the story had to stretch for another 150 pages or so, adding in several more plot lines. It became muddled, and frankly, I was more than ready for it to end. Those additional pages - and plots - were unnecessary, did not add anything interesting to the story or the characters and just dragged on and on. It's almost as if the author had to meet some threshold, some minimum number of words and was struggling to fill the pages.
Halfway through the book, I was ready to rate it with five stars. I'm ending up with four just because I loved the first part so much, otherwise it wouldn't even get to that. Hoping for the next one by Nora Roberts is better than this one, as she's still one of my favorite authors.
Fair warning: Under Currents, especially at the beginning, is loaded with scenes of domestic violence and child abuse and it's not for the faint of heart.
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