At her wealthy father's funeral, Laurel Avidon is given an old newspaper article. At first she ignores it, but soon, circumstances in her life cause her to begin a search for the truth. She suspects her father's bodyguard/chauffeur, Dylan Kraft, knows more than he's telling. Sometimes he hampers her efforts, and sometimes helps her, but she is certain he is always in control of the amount and type of information she gets. What makes it worse, even as she fights him at every turn, she senses a growing attraction between them she neither needs nor wants. As her quest takes her from her privileged life into the shadowy world of the DEA, encrypted messages, and drug lords, she finds that the people she knows aren't always who she thought they were —maybe not even Laurel herself.
Review
For the Love of Laurel by Patricia Harreld is an intriguing and compelling detective thriller, with its fair share of surprises, and the mystery builds nicely. Shock revelations abound as the story develops, with a delicious, cinematic quality. It’s difficult to go into detail beyond the information given in the blurb, due to the risk of spoilers. Nevertheless, Laurel is presented as a strong female lead, working side-by-side with an equally-strong male – the dashing Dylan Kraft. Dylan is what you would expect in a leading man: tough and handsome with an amazing physique, aptly explained through his past as a martial arts expert and Navy SEAL. The mystery of Laurel’s father and the questions raised about her own identity are the most gripping, story-wise. While many seem to interpret the story as a romance, I didn’t feel that this aspect of it extended beyond the romantic elements one would find in any other contemporary thriller. Romance is part of the furniture in most works of fiction, even outside of the romance genre. However, the final paragraph of the book clearly shows the token, romance genre dialogue, which completely contradicts the previously-established persona of the hero. It's obvious that this was not Ms. Harreld’s intention, but rather it was inserted under the demands of third parties. One can’t criticize an author for that which was written at gunpoint.
Nobody is a greater authority on a story than its creator!
P.D.
Review
For the Love of Laurel by Patricia Harreld is an intriguing and compelling detective thriller, with its fair share of surprises, and the mystery builds nicely. Shock revelations abound as the story develops, with a delicious, cinematic quality. It’s difficult to go into detail beyond the information given in the blurb, due to the risk of spoilers. Nevertheless, Laurel is presented as a strong female lead, working side-by-side with an equally-strong male – the dashing Dylan Kraft. Dylan is what you would expect in a leading man: tough and handsome with an amazing physique, aptly explained through his past as a martial arts expert and Navy SEAL. The mystery of Laurel’s father and the questions raised about her own identity are the most gripping, story-wise. While many seem to interpret the story as a romance, I didn’t feel that this aspect of it extended beyond the romantic elements one would find in any other contemporary thriller. Romance is part of the furniture in most works of fiction, even outside of the romance genre. However, the final paragraph of the book clearly shows the token, romance genre dialogue, which completely contradicts the previously-established persona of the hero. It's obvious that this was not Ms. Harreld’s intention, but rather it was inserted under the demands of third parties. One can’t criticize an author for that which was written at gunpoint.
Nobody is a greater authority on a story than its creator!
P.D.
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