In Mean Streak by Sandra Brown, Dr. Emory Charbonneau is a well known pediatrician, marathon runner, and philanthropist. Her current cause combines the latter two and in preparation for running the marathon, Emory decides to train by running part of the Appalachian Trail in rural North Carolina. Things don’t exactly go as planned and Emory wakes up in a strange man’s cabin with a concussion and no recollection of how she got there Worse still, is the stranger her savoir or someone bent on causing her harm?
This was my first time reading a novel by Brown. I knew of her and had seen her books at the library and book store. Apparently I have been missing out on a good author! My to be read list just grew by a lot!!!
I can’t review this book without mentioning how much I hated Emory’s husband, Jeff. The character personified slimy and self centered for me. Every time he made an appearance, my teeth would be set on edge. I still don’t know why someone like Emory would marry someone like him.
The heroine, Aubrey is a mean girl all grown up and now wants to make amends with people she has wronged. The town still sees her as a troublemaker. The hero, Ben, is quiet and reserved. Everyone assumes he is still grieving the loss of his wife five years prior. The town loves him. Fate has put Ben and Aubrey together almost daily. These are two people least likely to get together, but, well, you can’t help who you fall in love with now, can you?
I thought Cole did a great job in her last book describing the event which breaks our hero. She does just as good a job in this book. Often times when reading we get to the point in the book where we learn what the horrible secret is, and I find myself wondering, “really, is that all that happened?” Well not in this series, Cole shocks me everytime and I find myself breaking with the character. Along the same lines, I have always felt that Cole knows how to write chemistry between her Hero and Heroine. She knocks it out of the park on this one. Let me just say, our Hero’s name fits him well.
Always On My Mind is the story of Leah, the pastry chef, and Jack the firefighter. They grew up together and have always been best friends. When Leah lies to Jack’s mom and says they are dating to make her happy, things get a little crazy. After all, everyone but Jack and Leah realize they aren’t really pretending. Jack and Leah are relatively serious people so the typical banter that we see in Jill’s books comes from the secondary characters trying to knock some sense into the two of them more than between the hero and heroine. They speak another language. Several times without any words at all. In addition to the wonderfully developed characters, Kevin the dog was quite a fun addition to the story.