Denise Grover Swank

Mary is now a single mother to a special boy who is the glue to it all. She is a very good mother even if at times she feels like she is failing Aiden and she works hard to provide him with the best, but a new move back home to Asheville they are starting over and find it to be harder than it should be. When she enrolls Aiden in a program similar to Big Brothers and Sisters they meet Jace. Jace and Aiden immediately hit it off and become friends just after one meeting. Jace has a past that he is ashamed of but has paid his dues to society, yet most of society still treats him as a pariah. I knew Mary would flip after finding out about Jace’s past but I wasn’t too thrilled how awful she truly was to him and it made me angry at her. I get that she wants to protect her son, give him the best, but she was truly awful and judgmental without stopping to think things through until later. My heart hurt for the treatment that Jace was always getting from others but he did his best, worked hard, and never stepped a toe out of line. This book was emotional, fun, sweet, and handled Aiden’s diagnoses with perfection. Jace needed reassurance, kindness, and love in his life at first it came in the form of Aiden then later with Mary and Mary needed to learn how to let things go, relax, quit being so uptight and Jace showed her how to balance that. I really enjoyed this read and being from near Asheville the whole “woo woo’ thing had me laughing because it is too accurate.
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A) Roanoke Island, my guilty historical love. So that had me hooked.
B) Curses! Always fun!
C) Ancient angry gods! Even more fun.

So in cpnclusion, fun was had.



I stand by the above--I had a lot of fun reading THE CURSE KEEPERS and seeing a different spin on one of history's great mysteries. I thought it was clever of Swank to weave real life happenings and coincidences into the plot to add a layer of 'hey it could be!' (though as her author's note at the end suggests, she believes a wholly more realistic idea of what happened to those colonists).

I had a bit more problem with Ellie and Collin however. I liked Ellie--I liked that she didn't accept Collin on face value, listened to her friends' advice (even if it irritated her) and wanted to do right by her father (even as she didn't believe him).

I didn't trust Collin at all. And that distrust just kept building the further the book went along. Especially after he has smexy times with Ellie. He would say things, red flag things like 'I want you to remember this' and 'no matter what else happens know I loved you' and Ellie would think 'huh, well that's a bit weird...' without following up.

To be fair he did tell her he couldn't be trusted. He was very open about his thieving ways, his womanizing, his callous disregard for how his actions hurt others. His duplicity lay in that he kept urging Ellie to give more and more of herself for her destiny without telling her everything she needed to know. Her (justifiable) reluctance to be part of the Curse Keepers world was brushed aside because there were bigger things to consider.

That rubbed me the wrong way. Even after he apologized I wanted to shank him (which is odd for me to want to do to an attractive rogue--I love them). Every time he told Ellie he wanted to put her above everything else I wanted to kick him. Every time he told Ellie she would be protected I wanted to punch him.

And in the end when everything is laid out on the table (or almost everything, his motivations still remain mostly murky) I felt nothing but crushing dread for Ellie. She didn't deserve any of the crap. She wanted to live in her town, take care of her father, work hard and make others smile.

As this is part of a series the ending is not really an ending, but a bridge to the next book. There's resolution to only a handful of the plotlines and opens up a can of worms that promise to make Ellie's life harder.

So I say this to the author--Bring it on. I'll just have to think of new ways to make Collin suffer if he didn't learn his lesson yet.
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Title: A Cry in the Dark
Author: Denise Grover Swank
Publisher: DGS
Series: Carly Moore Mystery Book 1
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"A Cry in the Dark" by Denise Grover Swank

My Sentiments:

'A Cry In The Darkness' is a good read that gives the reader a bit of mystery, suspense, and romance. It happened in this small town named Drum, Tennessee, where Caroline Blakely just happened to come upon a rural setting where she had been on the run from her father. Caroline [Carly] never thought she would be so 'involved with secrets from her past' as she passes through this town, only stopping due to car trouble. Not only will there be drama as you read through this scary story, but be ready for many problems, from drugs, lynchpins, kingpins, crime, corruption, secrets, murder, and so much more, before one gets to the end. This story will keep one guessing as you turn the pages to see what is coming next for Carly as she is now having her car towed, finding a job as a waitress...having to get a room at a motel...and, oh yeah, then she hears fighting and then witnessing a young boy being killed. I will stop here and say that is only some of what happens in this story of many twists and turns. Yes, there will be some good people in the read and some not so good, that will keep one attention as you continue through this 'whodunnit' read.

Overall, 'A Cry In The Dark' was a good story. There will be a series as the story continues with many characters from Drum, TN.… (más)

Just like the first book, I dived right into this book. While I was ready to see how the dynamics between Ellie and Collin had changed after the events of the first book ending, I would have to wait a while for this to happen. Although, Collins's presence was never that far away from Ellie.

Ellie is still trying to learn all she can about the curse and how to keep the demons and Okeus from coming after her. She is joined by David, a professor who has knowledge of Native American history. Together they try to figure out how to stop Okeus.

Collin does make an appearance in the last couple of chapters. I look forward to reading book three.… (más)