Rating: 
Summary: Good but........
Review: I had a few difficulties with this book. The first scenes in the hospital were excellent. I really enjoyed Amy's character and felt very sympathetic towards her and her problems, both past and present. As the book progressed, I understood her reasons for pretending to be Shelly for so long, but started to lose patience with the whole situation. She knew Matt, Trevor and even Kyle well enough after a while to entrust them with her secret and to ask them to help and protect her against Dexxter. My biggest problem was with Matt's character - I didn't like him or his behaviour. He was either really nasty or wild with desire. I know he believed that Amy was the psycho Shelly but still he was a bit of a creep. I thought Amy deserved better. Small inconsistencies also irritated me: for instance, one day Amy's leg is so sore it's swollen, the next day she's "streaking" across the beach! Same leg? No pain? Come on. Anyway, the storyline was exciting enough to keep me reading to the end, but because I had little empathy for the characters, it will be forgotten in no time.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Hit For Sawyer!!
Review: I have been on a roll with Meryl Sawyer since reading one of her novels. Now I am hunting all her releases and reading them! She is so great, combining romance and suspense, my favorite type of book. In Half Moon Bay Amy Conroy is trying to hide from someone who is trying to kill her because she knows something. It is hard to hide, because she has a birthmark that covers the whole left side of her face. She is involved in an accident while running from the killer, and is left in the hospital, needing facial reconstruction and unable to talk. The hospital assumes she is a woman named Shelly. In comes Matt, who Shelly was stalking! Matt assumes Amy is Shelly also, but can't figure out why he is attracted to her, when he hates Shelly. Half Moon Bay is exciting and is a great read! Can't wait to find and read my next Meryl Sawyer book!
Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!
Review: I liked this one even more than THUNDER ISLAND. HALF MOON BAY definitely belongs on the keeper shelf of all romance lovers. There was a nice, even balance between the suspense and the romance, and the characters were all too human.Amy Conroy has always been disfigured--one side of her face has been marred by a terrible birthmark. As if that doesn't make her life bad, she's being pursued by a twisted sociopath. Then she's in a car crash and mistaken for one of the victims, Rochelle Raston. Amy's face is reconstructed, the scar disappears, and that's where the fun begins. Matthew Jensen, an investigative reporter, would rather leave Rochelle Raston far behind. Being stalked by a maniac isn't his idea of fun. But he finds himself drawn to this new Rochelle, who doesn't seem as obsessive, who would rather have little to do with him, and to whom he finds himself irresistably attracted. Meryl Sawyer makes you laugh and ache along with the characters, and sends chills down your back when the bad guys start to catch up. Matthew Jensen belongs in the Romance Heroes Hall of Fame for being one of the most likable, soft-hearted, but toughest men I've read about in a long time. He isn't vicious a cruel to Amy, though he has every right to be, since he thinks she's the stalker who threatened his sister. The premise of this book was so unique to me. A woman who's gone through life disfigured suddenly becomes a gorgeous sexpot with a new identity. And gee...a stalker victim falling for his "stalker" :) Think of the mental gymnastics he's going through! If you haven't read this, you'll definitely want to! The plot, characters, and secondary characters are fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Great romantic suspense from a master storyteller!
Review: I liked this one even more than THUNDER ISLAND. HALF MOON BAY definitely belongs on the keeper shelf of all romance lovers. There was a nice, even balance between the suspense and the romance, and the characters were all too human. Amy Conroy has always been disfigured--one side of her face has been marred by a terrible birthmark. As if that doesn't make her life bad, she's being pursued by a twisted sociopath. Then she's in a car crash and mistaken for one of the victims, Rochelle Raston. Amy's face is reconstructed, the scar disappears, and that's where the fun begins. Matthew Jensen, an investigative reporter, would rather leave Rochelle Raston far behind. Being stalked by a maniac isn't his idea of fun. But he finds himself drawn to this new Rochelle, who doesn't seem as obsessive, who would rather have little to do with him, and to whom he finds himself irresistably attracted. Meryl Sawyer makes you laugh and ache along with the characters, and sends chills down your back when the bad guys start to catch up. Matthew Jensen belongs in the Romance Heroes Hall of Fame for being one of the most likable, soft-hearted, but toughest men I've read about in a long time. He isn't vicious a cruel to Amy, though he has every right to be, since he thinks she's the stalker who threatened his sister. The premise of this book was so unique to me. A woman who's gone through life disfigured suddenly becomes a gorgeous sexpot with a new identity. And gee...a stalker victim falling for his "stalker" :) Think of the mental gymnastics he's going through! If you haven't read this, you'll definitely want to! The plot, characters, and secondary characters are fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I picked this book up because I had read a couple other books by Meryl Sawyer and I liked them. This one is by far the best I've read by her. I read it in one sitting! Great characters and a great plot make this book one of my favorites!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I picked this book up because I had read a couple other books by Meryl Sawyer and I liked them. This one is by far the best I've read by her. I read it in one sitting! Great characters and a great plot make this book one of my favorites!
Rating: 
Summary: Where is the other half!
Review: I started out the book with great hopes. After reading Unforgettable and The Hideway I was pretty sure this book would not disappoint me. But I was disappointed. The story lacked feeling. Everything fell into place a bit too easily and that was boring. The scene where Amy finds out Matt has cancer was just too bland. She found out and her reaction was incomplete like Sawyer didn't want to dwell on that subject. It was an important aspect of the story but Sawyer didn't spend too much time on it. I felt like she wrote half the story with patience, the other half she just rushed through. Hopefully Kyle Parker's story will be complete!
Rating:
Summary: Good solid read
Review: Sawyer created likeable complex main characters in Amy and Matt, with a suitably twisty plot, but the big weakness which prevented me from giving this book a higher rating was the villain. I expect a stronger suspenseful aspect from a "romantic suspense" book and the villain in this case was more laughably pathetic than menacing. Since the villain is introduced early on, it was hard to believe that Amy was in much real danger. If Irene had been developed earlier as a more sinister figure, then the story might have generated more chills. Fortunately, Amy and Matt were sympathetic characters, with Amy's relationship with her mom being especially touching. The ending did seem rather rushed, but as long as you don't expect too much suspense, this is a solidly written romance.
Rating:
Summary: Passingly Nice - But Disappointing
Review: This is the first book I have read by Meryl Sawyer and I must say, after reading so many excellent reviews of her novels, I am disappointed. Her writing is very repetitious. Not to sound picky, but in one short paragraph, for example, she writes twice, "...had taken much longer than anticipated," about the same event. This kind of repetition occurs more than a few times & really slows the novel's pace, as does lots of unnecessary, meandering prose. The story just drags on. There is no real mystery or suspense here. Some of the characters are interesting, and I cared about what happened to Amy/Shelly, Matthew, Trevor...and Bingo the cat and Jiggs the dog. However the villains, both Dexxter Foxx and Irene are cardboard, comic book-like characters. It is impossible to fear them - which kills the tension. I think if Ms. Sawyer reworked the book, cut about 100 pages with some good editing, tightened up her plot and crafted Dexxter as a more human, sinister figure, she would have a good book. As is, the novel does not work.
Rating:
Summary: Passingly Nice - But Disappointing
Review: This is the first book I have read by Meryl Sawyer and I must say, after reading so many excellent reviews of her novels, I am disappointed. Her writing is very repetitious. Not to sound picky, but in one short paragraph, for example, she writes twice, "...had taken much longer than anticipated," about the same event. This kind of repetition occurs more than a few times & really slows the novel's pace, as does lots of unnecessary, meandering prose. The story just drags on. There is no real mystery or suspense here. Some of the characters are interesting, and I cared about what happened to Amy/Shelly, Matthew, Trevor...and Bingo the cat and Jiggs the dog. However the villains, both Dexxter Foxx and Irene are cardboard, comic book-like characters. It is impossible to fear them - which kills the tension. I think if Ms. Sawyer reworked the book, cut about 100 pages with some good editing, tightened up her plot and crafted Dexxter as a more human, sinister figure, she would have a good book. As is, the novel does not work.
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