Rating: 
Summary: Great Romantic Suspense
Review: Jasmine Cresswell has crafted a very suspenseful story with engaging characters. When Marisa Joubert takes a job at the former stately mansion turned home for unwed mothers, she is thrilled. The job comes with free child care for her young son, and an apartment at a bargain rate. However there are sinister forces at work here. The altruistic endeavors of the Wainscott Foundation serve as a cover-up for more nefarious deeds. I loved this story. This was the first Jasmine Cresswell book I've read and I can assure you it won't be the last.
Rating: 
Summary: Romantic Times Review
Review: Marisa Joubert came from a family of wealth and elegancebut one, she finds, thats funded by a crime empire. The evilness of her late husband almost cost Marisa her son, her life and her sanity. Fragile yet resolute, she moves to Colorado, determined to make it on her own.She doesnt have many marketable skills, but eventually the perfect job turns up in a small Colorado town, at the Wainscott Foundations Refuge for Unwed Mothers. Hired to organize the office and assist Stuart Frieze, the foundations director, shes certain shes found a way to make it on her own with her young son. From the very first, Marisa senses that not everything at the Refuge is as it seems. From the hidden temper of Mr. Frieze to the strange attraction she feels for Jimmy Griffin, the handicapped janitor, Marisa finds herself curious about what is going on. What comes to light frightens Marisa, as she realizes she must take a stand against some unethical and perhaps even illegal activities. As she begins to figure out the Refuges true purpose, Marisa must decide who to trust, and what can be done to right the wrongs going on around her. Ms. Cresswell masterfully creates a full, rich story with characters who will touch your heart. She drops clues skillfully, unwinding the tale piece by piece in such a way as to capture readers from the very first.(Oct., 408 pp. $6.50)
-Debbie Richardson
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing
Review: Ms Cresswell's novels are generally very good to excellent. She ties several features together into readable and enjoyable mysteries with well-developed characters. In this novel, her male protagonist is an ex-FBI agent -- but he totally misses several clues, and harbors no suspicions about the murderer. This is not believeable.
Rating:
Summary: Disapointing
Review: Ms Cresswell's novels are generally very good to excellent. She ties several features together into readable and enjoyable mysteries with well-developed characters. In this novel, her male protagonist is an ex-FBI agent -- but he totally misses several clues, and harbors no suspicions about the murderer. This is not believeable.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Ms Crsswell does it again.... The Refuge is a story about Marisa. After denying her legacy, Marisa goes out on her own to get a job and take care of her young son. The job at The Refuge sounds too good to be true. She is an asst. to the director of a home for unwed mothers. Soon she discovers that all is not what it seems to be. Throw in the janitor who is mentally handicapped (who she can't help feeling attracted to) and a mother to be missing and previous murders and you find the formula that keeps Ms. Cresswell at the top.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Ms Crsswell does it again.... The Refuge is a story about Marisa. After denying her legacy, Marisa goes out on her own to get a job and take care of her young son. The job at The Refuge sounds too good to be true. She is an asst. to the director of a home for unwed mothers. Soon she discovers that all is not what it seems to be. Throw in the janitor who is mentally handicapped (who she can't help feeling attracted to) and a mother to be missing and previous murders and you find the formula that keeps Ms. Cresswell at the top.
Rating:
Summary: The Refuge
Review: Once again Jasmine Cresswell delivers an outstanding story! Fans of her previous books will recognize Cresswell's ability to present engaging and sympathetic characters in an intriguing and fast-moving story. Although this is the sequel to Cresswell's last book ("The Inheritance") it can definitely be read on its own. For those of you who haven't yet discovered this fantastic author, I promise you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Slow Start
Review: The first almost 300 pages were pretty boring. I kept reading hoping it would get good, and it did. Even with these last 100 pages or so, I had no problem putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Refuge by Jasmine Cresswell
Review: The Refuge is another wonderful story from Jasmine Cresswell! It has well-developed, likeable characters and an interesting premise. Jasmine delivers a fast-paced, well-woven story, and an exciting story line filled with plot twists. Definitely a 5 star read!
Rating:
Summary: G Rated Content
Review: The Refuge, the sequel to The Inheritance, is an engaging read. Cresswell's latest romantic suspense novel is refreshingly unique from anything I've read in a while. Marisa Joubert is a single mother in dire need of gainful employment. As a high school dropout with no marketable skills, she feels lucky to find a job making good wages at "The Refuge", a home for unwed mothers in the Colorado Rockies. It doesn't take long, however, for Marisa to figure out that something is amiss at her new place of employment. For one thing, the majority of the women that live in "The Refuge" are refugees in the truest sense of the word...they herald from war-torn places like Bosnia and the former Soviet states, many of them having endured rape and other horrific atrocities at the hands of the soldiers in their former countries. These young girls speak little English and have no one to turn to in the United States, a land where everyone is a stranger to them. Furthermore, all of these girls are pressured into giving up their babies for adoption, with the option of keeping their children all but removed from them. Shortly after one of the pregnant refugees turns up missing, Marisa discovers something even more shocking, and that's the truth behind "The Refuge's" side business. As it turns out, these young women have survived one nightmare only to be thrown into another. Marisa isn't certain what to do or who she can trust. Is her boss behind all of this, or is he an innocent pawn? And what about Jimmy, the handsome, but mentally retarded janitor who she senses isn't as slow as he leads people to believe? Jimmy Griffin is a former FBI agent who now has his own security firm. He recently lost his sister in a car crash, and although the police ruled it to be an accident, he isn't buying it. Two days before his sister died, she had left a message on Jimmy's answering machine, wanting to speak with him. As it turns out, his sister, an important doctor who had once volunteered her skills in Bosnia following the aftermath of the ethnic cleansing campaign, had found some information concerning a man from "The Refuge" that had taken two of the pregnant women from the camp she had worked in and secreted them back to the United States. Jimmy doesn't have much to go on besides his instincts. Determined to find his sister's killer, he goes undercover and works at "The Refuge", posing as a mentally retarded janitor. When the office manager Marisa discovers his true identity, Jimmy is forced to tell her everything he suspects is going on. Will Marisa believe him? And just as importantly, will she ever forgive him for deceiving her? Cresswell manages to create a strong romance and a good suspense while simultaneously delivering a poignant commentary on the plight of poor women in America today. She stirs your social conscience, but does it in such a way that you don't really realize it until the book is over. The story and romance don't suffer in the least, which couldn't have been an easy thing to pull off. Very admirably done. -full review originally published in The Romance Reader
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