Well written “Traditional Romance” with wonderful strong women characters, a well rounded cast, excellent erotic scenes and a real sense of time and place which grounds the novel in reality.
This is the 4th book in the Chase and Rowan series and forms a prequel to the other books, taking us back to the 1980’s when Rowan is a squabbling kid.
More than anything though, it’s a straightforward “Traditional Romance” with all the best characteristics of that genre. Two solitary women – one longs for her soul mate, the other has never really gotten over he BFF from High School. They meet, they are drawn together, they both resist in different ways. They both have to fight the fear and face what they want.
Stacie and Maria are both powerful women, tough, capable and confident in their skills. They present us with a juxtaposition of the spiritual and practical, hard and soft, demanding and self-effacing. Rhavensfyre are adept at sketching in characters quickly using a range of tools, and then drawing out their development as a part of the plot. Surrounded by a cast of strong characters our main protagonists have no problem remaining center stage and holding our attention.
The scenery and setting plays a large part in the spirit of the novel and is well drawn. Roxy and KL have a knack of painting a vivid picture of the landscape and using it as an extra player in the narrative. The sun, storm, heat and desert all add to a strong feeling of place and give additional depth to the relationships. These are people who are literally ‘of the land’ and the land roots them in time and place. Set in the 80’s the references to time are subtle and clever without being overwhelming or making this a history.
Well written and edited, Rhavensfyre continue to develop an increasingly good writing style. Their stories are strong and their characters are always endearing. They also write exceptionally good erotic scenes that are not allowed to overwhelm the romantic story.
These are definitely people you will enjoy meeting and empathize with, whether you have read the other Chase and Rowan books or not it will stand alone as a good solid romance – with the added benefit of leading new readers into a developing series.