Crashing Waves

3.25 Hearts for books 1 & 2 as a whole

CRASHING WAVES, book 2, starts three months after the events in book one. Justin has been trying to get over much of what happened and also over Marcus who has started his P.I. business in Atlanta. When “strange” things and “accidents” start happening at the hotel and to Justin in particular, Marcus comes to aid in spite of his bruised heart.

Book two features the same omnipotent and omniscient villain and our sweet southern men continue to be as clueless as ever. I don't want to give any of the “mystery” away because at heart I'm a good person but there was one thing that had me shaking my head vigorously NO at the improbability of it. Justin and Peter's father was a collector of expensive, rare, and vintage cars which he stored in a barn located on the property where the family manse is. Warfield père has been dead for 15 years and in all that time neither one of the two Warfield sons has gone inside said barn once or seen any of the cars. Really???

Aside from the non-mysteries we have two more secret babies, childhood sweethearts torn apart and family secrets that go back a generation or two. All of this could be taken in stride while one has a drink or a bottle and I confess that I kept flipping the metaphorical pages wondering what the author would come up with next.

So why the rating? Because in spite of myself I was entertained by this crazy train. I liked Justin and Marcus, the age difference and how it was sort of a non-issue, I liked the development of the romance between them over the course of the two books, it felt true and organic, and they're not chest pounding alpha males. Their cluelessness sprang from perhaps being too good as human beings? The writing was good, though not necessarily moving, and the descriptions of the area show a true love of place and knowledge of geography. Also the books are well formated. One thing that did niggle at me was the description of black characters. I don't think there was intentional racism but the black characters in the book are either victims, villains, or faithful retainers reminiscent of Gone With the Wind. I don't know. My skin prickled a bit.

By the end of Bk.2 evil has been vanquished, the couple for the next book has been set up, and Justin & Marcus are well on their way to HEA. Small favors.