Summer in Eclipse Bay [Mass Market Paperback]

This is an utterly delightful, pure JAK at her best. AZ Snow is back with her conspiracy theories still going, the Bay community is full of the gossipy small town characters that made the first two so special, but in this one, she adds all the fire, passion, wit and humour that has made her famous.

Nick Harte (brother of the Harte sisters that married the Madison brothers) has returned to Eclipse Bay for the Summer with his son Carson, a miniture version of himself. Nursing a wounded heart, Nick is hesitant to get too close to any woman, but he cannot stay away from Octavia Brightwell - the neice of the woman that caused the Harte-Madison feud oh so many years ago.

Octavia runs the local art gallery, but her real reason for being there was to somehow fix the errors of the past created by her aunt, and see the Harte-Madison feud put to rest. Only by the time she has settled in the Bay, there two unexpected weddings in the Hart-Madison clan, uniting them once again, so her mission is moot and she feel at a drift, without purpose in her life.

She adores Carson, and is very attracted by Nick Harte, but is leary getting involved with him. The whole town knows two things about Hardhearted Harte - on the first date he gives women THE TALK saying there is no hope for a commitment, and that he never stays the full night with any woman. Octavia knows she could not stand having to face either of them, so she stays away from involvement with him.

Only, when a missing art piece worth a quarter of a million dollars is stolen from Octavia's gallery, and it falls to Nick to investigate - with Arizona Snow in charge - she cannot maintain that distance.

This is a funny, engaging book, that has some of the best lines like "Back in the big city, folks would probably say that Euqene and Dwayne are the products of dysfunctional families. But around here we just call them bums." Or "I did not come in here to argue with a woman with big hair" or when discussing the local hair saloon she says their styles were limited to "Very Big Hair and the Senior Citizen Helmet."

This is Jayne Ann at her peek form and all I can say is it's about time!!!

Fall in Love with JAK all over again in one of her best in years.

This is an utterly delightful, pure JAK at her best. AZ Snow is back with her conspiracy theories still going, the Bay community is full of the gossipy small town characters that made the first two so special, but in this one, she adds all the fire, passion, wit and humour that has made her famous.

Nick Harte (brother of the Harte sisters that married the Madison brothers) has returned to Eclipse Bay for the Summer with his son Carson, a miniture version of himself. Nursing a wounded heart, Nick is hesitant to get too close to any woman, but he cannot stay away from Octavia Brightwell - the neice of the woman that caused the Harte-Madison feud oh so many years ago.

Octavia runs the local art gallery, but her real reason for being there was to somehow fix the errors of the past created by her aunt, and see the Harte-Madison feud put to rest. Only by the time she has settled in the Bay, there two unexpected weddings in the Hart-Madison clan, uniting them once again, so her mission is moot and she feel at a drift, without purpose in her life.

She adores Carson, and is very attracted by Nick Harte, but is leary getting involved with him. The whole town knows two things about Hardhearted Harte - on the first date he gives women THE TALK saying there is no hope for a commitment, and that he never stays the full night with any woman. Octavia knows she could not stand having to face either of them, so she stays away from involvement with him.

Only, when a missing art piece worth a quarter of a million dollars is stolen from Octavia's gallery, and it falls to Nick to investigate - with Arizona Snow in charge - she cannot maintain that distance.

This is a funny, engaging book, that has some of the best lines like "Back in the big city, folks would probably say that Euqene and Dwayne are the products of dysfunctional families. But around here we just call them bums." Or "I did not come in here to argue with a woman with big hair" or when discussing the local hair saloon she says their styles were limited to "Very Big Hair and the Senior Citizen Helmet."

This is Jayne Ann at her peek form and all I can say is it's about time!!!

It turns out this story is the third in a series but it easily stands alone since its plot isn't exactly complicated. Octavia Brightwell is relatively new to Eclipse Bay and runs a successful art gallery. She arrived in Eclipse Bay to soothe the rift between the Madison & Harte families that her dear departed aunt caused years earlier. Once Octavia realizes the feud has been mended without her help she decides it's time to leave Eclipse Bay. She's also desperate to get away from gorgeous, heartbreaker Nick Harte who continually pesters her for a date. When she finally makes up her mind to high-tail it out of town she agrees to the date with Nick (don't ask). They soon become romantically entangled and banter back and forth denying their true feelings. Before long the two find themselves partners in the search for a valuable missing painting and, well, I bet you can figure out the rest . . .

These two are very much stock characters. We have Nick who lost the love of his life years earlier and has never allowed himself to fall in love again (and has a reputation for loving 'em and leaving 'em before the night is over) and then we have the "free spirit" Octavia who sort of floats through life and avoids romantic entanglements. Stock characters are all fine and good when they're written with depth and emotion but these two were just flat out bland and their relationship lacked any sort of spark. Nick also has an annoying habit of referring to Octavia as a "fairy queen" that made me cringe every time he uttered the words.

There are also pop-up appearances by characters who I only guess starred in previous books. They add a little to the story but their visits did not convince me that I need to search for the previous books in this series. There are also far too many over the top weird/quirky/cult-y/odd speaking secondary characters populating this story to be believed.

The few bits of fun banter and Nick's enjoyable little boy Carson are about all that I'll be remembering about "Summer In Eclipse Bay" once I finish writing this review.