Black Widow Bride

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques Rebecca Grainger would have done anything to stop her best friend from making a huge mistake by marrying Damon Asteriades. In fact she did do anything, even going so far as to try to seduce him the night before his wedding. However when her attempt fails, she leaves town never planning to come back. A few years later she's a widow, her best friend is dead, and Damon's mother begs Rebecca to come back and pick up her wedding planning clipboard again. Rebecca reluctantly returns, but only after she sees no way out. After all, she has no desire to be that close to Damon again, especially considering the three year old secret she's keeping. Love though, will always find a way when it wants to.... Who would have thought Tessa Radley could pack so much emotion into such a short book as Black Widow Bride? She succeeds quite well and I could not put the book down once I started it. Good thing I had selected it for my poolside read one weekend where there was nothing to disturb me. I didn't have to feel guilty about brushing everything off to see what twist Tessa would throw in next. There is a surprising amount of depth to Rebecca and Damon (even if Damon was a little too alpha for a beta lover like me) considering the limited word count of the Silhouette Desire line. By the end of the story we can completely understand what drove Rebecca to the desperate act of trying to seduce Damon that night. Then the added factor of The Big Secret makes Rebecca an even more sympathetic character. I knew what the big secret was immediately but Tessa is so skilled at dropping red herrings that I found myself doubting my first thoughts many times. For me the excitement was more about the journey to the revelation of the secret than the actual secret itself. I love Tessa's style and if I hadn't known better, I never would have imagined this was her very first book. I am happy to say I enjoyed Black Widow Bride so much that I had to rush out and buy her next book, Rich Man's Revenge, as soon as it became available. © Kelley A. Hartsell, May 2007. All rights reserved.

Tessa Radley's romance far exceeds the debut label. Black Widow Bride is a complete with passionate emotions, complex multi-layered characters, an intriguing plot and a magnificent surprise ending. The passion sparks between the two main characters with an electricity on the edge of exploding. They hate each other! Tessa Radley transforms that electricity into a depth and passion not just of the bodies but of the soul, a love born from the past deep sadness within her characters. The emotions are passionate, the betrayals deep and the past histories complex. Radley creates rich characters not often found in short romances by balancing the immediate emotion with complex character histories. She reveals the past layer upon layer as the plot develops, building the suspense through her characters. The scenes between Rebecca and her son T.J. are some of the best kid scenes I have read and so integrated into the plot. Radley creates a portrait of a mother's deep love and a child's curiosity without any of the sappy or overplayed sentimentality or cuteness I see too much elsewhere, especially on television. Very nice indeed! The ending was a nice surprise. I expected one thing --- it just had to be that way ---- that is the typical formula... but I was wrong! Such a nice and welcome complication!