Sybil’s review of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by EC Sheedy
Contemporary romantic suspense published 25 Sep 07 by Brava

The number of characters, plots, themes, locations, double dealing and relationships in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye should weigh the tale down. Happily it doesn’t. Instead I found myself discovering new layers each time I read it and oddly wanting more.

Over twenty years ago, the dark-eyed man took April from a bad situation and left her with travel plans to a hell no nine year-old could ever fully understand. Luckily, her trip coincided with one of the few times Phylly Worth does the right thing at the right time. Unfortunately, adding ‘the right way’ would have been asking too much. Now the events of that long ago night will bring together twelve very different people in an explosive and deadly way.

Henry wants to make it as profitable and deadly as possible – yeah. Q is trying to run the show without getting his hands dirty. Joe Worth is attempting to keep his new found ‘family’ out of the body count. Noah is trying to make sense of whatever mess Phylly is running from. Phylly is trying to keep Noah in the dark, her three children safe, and if possible, (but most unimportant) her own pulse. And April [one of her kids] is dumbfounded that what happened to her so long ago could suddenly be important enough to be fatal to those she loves.

I admit I don’t read a large amount of romantic suspense and really I don’t put much stock in ‘rules’ for the genre. I expect a happily-ever-after but how the author gets there is their show and this is one big production. We don’t get one villain’s point of view, we get around five. The reader is treated to breathtaking locations in Canada with sprinkles of Las Vegas, Seattle and Portland. There is murder, mayhem, sex, and violence, along with a large dose of love and contract killing. The over all time frame takes place in less than a week and there is an epilogue with a huge scoop of HEA.

And it works.

I never felt there was ‘head hopping’, a big pet peeve of mine, because the transitions were great. The bad guys (and girls) were truly evil but interesting, you could almost buy their way of thinking. The smart-ass, know-it-all 15 year-old and her relationship with her mother (Phylly) is explained in an intelligent way. There was a secondary romance with a wonderful second chance at love and best of all a refreshing hero and heroine.

Joe could have been a bitter man who thinks all women are evil, lying, no good whores because his mommy was but he is an adult. A pretty well adjusted one too but still a man; he calls April ‘Legs’ for the first chapter of the book. April could have been a scared-of-sex-virgin due to trauma in her childhood but she isn’t. Their honesty and banter is grand and a great contrast to where Phylly and Noah might have been 15 years ago. The biggest issue I had was how April kept pushing to ‘talk’ and wanted immediate assurance Joe would be able or even willing to forgive his mother. But that wasn’t enough to lower my enjoyment of the book.

Life may not always be pretty. No matter how hard you try to chant ‘the big bad scary is not hiding in the dark corners of your mind,’ you can’t escape your past. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye illustrates it isn’t the cards you are dealt but how you play them. And EC Sheedy seamlessly directs a large cast of players, demonstrating there are many different hands to be play from the deck. I highly recommend you call the bet, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a pretty sure thing.

Grade: A

Fear…

She knew him only as the dark-eyed man, the one who put her in that dank basement. She was only nine years old when she stared into those eyes and understood that something unspeakable lived in them. Though she was saved at the last minute by an unlikely ally, she’s never forgotten that fear. And fear has not forgotten her…

Never…

Now the woman who rescued April from that living hell long ago has disappeared, and it’s no accident. Whoever came after her wants April—dead. April has one chance to save her guardian angel before it’s too late. But to do that, she’ll have to break the promise she swore she never would and contact the one man she knows she shouldn’t…

Dies…

Joe Worth’s horoscope said he was in for trouble, but the woman sitting in his office is the kind of trouble any guy would welcome—mile-long legs, blond hair, gorgeous face. She’s also scared. Very scared. Protecting people is Joe’s business, but this time it’s also personal: the woman April wants him to find is the mother who abandoned him. He can only say yes, and that could cost him. A stone-cold killer is out for vengeance—a man who will do anything to keep his dark, twisted past behind him. Anything.

Read an excerpt.