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Book CoverSandy M’s review of For the Love of Jazz by Shiloh Walker
Contemporary Romance published by Samhain 25 Nov 08

This is my monthly open-a-drawer-and-see-what-you-find read. Ever since I read and reviewed Ms. Walker’s The Missing, I’ve wanted to read something else by her, so when I pulled this book out of the drawer, I put all the others that came before it back for another day. I have to let you know, though, my copy of this book is from 2004. It has since been republished by Samhain and it has been revised and expanded, according to their website. ‘Course, didn’t know that until just now, but I’m assuming the gist of the book is the same and I’m hopefully not missing anything super critical. At least I hope so.

What I like the most so far about Ms. Walker’s books are her characters and how she draws me into their lives, their families, their loves, their hurts, their joys, their tragedies, and all of those things happen at the beginning of this book. Jasper, aka Jazz, goes through hell as a kid with a stepfather who beats him and his mother until his mother finally can’t take anymore, her actions leaving Jazz alone in the world. He’s taken in by his best friend’s, Alex Kincaid, family. He loves them as he did his own mother, except for Anne-Marie. He could never look at her as a sister, she was so much more to him, even at their young age.

Tragedy strikes again when Jazz and Alex are in a major car accident. Alex dies and Jazz is left with the guilt because he’s told he was behind the wheel, although he can’t remember what truly happened. Soon after the funeral Jazz leaves town and it’s sixteen years before he comes back to Briarwood to find out what really happened that night. He’s lost his wife to cancer, but she gave him Mariah, his daughter. Mariah becomes ill and Jazz takes her to the local pediatrician, and that brings him face to face with Anne-Marie once more. She thought she’d never see Jazz again. She always believed he’d never been responsible for the accident that killed her brother and seeing him after all these years, she knows she’s right.

Thus begins the love between them as well as the nightmare that is working to tear them apart. Now that Jazz is back in town, people are dying and it’s a good thing he has an alibi each time because the killer is trying to frame Jazz for the murders. If the unexpected hadn’t happened each time the bodies were found, Jazz would be in jail. With the help of Anne and his cousin Tate, the sheriff, he’s determined to find out who despises him so much they’d kill to be rid of him. The author does a great job of keeping you guessing who done it. My suspect, the one I’m sure she wanted me to suspect, was eventually killed and then I was as stumped as I was when the whole thing started.

Jazz and Anne-Marie are a wonderful couple and I’m glad they found each other after so long and after so much heartache. Watching Jazz not want to hurt those he loves just by being near them, especially Dr. Kincaid, his second father, is so emotional for him each time they come in contact. But love triumphs and Jazz once again has his family back.

I’m glad I picked this book up. I’ll be doing the same each time I come across one of Ms. Walker’s books when digging through the TBR pile,  with no hesitation whatsoever.

SandyMGrade: B+

Summary:
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Someone wants a secret to stay buried—even if it means murder.
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Since waking up in a hospital at age eighteen, accused of driving the car that killed his best friend, Jazz McNeil has lived with a guilty heart. Now, more than a decade later, he has returned to his hometown to raise his daughter and to uncover the truth about what happened that fateful summer. And gaze into the eyes of the girl whose life he shattered.
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Though Anne-Marie Kincaid was told that Jazz was responsible for her brother’s death all those years ago, she has never quite believed it. The facts don’t quite fit; they never did. All she knows is, she still feels loved and safe when she’s with Jazz, and that he misses her brother just as much as she.
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Read an excerpt.