Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Someone Like Her by Janice Kay Johnson
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin SuperRomance 14 Apr 09

After reading last year’s, and now RITA-nominated, The Man Behind The Cop, I knew I would be reading more Janice Kay Johnson. While I didn’t flat-out love this latest book, it still packed quite an emotional punch. Reading portions of this story I had my heart in my throat, and tears misting at the corner of my eyes.

Adrian Rutledge is a high-powered corporate attorney who only has vague memories of his mother, who abandoned him with his cold-fish father when he was 10-years-old. Despite a lack of closure, and a private investigation that came up negative some years ago, Adrian assumed his mother was dead. Then one day Lucy Peterson shows up at his office, without an appointment, and tells him his mother is very much alive.

Known as “The Hat Lady,” Elizabeth Rutledge is tiny Middleton’s only homeless person. Several people in the town look after her. Lucy lets her eat at her cafe. The local priest lets her sleep in the church basement on cold nights. The man who runs the grocery store leaves out food for her. It never occurred to any of them that their eccentric, confused homeless lady had relatives, until after she’s hit by a car and slips into a coma. That’s when Lucy goes rifling through her things and finds out that The Hat Lady has a son.

What follows is the story of Adrian finding his way back to his past and into Lucy’s arms. With his mother’s abandonment, that left Adrian to be raised by an emotionally distant father. He slipped into the role of prodigal son, mostly because he knew his father would be upset if he didn’t. But he desperately missed his fun, playful mother. The woman who took him on ferry rides, loved hats and flower gardens, and read books to him.

Lucy grew up in Middleton with a dream that a lot of small-town raised kids have – getting out. What started as coming home to save some money after college, turns into her owning the local cafe and testing out her culinary skills on residents who wonder why she doesn’t offer the delicious potato soup every day of the week. She’s also chafing under the ever watchful eyes of an extended family. A family that has simply taken her for granted. Nice, dependable, boring Lucy. Not a beauty like her two sisters.

The best moments in this story revolve around Adrian’s relationship with his mother. Allowing himself to remember the past, and getting to know the woman she has become. His romance with Lucy also has a nice gradual build to it. These are two people attracted to each other, for different reasons, but who need each other desperately. There were moments where I thought Lucy was a little too good to be true.  Also, she’s downright obstinate during the final chapters, and there were moments where I felt she was expecting entirely too much from Adrian.  The guy has had a shock.  Cut the man a little slack.

Still, it’s a nice, emotional, heart-warming story and Johnson is still firmly on my auto-buy list.

Grade: B-

Summary:
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Finding his mother is the only reason Adrian Rutledge would set foot in this backward place. In fact, he can’t get out of town fast enough. At least, that’s his attitude before Lucy Peterson works her magic on him. The café owner is nothing like what he thought he needed, yet she’s all he wants.
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Then the job pulls him back to the city and Adrian slips into the life he once worked hard to achieve. And while it may not fit the way it did, he can’t simply abandon it. Or can he? Because suddenly he’s tempted by everything Lucy’s offering.
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Read an excerpt.

Shannon C.‘s review of The Woman in Blue (Patton’s Daughters, Book 1) by Janice Kay Johnson
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Super Romance 1 Jul 99

I really appreciate that we’ve been doing these Harlequin Spotlight series over here on the blog, because otherwise I’m not sure I’d have ever picked up, well, much of anything they publish on my own. But there’s a lot that I like about the idea of Harlequin super romances–the slightly longer word count, the contemporary settings, the everyday Joes and Janes finding love, and, my God, if they’re all as emotionally wrenching as the book I just read, please to be signing me up for more of these books, k?  Thx. In fact, I am sad that this book is out of print, because it means you’re going to have to hunt it down before you can join me in squeeing about it, too.

The plot goes like this. Renee Patton can’t quite seem to exorcise the ghost of her father, the beloved police chief in Elk Springs, Oregon. Now she lives alone in his house after his death, trying to prove to herself that the abuse she suffered at his hands doesn’t mean too much to her. But then she is drawn to investigate the bones that Daniel Barnerd’s dog dug up on his ranch, which leads her to uncover some long buried secrets as well as an attraction to Daniel she soon finds it hard to deny.

In my ideal romance novel, I have to connect with the heroine. I don’t need to identify with her, but I’ve at least got to understand where she’s coming from. And I really got Renee. She is intelligent, brave, and compassionate, but she’s got a lot of emotional baggage to deal with thanks to her thoroughly craptastic childhood. I felt that her struggle was entirely believable, and that some of the cliches about romanceland heroines were nicely subverted–Renee doesn’t get a makeover to pretty her up, and she gradually comes to realize that she’s been crippling herself. That being said, she does have a few conversations with Daniel in which she plays the “I’m a feminist! No, really, I am!” card a bit to excess, perpetuating conflict where there wasn’t any.

I did like Daniel. He seems like such a nice, easygoing guy. He has a strong sense of honor, he loves his mama, and he can cook. Seriously, where can I find more like him? I will ignore the fact that I’ve read characters like him hundreds of times before, because I honestly found him charming. He isn’t perfect. He’s got some growing up to do on his own. But I got the impression he really got Renee and it was so fun watching them dance around their attraction and finally get their HEA. I even didn’t mind the fact that the sex scenes are fairly short and not terribly descriptive.

I liked the external plot, too. I didn’t see the resolution coming from a mile away, and there was no unnecessary suspense subplot. I liked particularly that the mystery further helped to develop Renee and Daniel’s relationship in meaningful ways and wasn’t an excuse to throw them together.

This is such a lovely book, with two people I came to care about, and I have to give the author points because I teared up at the end, proving that some tenderness still beats within the cold lump of clay I like to think of as my heart. If you can find this book, I highly recommend it.
Grade: A

     Summary:

     The people of Elk Springs, Oregon, thought Ed Patton was a good man, a good cop, a good father. But his daughters know the truth.
     Renee Patton feels she has to prove to everyone–especially herself–that even though she’s a cop, she’s nothing like her father. It’s definitely a full-time job, leaving her no time or inclination for a social life.
     But that changes when she meets rancher Daniel Barnard.
     Daniel’s the first person who’s ever made Renee long for another kind of life–a life that doesn’t revolve around her uniform. Suddenly she realizes she might just have found the one man who’s willing to take on Patton’s daughter. Everything would be perfect–if only Daniel’s mother wasn’t involved in the case Renee’s investigating.

I could not find an excerpt for this book.

Sandy M’s review of The Man Behind the Cop by Janice Kay Johnson
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin SuperRomance 13 May 08

Wow, it’s been a great month for me rediscovering Harlequin authors and books, and the SuperRomances I’ve read have all been terrific and made a new and improved fan out of me. I won’t be giving them up very easily like I did before. This book is the perfect one to end my month-long love affair with HSR.

The theme behind this story is domestic violence. It’s woven throughout the majority of the characters, the two most prominent being the hero and two major secondary characters, and the heroine, the one person who has never experienced the pain and humiliation of being beaten by a father or significant other, is the one who understands the scars, the fear, and the hurt that such violence wreaks.

Bruce Walker is a cop and meets Karin Jorgensen when he volunteers to teach a self-defense class at A Woman’s Hand where Karin is a psychologist helping battered women and children start a new life without fear and pain. Their attraction sparks immediately and they grow closer when working on a case that arises when Lenora, a patient of Karin’s, is attacked outside the facility after their first class. Her husband gets away, taking their kids with him. It’s during this time of working together that Karin learns Bruce comes from an abusive home. His father is a man who took his fists to his wife and three sons, with Bruce being the only one to break away clean. But he fears he can still turn out just like his father if he lets himself become angry enough, so he holds onto his temper at all costs. He doesn’t want to see what he could possibly become if he were to ever let go of the monster inside him.

Of course, while all these revelations are occurring between them, the hunt is on for Roberto and his children, everyone hoping they find them in time, before their father lashes out at innocent kids who only want to be held and loved by their parent. Also, Lenora lies comatose in the hospital from the attack and Karin is at her bedside when times allows, trying not to blame herself for her friend’s current state. Bruce goes by the hospital, among other places, himself as often as possible without seeming obvious, he just wants to see Karin, talk to her about the case, about anything. He just needs to be near her. I actually enjoyed their relationship a lot. They go out on a few days, sit and talk like lovers getting to know one another. That’s something you don’t get in too many stories nowadays. And when their hunger for each other finally erupts, it’s just as visceral, just as all-consuming as the violence all around them, just on the good side of it all.

This is a heavy topic to read, but it’s done quite well with the right emotions and actions for everything that happens in the book. And a lot happens. The scene between Bruce and Karin when they’re arguing on the street, pulling every punch they can think of, is a wonderfully emotionally fraught scene. As much as I liked Bruce before that scene, I was totally in love with him afterward. Bruce is also a Big Brother to Trevor, a kid who’s had a hell of a time with life. His relationship with Bruce is just another intricate nuance that adds another whole layer to the domestic violence story.

It takes a few tears, a lot of twists and turns, but the happily ever after you get in this book is worth going through all of that and more.

Grade: A-

Read Wendy’s review here.

Summary:

Being a big-city cop and being in control means everything to Bruce Walker. He knows how destructive a man can be when given the chance. That’s why he’s vowed never to get involved.
All that changes the moment he meets psychologist Karin Jorgenson. The connection between them is instant, intense…something he’s tempted to explore. Regardless of how Bruce feels, though, he can’t let go of everything he knows. His control is even more important now that they’re involved in a domestic violence case. Karin insists he’s a different man than the one he sees in the mirror. But can he trust her— and himself—enough to open his eyes and see it, too?

Wendy the Super Librarian’s review of The Man Behind The Cop by Janice Kay Johnson
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin SuperRomance 1 May 08

The next time someone whips out a sanctimonious tone and informs me that all Harlequins are fluffy, nonsensical escape fantasies I’m going to find a copy of this book and throw it at them. Hard.

The Man Behind The Cop is my favorite type of romance – the emotionally messy kind. The kind where bad things happen to good people, and the reader spends the entire novel holding their breath in anticipation. This story is not an easy read. It’s not a fluffy one. It’s so darn gut-wrenching that I found myself saying the mantra, “It’s a romance, there will be a happy ending” over and over again. It’s one heck of an emotional roller coaster ride.

Karin Jorgenson is a psychologist who counselors battered women. She hears about the worst men every working day of her life, so naturally she’s still single. However, she loves her work, is devoted to her clients, and doesn’t realize what she’s missing until Bruce Walker walks through her office door.

Bruce is a police officer who survived a less than stellar childhood. His father was violent, beating his wife and berating his children. Bruce left home the moment he could, and did not look back. However, his work as a cop means he lands quite a few domestic violence cases. He agrees to teach a self-defense class at Karin’s office, only to have tragedy strike. An abusive husband attacks his wife, one of Karin’s clients, and kidnaps their two small children.

As the woman lies in a coma, Bruce works the case, but always comes back for Karin’s insight and help. They find themselves attracted to each other, but a relationship between them is complicated. They see the worst in human nature every day, and Bruce is convinced his father has tainted him. How can he dare to fall in love, have a family, when this seed of violence is buried inside of him?

There is a lot going on in this story – from the budding romance, Bruce’s haunted past, and the criminal investigation. There’s also a secondary storyline involving Bruce’s work as a Big Brother, and the young man he spends time with. It adds rich detail to the story, and packs a big emotional punch. That being said, readers looking for “just the romance please” may find all of this heartbreak a distraction. I did not, and saw it as painting a larger picture of who Bruce and Karin truly were, and what obstacles stood in the way of a possible relationship.

This isn’t a shiny, happy story for the majority of the novel. It’s hard to read, because it literally rips your guts out. But that’s the magic of romance. Because no matter what terrible stuff may happen, readers know that somehow the author is going to make it all better by the final page. The ending here is a bit overly dramatic, and I’m not sure how a real life police officer would feel about the climactic finish, but dang if it doesn’t make for fantastic fiction. This truly is a marvelous story, even if it’s not always easy to read.

Grade: A-

Summary:

Being a big-city cop and being in control means everything to Bruce Walker. He knows how destructive a man can be when given the chance. That’s why he’s vowed never to get involved.

All that changes the moment he meets psychologist Karin Jorgenson. The connection between them is instant, intense…something he’s tempted to explore. Regardless of how Bruce feels, though, he can’t let go of everything he knows. His control is even more important now that they’re involved in a domestic violence case. Karin insists he’s a different man than the one he sees in the mirror. But can he trust her-and himself-enough to open his eyes and see it, too?

Read an excerpt here.