Veena’s review of Poinciana Road by Margaret Way
Contemporary Romance published by Zebra 25 Oct 16
Ms. Way was one of the early writers who I read when I first discovered romantic fiction. Her tales of the Outback featuring handsome ranchers, beautiful homesteads, and gorgeous women sparked my imagination as a young adult. I picked up this book with a touch of nostalgia and let it take me back in time to rekindle forgotten memories and youthful friendships.
When Mallory returns to Queensland, she finds an interesting cast of characters assembled at Moon Glade, her uncle Robert’s plantation. Blaine Forrester, with whom she’s always had a love-hate relationship, seems to be in charge and getting under her skin as usual. Jason, her ex fiancé, with his wife, daughter, and evil twin sister have created their own place in her childhood home. Uncle Robert is so happy to have her along, little realizing that he himself is not long for this world.
Before long Mallory can sense the evil undertones beneath the beauty of the plantation. When Robert dies suddenly, Mallory leans on Blaine, who’s not only the executor of her uncle’s will but also an esteemed friend to the both of them. He also makes no bones of the fact that he wants Mallory and means to win her to be his bride. Even as Mallory deals with her father, who shows up at the funeral to see what pickings he can get from his brother’s estate, she senses with a strong sense of foreboding that something is drastically wrong at the plantation.
Drawn closer to her ex fiancé, Jason’s wife and daughter, who seem to be suffering under the thumb of Jason’s evil twin, she starts to dig beneath the surface to the dismay of a killer who has seemingly committed murder and gotten away scot-free. Can she keep herself and those she loves free and alive? Romance, murder, and suspense all make for a spine-tingling story which throws in ghosts for good measure to help drive the story along to its appropriate conclusion.
I’m happy to have taken my own steps back in time to revisit with a great storyteller.
Grade: B
Summary:
It’s been six years since Mallory James left Moonglade, a former sugar plantation in the shadow of Australia’s magnificent rain forest. Now love and loyalty have called her home—but unspeakable secrets may compel her to flee once more…
A successful child psychologist, Mallory has no wish to return to the tropical hideaway where she experienced so much pain. But her Uncle Robert is ailing and it’s only right that she be there for the man who came to her rescue when she was a lost, lonely child. At least he is not alone—his protégé, and Mallory’s rival for his affections, is also at his side. Blaine Forrester hasn’t lost his knack for getting under Mallory’s skin, taking her breath away and leaving her unsettled at the same time.
While Robert recuperates, Mallory is shocked to learn that Jason Cartwright is on the payroll of his estate—the very man whose humiliating betrayal led her to leave North Queensland on the eve of her wedding. Confronting him—along with his wife and his manipulative twin sister—is a trial, though she can’t help forming a bond with little Ivy, Jason’s sickly daughter. But as tragedy strikes Moonglade, Mallory and Blaine will discover a darkness hidden within this deceptively beautiful world and their enigmatic circle—one that will either unite them at last, or tear apart the promise of paradise…
No excerpt available.
