Garden of Secrets
By
Grade : C+

Ah, high school. Is there ever any getting away from it? Not if you live in a small town like Angel's Bay where almost everyone you went to high school with still lives right next door, keeping you mired in those four years of your life. In some ways it can be good - it means the people you are friends with have deep roots in your life. In other ways it can be bad - the enemies you had can stay estranged, never quite forgiving and forgetting things that occurred many, many years ago. Our heroine would know, having moved back home to take care of family and finding herself stuck once more in this small town, dealing with old and new family issues long after she thought she'd be gone.

All she wanted was to avoid having to choose who to kiss at the New Years Eve party. Charlotte Adams had raced up the stairs to avoid both her old love and her possible new one when the dreaded midnight hour came. Both had been heading toward her, determination in their eyes, and she simply wasn't ready to pick between them. But what she finds upstairs is her hostess, Teresa, in a pool of blood - and herself the chief suspect in a robbery and assault case. She and Teresa had some bad history in high school but how can that actually be coming back to haunt her in her thirties?

Police chief Joe Silveria has strong feelings for Charlotte, which make him reluctant to investigate her for the crime. And he was at the party, which means his involvement could cloud the investigation. But the mayor and his wife seem determined to keep her front and center of the short list of possible culprits and expect him to handle the sensitive case himself. It makes things hard for Joe as he attempts to romance Charlotte while he deals with his almost official divorce from ex Rachel and a case with absolutely no suspects but his new girlfriend. The web grows more and more tangled as people from both his and Charlotte's past keep interfering with the present, making him wonder if there really is any hope for a future.

Andrew's high school years had been the most golden time of his life. He got off track in college and afterwards, but he is home now, a minister ready to recapture some of his former glory. And Charlotte had been a big part of that glory. He had been a fool to push her away, but he is determined not be one now. Then the bad side of his glory days returns, disrupting life once more and seemingly ready to derail all he has accomplished again. Does he have the strength to both push the past firmly behind him and yet pull the best part of it forward with him? Or must he sacrifice one to ditch the other?

This whole book reminded me a lot of that line from the The Godfather Part 3: Every time I think I'm out they pull me back in. Joe, Charlotte and Andrew have had lives - good lives - elsewhere. Charlotte became an ob/gyn, Andrew a minister, and Joe a sheriff who had ditched a toxic relationship to put together a new life in a new town. But the past drags at them powerfully. Joe has been going back and forth with Rachel on the divorce issue He knows that the marriage will never work but can't deal with her "I love what I can't have" need to get him back. Charlotte is stunned to find that Teresa and her sister Pamela still have hard feelings from high school, even though she was the wronged party in the nasty events that happened then. Charlotte is also aching from the pain of a secret that she has carried ever since: Andrew cheated on Charlotte with Pamela in the past, leaving her heartbroken and himself at the mercy of a woman who partied hard and was more than a little willing to break the law to get her way. Now Pamela is back and has him in her sights, and he is terrified that a past he would like to keep hidden is about to explode around him.

One of the problems I had with this book is that these people have so many issues none of them are in a good place to start a romance. Not only are Andrew and Charlotte, Joe and Rachel hashing out their former relationships, those relationships have had clear consequences to this day. Charlotte hasn't gotten close to anyone since Andrew dumped her - she goes through the motions of dating but doesn't commit. Joe wants free of Rachel but she is not so sure she is ready to cut him loose, so he finds himself still married many months after the divorce should have gone through. Andrew wants back in Charlotte's life but he doesn't want to deal with Pamela, the girl he left her for. All of that is going on while Joe and Andrew both try to date Charlotte. Charlotte tries to avoid being alone with either of them, but they each keep catching her at awkward moments, trying to further their courtships. While it is obvious to us who Charlotte wants, it is less obvious to her. And there are some compelling reasons not to choose him. And by that I mean really compelling - I didn't feel the guy should be even considering dating with what lingered in his background. I felt like more closure was needed and it just wasn't there.

In addition to their emotional issues we have what is actually happening. And that is an investigation into a crime for which Charlotte looks more and more guilty. A lot of things that make her look bad are strictly coincidental - she lives in a small town so of course it is natural for her to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for innocent reasons. But then she tries to take investigative matters into her own hands. I never saw where that really paid off but she was determined to do it, even when urged by others not to. Then there is the whole past of the island - which has a history of a hidden treasure. If that wasn't enough, we have a ton of bit players from previous books to keep track of as well as obvious set-ups for future books. In all I think we were tracking about seven couples. My limit tends to be three.

The crime is a bit of a non-issue, and the investigation into it a bit slow and tedious. At one point I even forgot what the crime was and had to remind myself. It becomes really relevant only in the last fifty or so pages.

I normally don't give this kind of warning outside of an inspirational but there is a bit of a religious factor here. I would put it at about a two on a scale of one to ten, with ten being a high religious factor. There is a conversation on the sanctity of life which might upset those with a strong pro-choice stance. On the other hand, there is pre-martial sex and a man not officially divorced is pursuing another woman, so it definitely has some factors that might not sit well with the inspirational crowd. There is also a paranormal element involving angels, though that segment is pretty minor.

I loved book two in this series, and in spite of its many problems liked this one. But I think the series has reached a point where you need to be well versed in what has happened to get what is going on. I would recommend it to fans of the author, or readers following this series. Otherwise, I would give it a miss or start at the beginning with Suddenly One Summer.

Reviewed by Maggie Boyd
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : October 8, 2011

Publication Date: 2011/09

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Maggie Boyd

I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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