Safe Harbor
Grade : C+

I knew at the beginning of Safe Harbor that this wouldn’t be my favorite book in the Drake Sisters series. Based on what I’ve seen of Jonas and Hannah in the previous books, the author had a lot of work to do to make them a likable couple for me. For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised, but they will never win awards for best couple of the year.

Hannah is a talented telepath, as are her six sisters. She is a high powered supermodel, and uses her sisters’ talents to hide the fact she has serious panic attacks and a stutter. In truth, Hannah wants nothing to do with working in the spotlight and in the past few months she and her sisters have had serious threats to their lives. Hannah has committed to one last contract which she feels obligated to fulfill and then plans on retiring for good. The love of her life, Jonas Harrington, the sheriff of Sea Haven, has finally acted on his intense feelings for her, but he remains in Sea Haven while she travels off to her modeling assignment. The threat to Hannah’s life is real, and her life will never be the same after she returns.

The relationship between Jonas and Hannah has been developing over the last few books, and in my opinion, the man has a mean streak. He is an extremely alpha hero who expects Hannah to rescue him from the cloak and dagger work he promised the Drake family he would not continue, and then when she saves him, he treats her terribly. Granted he’s been dying of unrequited love for Hannah since he was a teenager, but his comments to Hannah are hurtful. His excuse is that everyone treats Hannah with kid gloves because she is emotionally fragile, so by golly, he’ll do the opposite. Unfortunately, this is the reality of their relationship. She wants Jonas to get in her face and confront her.

This was the conundrum of Hannah’s character for me. She is guilt-ridden and wants to please people at all costs, even at the expense of her own happiness. So in this tangled relationship, Jonas constantly pushes her to stand up for what she wants, which made her feel all the more weak to me. Without his heavy-handed prodding, she would have continued on in her misery. As a result the relationship felt very uneven. The saving grace was that Hannah’s character strength did improve along the way.

The suspense plot has continued to flow its way through these books, and there were more intriguing glimpses of the relationship between Hannah’s sister Joley and a dangerous Russian operative. Sometimes the secondary suspense plot can feel overpowering, but in this book it actually added much needed relief from the seriousness of Hannah and Jonas. I also enjoy seeing the bond created between the Drake sisters; their powers are tremendous and they have a wonderful support system with each other.

Personally, I probably would’ve skipped this book, but I knew I would need to read it to catch glimpses of Joley and Ilya’s pending relationship. That’s the book I’m really looking forward to reading. Fans of the series will have to read Safe Harbor, just as I did, and for some, maybe this will be their favorite couple of the series. For those who haven’t delved into these books, it’s too confusing to begin here; I'd recommend starting with Oceans of Fire instead.

Reviewed by Liz Zink
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Burning

Review Date : July 5, 2007

Publication Date: 2007

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