Casee‘s review of Riptide by Margaret Carroll.
Christina achieved unparalleled wealth and prestige when she married Jason Cardiff, Wall Street wizard and Mayflower descendant. But once the cracks in the union began to show, even the towering privet hedges surrounding their East Hampton estate could not contain the dark rumors.
Then everything came crashing down . . .
At an exclusive Midwest rehab center, Christina receives the shocking news that Jason has been found dead in their swimming pool. The discovery that she’s a murder suspect shatters her newfound sobriety and propels her back into the dangerous arms of Daniel Cunningham—the mysterious blue-collar worker who may have been present the night of Jason’s death. But her rekindled affair could cost Christina her son, her fortune, and her life—and if she cannot conquer her re-emergent demons, the truth and the tide will drag her under permanently.
W.T.F.
This book is clearly labeled as a romantic suspense. If books could talk, it couldn’t even tell you it was placed in the romance section by mistake. Nope. It is labeled and marketed as a romance suspense.
I read A Dark Love. While I wasn’t blown away by it, I thought “hey, this author really has potential”. She had the creepy villain and all the ingredients to make a good romantic suspense. Sure, it fell a little flat, but not flat enough to stop me from picking up Riptide. My mistake.
My first and BIGGEST complaint is that there is no hero.
W.T.F.
The blurb is not just misleading, it’s false advertising. Dan Cunningham is a major arsehole. It seems as if the author changed her mind about Dan halfway through the book. At first, he was somewhat redeemable. I could see him as hero material. Then that started fading away until I was on page 212 and wondering when the real hero was going to make an appearance. Only he never did.
I can’t even say that Christina is a heroine. She doesn’t overcome anything, certainly not her alcoholism. She tries, I’ll give you that. But that’s all she does. She takes the easy way out in everything she does. She loves her son, but obviously not enough to be the kind of mother that he needs. Everything about her was a turn-off.
Another thing that bothered me was the continual use of the first AND last names of the characters. It was just weird how Christina was referred to as Christina Cardiff so often. Same with Frank McManus (the homicide detective) and Daniel Cunningham. At times, it read more like a newspaper article than a romance novel.
I suppose the plot was the finding the murderer of Christina’s husband. Other than that, it’s a little murky. There is so much going on from Christina’s alcoholism, her relationship with Dan, her son, her relationship with her in-laws, and her reaction to her husband’s death. It was all overwhelming. The only reason I can explain that I kept reading is b/c I was compelled to. I think I just kept waiting for the hero to show up. Or something to happen that normally happens in a romance novel.
I doubt that I’ll try anything by this author again.
2 out of 5.
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
