March 14th, 2012.The day Erika’s life came crashing down. Still haunted by the tragic events of that day, Erika drinks to forget, stumbling through life forever on the verge of disaster. Caught in a limbo where she is both a hunter and the hunted, her life changes the day she meets Patrick, a British teacher dealing with problems of his own, both at home and in Tokyo.For Erika and Patrick to find … and Patrick to find love together, they must first face the demons of their past.
more
Suspense, mystery, intrigue and a bit of romance fill the pages of this thrilling read. Strong, well developed characters are easy to get to know and are just as intriguing as the story itself. Each of them is dealing with past issues that prevent them from fully moving forward with their lives. A suspenseful read that holds your interest.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Broken #1 – I like reading about different cultures. Mr. Ward doesn’t fail to please me with this book about a 19-year-old Japanese woman forced to work, at age 16, to support her family and 20-year-old troubled, rich American boy. 4*
Stolen #2 – Although this book is part of The Tokyo Lost Series, it is very different from the first book, Broken. I’ve read several of Mr. Ward’s books and so far this one stands out, front and center. A well written, substantial story line concerning love between two misfits dealing with a manipulating, criminal manager, and being helped by their two intriguing older, protective friends. The couple are 35- and 39-years-old and both face dilemmas of their past and their wants for a future. The Japanese woman and the British man are interesting and I like their age group. Needs minor editing. 4*
Frozen #3 – Since I started this book right after reading Stolen, I had a little problem getting into the darkness of the main characters. There’s a lot of background material laid out for several dysfunctional characters and I’m only at the 30 percent mark. The story so far is well written, but I want to move on past their problems into the relationship between her and him; they haven’t met yet. There’s a lot of interesting information about Japan and the Japanese, for those not knowing anything about Japan. I was surprised that there were delinquent students and they’re basically ignored in the non-confrontational Japanese culture.
Finally, they met and it’s still dark and a lot to wade through, but the story finally moves along. It picks up the pace almost at the end with good suspense. I like the ending and was hoping that love would win out and I don’t mean with the romance. I do love the fact that the female’s actions made a difference in a very important event.
BUT, I almost stopped reading this book, at 85%, when I came across the ignorant comment the author wrote: “. . . like America, where you can’t step out of your door without getting a gun pointed into your face.” Nothing like expert opinion, is there? Too bad, Chris isn’t an expert on America and American culture; maybe he should live here and see if that remark still holds true then. Yep, even though this well written book was slow out of the gate and I enjoyed many of his other stories, his poorly thought out statement about my country earns him a 3 star instead of the 4 star I would have rated this book. Needs minor editing. 3*