New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips is back with a delightful novel filled with her sassy wit and dazzling charm. He’s a reclusive writer whose imagination creates chilling horror novels. She’s a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids’ puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill his characters with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill an audience with … dozen ways to kill an audience with laughs. But she’s not laughing now.
Annie Hewitt has arrived on Peregrine Island in the middle of a snowstorm and at the end of her resources. She’s broke, dispirited, but not quite ready to give up. Her red suitcases hold the puppets she uses to make her living: sensible Dilly, spunky Scamp, and Leo, the baddest of bad guys. Her puppets, the romantic novels she loves, and a little bit of courage are all she has left.
Annie couldn’t be more ill prepared for what she finds when she reaches Moonraker Cottage or for the man who dwells in Harp House, the mysterious mansion that hovers above the cottage. When she was a teenager, he betrayed her in a way she can never forget or forgive. Now they’re trapped together on a frozen island along with a lonely widow, a mute little girl, and townspeople who don’t know how to mind their own business.
Is he the villain she remembers, or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.
It’s going to be a long, hot winter.
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I’ve read all of SEP’s books but enjoyed her early works the best. This one was OK.
Not SEP’s best, but it was still very good. I love the Gothic feel of the book, the setting, the old house, etc. SEP never disappoints, imo.
Most of Her other books were better,must have been an early one.
love her books can’t wait for the next one
Not the best story from a wonderful author
The puppets did me in. I love her books but not this one.
Predictable, but a fun read.
I’m a massive SEP fan, but this was not my favorite of her books. The talking puppet weirded me out a bit. But as always SEP delivers a wonderful read.
I am a huge fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, especially of her Chicago Stars series Books. So it was naturally that I went and bought her newest book ‘Heroes are my weakness’.
Overexcited to read another book of her, I had high hopes. Sadly, the beginning was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t so much as a bad writing or a bad story; it was just dragging in the first few chapters. I was so sure that I would love this book from the beginning that I wanted to start reading on the plane when I went on vacation (because I am afraid of flying and what better way to distract myself than with a good book by one of my favorite authors?).
I struggled to keep reading because the story didn’t pull me into it from the beginning as I thought it would be. Though the first chapters are well written and tell us a lot about Annie and how her life has been so far. It’s good background for the rest of the story, but could have been a bit shorter for my liking.
The Story:
Annie is a grown up woman who hadn’t had an easy life so far. Her mother had just died and even though they hadn’t had an awesome mother-daughter bond, Annie wanted her mother to have everything she wished for in the last months of her life during her struggle with her illness – to the detriment of Annie’s bank account. Having no money and no place to stay, Annie went to the cottage on Peregrine Island, to which her mother had an agreement with her ex-husband Elliott Harp that contains as long as she stay’s at the cottage for a certain amount of time a year, it is hers to use.
The perfect way to escape and the only place for Annie to go to is this cottage she has some bad memories about. Not all were bad, but spending her childhood there, she had learned that life was hard and trust was something better not easily given. When Annie learned that Theo Harp – the man who almost killed her – was also on the island, she wanted nothing more than to leave again. But being stuck on the island, she tried to stay off his radar and avoid this psychopath even when she has to spend day to day at the Harp House – Theo’s house – to help out Jaycie, the woman who saved her life.
Easier said than done. Annie is getting a hard time on the island by anonymous threats and Theo is determined to help her in exchange to use the cottage for work – writing his new book.
Will Annie ever forgive Theo for what he did to her when they were kids? Is she going to discover who threatens her and why this person is having a grudge against her? Why does Theo seem so different from how she remembers him? And what happened to his sister Regan?
My opinion:
Even though I struggled in the beginning – a quarter into this book I began loving it. There were some unexpected discoveries here and there which took me by surprise. I loved the characters – especially Annie, Livia and Theo. They are all so different from each other and well developed.
A great read when you managed to get through the first few chapters.
Liked the book. Liked that each of the puppets had a different character. It was an enjoyable read.
I loved this book! AIN’T SHE SWEET was my favorite Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s book (though I love all her work), but HEROES ARE MY WEAKNESS gave AIN’T SHE SWEET a run for the money. You can’t go wrong with either.