Stevie's Chase, by Justine Davis

I'm now starting another book by Justine Davis: Stevie's Chase. I've had it for a while but I'd forgotten about it. After reading Hunter's Way, however, I grabbed it.

Blurb:

"Who Was Chase Sullivan?
Stevie Holt found herself watching for him, waiting to hear her neighbor's motorcycle roar into his driveway. All she knew about Chase Sullivan was that he filled out a simple white T-shirt and a pair of tight, worn jeans better than any man she'd ever seen, and that the rugged loner wasn't interested in making friends - until the day Stevie gave Chase no choice....

The strawberry blonde next door with the sky-blue eyes had a heart that was just asking to be broken. Chase didn't just look dangerous, he was dangerous - to anyone foolish enough to care about him, to love him. Forced to live in the darkness, how could he ever take the sweetness Stevie was offering?"

Posted later...

Good book, but not the best I've read. A grade of B. For some reason (maybe I was just restless) I kept leaving it aside after reading 4 or 5 pages.

There were lots of things I liked. For one thing, their professions were original for a romance novel (he an architect, she an ad-woman). Also, this was one of those books where you can clearly see the process of H/h falling in love, through conversations, etc. And they are very convincing as a couple in love. I helps that throughout most of the book we see them doing regular courtship stuff: going to a ball game, dinner at her parents' house, a picnic with other people in the building, etc. Sean was a nice 2ndary character, though his recovery was a little to quick, and I think I'd like to read his story.

What didn't really work for me here, in spite of the well-drawn characters and the believable love story, was the suspense subplot. First: I would have thought Chase would have tried to keep up to date about Granger, what he was doing, etc. I don't know, that's what I'd do. Also, it was so very obvious it was Granger's son who was after them. Why didn't they see it? Plus, aside from those plot holes, I don't really like the whole "I have to leave so that you are safe" story line.