Deep Waters, by Jayne Ann Krentz

I know I shouldn't keep reading her books back-to-back, but I started another JAK, Deep Waters.

Plot summary:

"It's Charity Truitt's elaborate, lavish engagement party in downtown Seattle and everyone's having a good time except for Charity. She suddenly realizes that she doesn't care that Brett Loftus is such a great guy or that their marriage would put the final stamp on the merger between the department store chain she's inherited from her mother and stepfather and Brett's family's company--Loftus Athletic Gear. Charity really wants true love and is willing to wait for it, so she runs out on the party, leaving her stepbrother and sister (not to mention hapless Brett) in utter shock and comes to rest in the isolated community of Whispering Waters Cove.

Her newfound career managing a bookstore is a far cry from her executive roots, and it's clear she won't be satisfied with small-town life indefinitely. But excitement comes knocking on her door soon enough in the form of Elias Winters, a strikingly handsome man with sea-gray eyes and an uncertain past, who appears mysteriously and takes over Charms & Virtues, a ``junk shop'' owned by the recently departed Hayden Stone. Unbeknownst to Cove folk, Elias has just come from the climactic resolution of a lifelong trauma--avenging his deceased father, whose business success was thwarted by the evil Garrick Keyworth.

Charity and Elias don't share much about their pasts, but they do fall in love. Then a series of violent deaths causes them to realize that there's more going on in Whispering Waters than they'd imagined; their quest to uncover the inner-workings of the community forces them to learn- -and then face--each other's complicated histories."

Posted a few days later...

I didn't read much these last days. I was very optimistic when I packed for Punta, put like 5 books into my backpack. Turns out I could only finish Deep Waters and start one other book.

Deep Waters was very, very good. An A. I want a guy just like Elias: very beta, solid, dependable, a little mysterious, deep, vegetarian, good cook. I loved him. Problem is, with time, he was cooler than most JAK heroes and with time, her heroes stared getting cooler and cooler. Elias struck just the right balance, but the following ones weren't as good.

Charity was great too. No ditzy girl, this one, but a real grown-up woman. I really identified with her feeling she had to quit her high-powered job. It felt (in a smaller scale, of course!) just like when I quit working for the bank and came to my current job: less money and power, but work I actually like and much less stress.

Those two together were perfect. Their relationship was lovely to see develop. This was a leisurely (sp?) book. Not a page turner, but sometimes you feel just like reading something you can wallow in, so it was perfect. Anyway, Elias and Charity's relationship develops with the same rythm, and it just felt right.

And I should comment on Tal Kek Chara and the food. Now, I'm pretty sure Tal Kek Chara is supposed to be a parody, but it made sense to me! I'm weird! Then the food. All I can say is yum. I made a note of the food mentioned and I'm going to look for the recipes online and try them out.