Lisa Clark O'Neill

Serendipity
4 Stars

Ava Martinez is having a run of bad luck. Not only is she the niece of a ruthless mafia boss, but her mother has disappeared and her father is awaiting trial for murder. Things only get worse when she discovers the body of an unconscious man in the trunk of a car and knows for certain that if she doesn’t take action, he will be killed by her uncle’s goons. As fate would have it, the unknown man is Assistant District Attorney, Jordan Wellington, and his path continues to cross with Ava’s time and again as the two find themselves in the center of a dangerous circle of lies, deceit and murder.

Although this book is in dire need of some serious editing, the writing is wonderful with excellent characterization, witty dialogue and a good balance between the romance and the suspense.

Ava is an admirable heroine: intelligent, resilient and courageous. Given her family situation, her decision to rescue Jordan highlights her inner strength and integrity. Jordan is almost too perfect - charming and witty, loyal and persistent - it is rare to see a hero who is so open and honest about his feelings. Ava and Jordan have incredible chemistry and the development of their relationship is one of the highlights of the book.

My one small nitpick is the keeping secrets trope, which has never appealed to me as I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Thankfully, this issue is resolved quite efficiently and it does not detract from Jordan and Ava’s romance.

The suspense plot is comprised of two threads - the danger posed by Ava’s uncle and the serial killer targeting young women. While both develop at a solid pace throughout the book and have their moments of thrills and chills, they do tend to stutter toward the end with somewhat lackluster resolutions.

All in all, this is an entertaining story and a lovely romance with interesting secondary characters that make me want to read the next one very soon.… (mais)

С детективной линией, имхо, немножко бардак (слабо верится, что агенты ФБР могут вот так без всяких формальностпей включаться тут же в расследование), но всё остальное - чудесно.
Очень забавно было читать "наоборот" про характер Деклана: здесь даётся только крохотный намёк, что они с Роганом разные, и что именно Деклан - "тёмная" сторона.… (mais)

I cannot believe this is a debut novel!
I thought the premise was something new, but it didn't end up being what I thought it would be. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm saying that I can't believe that this is a debut because the way it was written was wonderful, with a lot of skill, the pace was perfect, everything rounded up nicely in the end, the two main characters are anything but boring, and there is an array of supporting characters that I was dying to know more about, too.
I loved the opening! It drags you in and you just know you're in for one hell of a ride with these two.

Jordan is a great hero. I loved his whole family, and I loved that he wasn't a typical romance hero. He wasn't set out on never committing, he wasn't a serial womanizer, he was just a nice guy that hadn't found "the one" yet.
And "the one" turned out to be Ava, the heroine. I loved her so much, she is a strong female character, a successful, independent woman that can take care of herself just fine.
Yes, the romance aspect was my usual "too fast". What was good is that the whole kidnapping/saving Jordan thing didn't present that big of an obstacle as it could have. Kudos to author for having characters *gasp* TALK IT OUT! YES!

The book is a real page turner, everything happens at perfect pace and has you wondering what will happen next - the suspense is great. The switching of POV between characters was spot on, just as I was wondering what the other character was thinking, I was being informed of it. Great timing.

The book has a sequel featuring one of the supporting characters from this book, Clay, that I wondered about. I read the sneak peek at the end of this book and it seems to be equally as thrilling and I can't wait to read it. Lisa Clark O'Neill definitely won me over with her writing style.

edit: Yay, the cover and blurb are up :).… (mais)