Dream Chaser pulled me in because it takes place in Minnesota and Montana, and because it portrays Suzanna’s journey of seeking and finding freedom after long living mainly for others. Vale’s characters could be right out of our real lives. Margaret's spunky encouraging of Suzanna and Jamie's moving Jonathon along remind us of the profound impact of friends who challenge and care for us, and who move us toward the best of life. FINALLY Penny mellows out, and FINALLY Suzanna & Jonathan let each other know what they've both been thinking all along! Definitely a page turner.
I loved reading Family Bonds and all the characters. I am pleased how Jane and Chet found each other and also Chet's Mom and the beautiful ending for her finding her first love, and even more meaningful on the Oregon Coast!
A good read. Like the characters; it made me cry in some of the story. Can't wait for the second book (in the series) to see what happens to Chet and Jane, and also Chet's dad.
This book is about finding the courage to be true to yourself again in mid-life. It's well written and will take you on a great trip to beautiful Montana.
Kate Vale weaves together complex modern issues and realistic characters in this novel. The Buckley College campus romance of English professor Amanda Gardner and journalism prof Marcus Dunbar is complicated from the start by the fact that Amanda is the single mother of nine-year-old Cecelia. Like most nine-year-olds, Cece has her own likes and dislikes! Marcus's troubled romantic past makes him hesitant and emotionally distant, although his charm allows him to easily befriend both mother and daughter.
Amanda also has to grapple with the hostility of her office-mate, Carlton Winslow, who dislikes Amanda (and just about everyone else, as far as the readers can tell!) The one exception: this curmudgeonly figure is charmed by the winsome Cece, who nonetheless wants nothing to do with him.
Single parents and their partners will easily relate to the tightrope Amanda and Marcus must walk as their attraction to one another grows, and they must rein it in for Cece's sake. One day, Cece loves Marcus and wishes he were her daddy. The next, she resents his intrusion into the warm cocoon of her relationship with her mother.
Just as the three of them seem to be sorting things out, and Carlton seems relegated to an unpleasant footnote in Amanda's professional life, Vale pulls out all the stops: left alone in the house for a few minutes, Cece inexplicably runs into the street and is hit by a car -- exploding the fragile sense of security her mother and Marcus were building for her. When she recovers, she is tormented by nightmares and panic attacks, but can't tell anyone why she ran.
Fighting to help Cece and to rebuild his relationship with her mother, Marcus turns his investigative skills to finding out what happened to Cece.
Vale weaves together realistic characters and heartbreakingly real issues of modern life in this romantic suspense. This book won't just entertain you -- it will make you think.
In ‘Package Deal’ we find Amanda and Marc, two career oriented people leading average lives. They don’t rush into love as so many couples in the genre do. Ms. Vale takes her time and spreads the story over a year; allowing the relationships between Amanda, Marc and Amanda’s young daughter, Cecelia to build. The timing allows her to show that relationships go through highs and lows when the three of them struggle to find balance in acting on their feelings as friends, family, and lovers. Each individual relationship among the three is unique and takes care in handling appropriately and realistically for our day and age. The timing also allows the author to introduce a slimy antagonist and an array of supporting characters.
Throughout the entire book, Ms. Vale’s writing is intelligent, romantic, and when appropriate - passionate.
There are no extreme heroics, or suspenseful situations that have you thinking, “Could that really happen?” You are dropped into heart-wrenching scenarios that make you care for those you are reading about. You want to fight off these character’s demons, some physical and others emotional. All demons which seem all too capable of entering your own world. And, that is what makes it so great. The situations are real; In some ways an unfortunate reality in our society, but mostly real in that they show that love can, and will, ultimately find a way.
Readers will care deeply about these men and women, who struggle so earnestly to make the right decisions--for themselves and for those they love. Above all, Vale's novels have heart, and always, always remind us what it is to be human, and to love life and each other with tenacious passion.
Kate Vale's poignant, true-to-life stories remind us that people everywhere share the same fears, desires, and dreams. I've never been able to put down a Kate Vale story until I've followed her engaging characters to the very end of their dramatic journey.
Engaging characters, poignant, true-to-life characters...Kate Vale's novels have heart.
Romance Genre, Suspense with strong romantic elements.
When the beautiful Amanda Gardner arrives in the coastal town of Shoreville, Washington, her only expectation is to begin a new life with her nine-year-old daughter Cecelia and a new career as an English professor at Buckley College. The previous ten years have not been easy. Undaunted, Amanda supported her daughter and managed to get her PhD. Now the bright and lively Cece is enrolled at the Campus School, and her intelligent, attractive mother is preparing for her first class at Buckley. Surely life is full…or is it?
The suspense begins when Amanda leaves Cece in her shared campus office with Carlton Winston, her colleague and office mate while she attends a short meeting. Carlton is surly with Amanda, but queasily friendly with the blond, blue-eyed Cece.
Intrigue begins to build on the romantic level when Amanda meets the handsome Marcus Dunbar, a friendly and witty journalism professor assigned to interview new faculty members. She is attracted to the handsome, athletic –looking man in spite of herself. His eyes—so intensely blue—are a perfect match for Cece’s! Marcus begins to win Amanda over when he takes her and her daughter on a tour around Shoreville. However, Cece appears jealous of Marcus's intrusion in their life.
But how can Amanda resist her feelings for Marcus? She feels torn between dreams of a loving husband and a caring father for Cecelia and nightmares that their life together might somehow be torn apart, as happened before. Marcus has his own relationship demons to fight. Then just as all three begin to open up to each other, Cece inexplicably runs out from her home into the street and is hit by a car, suffering grave injuries. While the young girl recovers she suffers nightmares. She cannot, or will not, explain why she ran.
Marcus draws on his journalist-investigative skills to determine what might have happened to Cece. He believes that Carlton Winslow—especially after he disappears—was involved, but the local police are not so convinced. Amanda does not know who to trust anymore—not even Marcus. Nothing appears as it seems and danger continues to abound and ensue.
Vale keeps us rapidly turning pages in this contemporary novel that is as suspenseful as it is romantic. I could not put Package Deal down once I started reading it. Vale keeps the tension building from page one of Package Deal and carries it, on many levels, to the very end.