Download Her Sister's Keeper (Superromance) eBook

A tightly written super romance, with a good dash of mystery and intrigue. Melanie's world has already crashed with her sister's betrayal and subsequent pregnancy to Mel's fiance but now it crumbles even more with the suspicious deaths of two dear friends.

The strong attraction to his deeply traumatised client affects Kent as a psychologist as well as his police work. He really starts to lose his professional focus and makes a few unprofessional calls in his attempts to protect Melanie against being a murder suspect, much to his Captain's growing disgust.

The biggest flaw for me is where Melanie foolishly places herself in danger by bolting and trying to solve the murder mystery herself. duh! And her sister Ariel is annoyingly weepy! Double duh! Fortunately, the twist rescue (which I won't spoil) redeems the pace and sets up a shocker climax. There is no sex which helps elevates the novel, rather than sensationalistic rubbish common with HP world.

HER SISTER'S KEEPER by Julia Penney held promise of a good story, but went downhill the longer I read it. It is a story about a woman who discovers on her wedding day that her sister is pregnant with her fiancé's child. Melanie Harris is the bride, and her sister is Ariel. The prologue describes the wedding scene and the confession that comes out of Ariel's mouth. Melanie walks out on her own wedding and tells her sister she can have Mitch, the future father and her ex-fiancé.

One of the first mistakes, in my opinion, was that of not mentioning in the prologue that Ariel was actually a big time movie star. The prologue paints a picture of a contrite younger sister who did not mean to hurt Melanie, and while this remains true, the reader gets a different image once the fact is revealed that Ariel is in fact a celebrity. Melanie herself is also ensconced in the world of entertainment, with her boss being Ariel's mentor and a famous director of films.

The book fast forwards to six months later, when Melanie meets Dr. Kent Mattson, a therapist recommended to her by her best friend Stephanie. The reader is thus introduced to the male lead of this romance, and I found him to be arrogant and not likeable at all. There was nothing to this character that could have labeled him a romantic lead. There did not seem to be any chemistry between the two, despite the fact that Kent's thoughts were directed toward his attractive patient.

Melanie does not follow through with her appointment, but instead ends up listening to Kent's story about his life on a ranch he calls Chimeya. He commutes between there and Beverly Hills, where he has a practice catering to the stars, piloting his own plane to get to and from work. Kent also works for the police, helping them solve cases.

At the end of their "session", Kent receives word that there has been a death at the Beverly Hills Regency, and when he finds his expensive sports car stolen from the parking lot of his office building, he asks Melanie to drive him there. Melanie ends up hanging around the hotel, and after seeing the body of the deceased, discovers that the person murdered at the Regency is her best friend Stephanie!

Kent whisks Melanie off to his ranch Chimeya, thinking that Melanie's life is in danger after they find her cat dead from ingesting dip left over from a party, a party that Ariel and Stephanie had attended. Melanie is also a suspect, but Kent doesn't tell her that.

The story progresses like a police procedural, and for a few minutes it reminded me of a Jonathan Kellerman novel. The more I read, however, the more I found the story line rather contrived and that most of what happens to the characters felt like it was written for drama's sake, and not really because these characters would truly behave in this manner in real life. Over the top characters fill the pages, including a Russian dancer who disappears along with Ariel and her baby. Mitch had just been recently murdered as well, with another friend also discovered dead. There are several suspects, and while most of the book felt overly done, what kept me reading was the "whodunit" aspect of the story.

This was definitely not a favorite Superromance for me. It had potential, but went downhill after a few chapters. While the authors (Julia Penney is the pen name of a two person writing team) tried to entice the readers with the Beverly Hills/Hollywood characters, they failed to bring believability to the novel. Mistakes such as the misspelling of "Miramar" did not help, plus the fact that Kent had to fly home every day was a bit over the top for me. The scenes that took place at Chimeya, however, were a welcome change of pace, and I felt this to be the only truly "real" part of the novel. The description of the ranch and the lifestyle there were easily seen in my mind. At the same time, it felt out of place compared to the rest of the novel, which tried to be an action-packed "whodunit", filled with movie stars and other celebrities. I'm not going to recommend HER SISTER'S KEEPER except to the truly big fan of Harlequin romances. This book does not reflect the type of writing that usually can be found with Superromances, and this reader was disappointed. -- Couresy of Loveromances

In Los Angeles, what should be the sixth month anniversary of her marriage is instead the date of her betrayal symbolized by her need to see a psychiatrist. Two minutes before walking down the aisle, her hysterical sister Ariel informs Melanie Harris that she is three months pregnant and the father is the groom actor Mitch Carson. Melodramatically, Melanie hands Ariel to Mitch informing him he should marry her sister. Unable to sleep and losing weight at the urgent pleading of her best friend Stephanie, Melanie visits psychologist Dr. Kent Mattson.

Kent prefers his work with LAPD and with the kids his late wife worked with, but his bills are paid by his private practice. Currently, he is working on two homicides that seem linked with Melanie the surprising connection. As he fights his attraction to his new patient, she informs him that her sister whom she abandoned at the altar has gone missing. Melanie and Kent team up to rescue her sibling who just might be the next victim of a sly killer protecting his film business.

HER SISTER'S KEEPER is a terrific investigative tale in which a romantic subplot simmers in the background adding tension and embellishing the search and rescue mission. Kent wants Melanie from the moment they meet, but he is the consummate professional trying to control his libido, which is running wild. Melanie feels the same way but her quest save the sister she abandoned takes precedent. Though starting off seemingly like a soap opera; Julia Penney turns the tale into a fine Hollywood suspense thriller that readers will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner