Pearl Cove ของ Elizabeth Lowell

Avon Books (7/1999)

เรื่องราวของ Archer Donovan ลูกชายคนโตของตระกูล Donovan ซึ่งเป็นตระกูลที่รํ่ารวยเเละยิ่งใหญ่มากเเห่งเมือง Seattle คนส่วนมากรู้จัก Archer ในเเง่ของความรํ่ารวย รูปหล่อ เเละร้ายกาจของเขา หากเเต่คงมีไม่กี่คนที่รู้ถึงความลับเมื่สิบปีก่อน ตอนที่ชีวิตของเขาต้องไปพัวพันกับพี่ชายต่างมารดา Len McGarry เเละพี่สะใภ้ที่อ่อนวัย Hannah McGarry.

เพียงพบกันครั้งเเรก Archer ก็หลงรักสาวน้อยที่หนีครอบครัวของเธอ ตามมากับพี่ชายของเขา หากเธอไม่ใช่คนที่เขาจะมีสิทธิ์แตะต้อง เป็นเวลาสิบปีที่ Archer ต้องเก็บความรู้สึกนั้นใว้ และเดินใปจากชีวิตของเธอและ Len.

หากเมื่อโอกาสได้หวนกลับมาอีกครั้งในสิบปีต่อมา หลังจากการตายอย่างลึกลับของ Len Archer ก็ไม่ลังเลที่จะกลับไปยืนเคียงข้างหญิงสาวที่เขารักอีกครั้ง ในเวลาที่เธอต้องการใครสักคนที่สุด โอกาสครั้งนี้ Archer ต้องเอาชีวิตเป็นเดิมพันเพื่อปกป้อง Hannah.

This book is part of the series that consists of four books by Ms. Lowell; Amber Beach, Jade Island, Pearl Cove, and Midnight in Ruby Bayou. The series involves the most powerful family in Seattle, the Donovan. Pearl Cove is the story of Archer Donovan who is the oldest son of the family.

Besides the fact that this series has a good combination of romance and suspense, it also provides a great amount of knowledge about the gemstone each story involves. And of course, in Pearl Cove, you will learn a great deal about pearl. I personally impress with the amount of research Ms. Lowell does about pearl for this book and enjoy reading about it however, some readers may find that the information given in the book to be too much and not necessary to the story. Those passages can easily be skipped, and it will not decrease the amount of fun you will find from reading this book.

After the death of her husband, Len, Hannah suspects that he is murdered and her life may be in danger as well. Hannah calls the only man she can trust, Archer Donovan, Len’s business partner. Just hearing her voice, Archer fries half a world to be with her.

Hannah, the heroine in this story, is a woman with past that makes her life very difficult. She has given up a lot of hope as years of marriage have goes by. Living with Len is not easy, he is not a kind of man who is capable of loving anyone. His only obsession is pearl and nothing else matter. Hannah did not marry Len because she loved him but she simply did not have anywhere to go after running away from home. Although she does not hate Len for what he had done to her, she just cannot live with someone like him again and that is how she sees Archer, cold and ruthless. The kinds of man that makes “love” the impossible. Throughout the book, I hope that Hannah will come to her sense and see that Archer is a man who is capable of love even more than she can hope for, but I do understand her reason of fear after all she has been through.

The charm of this book has to a great deal to do with the hero, Archer Donovan. Archer is a perfect romance hero with something in extra. He is handsome, smart, passionate, dangerous but gentle and protective. Archer first met Hannah the night his half brother, Len (sort of) proposed to Hannah and he fell in love with her right away. Although knowing that Len did not love Hannah, Archer hoped that she could soften his heart. Archer did not know that letting Hannah married to Len would be the biggest mistake of his life, the kind that it would cause him the pain to his heart even ten years after that.

The kind of love Archer has for Hannah is admirable. He respects her as a wife of his half brother and will never pursue her when she is still married to Len. It has been years after Archer walked away from her life and in ten years Archer has seen Hannah twice, but he still remembers every detail about her. She is simply always in his heart. A great example is that when Hannah called him the first time after those years, he knows it is she right away without her telling him who she is; her voice is a kind of voice that he dreams about for years.

I like the way Archer describes Hannah as to compare her to the “Black Pearl”, the type of gem that men will kill for. So to Archer, she is the kind of woman men will kill for. When Hannah tells him that he is the only one she can trust not to kill Len, because he is the only one who has no reason to kill Len (giving that Len is not a like-able guy and everyone wants him death so it is hard to find out who really kill him since most people have motives), it makes me laugh. The thing is that if Hannah is the kind of a woman men will kill for and Archer is in love with her, he has all the reason to kill Len (but he doesn’t).

I feel for Archer after he and Hannah finally get together and she tells him that she dose not want to have a long term relationship with him. The reason is that Archer reminds her of Len. When Hannah tells him that she wants to have a baby with him but wants to raise the child on her own, it really hurts his feeling. All she wants from him is sex, protection, and baby, while what he wants is love and relationship. I admit that I enjoy this kind of interchanging roles a bit when the hero is the one longing for love, not the heroine. Archer has lived ten years without any hope of having his love, but when he thinks he has a chance, it is simply disappear right in front his eyes. The emotional injury that Len causes to Hannah is too much and Archer may have to pay for the mistake of letting Hannah married Len for the rest of his life, even after Len’s death.

As I say Archer is a hero with something extra. After he finds out that he has no chance with Hannah, he still stands by her and wants to protect her. He will put his life on the line just to make her safe; that is the kind of love Archer has for Hannah. It is the kind that does not expect something in return even he desperately wants her love.

Well, in term of romance, this book will makes you reach for those chocolates. The love scenes are steaming and Archer is a very skillful and passionate lover. The fact that he is in love with Hannah makes the intimacy very intense. He is the one who uses the word “make love” while Hannah uses the word “sex.” Another role interchange enjoyment for me.

The suspense part of this book played a great deal in the story but it is not too hard to predict who are the bad guys, well there seems to be a few of them in my opinion. Everyone wants to get his or her hands on the “Black Pearl” that is missing the night Len dies. But overall I am reading this book for romance rather than suspense.

--April--

Rating: 90%