Echo Lake

By CARLA NEGGERS

In snowy Swift River Valley, unexpected romance is just around the corner…

Heather Sloan has landed her dream job–the renovation of Vic Scarlatti's stately 1912 country home overlooking the icy waters of Echo Lake in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. It's the perfect project for the family business, but for once, Heather is in charge.

Diplomatic Security Service agent Brody Hancock left Knights Bridge at eighteen, a few steps ahead of arrest and the wrath of Heather's older brothers. Though Brody had never planned to return, Vic, a retired diplomat and friend, needs his help.

Staying at Vic's guest house makes it impossible to avoid running into a Sloan at every turn–especially Heather. Seeing her again has affected Brody more than he wants to admit. But Heather is wary of Brody's sudden interest in her, and she suspects there's more to his homecoming than he's letting on….

Set against the scenic backdrop of a New England winter, Echo Lake is a captivating tale of family, friends and the possibility of new love

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Feb 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781474027854

CARLA NEGGERS

New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers is always plotting her next adventure, whether in life or for one of her books. Her fertile imagination and curious nature make her ready for anything. It is also these qualities that sparked her love of reading as a child and continue to drive her passion for storytelling today. With her trademark blend of action, suspense and down-to-earth, realistic characters caught up in extraordinary circumstances, her novels never fail to take her readers on an exciting journey. Carla began writing as a youngster, when she'd grab a pad and pen and climb a tree to spin her stories. Growing up in western Massachusetts, she is the third of seven children. Just before she was born, her Dutch immigrant father and Southern-born mother packed up the car with two kids and all their belongings and headed north to start a new life. They settled in an eighteenth-century carriage house on ninety acres and began a long process of renovation. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, she went on to major in journalism at Boston University, graduating magna cum laude. She enjoyed a brief stint as an arts and entertainment writer, then turned to writing fiction full-time and now has more than fifty books to her credit. Travel and research both play a large part in Carla's writing. She can often trace the germination of a plot to the exact moment of inspiration. “It's part of the fun of being a writer—you never know what will spark an idea. For example, on a trip to the Netherlands some years ago, we did a tour of a canal-like waterway,” she says. “I kept thinking—what would happen if a dead body floated by? What if it was an American? It's the way my mind works—around me, everyone else was admiring the quaint countryside. I was devising a murder.” Once a plot is hatched, the real researching begins. Her novels have taken her atop the northeast's highest peaks, onto a shooting range with a police academy instructor and across the world as she scouts out locations and seeks the authenticity that imbues her novels. The author's greatest pleasure comes in those moments when she feels she's gotten the story just right—when it all comes together on the pages of her book, exactly the way she's envisioned the tale in her mind. Then, when readers connect with the story, her satisfaction is complete. “Everything comes down to the finished book,” says the author. “When I hear from a reader that the story resonated, and that he or she had a great time reading it, I know I've done my job and done it well.” When she's not working on her next book, Carla enjoys traveling, hiking and kayaking. She's set out to become a “four-thousand-footer” by climbing all forty-eight peaks over four-thousand feet in the New Hampshire White Mountains, and she's always planning the next trip—and the next adventure—either of which just might inspire a new story. Carla lives in Vermont, where she and her husband have recently renovated their mountain house not far from picturesque Quechee Gorge. 

Reviews for Echo Lake

[whiskeyinthejar-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Vic is a retired ambassador and quite possibly losing his mind in his retirement. Phone calls that when answered there is no one there, items misplaced in his home, and a general feeling of unease. Adrienne, his housesitter for when he was away on work and now his wine expert and Heather, the woman in charge of renovating his home haven't noticed anything unusual but Vic is uncomfortable enough to call on Brody a DSS agent (Diplomatic Security Service) and friend. Brody grew up in the small town of Knights Bridge but left without looking back after an "incident" with Heather's brothers. Brody's not especially looking forward to being back but after a few meetings with Heather, he is starting to feel differently. As secrets, truths, and feelings get revealed our characters will learn a little bit about themselves while growing together.

First off, I have to say that my rating for this book fluctuated crazily as I was reading it, from 2 stars to 4 stars so my review may seem all over the place. Basically, I feel like the writing was high quality, interesting, and charming but I didn't read the story promised in the blurb. I wouldn't really call this a romance, mystery, or suspense; it probably falls under women's fiction or just general. In my synopsis I started with Vic, who is barely mentioned in the actual book blurb but this story is 80% about him. I commented in my notes how "in Vic's head too much in the beginning" before I realized he was more or less going to be the star of the show. Vic struggles over the decision to retire early, looking back over the moments of his life, and dealing with the reveal of a long held secret. Again, his character was interesting but not what I thought I signed up for.

This is fourth in a series and for the first couple pages I felt thrown into the story, as if I was suppose to know the characters and scene but after a few chapters I was able to nestle in. Echo Lake definitely offers a small town series feel, just be prepared for an overall feel instead of a focused concentrated interest on one main romance couple. It's not until the second half of the book that Brody and Heather show any sign of truly coming together and get any major screen time together. Even then, the process is pretty slow and except for a handful of paragraphs, this is basically a clean romance. Heather was the easier character to get to know as her family life (a little overwhelming and repetitive at times with the talk of her five older brothers) and feelings were discussed more. She came across sturdy and believable as a character but did not overly peak my interest. Brody was meant to be a stoic, still waters run deep, and man of few words, unfortunately, that was all I got from him as a reader. There weren’t enough pov scenes or screen time from Brody for him to become a prominent figure in my mind.

Even with all this said, I still found Brody and his, limited, interactions with Heather charming, which I have to put down to the author's writing style/voice and like I said, Vic was interesting if not a bit overdone with “someone’s out to get me” tangent. If you have read the previous books in the series and enjoy the author's writing then you will definitely want to continue with this one, past characters are sprinkled throughout and definitely some future ones. If looking for a comfortable mellow read and wanting to immerse yourself in the feeling of small town life with an open door into the life of an array of those town people's lives then this would be a good choice.

[rhonda1111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 STARSIt was good to back to Swift River Valley. The characters are interesting, and I want to see more of them. Cute puppy too. The mystery was okay. Part of it I guessed early. The setting was small town in winter. Good drama and romance.Heather Sloan is in charge of renovation of 1912 stately country home. She is the youngest child with six older brothers. Brody Hancock he works as a Diplomatic Security Service agent. He has come back to his home town of Knights Bridge to look into things for Vic Scarlatti problems. He is on leave after something about a mission went bad.Vic Scarlatti just retired from working the past 40 years in government. He was a Ambassador. He has some unexpected things happening to him.Lots of wine tasting, about building wine cellar. Which I don't drink and don't plan to so that part was not too interesting for me. I have no way of judging that part of the story.Has some snappy dialog. Great descriptions of scenery.I enjoy Swift River Valley and would come back to visit there again.I was given this ebook from Net Galley and Harlequin. In return I agreed to give honest review of Echo Lake.