Patton's Daughters

     I was pleased that I had this last, rather conneced, story to the previous books from JKJ's miniseries, Patton's Daughters.  Jack's life has been connected with the Patton sisters and Ed Patton as well, for most of his life and he has played parts in each of the sisters' stories, so it was great to know that he did get his own story.  I've always liked Jack; he'd had a really bad experience at the hands of Ed Patton when he was only 17 years old and it really had affected his life to a very large degree.  And with his continuing connection with Meg, through their son Will, Renee as her boss and even Abby as a one-time lover, it seemed destined that there would be a conclusion for him as well.
     For the most part I really liked the story ~ I loved Jack; with Beth, on the other hand, I sometimes got a little fed up.  She could never really see beyond the end of her nose and, while she had had problems with both her father and ex-husband, she really didn't give Jack enough credit for not being a clone of the two men that had hurt her.  But she smartened up and made Jack happy, so all's well that ended well... lucky for her!

RATING:
Excellence: Very Good to Excellent ~ 3.5 stars
Steaminess: Romantic to Sensual

     Reading the first two stories in this series about Abby's older sisters Renee and Meg, Abby came across as feckless.  While she took her job seriously, the rest of her life was nothing but a game, or so it appeared.  But appearances are deceiving; growing up with an abusive father had definitely caused big problems for each of them.  Renee and Meg have both, for the most part, made peace with their past and their husbands have had more than a little to do with that.  But Abby never reacted the same way as her sisters and it really seemed as though she wasn't as adversely affected.  
     Finding herself attracted to another police officer was scary enough... but she really didn't know how to deal with it.  A touching story, but also a fairly suspenseful one as well; someone has it in for the Patton daughters and their lives and families are being threatened.  JKJ did a wonderful job dealing with all the diverse elements and the end was wonderful! 

RATING:
Excellence: Excellent ~ 4.0 stars
Steaminess: Romantic

     Like any of Janice Kay Johnson's books this one delves deep into the human psyche ~ good and bad.  There's always a strong emotional component in JKJ's stories, but it's never too much ~ but it sure does open the reader to the characters. 
   I read the first book in this series awhile back (aka earlier this year) and finally came across the next two books in the series.  And as this is my month to read series that I'm into, it seemed perfect ~ and I can bring up my harlequin numbers at the same time. 
    Any way you look at it, this book is a winner ~ but then I knew that it would be!  VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

RATING:
Excellence: Excellent ~ 4.0 stars
Steaminess: Romantic

     After the first of Janice Kay Johnson's books that I read, she became a favourite and auto-buy author; so of course I'm on a backlist hunt!  But I do so enjoy hunting down books like this so it's no big deal. 
     I have another seven of her books on tap, many that I found at the book sale the end of April, and while I think that I'll be reading all of them one-after-the-other now, you never know.  But after this story, I'm all gung-ho to do just that.
     Once again JKJ has created characters that not only come to life, but whose trials, emotions, lives and circumstances become very real.  I love the way that she imbues so much emotional strength into her h and H, and that they know quite early on that the other is the one for them.  The road to a lifelong love may not be, indeed isn't, smooth and easy, but they work towards a common goal.  They're fascinating people with hearts that respond quickly to the other ~ the best kind of romance.  And the mysteries that JKJ has set up for this trilogy are of the sort that I had serious difficulty setting this book down to sleep last night... and it's going to be driving me nuts until I get the next two books in the series.  I can hardly wait to find out how it all ties together!  VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

RATING:
Excellence: Excellent ~ 4.0 stars
Steaminess: Sensual