Date published August 2004
ISBN 0-345-47579-8
Romantic Suspense
Hardcover
Reviewed by Gina
Rancher Derek Wright has a secret life. One his partner, Dr. Lily Munroe has no idea about. Rather Lily views him as a playboy with the flavor of the month bimbo. She views his frequent trips to unknown locales as flaunting his wealth and part of his inability to make a commitment and grow up.
Despite her feelings for him, both the attraction and the desire to shake him, she has indulged him, teaching Derek how to train his sled dogs and training for Alaska’s famed Iditarod. This year, however, Lily doesn’t want Derek to compete in the race. The death of her husband, coupled with finding out his infidelities went beyond cheating on her, has Lily wanting time alone to think and decide on some changes in her life. The changes she anticipates do not include Derek.
Six years ago Derek met Lily for the first time. His friend, Sean, moved in on Lily and swept her off her feet, or so she said, and married her. He cheated on her the first time on their honeymoon, but before Lily could leave him he was diagnosed with cancer. Now, six months after Sean’s death, Derek is determined to win Lily’s heart and he will do whatever it takes to do so. First, however, he needs to tell her about that secret life of his, the secret life that may save their lives in the wilds of Alaska, because Sean had a secret too. One that could get Lily killed.
For several years this reviewer thought Ms. Adair’s Kiss And Tell was THE best of the T-Flac series. ON THIN ICE moved into “best ever read” in the first few pages and quickly remained at the top of the list.
Taking place primarily in Alaska during the famed Iditarod, Ms. Adair brings the race and all its excitement to life. Through her unique descriptive language, reader can feel the chill of the snow, the warmth of the fire, the passion that arcs from Derek to Lily by merely reading the words on the page. As an author, she can evoke a myriad of emotions in the reader, bringing incredible highs as she describes the vistas of the Alaskan wilderness to the intense sexuality that oozes of Derek to the utter fear of drowning in an icy grave when Lily’s stalker causes a crack in a frozen lake. As Lily first fights to pull herself out of the arctic water, chunks of thin ice breaking off into her hands this reviewer soon realized how hard she was gripping the edges of the book. When Lily slips under the water, destined for the watery grave readers will hold their breath. Ms. Adair captures with incredible vivid descriptions of what hypothermia feels like. Derek’s fear that he will lose her is palpable as he fights himself to keep from rushing head long into the frozen water to save her, thereby killing both of them.
In a brilliant twist, rather than have Derek’s job as a T-FLAC agent center stage, it is the love story between Lily and Derek and the celebrated race combined with the attacks on Lily that are in the forefront. Ms. Adair does a fantastic job of showing how Lily fights for her life and overcoming life long fears such as flying in a plane. Among several intriguing twists and turns, the heat between Derek and Lily could melt the ice on that lake, bringing it to a boiling point.
A bit of Ms. Adair’s humor and personal compassion comes through in the scenes with the sled dogs with Lily calling them the “kids” and always keeping their needs in the forefront.
Each book in the T-FLAC series is a stand alone. While they flow from one to the other introducing the brother’s wives, they can be read out of order with no gaps for the reader. ON THIN ICE though is the one you cannot miss. Truly an adventure.
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