Carolina Moon

Product Description<br/><br/><br/>Tory Bodeen grew up in a small, rundown house where her father ruled with his fist. Only her friendship with Hope, from the big house nearby, allowed Tory to be the child she couldn't be at home. But Tory's life fell apart when Hope was brutally killed - a murder which was never solved. Now, as Tory returns to her hometown to settle and start a business, she is determined to rid herself of the nightmare of that terrible night. Forging a bond with Cade Lavelle, Hope's brother, she's unsure whether the loss they share will unite them or drive them apart. But she's willing to try. Only living so close to those unhappy memories is more difficult and frightening than she expected. Because Hope's killer is still free - and extremely close ...<br/><br/><br/>Amazon.com Review<br/><br/><br/>With its blend of evil killers, handsome heroes, and feisty, sensitive heroines, Nora Roberts's latest thriller meets the same standards of terror and romance that made last year's<br/>River's End a bestseller. This time, our heroine Tory Bodeen has returned to her hometown of Progress, South Carolina, to face the fearsome memories of her childhood friend Hope's death and rebuild her life in a town that once betrayed her.<br/> Struggling to balance the disturbing recollections, Tory finds comfort in the arms of Hope's older brother, Cade Lavelle. Though she sets about developing relationships with old friends and establishing her own business, Tory's worst fears come true and her past catches up to her: Tory's unique role in Hope's death makes her not only the focus of the Lavelle family's hatred, but the next choice for Hope's killer, who is still at large. <br/> With the same skills that earned her the honor of being the first Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame inductee, Roberts weaves a winning blend of mystery, terror, and romance that loyal followers and new fans will enjoy immensely. Sure to be another bestseller, Carolina Moon will keep your heart beating in triple time. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien<br/><br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/><br/><br/>Doyenne of the bestseller lists, Roberts (River's End) may have achieved her personal best in this tense Southern gothic. As atmospheric and unsettling as a Tennessee Williams play, the story takes us into the gifted mind and troubled soul of visionary Tory Bodeen, whose childhood in Progress, S.C., was marked by her father's beatings, her mother's passivity and, when she was eight, the rape and strangulation of her best friend, Hope Lavelle. Now 26, still haunted by Hope's unsolved murder and memories of an unsettling experience in New York City, to which she fled at age 18, Tory returns to Progress after a quiet four-year stint in Charleston. Although profoundly ambivalent about her psychic ability to connect with other minds, she knows she'll never find peace until she uses her unsettling skill to find the murderer. And by opening a shop full of beautiful objects, she wants to show Progress that she's more than the bruised spawn of despicable Hannibal and Sarabeth Bodeen. She doesn't reckon on being swept off her feet by Hope's older brother, Cade, or by making an enemy and then a fine friend of Hope's twin, Faith. Nor could she have imagined that she would stumble on a chain of past murders seemingly linked to Hope's death. The mystery heats up as a wave of new murders sweeps Progress, but the increasingly intricate plot developments never overwhelm the human element. Roberts--again like Williams- seems disgusted only by unkindness; she treats most of her big cast with affection and compassion for their foibles. Cade doesn't yield an inch to his mother's snobbish contempt for Tory, and the complicated Tory is allowed to hate her own mother and wish her father a painful death: there are no saccharine reconciliations here. Even when a few over-the-top sex scenes and hackneyed phrasings slip in, Roberts's witty dialogue and moody descriptions soon counteract them. This is romantic drama at its best. 400,000 first printing; Literary Guil