HEROES ARE MY WEAKNESS
By Susan Elizabeth Phillips
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Blurb:
The dead of winter.
An isolated island off the coast of Maine.
A man.
A woman.
A sinister house looming over the sea ...
He's a reclusive writer whose macabre imagination creates chilling horror novels. She's a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids' puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs.
But she's not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they're trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine. Is he the villain she remembers or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.
It's going to be a long, hot winter.
Avon Romance
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Now Available in Paperback
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Excerpt:
Annie hadn’t thought she’d ever be warm again, but she was sweating when a coughing fit awakened her sometime around two in the morning. Her ribs felt as if they’d been crushed, her head pounded, and her throat was raw. She also had to pee, another setback in a house with no water. When the coughing finally eased, she struggled out from under the blankets. Wrapped in the scarlet cloak, she turned on the flashlight and, grabbing the wall to support herself, made her way to the bathroom.
She kept the flashlight pointed down so she couldn’t see her reflection in the mirror that hung over the old-fashioned sink. She knew what she’d see. A long, pale face shadowed by illness; a sharply pointed chin; big, hazel eyes; and a runaway mane of light brown hair that kinked and curled wherever it wanted. She had a face children liked, but that most men found quirky instead of seductive. Her hair and face came from her unknown father¾“A married man. He wanted nothing to do with you. Dead now, thank God.” Her shape came from Mariah: tall, thin, with knobby wrists and elbows, big feet, and long-fingered hands.
“To be a successful actress, you need to be either exceptionally beautiful or exceptionally talented,” Mariah had said. “You’re pretty enough, Antoinette, and you’re a talented mimic, but we have to be realistic…”
Your mother wasn’t exactly your cheerleader. Dilly stated the obvious.
I’ll be your cheerleader, Peter proclaimed. I’ll take care of you and love you forever.
Peter’s heroic proclamations usually made Annie smile, but tonight she could think only of the emotional chasm between the men she’d chosen to give her heart to and the fictional heroes she loved. And the other chasm¾the one between the life she’d imagined for herself and the one she was living.
Despite Mariah’s objections, Annie had gotten her degree in theater arts and spent the next ten years plodding to auditions. She’d done showcases, community theater, and even landed a few character roles in off-off Broadway plays. Too few. Over the past summer, she’d finally faced the truth that Mariah was right. Annie was a better ventriloquist than she’d ever be an actress. Which left her absolutely nowhere.
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Author Info:
Susan Elizabeth Phillips soars onto the New York Times bestseller list with every new publication. She’s the only four-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Favorite Book of the Year Award. Susan delights fans by touching hearts as well as funny bones with her wonderfully whimsical and modern fairy tales. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is also a wife, and
mother of two grown sons.
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My Review:
I love the title Heroes Are My Weakness. I certainly enjoy a good romance story along with the heroes and heroines that are brought to life with the words written by talented authors.
Susan Elizabeth Phillips has created a story that is packed full of drama, suspense, romance, humor, tension, a few secrets, and a whole lot of twist and turns that made for one page turner of a story.
Annie Hewitt is broke, homeless, jobless and headed for an island that she really does not want to be on. There are bad memories there for her but it's the only place she has left to stay. So she has packed up her puppets and they are going to do their best to make it through a couple of months at the Moonraker Cottage.
Annie has a lot of emotional baggage that has created some really deep emotional scars. This poor girl has been through the mill and back again. She has recently lost her mother, she lost her job while taking care of her sick mother, and used all her savings to live on. This girl really touched my heart. She has so many problems and no where to go and no one to turn to.
Theo Harp has returned to his childhood home, the Harp House hoping to get a chance to write his next best selling book. The words just don't seem to be filling the pages for him lately. Theo has been through a lot as well. He's lost his twin sister and his wife. Theo has some emotional scars of his own and a some deeply buried secrets from the past.
Annie and Theo were childhood friends but something horrible happened that changed their lives and ruined their friendship. The tension between these two is like a giant boulder just waiting to fall. There is also a deep attraction that they both want to avoid but sometimes attraction is just too strong. There a lot of things that have to be solved and resolved before these two can make a relationship or even a friendship work.
One of my very favorite characters in the book is Theo's housekeeper's little girl Livia. She is a sweet, adorable little girl that has a few problems too. I don't want to tell you too much about Livia. I sure would not want to spoil the story for anyone. I just adored this little girl and Annie's interaction with her.
The islanders also play a big part in this story. The island is very remote and they don't have access to a lot of things, including medical help or supplies. The islanders stick together through thick and through thin because they are use to taking care of their own in their own ways. This is a tough bunch that can handle just about anything.
I really enjoyed this story. I have to admit there are several twist and turns that I did not see coming at all. There is a lot of drama and suspense that had me flipping pages just as quickly as I could to see what could possibly happen next. Just when I thought I had it all figured out there was a twist thrown in.
I was given the opportunity to read this story so that I may share my thoughts with you. As always it has been my pleasure to share my thoughts with you on Heroes Are My Weakness.
The final novella comprised of the five winning chapters from our 2015 Avon FanLit contest!
