One Summer
Karen RobardsBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
He was pure, unadulterated trouble. Johnny Harris is home again, his too-tight jeans and damn-your-eyes belligerence honed to perfection by a ten-year stretch in federal prison for murder. Now he's out on parole and ready for the job Rachel Grant has promised to help him begin a new life. Unlike the rest of the town, Rachel has always believed in her former student's innocence. But one thing has changed...The sullenly handsome boy she remembers is still sullen, still handsome...but no longer a boy. And now the small Kentucky town is alive with gossip and whispers of a scandal, as friendship turns to passion and Rachel abandons a lifetime of propriety in the ex-con's arms. Then the killer strikes again. All evidence points to Johnny Harris, but Rachel knows he is innocent. And she knows she is next...as a shattering truth is uncovered and dark passions explode in the relentless summer heat.
New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards delivers the contemporary romance her fans have been waiting for. Johnny Harris is back in his Kentucky hometown, out on parole and ready to start a new life. But the only one willing to give him a chance is his former teacher, Rachel Grant, whose friendship soon turns to passion.
Synopsis
He was pure, unadulterated trouble. Johnny Harris is home again, his too-tight jeans and damn-your-eyes belligerence honed to perfection by a ten-year stretch in federal prison for murder. Now he's out on parole and ready for the job Rachel Grant has promised to help him begin a new life. Unlike the rest of the town, Rachel has always believed in her former student's innocence. But one thing has changed...
The sullenly handsome boy she remembers is still sullen, still handsome...but no longer a boy. And now the small Kentucky town is alive with gossip and whispers of a scandal, as friendship turns to passion and Rachel abandons a lifetime of propriety in the ex-con's arms. Then the killer strikes again. All evidence points to Johnny Harris, but Rachel knows he is innocent. And she knows she is next...as a shattering truth is uncovered and dark passions explode in the relentless summer heat.
Publishers Weekly
Robards ( Nobody's Angel ) here mixes suspense with romance, with uneven results. Teacher Rachel Grant, the daughter of a prominent family, agrees to give a former student a job when he gets out of prison after serving 11 years on a murder conviction. Rachel has always believed that Johnny Harris did not kill the girl he was dating, but everyone else in their small Kentucky town thinks otherwise. Johnny liberates Rachel from her well-planned but lonely life, and their mutual attraction grows into a relationship between soul mates, scandalizing the townspeople. When another girlfriend of Johnny's turns up dead, Rachel staunchly defends him and searches for the real murderer; her loyalty allows Johnny to escape the past and begin his life again. Though Robards provides an entertaining read about romantic renewals, several elements combine to make the plot seem farfetched. Johnny's transformation from hoodlum to law student is too rapid, the identity and motive of the true murderer seem implausible, and characters are too sketchily developed to make their motivations credible. (Feb.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Robards Nobody's Angel here mixes suspense with romance, with uneven results. Teacher Rachel Grant, the daughter of a prominent family, agrees to give a former student a job when he gets out of prison after serving 11 years on a murder conviction. Rachel has always believed that Johnny Harris did not kill the girl he was dating, but everyone else in their small Kentucky town thinks otherwise. Johnny liberates Rachel from her well-planned but lonely life, and their mutual attraction grows into a relationship between soul mates, scandalizing the townspeople. When another girlfriend of Johnny's turns up dead, Rachel staunchly defends him and searches for the real murderer; her loyalty allows Johnny to escape the past and begin his life again. Though Robards provides an entertaining read about romantic renewals, several elements combine to make the plot seem farfetched. Johnny's transformation from hoodlum to law student is too rapid, the identity and motive of the true murderer seem implausible, and characters are too sketchily developed to make their motivations credible. Feb.Library Journal
In this riveting tale of romantic suspense, Johnny Harris returns to the small Kentucky town of Tylerville after serving ten years in prison for the murder of his high school girlfriend. His former teacher, Rachel Grant, the only person to believe in his innocence, barely recognizes the angry, embittered man her old student has become. The two are nonetheless strongly attracted to each other and begin an affair that scandalizes an already hostile town. When a woman is brutally murdered in circumstances pointing to Johnny as the killer, Rachel provides him with an alibi that few people believe. Hard to put down, this entertaining romance/mystery will surely fly off the shelves. Fans of Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts will love it. Highly recommended for public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/92.-- Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass.When Johnny Harris, the bad boy of the town of Tylerville, is released from prison and returns home, the whispers about his murder conviction and his involvement with Miss Rachael Grant, the schoolteacher who helped him get paroled, fill the local grapevine. Rachael finds herself drawn to this motorcycle-riding antithesis of her prim and proper fiance. She is the only witness to Harris' innocence when another ghastly murder, identical in method to the one that he was convicted of, disrupts the town. Robards' novel is full of steamy and scary scenes, ending with the unveiling of a surprising villain.