Review: Wait For Me by Elisabeth Naughton

Wait For Me
(Against All Odds, #1)
By: Elisabeth Naughton
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Dec. 22, 2011
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:

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A woman without a past…

After a tragic accident left her with no memory, Kate Alexander struggled to fit in with a husband and world that didn’t feel right. She’s had no reason to question what friends and family have told her, not until her husband is suddenly killed and she finds a photo of a young girl in his office. A girl who can’t be anyone but a daughter Kate didn’t know she had.

A man desperate for a reason to live…

Ryan Harrison lost his wife in a plane crash five years ago. To cope with the pain of her loss, he dedicated himself to his job and to raising their daughter. Now a successful pharmaceutical executive, Ryan has everything a man could want—money, fame and power—but he’d give it all up in a heartbeat for just one more day with the woman he still loves.

Two lives about to converge.

As Kate begins to dig into a past she doesn’t remember, evidence leads her to San Francisco and puts her on the path toward Ryan, a man who sees in her the woman he loved and lost. Kate feels a draw to Ryan, one she can’t explain, but is that feeling enough to convince her this is where she’s supposed to be? As Ryan and Kate search for answers, they uncover lies long buried, a passion hotter than either expected and a danger that threatens…even now…when the second chance they’ve both been searching for is finally within reach.

Due to a car accident, Kate has been in a coma for 3 years. Because of trauma from the accident, she has lost all of her memory of who she is. Her husband, Jake, is right there to help her get back on her feet when she woke up a year and a half ago. However, when he dies, she finds some suspicious paperwork when going through his things. Paperwork that doesn’t add up to all the things he told her about her accident and recovery. And at the bottom of the box is a photograph of a little girl who looks just Kate. In search of answers she heads to San Fransisco, the place where everything happened. However, when she gets there she realizes that there’s a lot more going on than just some screwed up paperwork. She realizes that for the last year and half, she’s been living a lie. She had a family before the coma and it isn’t with the man she called her husband.

This was one of those stories that kept you guessing until the end. At first you think it’s just going to be about Kate getting her life back. Meeting her parents, brother, (actual) husband, and daughter and getting acquainted to them, and they her. The trials they face with thinking she’s been dead for years only to have her literally show up on their doorstep very much alive but having no memory of any of them. However, then you start to wonder what happened? How did she end up going from Annie Harrison to Kate Alexander and who is the man she thought was her husband? So many questions.

I like that the story is slow building. You don’t go straight into a romance-mystery-thriller. It starts off as a mystery, builds to a romance, and then ends on a thriller note as everything starts falling into place. I think I liked that about this story. All too often I find that romantic suspense novels end up focusing too much on the romance and tend to forget about the suspense. With all things considered, the events that take place in this novel are very much believable. Okay, maybe the whole circumstance on how Kate wound up in a coma for years was a little insane, but the author takes the time to flesh it all out.

This was a great story. Not only is there mystery and suspense but there is humor as well. Kate’s daughter, Julia, is a sassy nine year old. She definitely had me laughing at some of her antics and the things she said. I was entertained from start to finish with this book.

Julia: “Aw she’s your penguin.”
Mitch: “My what?”
Julia: “Your penguin. You know, penguins. They mate for life. Penguins are one of the only animals on the planet that do that, like humans. It’s sweet. You’ve got yourself a little penguin, Uncle Mitch.”
Mitch: “I didn’t say I was mating with her for life. Where the hell do you pick up this crap?”
Julia: “At school. School’s full of crap.”
Mitch: “God, you’ve got a smart mouth. And no swearing in front of her either.”
Julia: “Why not? You do it.”
Mitch: “Yeah, I also get drunk and burp. Doesn’t mean I want you doing it.”