"...a heart-wrenching story...a
touching romance." —Romantic Times
5 stars
SUPERB AND BELIEVABLE!, February 28, 2004
"Rose Hill, Texas, 1998 - After the death of his son, New York
criminology writer Cameron Ford accuses Rachel Forrester - the
high-school guidance counselor - for letting his son Jack commit
suicide. Rachel counseled the gifted young athlete no less than
six times and Cameron is adamant she should have been aware of
Jack's emotional crisis. With hostility and anger he calls her
inept at her job, faulting her for his son's death. Overwhelming
feelings of guilt from being an absentee parent serve as the catalyst
for him to put the blame elsewhere. This convincing and excellently
written first scene exhibits a parent's understandable grief at
such a tragic loss and sets the stage for the suspense and intrigue
that follows.
Rose Hill, five years later - Rachel
is still endeavoring to guide teens into adulthood by helping
them make good choices. But her life plummets out of control after
she finds her husband Ted, a physician, is having an affair with
the wife of his partner. Rachel suddenly finds she is without
a home and she and the kids, 15 year-old Nick and 9 year-old Kendall
go live with her mother. Rachel - aware Cameron is the next-door
neighbor - does her best to keep the kids away lest they disrupt
him as he tries to meet his deadlines. As Rachel deals with the
trials of a failed marriage, Nick becomes friends with the solitary
Cameron. This camaraderie allows Nick to reveal a shocking secret
that connects to Jack's death. It is the nature of this secret
and why it has been kept that begins to put them all in jeopardy.
Kendall and Nick are two reasons Cameron's
closed and bitter heart begins to heal a fraction each time he
interacts with them. They come to regard him as a better father
figure then they do Ted and as friendship and respect build Rachel
and the writer begin to fall in love. But something corrupt that
threatens Rachel's son and other Rose Hill High athletes must
be exposed before a permanent relationship develops.
Karen Young brilliantly portrays each
character with refreshing and superb believability. The story
never lags while the subplots tie together each of the characters
and the issues they face. The deplorable actions of a man abusing
his power with young male students are skillfully handled and
keeps the conflict of the story at a high level. But this is also
about a woman that meets her problems straight on, grows emotionally
and comes to enjoy a healthy and satisfying relationship. In Confidence
reaffirms that love, trust and honesty help us meet the challenges
we face in life. It is an excellent must-read with a perfect ending.
Please don't miss it!" —Reviewer: Roberta Hawes
from Houston, TX
5 stars
A GREAT STORY!, February 23, 2004
"Karen delivers a compelling plot that will touch the heart of
any parent with a child in a sports program. Her characters quickly
became like family members to me.
When Rachel Forrester's husband of seventeen
years flakes out on her and their two children, she must pick
up the pieces of their shattered lives. And since hubby fell for
a pair of fake boobs - that just happened to be attached to his
partner's wife - their financial security goes down the tube and
Rachel and children are forced to move in with Rachel's mom.
Unfortunately, Mom's hunky, next-door-neighbor
is the last person in the world Rachel would choose as a neighbor.
A high school counselor, Rachel has struggled
for five years to come to terms with the suicide of a patient.
She worries over her inability to help the young man; what did
she miss? Why hadn't she recognized the signs that he was suicidal?
Why hadn't she saved him?
The boy's father, Cameron Ford, is her
new next-door-neighbor, and he has made it no secret that he blames
Rachel for the death of his son.
Rachel's children seem drawn to Mr. Ford
and forge a friendship with 'Cam' in spite of her instructions
to stay away from him. She worries about Cameron's motivation
in the developing relationships; his son had been fifteen when
he died, the same age as her son. Both boys' parents had divorced
when they were fifteen. Both boys had been promising athletes.
Both had received special attention from the high school coach
- attention that almost guaranteed sports scholarships.
Both boys' grades dropped. They became
surly and withdrawn. Was there more going on than the obvious
- something other than hormones, divorce and moving away from
the only homes they had ever known?
Will Rachel's professional inability
lead to the death of another child - this time her own son?
Or, is the problem external? Maybe buried
deep within the secrets of the sports program at the high school:
secrets that may threaten the life of both her children. Her nine-year
old daughter disappears from her bed and her son vanishes from
a baseball game.
Her children are missing, yet no one
saw anything happen!
Don't miss this book - Karen delivers
a splendid story!" —Reviewer: Terri Richison from
Houston, TX United States
Six Star Read, February 13, 2004
Karen Young doesn't disappoint readers. This latest offering is
"classic" Young. What readers will love is her ability to keep
the romance at the forefront of a suspenseful tale of incredible
evil. Ms Young doesn't let either main plot take over at the expense
of the other. Her characters are not only well fleshed out, but
are the type of characters the reader can identify with and cares
about when the last page is turned.
Romance fiction offers readers a wide
variety of choices in the sub-genres, but every romance reader
demands the "romance" always remain at the heart of the story.
In IN CONFIDENCE , Ms Young hasn't forgotten that simple rule
and the reader is rewarded with a fantastic page turner they can't
put down.
Brava!! —Reviewer: Jody
Allen from West Bend, WI USA
4 stars
exciting romantic suspense, February 1, 2004
"In Rose Hill, Texas in 1998, New York based author Cameron Ford
attacks high school counselor Rachel Forrester for failing to
stop his son from committing suicide. Cameron, who feels guilty
for not being there when his son Jack needed him, takes it out
on Rachel, who had six sessions with the star athlete before he
killed himself.
Five years later, Rachel catches her
husband Ted, a doctor, sleeping with his partner's wife. Ted blames
Rachel insisting that he loves Francine Dalton. The partner forces
Ted out of the practice, squeezing him economically. Rachel and
their two children move to her mom's home, next door to Nick.
As the kids find Nick more of a father than Ted, Rachel and the
author fall in love. However, something sinister involving high
school sports and her teenage son must be dealt with before anything
permanent can occur.
The Forrester family and Cameron keep
this exciting romantic suspense from falling into a low level
conspiracy tale as the story line contains several intertwining
subplots that tie together through healthy and dysfunctional relationships.
Cameron and Rachel are a delightful duo and her kids and mom provide
depth. On the other hand Ted is so pathetic that readers will
easily write him off as a loser who subtracts from a solid family
drama. The sinister conspiracy that is ancient history (four decades
ago) would seem unreal, but with recent headlines involving priests
and cover-ups appears genuine, making for a terse thriller."
—Reviewer: Harriet Klausner from Morrow, Ga. United States
