#ShareAReviewDay – Wake-Robin Ridge by Marcia Meara

/ Marcia Meara

Just realized I had no one scheduled for today’s #ShareAReviewDay feature, so thought maybe you’d indulge me with one of my own reviews. This review of my debut novel, Wake-Robin Ridge, is a favorite of mine, for sure.

REVIEW:

4 (4.5*) of 5 Stars
Great story, looking forward to following the series
By CathyR on July 5, 2016
https://betweenthelinesbookblog.com

Two women, two stories, fifty years apart, their lives connecting in a terrifying way. Ruth and Frank met in the 1960s when Ruth escaped from an abusive husband and settled in a little cabin on Wake-Robin Ridge. Ruth thought she was safe and could at last find happiness when she met Frank, but it wasn’t that easy to remove Lloyd from her life. Her husband, Lloyd Carter, himself an abused child which shaped him into the man he was to become, had been imprisoned for multiple charges, including assault with the intent to kill. Ruth took her chance and made the break for freedom, taking Lloyd’s money and car. From prison, Lloyd employed his cousin to keep an eye on things for him. When he learned what Ruth had done his anger knew no bounds and he swore revenge. While he served his time, he plotted and planned, and two years later he was paroled. That’s when Ruth’s nightmare began.

Fifty years later, aspiring author Sarah Gray is working in a library in Florida, as a cataloguing and research assistant. Until one day she has a flash of realisation. She is financially secure, with no need to work, especially at such a dreary, uninspiring job. She needs to move her life forward and realise her dream of a writing a book. With that in mind, Sarah decides on a move to the mountains of North Carolina, a place she loves. There was nobody in Florida who would miss her, or that she would miss, apart from her best friend, Jenna.

What Sarah didn’t count on was the complication of meeting the complex and solitary MacKenzie Cole, who has a heartbreaking tragedy in his past, causing him to be reclusive. Sarah and Mac have a less than promising first meeting when Mac’s dog, Rosheen, a huge Irish Wolfhound, slips her lead and ends up at Sarah’s cabin. I would have loved to have been witness to the resulting meeting between Rosheen and Sarah’s cat, Handsome!

A really accomplished and skillfully written debut novel. Sarah and Mac’s story is intertwined with flashbacks to Ruth’s tragic life. The engaging characters and scenic setting are so well defined and beautifully described. There’s a wonderful sense of place and I had clear images running through my mind while reading. The author’s love of the mountains, with its forests, trails and rivers, shines through. A lovely touch to take the title from a pretty sounding species of spring flower, native to the mountains, with deep red blossoms called Wake-Robin.

This is my third book by Marcia Meara and, like the others, it’s a well-balanced mixture of romance, mystery and suspense with strong, distinct characters, this one with an added extra, a supernatural twist which I love. There’s evil and a hate so deep on Wake-Robin Ridge that even death can’t stop it.

BLURB:

“A PHONE RINGING AT 2:00 A.M. never means anything good. Calls at 2:00 A.M. are bad news . . . Someone has died. Someone is hurt. Or someone needs help.”

On a bitter cold January night in 1965, death came calling at an isolated little cabin on Wake-Robin Ridge. Now, nearly 50 years later, librarian Sarah Gray has quit her job and moved into the same cabin, hoping the peace and quiet of her woodland retreat will allow her to concentrate on writing her first novel. Instead she finds herself distracted by her only neighbor, the enigmatic and reclusive, but very good-looking, MacKenzie Cole, who lives on top of the mountain with his Irish wolfhound as his sole companion.

As   their tentative friendship grows, Sarah learns the truth about the heartbreaking secret causing Mac to hide from the world. But before the two can sort out their feelings for each other, they find themselves plunged into a night of terror neither could have anticipated. Now they must unravel the horrifying events of that murder so long ago. In doing so, they discover that the only thing stronger than a hatred that will not die is a heart willing to sacrifice everything for another.

A story of evil trumped by the power of love and redemption, Wake-Robin Ridge will transport you to the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and introduce you to characters you won’t soon forget.

BUY WAKE-ROBIN RIDGE HERE


Author Marcia Meara

Marcia Meara lives in central Florida, just north of Orlando, with her husband of over thirty years, four big cats, and two small dachshunds. When not writing or blogging, she spends her time gardening, and enjoying the surprising amount of wildlife that manages to make a home in her suburban yard. At the age of five, Marcia declared she wanted to be an author, and is ecstatic that at age 69, she finally began pursuing that dream. Her belief in the redemptive power of love is a unifying factor in both of her popular series and her poetry. Today, she’s still going strong, and plans to keep on writing until she falls face down on the keyboard, which she figures would be a pretty good way to go!

Marcia has published six novels, one novella, and one book of poetry to date, all of which are available on Amazon: 

Wake-Robin Ridge
A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2
Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3

Swamp Ghosts: A Riverbend Novel
Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2
That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 3 

The Emissary: A Riverbend Spinoff Novella 

Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love 

Marcia’s Amazon Author Page

You can reach Marcia via email at marciameara16@gmail.com or on the following social media sites:
The Write Stuff: https://marciamearawrites.com/
Twitter: @marciameara
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/marcia.meara.writer
Facebook Personal Page: https://www.facebookl.com/marcia.meara
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marciameara/

 

 

37 thoughts on “#ShareAReviewDay – Wake-Robin Ridge by Marcia Meara”

    • Thanks, Teagan. While I’ve learned a lot more about the craft of writing (I think) since this first one, it still holds a special place in my heart, and readers still tell me how much they enjoyed my “Bucket List” book. 😀

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    • Thanks, Stevie! I never expected to write more than the one book, so I threw everything I could imagine into it, and doggone if it didn’t turn into a series. Of course, only the first book is a Romantic Suspense, since Rabbit came along and usurped the whole story line. Ha! Shows what a ten-year-old kid gifted with the Sight can do. 😀 Sometimes writing takes us places we didn’t know we were heading to. 😉

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    • So glad you enjoyed the series, Staci. It was a magic moment when Sarah whispered in my ear about a little boy lost in the mountains and Rabbit’s tale began. I don’t think I’m meant to write straight up Romantic Suspense for too long, though the occasional one is fun. The only problem is, the kind of stories I’ve ended up telling don’t seem to fit into any set genre. I need to work on that, so the right folks find them. I’m open to suggestions–?? 😀

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      • I think all your work falls under romantic suspense (to one degree or another). I hate the term “women’s fiction” but there are some elements of that, too. My best advice to you would be to experiment with your categories and keywords and see what does best for you.

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        • I can probably continue to get away with RS in Riverbend, so far, but there’s precious little romance in the books featuring Rabbit. I mean, Sarah & Mac are happily married, sure, but I feel like that’s different. Also, there is next to none in the Emissary series. So I’m not sure, but I think experimenting is a good plan, and one I’m working on. Hope to have some better guides for categories AND keywords before publishing TE2. It’s so confusing! I need to hire someone to do all of this, so I can spend my time writing all day long. Hmm. I wonder if any other writers have ever felt that way?? (Oh, hahahahaha. Sometimes I crack myself up!) 😀 😉

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          • Emissary 1, no; not any romance to speak of. E2 looks like it might lead that way. I don’t know yet.

            The WRR series has a romantic love element in it. Only the first book has a will-they/won’t-they aspect, but that romance is there in all three. That’s why I think you can get away with romantic suspense as your main genre. There’s nothing wrong with marketing it as a mystery or a suspense, though, either. Probably more suspense, as we know who the villain is so there isn’t much mystery to the identity, just the motive. (And maybe not even that.)

            Riverbend is darker and the romances are a bit more prominent. I think those are clearly romantic suspense.

            Maybe you choose suspense as your main keyword and experiment with your sub-genre keywords.

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            • These are all great points, Staci! Thanks for your input. Yes, Sarah and Mac are still a romantic couple, even after marriage and a growing family, so maybe you’re right. Yeah, I’m pretty comfortable with Romantic Suspense for Riverbend so far. We’ll see how the Emissary series goes, though. Some big questions in that one. 😀 I’ve got a lot to think about, and I appreciate your ideas and opinions very much! Have I told you lately that you ROCK? 😀 ❤

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    • It’s a funny thing, the way our stories take on a life of their own, isn’t it? I say go with it, though. If it takes more books to do the job right, then a trilogy is a fine idea. 😀

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    • That might be the coolest thing anyone’s ever said to me about WRR1. 😀 (I do get some shivery comments from the surprise hanging in the kitchen window, though. My cover designer says she still has nightmares about that. 😯 ) Thanks, Janet! ❤

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    • Well, on the one hand, I hope you DO read it soon, but rest assured, there are some familiar names (of friends!) in my TBR pile, too, and I’m desperately trying to reach them all. I’ve made up my mind that when I decide I’ve written my last book, I’m going to devote every spare minute of my time to READING. I’ll have my nose buried deep in a book (and with a Kindle, that’s tricky, you know) when the final “Lights Out!” is called–and it will be a fine way to reach The End. 😉

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        • From your lips to God’s ears, Debby! ❤ I'd like to think I can continue to write for years yet, but I have days when I question how I can keep up the pace. Maybe instead of quitting, I'll just slow down over time. That could stretch it out a bit longer. 😀 For now, I'm plugging away at it. But CURSE all this time spent trying to market. And then there's switching over all my books to KDP. GAH. Oh, well. The sooner it's done, the sooner I can get on with Rabbit's next story. There's a very mysterious light that needs to be checked out. 😯 😀

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          • Ooh, that sounds fascinating! And don’t stress about the switch over to KDP, it didn’t take me long at all to move mine, although I had an issue with one (the multi-author anthology), but a few emails with support sorted it out no problem, and that was in the earliest days when even they were still trying to figure it out!
            Slowing down is a great option – keep on writing, girl!

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            • That’s good to know, Debby, thanks! I’d been putting it off, sure it would be trickier than they said. I have a folder with several How To posts collected, though, so I’ll be as prepared as I can be. Do the print books look as nice as the ones from CreateSpace? I’ve had very good luck with them, and hope it continues with the new setup.

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              • They look exactly the same, and for me its a bonus, as they are now printed in the UK so no more waiting (and paying) for them to be shipped from the US. That’s why I tackled it early on. Believe me, it wasn’t anything like as tricky as I expected, although I do hear a few people are having some issues at this stage simply because of the sheer number of authors trying to move at the same time.

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                • So good to know you’re pleased with the new books! That was a big deal for me, as I’ve always loved how my books look. I will probably start this within the next few days, as I finish up editing The Emissary 2, and I’m feeling much better about it now. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Debby! 🙂 ❤

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    • Thanks, Robbie. It’s the first book in my Appalachian mountains series, and was supposed to be the only book I wrote. Didn’t turn out that way. 🙂 But the story took a different direction by the second book, and now, a boy named Rabbit (good name for a book, huh?) has usurped the entire series. 😀

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    • Thank you so much, Natalie. Since this was my very first book, you can imagine what getting reviews like this meant to me. Oh, heck–7 books later, and they STILL mean that much to me! 😀 Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

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