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MOONSHELL BEACH – JoAnn Ross
A Shelter Bay Novel , Book 4
Signet
ISBN: 978-0-451-23738-5
July 2012
Contemporary Romance

Shelter Bay, Oregon, the Present

It's one thing to be courageous in battle. It's another to face the families who have lost loved ones to war. For the last eighteenth months in the Marines, J.T. Douchett's duties have been to inform the (mostly) widows that their family members are not ever coming home. The empathy that got him this job is his undoing. After discharge, J.T. returns home to Shelter Bay a man wounded in his soul.

A touch of the sight is said to run in the Joyce family of Ireland. Though Mary Joyce, presently of Los Angelus, is skeptical in her own case, five nights in a row she experiences erotic dreams of a strange warrior. Her sister's best friend tells her that her late mother is sending her a man.

The town of Shelter Bay will be holding a film festival and their special guest will be the Irish actress and screenwriter Mary Joyce, author of the popular Selkie movies. Selkies dwell in the sea in seal form, but take on human shape when on land. Mary plays one such Selkie in her movies.

J.T.'s family and friends worry about his solitary existence and hope to lure him out of his gloom. His brother Sax's fiancée happens to be the town sheriff. She appoints J.T. to accompany and guard Mary Joyce against overly enthusiastic fans and paparazzi. As Mary charms the town of Shelter Bay, can her outgoing personality get through to the reclusive ex-soldier?

Be wary of this series; it will make you want to pick up and move to Shelter Bay. Trouble is, this particular Shelter Bay is fictional, though it and its citizens seem very real. Both Mary and T.J. have large, loving families as well as good friends. Each novel portrays a troubled man home from war who needs the healing that comes from loved ones, indeed from the community as well. Though this may sound too serious, MOONSHELL BEACH is a lovely warm and uplifting work written with good humor and keen understanding.

Many of the characters carry over from previous titles, while new ones are introduced, even from as far away as Mary's home town in Ireland, which happens to be Shelter Bay's sister city.

The Shelter Bay series is a terrific one…and it's not finished! I've just learned we can expect four more to come. Hooray!

Jane Bowers

 
   
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