Carly Phillips, Under the Boardwalk

Under the Boardwalk

Carly Phillips

Warner, Jun 2004, $18.95

ISBN: 0446532371

When Vermont based psychology college professor Ariana Costas learns that her twin Zoe is missing and probably dead, she takes a leave of absence and returns to her family home in Ocean Isle, New Jersey. She does not believe Zoe is dead because she has a certain affinity for her sister though they have been estranged for five years since Ariana fled her family of con artists.

Quinn Donovan is stunned to see Zoe's sister walking on the beach as Zoe promised that Ariana would never come home. Someone fires a shot at Ariana, but Quinn reacts and knocks her down. After he reluctantly gets off her, they talk. He tells her he worked with her mother and her sister at Damon's Casino, but hides his instant attraction to her and the fact that Special Agent Zoe is safe. Ariana informs him she will stay until Zoe comes home. Quinn worries she will destroy his undercover work at the casino trying to prove illegal happenings. As Ariana and Quinn fall in love, he breaks the rules of undercover work for her while worrying about her safety and their future together.

This exciting police procedural romance works on several levels but readers will especially feel the attraction between the two lead protagonists as well as that of a secondary couple. The vast cast adds depth as Ariana learns what family means through the reactions of a street teen to her likable con artist kin though her constant insistence that she does not belong amongst loved ones becomes irritating. Romantic suspense readers will take immense pleasure with this fine suspense laden tale starring a lovable You Can't Take It With You cast.

Harriet Klausner