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presented by Tasty
Book Tours, for Perfect Touch
by Elizabeth Lowell. Please leave a comment or question for
Elizabeth to let her know you stopped by.
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Perfect Touch: A Novel
By Elizabeth Lowell
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: July 28,
2015
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 368 Pages (730 KB)
Format: eBook/Print
ISBN: 978-0062328342
ASIN: B00P6TVQ8K
ASIN: B00P6TVQ8K
About the book:
Sara Medina is a designer
and art dealer from San Francisco. She matches her clients desires with fine
and folk art from the world over--living up to her thriving business named
Perfect Touch. She still remembers her rural childhood of hard work and poverty
on the family dairy farm, but she keeps it firmly in the past as she searches
out new artwork and artists that are on the breaking edge of acclaim. After she
experienced the cultural riches San Francisco had to offer, she decided her
life would be that of an urban career woman rather than a working mom commuting
from the suburbs. With the intensive hours and travel required to grow her
business to the next level, she has no time or energy left for romantic or
family entanglements.
Jay Vermillion recently
inherited Vermillion Sky, a ranch that nestles up to Wyoming’s Grand Teton
Mountains--and the estates of the rich and restless. As a returned veteran of
numerous deployments over the course of two wars, he finds himself wrestling
with the demands of a ranch that has been run down during his father’s long
illness. Between the urgent need to modernize and revitalize the Vermillion
Sky, as well as an unexpected and vicious fight with his former stepmother over
the custody of now-valuable paintings that were part of his father’s estate,
Jay has no time for finding a wife and creating a sixth generation of
Vermillions to ensure the family legacy continues.
When Jay hires Sara to
appraise and market his father’s cache of paintings by Harris “Custer”
Armstrong, neither one expects the explosive results of their eventual meeting
in Jackson, Wyoming. In addition to a mutually inconvenient attraction, they a
discover double murder at the edge of the ranch lands and a potential betrayal
even closer to home. All trails lead to Custer’s artworks as valuable enough to
kill for, especially an unknown painted rumored to be called The Muse.
As Sara and Jay unravel
the motive for the killings, they both discover that love, like murder, doesn’t
wait for a convenient time. On the heels of that soul-shattering realization,
Sara is targeted for murder. Suddenly, the war-weary soldier finds something he
is once again willing to die for…
Sara’s phone chimed and vibrated in her hand. She looked down, saw her partner’s phone number, and connected. For a few minutes Piper Embry would take Sara’s mind off the cold and the man whose deep voice wove through her dreams.“Bought any great rugs lately?” Sara asked.“I’ve got my eye on some that have me checking Perfect Touch’s bank balance.”“What happened to consignment?”“I’m working on it,” Piper said. “What’s this message you left about Wyoming?”“I wrapped up the Chens early and came to Jackson.”“I thought you were getting tired of flying all over the place.”“I am.”“But you’re still lusting after those Custers? Or is it Jay Vermilion of the incredible voice?”“Wait until—if—I get my hands on those paintings,” Sara said, ignoring Piper’s teasing. “They will wring the hearts and pocketbooks of at least five of my clients, and go a long way toward reducing my world travel.” Chilly air swirled hard against her, blowing her hair into a nearly-black cloud around her face.“What’s that sound?” Piper asked.“Wind. Spring here is long on bluster and short on cherry petals.”Sara glanced around quickly, looking for shelter. All she saw was another odd arch leading into another part of the park. Or maybe out of it. Whichever, she opted to stay in the sun.“You okay?” Piper asked. “Your voice is different. Kind of strained.”
“You know me too well. My room was robbed. Computer and coat are gone. But I’m fine. Don’t have time right now for some junkie’s drama. In five minutes the judge is supposed to finally deliver herself of a verdict on the Vermilion case.”
She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, with whom she writes novels under a pseudonym. Her favorite activity is exploring the Western United States to find the landscapes that speak to her soul and inspire her writing.
A fan of romantic suspense, I jumped at the opportunity to read and review Perfect Touch by Elizabeth Lowell. Having recently finished listening to Night Diver, her book from last year, I couldn’t wait to see what Ms. Lowell did with a story set in the mountains of Montana with a modern day rancher and an art dealer who are brought together by the contested ownership of family paintings. Clearly an art lover herself, Ms. Lowell does a tremendous job bringing her characters, the location and the art in question to life. I even found myself longing to spend time on the fictional ranch she developed for the story (and I too am a city gal).Ms. Lowell does a great job developing the characters of Sara Medina and Jay Vermillion right from the start. They are both likeable, easy to understand and are hard-working people who represent a great work ethic. I easily connected with both of them and was rooting for them to get together right from the start. Sara is beautiful and has a great gift for explaining artists and their art. She really brought the paintings in the story to life and makes you want to break out your own set of brushes. While Jay is not handsome in the traditional sense of the word, he’s got an incredible physique from his years on the ranch and in the military. He’s also a very striking man with great eyes and a good personality unless you push him too far. He does what’s right because it’s right and is willing to defend what’s his and his country. He’s my kind of book boyfriend!The secondary characters are also well developed and all contributed something to the story. I especially liked how Ms. Lowell developed Jay’s ex-stepmother Liza Neumann and his half-brother Barton, I disliked them from the start and pretty much hated them to the end. They were perfectly nasty characters, just as she intended them to be. The mystery and suspense in the story are well done and there were plenty of twists and turns. The pace is just perfect and I found myself quickly turning pages to discover what would happen next.Will Jay and Sara be able to sell the paintings he has inherited for enough money to keep the ranch going for future generations? Will Sara decide that Jay is the man she wants in her life and be willing to move to Montana and live on a ranch? You’ll have to read Perfect Touch to find out. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading Ms. Lowell’s next book.
My Rating: 4.5 out of Stars
Thank you for hosting PERFECT TOUCH!
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