"small town secrets"

Seventeen years ago Irene Stenson's world came apart after the brutal deaths of her parents. Although it was considered murder/suicide by authorities, Irene has never accepted that either one of her parents would take the others life.

Now it is seventeen years later and Irene comes back to the small town she grew up in, Dunsley. When she receives a strange email from her former best friend Pamela. Even though some things haven't changed in the small town one thing that has changed and she isn't so sure it is for the better. The owner of the local motel is Luke Danner who purchased the rundown motel six months earlier.

Luke likes running the lodge just fine, if it weren't for the customers. Especially demanding ones like Irene who wants room service if you can believe that. How is he supposed to get anything done with customers always demanding attention. Then his guest leaves the lights on all night and she takes off in the middle of the night.

Things get dicey fast in Dunsley when Irene goes to meet her former friend and in the process comes upon her dead ex- friend. Though this is ruled a suicide, Irene couldn't help but wonder if this death was connected to the death of her own parents. Only Luke believes her claims and together they have to work together to solve the mystery surrounding Pamela's death or die trying.

ALL NIGHT LONG by Jayne Ann Krentz is pure classic storytelling by Ms Krentz. I have been a fan of Ms Krentz for years and love everything she writes. ALL NIGHT LONG is definitely a new classic, making me think of my personal favorites like Absolutely Positively and Grand Passion. Irene and Luke are both coming to terms with the emotional traumas each has suffered in their lives, and also trying to find out the truth behind Irene's tragic past, but in the way I love about Jayne Ann Krentz' characters they do it together, even if it means taking on their own families.

Combined with the fun dialogue and steamy scenes that Ms Krentz is known for, ALL NIGHT LONG will be considered a classic among her fans and will create many more.

Barb Hicks

Reviewed by Barb Hicks
Posted December 27, 2005

Summary

The smaller the town, the darker the secrets...

Shy, studious Irene Stenson and wild, privileged Pamela Webb had been the best of friends for one short high school summer. Their friendship ended the night Pamela dropped Irene off at home—and Irene walked in to discover her parents' bodies on the kitchen floor. It was ruled a murder-suicide, and Irene fled the northern California town of Dunsley. But seventeen years later, when Pamela sends a cryptic e-mail asking for help, Irene returns to her hometown to find her old friend has died suddenly, leaving behind a lot of ugly, unanswered questions.

Caught up in a firestorm of desperate deceit and long-buried secrets, Irene knows it would probably be smarter to just pack up and leave Dunsley behind again, but her reporter's instinct—and her own hunger to know the truth—compel her to extend her stay at the local lodge. Even more compelling is the man who runs the place—a hazel-eyed ex-Marine who's as used to giving orders as Irene is to ignoring them. Luke Danner can see the terror beneath Irene Stenson's confident exterior—and he is intent on protecting her. But he is also driven by passions of his own, and together they will risk far more than local gossip to sort out what happened to Pamela Webb, and what really happened on that long-ago summer night. . . .