"Delightful romantic thriller"

Forty-nine year old Agent Jared McBride feels too old to do another field assignment, but his boss insists. Agent Roger Applegate had been selling out his country for fifteen years, but swallowed incriminating notes just before the feds arrived; they found the hard way a scrap that named an Eden Palmer with her social security number. The Feds want to know the connection.

Jared is to investigate forty-five years old single mom Eden who recently left New York City when she inherited a home in Arundel, North Carolina from the late Alice Farrington who she once worked for. Jared learns that when his target was seventeen she was coming home from choir practice when she was raped; when she became pregnant her parents tossed her out of her home. Alice took her and her newborn into her home, but Eden fled when Melissa turned five because her employer's son was a pedophile.

Jared knows he must be cautious because someone killed agent Tess Brewster in Arundel. To get close to Eden he begins to court her, but for the first time Jared is emotionally involved as he has fallen in love with his mark who may be a traitor.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS is a delightful romantic thriller that stars two wonderful middle age protagonists, both wanting to start over. Jared is caught between duty and love as he finds the warm Eden is a fabulous beautiful person who he desires and is so removed from his FIRST IMPRESSIONS of a victimized Mother Theresa (based on her file). Eden just wants to connect, but also begins to learn that a house is not a home. Together with a fine support cast they provide fans with an enjoyable romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 10, 2005

Summary

contemporary novel of romance and renewal from perennial bestseller Jude Deveraux, First Impressions is an emotionally charged story of one woman's bid to start over. Eden Palmer knows how to make it on her own. The forty- something single mother has worked hard to raise her beloved daughter -- now twenty-seven and recently married. The offspring of a terrible event, Eden's daughter, Melissa, has long been the jewel of Eden's life, the one for whom she would sacrifice anything and everything. But sooner or later a woman must come into her own, and that's what Eden tries to do when she moves to Arundel, North Carolina, to take ownership of Farrington Manor, a beautiful old house filled with charm and memories that was willed to Eden by the person who cared for her when she needed it most. Torn between the desire to stay with her daughter and the need to build a separate life on her own, Eden opts for some distance and some much-needed perspective. But it's not long before she realizes that sometimes you have to go back before you can start over. Arriving in Arundel -- the South's prettiest small town -- Eden quickly learns that looks can be deceiving when her move is met with delight in some quarters and jealousy in others. Pursued by two eligible bachelors -- the rugged Jared McBride and Braddon Granville, local lawyer and town catch -- Eden is flattered, and more than a little suspicious. Juggling the attentions of two men is hard enough, but soon Eden's bid to start over plunges her in the middle of a mystery that threatens not just her plans and reputation, but her very life. Can she use one man to save her from the other?