"Someone was always near, to help and to protect. It took her a long time to recognize this and even longer to adjust."
 |
Cold from the Inside Out by Violeta F. Sterner Trafford Publishing
book review by Cynthia Collins
Kate is driving through the mountains when it begins to snow. She is lost but there are no other roads, people, houses, or vehicles of any kind that she can ask for help. She is alone and trying to stay calm. The snow becomes a blizzard, and she sees flashing red lights ahead of her. A school bus was stopped in the middle of the road. When Kate gets out of her car to investigate, the driver is missing but the children in the bus aren't afraid. In fact, they aren't surprised to see her and explain that the driver went to get help. She has the children get in her car and begins to drive through the snow until they find the bus driver, face down but still alive. He has a spasm and accidentally hits Kate. She falls and hits her head. With the bus driver in the car, she drives the children to their home high in the mountains. Once there, she meets the handsome, enigmatic Ravenwood. She knows she will be safe. As the story unfolds, Kate and Ravenwood fall in love and discover that they have lived before, in another time and place.
The author's hypnotic, passionate love scenes get and keep the attention of the readers. It is easy to guess that the two will become lovers since early in the story, the children refer to Kate as Mama even though she and Ravenwood have just met. There are several secondary stories mixed in with the romance. One of them deals with the abuse of one of the other children. Kate and Ravenwood protect that child from his father. This novella leaves the reader wishing that the characters could have been more developed, more back story added, although many of the same characters also appear in Moonlight Emporium, the sequel about Kate and Ravenwood.