River Deep by Maxine Barry

River Deep by Maxine Barry
Buy River Deep by Maxine Barry at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: Romance, suspense, intigue and a boat trip along the Thames. Recommended as a good holiday read.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 224	Date: October 2009
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
ISBN: 978-0709088936
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Two young women both have a love of the Thames. Melisande Ray's beloved hotel, the Ray of Sunshine is on the river bank. It's here that guests come who want to be pampered and looked after in the way that only the best hotels can do well, but when Wendell James checks in to the hotel it's not pampering he's looking for. He's buying a piece of land not far from the Ray of Sunshine and he's sussing out the competition. There's something personal in there too – if his new hotel means that the Ray of Sunshine goes under then that would be an added bonus. There's just a slight doubt in his mind when a red-haired maid catches his eye.

Gisela Ashley has just been through a nasty court case. It was good that the man who robbed the jeweller's shop was sent to prison on the basis of her evidence but worrying when his mother approached her outside the court and gave her a frightening message. Worried about what this might mean she decides to take a holiday on a long boat and it's confusion over names that leaves her sharing the boat with ex-soldier Keefe Ashleigh. She can't quite understand why she feels so attracted to him.

You're going to guess at least some of what happens to Melisande and Gisela before you're too many pages into the book, but it's not a story that you read for the ending alone. You'll warm to the two women – both doing their best despite the fact that others don't have their best interests at heart. They're good natured, attractive and don't do too many silly things. Well, apart from the drunk Melisande seems to have got herself involved with, that is.

Wendell James and Keefe Ashleigh develop well through the story and are certainly better than the usual two-dimensional males found in chick lit. Sex though is not Maxine Barry's strong point and I'd have been grateful if she'd quietly shut the bedroom door and spared us the details. There's a little more excitement than usual and a plot with a good level of suspense. If you're looking for a feel-good book for a holiday/wet winter's afternoon by the fire/recovering after the flu then you could do a lot worse than River Deep.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

For more about long boats we can recommend Going Dutch by Katie Fforde. For another book set in a hotel try Hippy Chick by Louise Harwood.

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You can read more book reviews or buy River Deep by Maxine Barry at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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