WILD AT HEART

Author: Gina Hartoog ISBN: NA 4/2008 INSPIRATIONAL/MYSTERY Publisher: BY GRACE PUBLISHING

New York photojournalist Katelyn Hillfox is determined to stay focused on her original assignment to South Africa. But after meeting handsome game ranger, Jacques Kruger, Katelyn knows her heart has a different plan. Her sleuthing instincts kick in when she hears about a spate of burglaries on the reserve. Katelyn starts snooping around and learns that Renprox, an eccentric animal rights organization, may be involved. Her own reputation is at stake when someone paints her as a heartless journalist out for a good story. Suddenly Jacques wants nothing to do with her. Can Katelyn find the truth before she loses him for good?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

WILD AT HEART is not wild at all. Most certainly it is tame, slow, and tedious. I guess I can say it does at least have a heart, but its beats are numbered.

While I enjoy a good romance with or without actual bedroom scenes, this one reads more like an amateur sleuth novel. Perhaps it could be better billed that way since the romance between hero and heroine consists of a few conversations and one date. Mainly, the focus is on the "who fancies herself a journalist" detective whose time is taken up with questioning suspects in a boring mystery. I do not find her all that engaging, and do not feel enough time is spent on the the hero to care. The word underdeveloped comes to mind when I think of them both.

I will say that the setting being in such a unique area does play into WILD AT HEART's favor. I like reading about the wild life and complexities of African life in the bush for as little as it is featured. The rest is too rushed, contrived, and not as fascinating as I want it to be.

Shannon Johnson