SEASON OF STRANGERS

Author: Kat Martin ISBN: 0778325547 6/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: MIRA

Dedicated, driven real estate agent Julie Ferris is enjoying a day at the beach with her sister Laura when a strange, almost undetectable charge fills the air. Then, under the hot Malibu sun, time stops altogether. Neither sister can explain their "lost day"—nor the blinding headaches and horrific nightmares that follow—but Julie chalks it up to the stress she's been under since her boss's son took over Donovan Real Estate. Patrick Donovan would be a real catch if not for his notorious playboy lifestyle and matching attitude. But when a cocaine-fueled heart attack nearly kills him, Patrick makes ' an astonishingly fast—and peculiar—recovery. Julie barely recognizes the newly sober Patrick as the same man she once struggled to resist. Maybe it's the strange beach experience fueling her paranoia, but she can't help sensing something just isn't... right. As Julie's feelings for Patrick intensify, she's about to discover how that day at the beach links her newfound happiness with her wildest suspicions...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

When I first saw the back blurb for SEASON OF STRANGERS, I was very interested in getting my hands on this book.  I couldn't wait to get started!  And then, when I read the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure how I felt about the things that were going on.  I am all for a paranormal, but this book is more sci-fi to my way of thinking. 

However, I became so engrossed in what was going on in the book, the back and forth between the characters and the romance that was taking place, that I totally forgot to care that the book was more sci-fi!

SEASON OF STRANGERS begins with Julie and her sister having a relaxing day at the beach.  They are feeling weird vibrations and hearing a weird buzzing noise when suddenly, they become very tired and are asleep.  We flash forward to two weeks into the future and both Julie and her sister are having weird symptoms, seemingly out of nowhere.  Laura is on edge and paranoid, convinced someone is going to get her, and Julie is having horrible migraines to the point that she is seeing a doctor to help her and have tests done.  Everyone thinks that Julie is just overworked and stressed out, including Julie's boss and the office playboy, Patrick Donovan.

Patrick is the epitome of a playboy—he is rich, gorgeous and attracted to bimbos of all shapes and sizes.  Once upon a time he tried a little too hard to get together with Julie when she was just beginning in his father's company, and ever since then, they have just been friends and coworkers, even though secretly both still have a crush on one another.  Julie has been warning Patrick for years that he has to slow down his party animal lifestyle and take better care of himself, until one day it is too late for that and Patrick might pay the ultimate price.

What happens next I cannot say because it is the ENTIRE plot of the book I would be giving away, but I can say that what happens gave me chills. The book had a twist that I never would have predicted, and I was so thrown by it that I had to sit there for a minute and just take it all in!

SEASON OF STRANGERS sets the bar for summertime reading for me! Fast paced, action-packed and full of a wonderful blossoming romance, I could not have asked for anything better from Kat Martin!

Kristal Gorman