Reviews

SKIN DEEP

by Weslynn McCallister, writing as Jamie Cortland
URL: http://www.weslynn.com
http://jamiecortland.com


Published by Crystal Dreams Publishing, a division of Multi-Media Publications
Oshawa, Ontario Canada L1J8L6
Call 886-721-1540 for orders.

Award-winning author, Jamie Cortland presents SKIN DEEP, a dark tale of suspense following a divorced single mother’s involvement with the wrong man. Evelyn Valentino brushes off the warnings of her friends and family not to rush too quickly into her new relationship with an exciting stranger, but bit by bit the glass crumbles away and the madness driving her new paramour is revealed. Her ex-husband, Thomas, still loves her and pleads with her to end the destructive relationship before it is too late, but escape is easier said than done. Taut, chilling, and nail-biting suspenseful to the very end.

The Midwest Book Review

SKIN DEEP REVIEW Woman’s Day

SKIN DEEP by Jamie Cortland

Reviewed by Carine Nadel who is on The Reader’s Advisory Panel of Woman’s Day magazine and has had numerous articles published both on various websites and print publications.

Level: Platinum

Carine Nadel is on The Reader’s Advisory Panel of Woman’s Day magazine and has had numerous articles and recipes published both on various websites and print publications.

Skin Deep by Jamie Cortland is billed as a romantic suspense novel-but it has much more in substance than the name alludes too.

Written under one of her pseudonyms, Weslynn McCallister has written a book that incorporates how a smart and talented woman could be taken in by a good-looking and very unbalanced alcoholic.

Evelyn Valentino, still half-way in love with her super star ex-husband gets caught up in a marriage with a man she believes, at first is a dream. Only she doesn’t see James McMann for what he is-a schizophrenic with bipolar tendencies who is also an alcoholic.

Her four-year old daughter nicknames him “Mr. Stranger Danger” at the very first encounter in the holding area of a local breakfast diner. Evelyn’s mother begs her not to go through with the impending marriage. Her father, a psychiatrist, doesn’t know exactly what it is he doesn’t like about the good-looking James, he just knows there is a huge problem.

Within weeks of the ceremony Evelyn realizes the depths of her mistake. She sends her daughter to stay with her ex-husband (who is also still in love with Evelyn.) After nearly beating her to death-James becomes a monster in her nightmares-one that she can only awake from by his death.

Skin Deep humanizes the victims of mental illness-from the patient himself to his friends and family.

Cortland/McCallister has written a well formed story of suspense. It had me rapt from chapter one, page one with the introduction of Evelyn, Chrissie-her daughter and a seemingly harmless nightmare after a new divorce-through the different experiences of her abusive second marriage and her finding her way back to the true “man of her dreams.”

SKIN DEEP is a good read for all those who like a little suspenseful romance.

Tombstone, the historical town of the old west, had an air of mystery about it, not only historical, but strange incidents that couldn't seem to be accounted for. Was It foul play or something more?

Cally Sullivan, a bright young woman who had stopped in Tombstone for the night, drove into town with the threat of a storm right behind her. After checking into a small hotel, she ventured out to look at the town. As the rain began to mix with hail, Cally found shelter in Big Nose Kate's, a local bar, as the storm intensified. With a roar like a train, the storm changed into something more, and as it touched down. Leaving a path of destruction, Cally was swept up in a rush of wind and rain that transported her somewhere she hadn't expected. Cally awakened under the table she was under, but in another time, Tombstone, 1881. Still a bit dazed and very confused, Cally crawled out from under the table and nearly fainted into the arms of none other than famous lawman, Wyatt Earp.

After she had rested, she awakened to the sound of a familiar voice, the voice of her former friend, Sherri, who had run off with Steven, who was at the time Cally's fiance'. It had been some time since she had seen or heard from her and there was talk that she had been missing when her car was found on the side of the road. Authorities feared it was foul play, but no body was found and neither was Steven.

It was Sherri who had to convince Cally that she was indeed in Tombstone in 1881 and that it was not a town reenactment. Sherri explained to her that she was also transported somehow back in time by some type of portal that had opened when she herself was caught in a tornado and though she had no idea if they could ever get back to the present, she told Cally that Steven, who was here too, was looking for a way to get back.

Cally had to resign to the fact that her life in the future, her brother Donnie, her job and even Drake Butler, her boss whom she had been secretly in love with since she started working with Butler Realty, were forever lost. It was the here and now that she had to learn to live in, and with Sherri's help she would try. This woman who had betrayed her by running off with Steven was the only one who could help her now. Days passed into months and Cally was adapting to the life of the Old West as well as meeting colorful characters such as Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp.

This is a wonderful book that not only gives us romance, but a chance to let our imaginations run.

Louise Riveiro-Mitchell, Reviewer-The Romance Studio.com