Switchback Mallory Christiani's world threatens to crumble when her daughter is kidnapped. She's warned not to tell anyone-not her family, not her friends and most definitely not the police. But private investigator Bud Mac Phearson won't take no for an answer.
Mac had failed once to keep his promise to see both Mallory and Emily to safety and he wasn't going to let it happen again. Now, with no one to turn to but each other, Mac and Mallory find that their future and happiness depend on holding nothing back.
Cry of the Wild When her brother disappears, Crysta Meyers leaves the big city to join in the search for her missing twin. She doesn't expect that in the Alaskan wilderness her greatest threat will come not from nature, but from man.
Someone is determined to stop Crysta from finding her brother-and will resort to any means necessary. Crysta's only ally is Sam Barrister, a rough and rugged mountain guide as untamed as the wilderness itself.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information. (1)romance author: Adeline Catherine was born and raised in Grants Pass, Oregon, USA. She always yearned to be a writer like her mother. The morning that one of her professors asked if she could use samples of Catherine’s creative writing on an overhead projector to teach was a dream come true. In 1988, she sold her first book to Harlequin Intrigue and went on to write three more before she tried her hand at a single-title historical romance. Nine books later, she did her first single-title contemporary.
Catherine married Sidney D. Anderson, an industrial electrician and entrepreneur. They had two sons, Sidney D. Jr. and John G. In 2001 she and her husband purchased a central Oregon home located on a ridge with incredible mountain views and surrounded by forestland honeycombed with trails. It was her dream home, a wonderland in the winter and beyond beautiful in the summer. She named it Cinnamon Ridge after the huge ponderosa pines on the property, which sport bark the color of cinnamon.
Sadly, Catherine lost her husband to a long-term illness in 2014. She has kept Cinnamon Ridge as her primary residence but divides her time between there and her son John's farm, where she has the support of her loved ones and can enjoy his horses, cows, and raise her own chickens.
Catherine loves animals and birds, both wild and domestic. She presently has two Australian shepherds, six cats, and a very old canary. She is very family oriented as well. Her older son has lived in Japan, Australia, and now resides in New Zealand. Catherine and her stateside family will celebrate Christmas on the north island with Sidney, his wife Mary, and their two sons, Liam and Jonas.
The first story Switchback was the weaker of the two in my opinion. It would have been better as a full novel but overall just felt rushed. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters because of this.
The second story Cry of the Wild was actually interesting/entertaining and the characters had great chemistry. I enjoyed the connection Crysta and Derrick had.
Note: I had previously read Cry of the Wild on it's own and really enjoyed the tension. So when I received this book, I only read Switchback. It was a good story but it took me a while to really get into it. It was a good suspense but maybe a little dated. Nonetheless, I liked the characters and enjoyed watching them develop a relationship as they were struggling to overcome past perceptions and hurts and current dangers.
It was Christmas Eve and I'd been on the road for 6 1/2 hours, with another 1 1/2 to go, I was on the way home and realized I didn't have jellied cranberries for Christmas dinner. I made a fast detour to the nearest Wal Mart; I entered the store with the PA ringing carols and an announcement that they would be closing in 15 minutes. Pausing I gave a shudder of fear seeing the multitude of people's elbows and boots being used for last minute defense of check-out line positions in what did my peripheral vision appear? Books. Not many and not a very good selection as there's a Barnes and Noble nearby but, BOOKS! I made it out of the store with cranberries and a book just in time for employees to start booting people out, because "We're closing for Christmas DAMNIT!"
I picked this one up for a light read, it's what you'd expect for 2 stories at about 300 pages each, a lot of dated references because they're repackaged from 1990/1992 publications. I mean who sees phone booths anymore?
Switchback is forgettable, is formulaic late '80's early '90's kidnap/romance mishmash.
Cry of the Wild is slightly better, the brother gone missing in the wilds of Alaska, the twin sister trying to use her psychic twin bond to find him, the ruggedly handsome but gentle man that she wants but can't think about because her brudder is missing & there's bad men afoot! I liked it a little better than the first story.
All in all a cutesy little romance romp with a smidgen of sex and even a small dose of heavy petting. If that's your thing this is good for you, I liked it for the eye rolling rescue from a sauna in the second story.
I love getting two stories in one book, especially when both stories are so good. I liked Cry of the Wild a little more then Switchback, but I loved them both. Mallory and Bud were great characters. They were both really cleaver and I really liked seeing how they both out maneuvered the bad guys. I never would have thought of some of the things they did to get out of sticky situations, but I guess I haven't ever had to either! The mystery with Crysta and Sam was even better. I didn't have any clue what was going on till the very end and I love mysteries like that, since so many you can guess what is going to happen. I also loved Tip. He was a great character and I almost wish we would get to see all of them together a few months down the road. I would have liked to see Crysta and Derek getting close again and Sam, Crysta and Tip becoming a family. Still a great story though!
I have a confession to make. I usually read 1 or 2 reviews on here whenever I start a book. I should have listened to the reviews. I enjoy Catherine Anderson ' s contemporary romance books so I was excited to find this rerelease of her older books. That being said, these books have every bad romance cliche in them. It was a struggle to read these without giggling at the madness. It was that bad. The only thing missing was a bodice being ripped and a bosom heaving.
Romance, mystery, and suspense all in one. In both stories the characters Mallory Christiana and Crysta Meyers find love unexpectedly when searching for the truth. Two must read stories.
This is a "twofer" with two of C.A's older works. Both books are a solid 3 stars. It was nice to be able to read two out of print books that I had been searching for.