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Trouble In Eden #2
All a Man Can Ask
Victime d'une agression à Chicago, Faye Harper est venue se reposer pendant l'été dans la maison de sa tante, où elle compte bien mettre à profit ses talents de peintre pour se changer les idées. C'est alors qu'Alexis Denko, un policier en mission, lui demande de l'héberger chez elle pour pouvoir surveiller son voisin. Il soupçonne en effet ce dernier d'avoir tué une femme, une certaine Karen Vasquez. Une situation qui est loin de plaire à Faye, car non seulement Alexis a un charme ravageur qui la séduit dès... voir plus
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
3 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Kantra
48 books1,005 followersNew York Times bestselling author
Virginia Kantra
is the author of thirty books of women's fiction, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense.
Kindred spirits and Anne of Green Gables fans, look for Anne of a Different Island , coming January 20, 2026.
Her latest release, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale , a contemporary reimagining inspired by Dorothy's adventures in Oz, follows Kansas graduate student Dee Gale as she flees personal heartbreak and public humiliation to enroll in the writing program at Trinity College Dublin (the Emerald Isle!).
Meg and Jo , a contemporary novel inspired by the classic story Little Women, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was a People Magazine pick.
Beth and Amy (May 25, 2021) "continues her delightful 21st-century retelling of Little Women...Kantra’s compulsively readable update will attract a whole new group of readers, as well as satisfy Alcott devotees."—Publishers Weekly
Her stories have earned numerous awards including two Romance Writers of America's RITA (R) Awards, ten RITA nominations, and two National Readers' Choice Awards.
Carolina Dreaming, the fifth book in her Dare Island series , won the 2017 RITA (R) Award for Best Contemporary Romance - Midlength and was named one of BookPage's Top Ten Romance Novels of 2016. Her work includes the popular Children of the Sea series and, in e-book format, The MacNeills stories.
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I love to connect with readers! Find me on Facebook and Instagram.
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join my mailing list.
Kindred spirits and Anne of Green Gables fans, look for Anne of a Different Island , coming January 20, 2026.
Her latest release, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale , a contemporary reimagining inspired by Dorothy's adventures in Oz, follows Kansas graduate student Dee Gale as she flees personal heartbreak and public humiliation to enroll in the writing program at Trinity College Dublin (the Emerald Isle!).
Meg and Jo , a contemporary novel inspired by the classic story Little Women, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was a People Magazine pick.
Beth and Amy (May 25, 2021) "continues her delightful 21st-century retelling of Little Women...Kantra’s compulsively readable update will attract a whole new group of readers, as well as satisfy Alcott devotees."—Publishers Weekly
Her stories have earned numerous awards including two Romance Writers of America's RITA (R) Awards, ten RITA nominations, and two National Readers' Choice Awards.
Carolina Dreaming, the fifth book in her Dare Island series , won the 2017 RITA (R) Award for Best Contemporary Romance - Midlength and was named one of BookPage's Top Ten Romance Novels of 2016. Her work includes the popular Children of the Sea series and, in e-book format, The MacNeills stories.
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I love to connect with readers! Find me on Facebook and Instagram.
And for exclusive content and news of my latest releases,
join my mailing list.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 6, 2012
Setting – Eden - small mountain town, an hour from Chicago. Cabin, lake, fish, trees.
Theme – overcoming your fear, finding confidence, love
Characters –
Faye Harper – 25 years old – 4 years an art teacher in an inner city high school. She intervened on behalf of a talented student, and the father pushed her down the stairs, and she broke her wrist. The school is unhappy with her. She is spending the summer at her aunt’s cabin next to the lake in Eden, to think, to heal, to paint. An only child of divorced parents, best times were with her aunt, lonely. She feels the coward.
Jamal King – Has taken 3 years of art with Faye – he’s extremely talented, but his parents will not allow him to accept a scholarship to an art institute, wanting him to take business courses – he was taking caffeine pills to get through finals, and moved onto street amphetamines.
Aunt Eileen Harper – the constant in Faye’s life
Aleksy Denko – followed in his older brother’s footsteps to be a police officer. He’s got a great, noisy family. He keeps out of commitments – has made an art of it. The relationship with his female partner went sexual, but when she got serious, he backed off. She transferred to a drug/gun running task force, and was killed 6 weeks earlier.. Aleksy feels guilty, and investigates – getting him forced vacation. He tracked the guns to Eden, to Freer… so he is hanging out on Faye’s property to watch what is going on across the lake.
Jarek Denko – Police Chief in Eden… book 1 about him and Tess. He wants his brother to do things legally, but is offering his support where he can.
Richard Freer – gun shop business owner in Eden, and gun runner to terrorists.
Plot –
As Aleksy worms his way into Faye’s life, he moves from using / manipulating her so as to be on her property, to caring for her, making love to her, falling in love with her. He fights it all the way, though his actions are louder than his internal and external words.
And Jamal shows up, a cry for help – and Faye nurtures him, and Alesky gives him tough love – and they ’dry’ him out – and hopefully he is ready to take control of his addiction and his life.
And Faye moves from no confidence – to pushing herself to join the world, face her fears, be courageous. And when Aleksy leaves her bed to pursue the bad guys (he sees the boats across the way), and Faye, whose purse was taken earlier in the day, is looking through pictures to pass the time, and finds a boat with a registration number that is readable… she calls Jarek, gives him the number and tells him Aleksy is investigating the boats. Then there is a gun shot, and she can’t wait… jamal joins her, they drive around j- Aleksy was shot, but a graze at his temple, bleeding, making him dizzy, but not mortally wounded – he slips into the water… Richard takes Faye as hostage to draw Aleksy out – Aleksy waiting for the shot to stop him… Jamal sneaks out of the car and goes to the boat – finds a grenade, and sets it off, distracting Richard and prompting the cop cars that were coming in quietly to get there fast.
2 days later, 30 stitches later, Faye is resigned to loving Aleksy and accepting what he can give her – and Aleksy awkwardly gets around to asking her to marry him… awwwww
Theme – overcoming your fear, finding confidence, love
Characters –
Faye Harper – 25 years old – 4 years an art teacher in an inner city high school. She intervened on behalf of a talented student, and the father pushed her down the stairs, and she broke her wrist. The school is unhappy with her. She is spending the summer at her aunt’s cabin next to the lake in Eden, to think, to heal, to paint. An only child of divorced parents, best times were with her aunt, lonely. She feels the coward.
Jamal King – Has taken 3 years of art with Faye – he’s extremely talented, but his parents will not allow him to accept a scholarship to an art institute, wanting him to take business courses – he was taking caffeine pills to get through finals, and moved onto street amphetamines.
Aunt Eileen Harper – the constant in Faye’s life
Aleksy Denko – followed in his older brother’s footsteps to be a police officer. He’s got a great, noisy family. He keeps out of commitments – has made an art of it. The relationship with his female partner went sexual, but when she got serious, he backed off. She transferred to a drug/gun running task force, and was killed 6 weeks earlier.. Aleksy feels guilty, and investigates – getting him forced vacation. He tracked the guns to Eden, to Freer… so he is hanging out on Faye’s property to watch what is going on across the lake.
Jarek Denko – Police Chief in Eden… book 1 about him and Tess. He wants his brother to do things legally, but is offering his support where he can.
Richard Freer – gun shop business owner in Eden, and gun runner to terrorists.
Plot –
As Aleksy worms his way into Faye’s life, he moves from using / manipulating her so as to be on her property, to caring for her, making love to her, falling in love with her. He fights it all the way, though his actions are louder than his internal and external words.
And Jamal shows up, a cry for help – and Faye nurtures him, and Alesky gives him tough love – and they ’dry’ him out – and hopefully he is ready to take control of his addiction and his life.
And Faye moves from no confidence – to pushing herself to join the world, face her fears, be courageous. And when Aleksy leaves her bed to pursue the bad guys (he sees the boats across the way), and Faye, whose purse was taken earlier in the day, is looking through pictures to pass the time, and finds a boat with a registration number that is readable… she calls Jarek, gives him the number and tells him Aleksy is investigating the boats. Then there is a gun shot, and she can’t wait… jamal joins her, they drive around j- Aleksy was shot, but a graze at his temple, bleeding, making him dizzy, but not mortally wounded – he slips into the water… Richard takes Faye as hostage to draw Aleksy out – Aleksy waiting for the shot to stop him… Jamal sneaks out of the car and goes to the boat – finds a grenade, and sets it off, distracting Richard and prompting the cop cars that were coming in quietly to get there fast.
2 days later, 30 stitches later, Faye is resigned to loving Aleksy and accepting what he can give her – and Aleksy awkwardly gets around to asking her to marry him… awwwww
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2016
2.75 stars. Rounded down because ... I really didn't find enough to like.
In this second in the series, Jarek Denko's not very likable brother, Aleksy, is moving in on and with Faye, a woman who has lost confidence in herself.
These characters didn't resonate with me (which didn't disturb me, as I wasn't expecting to like them). There were also inconsistencies: I can't understand why Fay's aunt never makes an appearance (was she edited out of the book?) and why Tess' brother wasn't invited to her family gathering. Moreover, the junkie subplot was odd and ill-fitting.
Again, it felt unfinished, yet for some of the reasons above, I was glad that the H/h were planning to finish their story offstage in Chicago, not in the town of Eden.
In this second in the series, Jarek Denko's not very likable brother, Aleksy, is moving in on and with Faye, a woman who has lost confidence in herself.
These characters didn't resonate with me (which didn't disturb me, as I wasn't expecting to like them). There were also inconsistencies: I can't understand why Fay's aunt never makes an appearance (was she edited out of the book?) and why Tess' brother wasn't invited to her family gathering. Moreover, the junkie subplot was odd and ill-fitting.
Again, it felt unfinished, yet for some of the reasons above, I was glad that the H/h were planning to finish their story offstage in Chicago, not in the town of Eden.
March 9, 2010
More lush heroes from Kantra. Eden is a small town outside of Chicago. The heroes of the first two books are Polish brothers who are cops. One has just become the police chief of Eden, and the second is bound and determined not to marry…until he meets the right girl, of course. You meet the third hero in the first book when he's suspected of murder by the police chief who falls for his sister. Of course, he isn't guilty--except of being criminally sexy! If you want more of a blurb about them, just go to Virginia Kantra's site. The books were so good that I read them at Disneyworld while waiting for rides. I couldn't bear to stop!
February 6, 2013
So much better than the first one in this series. Gives me hope for the third.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews