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In Her Keeping
In a North Carolina tiger sanctuary, she found new love and a new purpose.
Sylvia Holt has lost her dream of the perfect suburban Atlanta life--via infertility, a painfully failed adoption, and a husband who's cheating on her with a younger woman. Her divorce leads her to a North Carolina vacation home, where she settles in with no other goals than to become a sad recluse. But then her next-door neighbor, Ethan Montgomery, lures her into the amazing world of his tiger sanctuary.
Sylvia slowly heals, and her bond with Ethan and the tigers--many of them rescued from abuse and neglect--turns her into a fierce advocate for the big cats. She and Ethan battle a sinister dealer in black-market potions made from tiger parts. Sylvia's maternal instincts kick in even more with the rescue of a tigress and her tiny cub. Despite challenges, threats, and doubts, Sylvia and Ethan forge ahead, falling in love and working against all odds to secure a future for the endangered cats they adore.
Valerie Joan Connors is the Michigan-born daughter of an artist and a musician. In addition to her career as the operations manager for an architecture, engineering, and design firm, she makes time for her true passion, writing. She is the 2013 president of the century-old Atlanta (Georgia) Writer's Club. IN HER KEEPING is her first published novel.
Sylvia Holt has lost her dream of the perfect suburban Atlanta life--via infertility, a painfully failed adoption, and a husband who's cheating on her with a younger woman. Her divorce leads her to a North Carolina vacation home, where she settles in with no other goals than to become a sad recluse. But then her next-door neighbor, Ethan Montgomery, lures her into the amazing world of his tiger sanctuary.
Sylvia slowly heals, and her bond with Ethan and the tigers--many of them rescued from abuse and neglect--turns her into a fierce advocate for the big cats. She and Ethan battle a sinister dealer in black-market potions made from tiger parts. Sylvia's maternal instincts kick in even more with the rescue of a tigress and her tiny cub. Despite challenges, threats, and doubts, Sylvia and Ethan forge ahead, falling in love and working against all odds to secure a future for the endangered cats they adore.
Valerie Joan Connors is the Michigan-born daughter of an artist and a musician. In addition to her career as the operations manager for an architecture, engineering, and design firm, she makes time for her true passion, writing. She is the 2013 president of the century-old Atlanta (Georgia) Writer's Club. IN HER KEEPING is her first published novel.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2019
Sylvia and her husband can’t have a baby. He travels abroad, supposedly on business, but Sylvia finds he’s with a woman on the trip. They reconcile somewhat and attempt to adopt. In a double whammy, the birth mother takes the baby back at the last possible moment allowed by state law, and husband Jonathan cheats again.
Boom, Sylvia is instantly sympathetic and we want to learn how she recovers from being so wronged. Winning a big settlement in the divorce, she leaves Atlanta for their second home in North Carolina to start a new life on her own. The home overlooks a tiger sanctuary. We see that tigers are too often bred for profit, being exploited for photos in malls or used as “attractions” by small businesses like gas stations, in environments ill-suited to the animals’ welfare and neglected by owners who know nothing about the proper care of large cats.
This tiger sanctuary rescues such tigers that have been mistreated or abandoned. Sylvia begins volunteering at the sanctuary, which starts to fill a void in her life. She strikes up a tentative relationship with the sanctuary owner, Ethan. Then, in one of the aspects of this novel that I liked the best, the sanctuary comes under threat. A community leader/wannabe politician begins complaining about the threat to their neighborhood allegedly posed by the tigers.
Could the rabble-rouser have business ties to Jonathan, who had always wanted the tiger sanctuary’s land? And his new wife wants the mountain home. As the threats escalate, Sylvia and Ethan are drawn closer together, personally and as business partners as she donates land so the sanctuary can expand to shelter more tigers in exchange for a stake in the sanctuary.
The book creates an effective and sympathetic character in Sylvia, and in the tigers. The real estate gamesmanship and shenanigans make us root for them even more. A satisfying read about a woman’s journey to find peace, meaning, and love in an unconventional family of rescued tigers and the people who care for them.
Boom, Sylvia is instantly sympathetic and we want to learn how she recovers from being so wronged. Winning a big settlement in the divorce, she leaves Atlanta for their second home in North Carolina to start a new life on her own. The home overlooks a tiger sanctuary. We see that tigers are too often bred for profit, being exploited for photos in malls or used as “attractions” by small businesses like gas stations, in environments ill-suited to the animals’ welfare and neglected by owners who know nothing about the proper care of large cats.
This tiger sanctuary rescues such tigers that have been mistreated or abandoned. Sylvia begins volunteering at the sanctuary, which starts to fill a void in her life. She strikes up a tentative relationship with the sanctuary owner, Ethan. Then, in one of the aspects of this novel that I liked the best, the sanctuary comes under threat. A community leader/wannabe politician begins complaining about the threat to their neighborhood allegedly posed by the tigers.
Could the rabble-rouser have business ties to Jonathan, who had always wanted the tiger sanctuary’s land? And his new wife wants the mountain home. As the threats escalate, Sylvia and Ethan are drawn closer together, personally and as business partners as she donates land so the sanctuary can expand to shelter more tigers in exchange for a stake in the sanctuary.
The book creates an effective and sympathetic character in Sylvia, and in the tigers. The real estate gamesmanship and shenanigans make us root for them even more. A satisfying read about a woman’s journey to find peace, meaning, and love in an unconventional family of rescued tigers and the people who care for them.
June 6, 2020
This is the kind of book I think of when I think of a beach read or something you'd want to read while on vacation—or even during a pandemic. Connors's writing style is natural and easy, and her storytelling whisks the reader away. Sylvia Holt, the protagonist, is a woman searching for a life of meaning. She finds it in a tiger sanctuary, which is fun for us readers because she shows us what it's like to care for these dangerous creatures. Meanwhile, we watch her fend off an even more dangerous creature—her ex-husband and his business associates—while she attempts to build a new life and a loving family.
April 1, 2019
Very enjoyable. While I picked it up because I liked the cover (does anyone else do that?) having no idea I just might have a nice story and actually learn something too. I shall never look at any wild animal in captivity the same.
March 28, 2024
wonderful
I would definitely recommend this fun exciting book. I wanted to read more. The story was beautiful but the story of the cats tugged at my heart. I wish I was there.
I would definitely recommend this fun exciting book. I wanted to read more. The story was beautiful but the story of the cats tugged at my heart. I wish I was there.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews