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Randolph Family Ties #3
The Stranger Next Door
The Stranger Next Door by Joanna Wayne released on Jun 23, 2000 is available now for purchase.
- GenresRomance
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Wayne
187 books59 followersReal name: Jo Ann Vest
Pseudonyms: Joanna Wayne.
Joanna Wayne began her professional writing career with the release of her first novel, DEEP IN THE BAYOU, in 1994, but Joanna will be the first to tell you that the wheels were set in motion years before. She started reading at four years of age, the same age that she began making weekly trips to the library to check out as many books as they’d let her have, only to finish reading them all before bedtime. That love of books never waned.
Joanna was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and was the middle child of a large family. She moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1984 when she married her current husband. New Orleans opened up a whole new realm of activities and she found the mix of cultures, music, history, food and sultry southern classics along with her love of reading a natural impetus for beginning her writing career. It was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. From that point on, there was no looking back.
Now, forty published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and mainstream novels. She is known for the suspense and emotion she brings to the page, as she takes ordinary people and thrusts them into life-and-death situations. She has been on the Walden Bestselling List for romance and won many industry awards. She is a popular speaker at writing organizations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.
She currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star state.
Pseudonyms: Joanna Wayne.
Joanna Wayne began her professional writing career with the release of her first novel, DEEP IN THE BAYOU, in 1994, but Joanna will be the first to tell you that the wheels were set in motion years before. She started reading at four years of age, the same age that she began making weekly trips to the library to check out as many books as they’d let her have, only to finish reading them all before bedtime. That love of books never waned.
Joanna was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and was the middle child of a large family. She moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1984 when she married her current husband. New Orleans opened up a whole new realm of activities and she found the mix of cultures, music, history, food and sultry southern classics along with her love of reading a natural impetus for beginning her writing career. It was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. From that point on, there was no looking back.
Now, forty published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and mainstream novels. She is known for the suspense and emotion she brings to the page, as she takes ordinary people and thrusts them into life-and-death situations. She has been on the Walden Bestselling List for romance and won many industry awards. She is a popular speaker at writing organizations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.
She currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star state.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 17, 2018
July 27, 2000
Joanna Wayne's hot streak continues with the second (or third) Randolph Family Ties book, "The Stranger Next Door." This time it's romance for nice guy Langley, or as his brother Ryder puts it, "the most honest, unassuming Randolph of all of us." Langley is filling in as the county sheriff while his brother Branson is on his honeymoon. The job gets to be more interesting when the beautiful Danielle arrives in town. Danielle has been struck with amnesia after an brutal attack in New Orleans. The only key to her identity is a letter from her dead uncle, who left her his ranch neighboring the Randolphs. Someone begins terrorizing her in an attempt to drive her off the land. Can the substitute sheriff keep her safe and find the culprit?
In this well-told romantic suspense tale, the author manages a nice balance between the romantic and mystery parts of the story. Every chapter ends with a dramatic or suspenseful moment and in between the tension is kept high. The mystery has a number of suspects to keep readers trying to solve it all the way to the surprise ending. At the same time, there is good character development between the leads. The romance between Langley and Danielle is developed better than the one in "The Second Son." This is also the first amnesia book I've read in a while that didn't immediately annoy me, maybe because I didn't feel like the cover copy was shoving that plot hook down my throat.
The author's clean, spare writing is effective, highlighted by amusing dialogue ("I bought you a present." "It's not my birthday." "It might be.") Best of all, she sets up the final book, "A Mother's Secrets" in a way where we won't be waiting to find out who baby Betsy's father is, sparing us a drawn out revelation in that one. I would have to say that readers who haven't read "The Second Son" should probably do that first, or else skip pages 158 and 159, where Wayne explains the whole plot of that book. Better yet, try and get your hands on a copy of "Family Ties" and start at the beginning. Either way, "The Stranger Next Door" is sure to win Joanna Wayne even more fans.
Joanna Wayne's hot streak continues with the second (or third) Randolph Family Ties book, "The Stranger Next Door." This time it's romance for nice guy Langley, or as his brother Ryder puts it, "the most honest, unassuming Randolph of all of us." Langley is filling in as the county sheriff while his brother Branson is on his honeymoon. The job gets to be more interesting when the beautiful Danielle arrives in town. Danielle has been struck with amnesia after an brutal attack in New Orleans. The only key to her identity is a letter from her dead uncle, who left her his ranch neighboring the Randolphs. Someone begins terrorizing her in an attempt to drive her off the land. Can the substitute sheriff keep her safe and find the culprit?
In this well-told romantic suspense tale, the author manages a nice balance between the romantic and mystery parts of the story. Every chapter ends with a dramatic or suspenseful moment and in between the tension is kept high. The mystery has a number of suspects to keep readers trying to solve it all the way to the surprise ending. At the same time, there is good character development between the leads. The romance between Langley and Danielle is developed better than the one in "The Second Son." This is also the first amnesia book I've read in a while that didn't immediately annoy me, maybe because I didn't feel like the cover copy was shoving that plot hook down my throat.
The author's clean, spare writing is effective, highlighted by amusing dialogue ("I bought you a present." "It's not my birthday." "It might be.") Best of all, she sets up the final book, "A Mother's Secrets" in a way where we won't be waiting to find out who baby Betsy's father is, sparing us a drawn out revelation in that one. I would have to say that readers who haven't read "The Second Son" should probably do that first, or else skip pages 158 and 159, where Wayne explains the whole plot of that book. Better yet, try and get your hands on a copy of "Family Ties" and start at the beginning. Either way, "The Stranger Next Door" is sure to win Joanna Wayne even more fans.
July 22, 2023
Love Joann Wayne's books.
Read
November 22, 2013perfect.... just perfect.... joanna is the best
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews