Peppermint Creek Inn

Undercover #1

by Jan Springer

Crippled by survivor's guilt, Sara lives deep in the Canadian wilderness. Her only companion, a mysterious stalker. Until one stormy night...when a desperate and injured fugitive forces his way into her home and straight into her wounded heart. Is he the man of her dreams? Or her worst nightmare?.

Genres: Romance, Suspense, Erotica, Mystery, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

New York Times & USA Today Best Selling Author Jan Springer writes erotic romances exclusively for Spunky Girl Publishing. Past publishers include Ellora's Cave, Totally Bound, Siren Bookstrand and Pocket Books. She lives near Minden, Ontario in Canada

Jan enjoys gardening, hiking, kayaking, reading and writing. She is a member of the Writers Union of Canada and the Romance Writers of America.

Reviews

[Lhenry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot and pacing of this man-with-amnesia-thinks-he-is-a-criminal story made it particularly good. Bits of the hero's memory were revealed slowly as the relationship between hero and heroine grows. There's some nice misdirection in figuring out who committed which crimes. There is closure for this story but some good hints about what will happen in the next book.

Loved all the main characters. The heroine was almost too perfect and haunted, but not quite.

The sex scenes were indeed pretty explicit which I have no objection to, but I also liked how they fit into the relationship in a reasonable way, and did not require me to suspend my disbelief. I liked the light-hearted quality of the scenes as well.

One tiny pet peeve - the author used the word "literally" too often and at least half the time incorrectly. People do this all the time and it's not a a big deal in the over all quality of the book but it happened enough that I noticed it and kept giggling.

Still, really liked this one and am already enjoying the 2nd in the series

[Paola Rosado Pantoja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que nos lleva a tener la mente abierta en todo momento. La trama y los personajes siempre te llevan más allá de lo imaginado, a leer entre líneas y a pensar en otras posibilidades. Y añadido a esto, el disfrute de la naturaleza Canadiense en un lugar alejado y posiblemente remoto, es maravilloso.

[Daniela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un libro súper forzado, las escenas eróticas parecen escritas por un hombre. No recomiendo este libro en absoluto.

[Rachel Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been two years since Sara's husband Jack was killed. Since then she's been living with the constant pain of loss, never moving on. She drifts through life now, still managing to keep Peppermint Creek Inn running. Then one day a terrifying yet sexy stranger shows up on her doorstep and threatens her with a gun. He swears he won't hurt her, but he can't remember his past or what brought him to her. He only knows the cops are after him and want to kill him. He fears he might be a criminal, and possibly a murderer as well, but there's something about him that makes Sara trust him, trust that he's a good person. He reminds her of a tomcat, so she names him Tom. His presence becomes a comfortable one, helping to put the ghosts of her past to rest, allowing her to say good-bye to her husband and the unborn twins she lost on the same day.

Mystery and intrigue surround Tom and Sara as bits and pieces of Tom's past come back to him in flashbacks. He knows he's on the run, but why he can't remember. He thinks he knows something about some crooked cops, but he has no evidence. He can't even remember who he is. This is a thrilling story as Tom and Sara uncover evidence about Tom's own past as well as the murder of Sara's husband--an unsolved mystery. This book grabbed me right from the beginning and I really came to care about the characters, especially Tom who could only remember fragmented bits of what happened to him, enough to leave him in a constant state of fear. Fear of what he might be capable of, fear that he might hurt Sara, or someone else might hurt her to get to him. This is definitely a must read.

[Mollie *scoutrmom* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the publisher, Ellora's cave, rated this as an erotic romance, it had nothing more steamy than a single anal scene.

This was a pretty good story. The suspense plot was not very well done; the zingers that were thrown in at the end tying everyone to everyone else were not written well enough to be believable.

I liked the protagonists, but feel the story could have been just as good without the amnesia element, perhaps even better. Our heroine has survived more than anyone would wish to face, but has gotten past suicidal thoughts to a state of numbness, and is glad to be feeling something other than pain. Our hero is physically wounded and cannot recall how it happened or why he is running.

The love story pulls this book out of the doldrums. It begins with physical attraction that is not immediately acted upon. It progresses with each finding admirable qualities in the other, and culminates in the old "I'm leaving you for your own good" ploy.

I did not like that the story ended with a pregnancy, we should have been left with either a relationship or a new child, not in between.

[Mitzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book. Erotic but not over the top. Sara (widowed,her husband had been killed a couple years before in a cabin at the Inn and she lost the twin babies she carried the same day) discovers a strange man at her wilderness retreat Peppermint Crek Inn. He has a gun shot wound in his shoulder/back and has amnesia. She helps him and he slowly recovers his memory. But the bad cops after him have a lot of influence. He doesn't remember, but she looks familiar to him and so does her family....and that family help him to prove his innocence.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second read of this book. First read in 2012. If you're looking for an erotic mystery filled with suspense, then you'll like this one. Sara is living a nightmare after someone murders her husband and she miscarries her twin babies. Tom/Matt shows up in the dead of the night, beaten, shot with amnesia. The author delivered a whodunit in an excellent manner filled with suspense and a cast of believable characters. The book is definitely erotic with very detailed descriptions of the sex but it also has many sweet sections too.

[LilMisGrayBrisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off promising. I was quickly pulled into the mystery. However, the blossoming romance between Sara and "Tom" didn't work for me. They seemed better friends than potential lovers. This story was too long, as by the end of it, I started to lose interest in the plot. It did seem a bit jumbled and I wasn't as surprised by what was going on as I hoped I would be. Some things became a little too convenient as well. It wasn't a bad read, but not as good as it could have been.

[Campbell]

** 12% done ** Maybe it's just me but this story seems a bit schizophrenic. It reads like it wants to be a romantic thriller but then remembers it was published by Ellora's Cave and should be erotic. Some highly sexual thoughts and emotions are described and then we're back to the romantic thriller. I would be happy to read either book but the flow is disjointed to me. I'll try to get back to it later; maybe when I have more patience.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peppermint Creek Inn by Jan Springer

For the most part this story was good but there were some parts that dragged on which made this book hard to finish.

The good…
The mystery
The sex

The bad
The back and forth with memories both Sara’s and Tom’s
The phrases…love juices...seriously

I’ve read other books by Ms. Springer and have enjoyed them so I will continue to look at her other stories.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a thriller, I rated it 4 stars. However, the graphic sexual descriptions spoilt the book for me. Don't get me wrong, I am not a prude (I read and enjoyed the Fifty Shades series) but the explicit scenes were a detraction from the main story, hence only 3 stars, though 2 1/2 would probably be more accurate.

[Rinou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un bon équilibre entre les scènes hot et l'intrigue. Je reste perplexe devant l'utilisation d'un cheesecake à la menthe poivrée comme lubrifiant anal dans la dernière scène, j'aurais plutôt pensé que ça serait collant mdr.

[Mary Plunkett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Free Kindle read. This books was disgusting with the author's failed attempts at romance and lust. It is mainly graphic and unsexy descriptions of genitals, etc. It is more of a porn book and if you like that kind of read, this is it! Trite, unbelievable plot.

[Auntee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good erotic-romantic suspense!

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I had never read this author before and didn't know what to expect. It was a little long but overall the story was good.

[Rachel Webb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of dragged in places and really predictable at the end.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not bad mystery and love story. They took forever to have sex but I may be reading too much erotica these days and have forgotten how old fashioned romance novels are supposed to be.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done. A great mystery. I thuroughly enjoyed it. Sexy and steamy.
Would love to read a sequel with her sis.

[Lupita Figueroa BookLoverRomantic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normal.

[Jo Notary]

romantica, book 1, undercover series, elloras cave

[Leanne ~ Tales From The Heart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 2 different copies of this book in 2009 and 2012. One had the naughty bits not included but I loved both of them.

[Karen]

She wants to forget her past, he needs to remember his past 26considered 1Cromantica 1D, this book has a story somewhere among the erotic scenes and language.