Review: Adrienne Davenport’s Stranger by Morning

Posted October 14, 2012 by Karen in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Title: Stranger by Morning
Author: Adrienne Davenport
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Grade/Rating: 2 out of 5

This book came to Literati Literature Lovers through a recommendation to the author. A copy of the book Stranger by Morning was provided by the author for the purpose of this review.

The synopsis on Amazon is as follows: An alluring combination of danger and temptation… Since she was a young girl, impoverished Chicago resident Reese Donavon has known High born teen, Christian St. Lorraine. A friend of her cousin’s, Christian has always harbored a tendency for getting himself into trouble. Still, Reese can’t resist idolizing the handsome teenager. As she grows, so does her attraction for Christian. Now a teenager herself, Reese’s attraction for Christian has blossomed into far more than petty infatuation. For a time the relationship shared between the pair is nothing short of fairytale material. Until one day, having just graduated from high school, Chris goes off to college leaving Reese alone and confused. Years go by without any sign of him. Now a reporter for the Chicago Times, Reese has spent much of her career tracking a world renowned thief known only by the sinister title “The Dark Angel”. Unaware of the criminal’s true identity, she soon finds herself on her way to India, once more tracking the felon’s activity. A rich businessman by day, Chris has spent the past few years moonlighting as a bandit, working with the secret service in hopes of discovering the identity of the person who murdered his mother and sister. When he catches wind that the young reporter is on his trail he surprises her by sneaking into her hotel room late one night and demanding she help him in his endeavor. Now his partner in crime, she finds herself traveling from country to country by his side. She falls in love with the man who she had once sworn never to trust again. What started out as an awkward business partnership has turned to a dangerous romance between two people who are only just learning to trust. When they come face to face with the people responsible for the murder of Chris’s relatives their already shaky trust is pushed to the limit.

I’m always excited to read a new book, and judging from the synopsis this sounded very interesting. In the first chapter we meet Christian/Chris, a troubled teen with an abusive, powerful, and wealthy father. For getting into various criminal troubles Chris is physically abused, at the hands of his father. It is alluded to that his mother and sister have started to be physically abused in his stead, in an effort to control his behavior. Chris continues to commit petty crimes and even made friends with another youth, a petty criminal named Vince and his family. Vince comes from a poor Sicilian crime family that also lives in Chicago, and has a nine year old cousin named Reese. It is at Reese’s ninth birthday party that Chris and Reese first meet and he becomes her knight in shining armor. A reason is never given as to why Reese’s family does not like Chris. So in a family of criminals, the rich kid thug masquerading as a poor kid thug isn’t trustworthy.

Vince knows who Chris is, but doesn’t tell his family. Time moves on and we see Reese age to thirteen and has fallen in love with Chris who is now nineteen and she’s been tailing after since she was nine. Chris under the guise of getting a job in Boston leaves Chicago and Reese behind. Reese is heartbroken because of this and they don’t see each other in until it is Reese’s prom night when she’s 18 years old. Chris arrives and they proceed fall in love within a few pages. It is mentioned they are going to a restaurant, but they end up at her home. This was not the first bit of confusion the book offered nor would it be the last. Next day he is ready to confess to lies. As he arrives at Reese’s door, he is confronted by her family for being rich. These people supposedly hate rich people with a passion. He leaves and does not see Reese again until she is grown and a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. This is when the action and romance of the book starts, or what is supposed to be action and romance, but comes off as a befuddled mess.

I took the time to read this book twice, because I truly wanted to like this book. I love finding new talent but this is not a book I can recommend. The author tries too hard with her descriptions, adding irrelevant and sometimes repetitive content. Instead of telling a straight forward tale, she puts too many twists and turns in, which made me not care who did what to whom. The characters of Reese and Chris’ first sexual encounter is written with no spark and the characters afterwards act as if they just shook hands, and the second encounter is written as if it is their first time being intimate.

The author’s dialogue is extremely unnatural and makes the dialogue seem forced. The author kept adding “ya” at the end of sentences, which read like a caricature of an old 1930’s gangster movie. Even simple ideas like FBI agents, becoming detectives, then back to agents led to my belief the author didn’t understand the genre she was attempting to write about. The main and secondary characters are written without depth of emotion or purpose, brothers and a cousin are trying to kill their sister/cousin without remorse. When family deaths do take place it is treated as no big deal, oh well their dead, pass the mayonnaise. I kept reading and rereading passages as I was convinced they couldn’t have been written in such a laissez faire emotional manner. The characters talk to each other as if they are strangers, but for the most part are supposed to be relatives.

A jeweled necklace is the reason pivotal murders take place, but the reason why is never explained enough to warrant the plot point. Who was in possession of the necklace and why were the murders necessary? Chris becoming a world famous thief to capture the murders of his mother and sister was never fully explained. I still don’t know why it was necessary for him to steal and to capture the bad guys. He knew who the bad guys were and even had their address, so why all the subterfuge.

The love story part of the book started out somewhat believable, young infatuation, but moved too quickly to sustain this reader’s belief. The happily ever after of the book again seemed too unbelievable. The book synopsis mentions “alone and confused” that sums up author Davenport’s book well, as this reviewer was confused by the entire tale that she wrote. Too much in this story was glossed over or drowned in description that the elements of the plot were lost in the reading. I am surprised that the editor of this book didn’t point out the plot errors to the writer, as I do see glimmers of what the book could have been amongst the pages. I would definitely pass this book up.

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