Reasons

Tracy Fabre wins us again.

Key elements in REASONS are: a prosperous ranch, a literary researcher with a scar, two handsome veterinarians, an alcoholic, a nasty woman, and a dump truck. Tracy Fabre skillfully blends a young woman's need to understand her past within the framework of the present and future.

As in her previous work, Ms. Fabre has created yet another wonderfully appealing male character.

Evan Callahan from EVAN'S CASTLE and Tam Laughlin from REASONS rank with some of the best in all of literature. They're strong, quiet, brilliant... charming, mannerly, and oh so sexy. Reminiscent of Jane Austen's men.

If the present economy makes you hesitate about spending $10, ask your local library to buy it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Kept me up late!

This book kept me up late because I really wanted to find out the truth about the accident. I enjoyed watching Delphi grow and change and was surprised by her reluctance to ask outright questions about the car accident that had killed the third brother. I don't know that I would have been able to be around the people who knew the truth for all that time and not start asking questions that would lead back to the truth. Part of her reluctance stemmed from her fear of what the truth would be, but I am just too curious not to try to get the answers. Because of that I really appreciated her ability to keep a secret, although keeping it started to take a toll on her causing her to start having frequent headaches. The dialogue between characters seemed very genuine and the characters seemed real, not like stereotypes. Tracy really fleshed out who each of the characters was and gave them very evident personalities. I am glad that I had a chance to read this novel.

Reasons written by Tracy Fabre as reviewed by Nancy Silveria

The talent of Tracy Fabre, author of Evan's Castle, delighted me again. Her latest, Reasons, a 222-page romance captivated me. In 11 chapters, the author took me on a journey so engrossing that I frowned when life interrupted my reading.

You want reasons why I'm a Fabre fan, right. Take her razor sharp wit, her ability to create dialogue that is so realistic that you can hear the character's speaking as you read, and add her ability to develop characters to their core. Fabre brings her work to life with fluid writing, creating a comfort zone for readers. I drifted through Reasons like a spectator written into the plot.

Reasons begins as Delphi Brent, a young woman who survived a hit and run, is planning to visit family friends she hasn't seen since her accident nine years ago. To her surprise, her parents try to dissuade her from going. When their efforts fail, they drop a bomb.

"We stopped going to see the Laughlins because the car accident which eventually killed Artie is the same one which put you in the hospital for several months when you were seventeen."

A Laughlin was driving the car that hit her and eventually caused the death of Artie Laughlin. Despite the shock, she visits her friends' Colorado horse ranch as planned. She wants to figure out who left her for dead, Tam, who never liked her or her crush Bobby.

Tracy introduces Annie and Robert Laughlin, and their sons Tam, the cool and aloof veterinarian and Bobby, the playboy businessman. We learn about Bobby's relationship with alcohol and his lack of one with his fiancée Noreen, the hot little red head hell bent on making Delphi miserable. We meet Noreen's father, the wealthy Henry McAllister, who is as charming and polite as his daughter is rude. We meet Hazel, the outspoken maid, who is more family than hired help, Jake the macho ranch hand with eyes for Delphi, and Noreen's biggest fan, veterinarian Dave Marcell, who welcomes Delphi's friendship.

Soon after Delphi arrives, stress takes a toll. Plagued by headaches, she balances her love for these people against her apprehension about whoever was responsible for her accident. When Noreen openly expresses jealousy, Jake's forwardness becomes annoying, Bobby's drinking worsens, and Tam's demeanor makes her uneasy, Delphi's quick-witted barbs gives her the upper hand. That is, until her heart gets involved,

"I felt my heart flip-flop. This wasn't going at all the way I'd planned."

"He was smiling at his mother, and then down at the table, and I knew I more than liked him, and when he turned that smile on me, it was all I could do to smile back without melting into goo."

Facing revelations about the Laughlins, and the fact that she may be falling in love with the man who knowingly left her to die, Delphi ricochets between the warmth of attraction,

"Yeah, he's attractive, and smart, and kind, and funny, and irresistible, but he could also have been the man who drove away when you were lying in the middle of the road."

And the tears of frustration.

"Shaking from the wet cold and a variety of other miseries, I burst into tears. It hadn't been my head splitting after all, it had been my heart."

I don't know when Tracy's next book will be out, but I'll be first in line to buy it. I feel comfortable recommending this book to everyone, because it's not just a titillating romance, it's a book with heart and soul.

Reasons to stop keeping secrets

I was really planning on reading Tracy Fabre's first novel, Evan's Castle, sometime, but ended up so intrigued by the back cover of Reasons that I took that home instead.

The story's set in Colorado, a part of the country that I've visited (at least once) and love dearly. A young woman, Delphi, goes to stay with family friends in the gap between one college position and another. But the families have been silently estranged ever since a hit and run accident seriously injured Delphi as a teenager. At about the same time, the youngest Laughlin son had died from injuries sustained in a car. So maybe the silence was just the embarrassment of one family with a child who lived and one with a child who died, but Delphi soon learns the difficulties run deeper.

The author's descriptions brought back memories, bringing to life a truly beautiful part of the world. But equally, she brings to life the warmth of delightful family relationships, the tortuous conversations of secrets, and the half-closed, half-open friendships of kind-hearted people who've been apart too long.

The romantic aspects of the novel are nicely done, combining both the misunderstandings of youth and those of well-meaning adulthood. The mystery slowly reveals itself. And the injuries of wounded hearts prove neither fatal nor easily cured. I finished the book feeling like I'd sat in on conversations with real people, and really enjoyed their company.

So, thanks Tracy. And maybe I'll get to Evan's Castle sometime too.

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