Thistle Dew by ALee Drake

Story 9.5
Presentation 9.5
Total: 19
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Sensual Paranormal
To Purchase

Blurb: Sage Winters is the owner of an Adirondack bed and breakfast aptly named Thistle Dew by her late husband, Eric. She is a strong woman, not only successful in her business but as a mother. Although she tries to be loyal to her love for Eric, frequent guest and author Hawke is so irresistible that he catches her eye and eventually her heart. Sage is an overprotective mother who reluctantly learns to rely on others at a time of crisis.


Hawke, a shy, reclusive best selling author, steps up to the plate as hero when Sage's daughter, Pia is missing and any clues to her whereabouts have been buried during a blizzard. He learns to trust his intuitive voice and finds Pia via dreams and eerie signs.

And it is Eric, in spirit, who is not always angelic, but intercedes and intervenes to keep his ‘girls’ safe. He not only shows Hawke where to find Pia but encourages Sage to open her heart and love again.

Review: Sage is the owner/manager of the Thistle Dew bed and breakfast. She is widowed with a four year old daughter, Pia.

Hawke is the sexy, mysterious motorcycle rider who is there for a writer's workshop.

Lowell is an old friend of Sage, (and of her dead husband), who has a thing for Sage and is very jealous of all men around her. He might have a violent nature.

Norman is a writer who often comes to the writer's get-togethers at the B&B. His wife was in an accident and has been in a nursing home for 32 years. His daughter, killed in the accident, has been his writer's muse.

Eric is the dead husband who communicates with his daughter, causes things to happen, and is an active part of the story. Can a spirit be a ghostly matchmaker?

Sage's daughter is kidnapped from the parking lot. Lowell blames anyone and everyone. It appears he, Hawke and Norman might all have motives. Is the hawk, a bird of prey, that appears several times a clue that Hawke might also be a predator? Is Lowell, who has wanted Sage for years, capable of doing such a horrible thing? Or was it Norman, the sweet old man who sometimes calls Pia by his dead daughter's name?

WHO did it???

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At times I rolled with laughter; at times I almost cried. Eric's presence was the cause of much hilarity. One instance was when he gripped Lowell's wrist and caused the beer to spill "wetting his khaki pants in a very uncomfortable area."

Several times Eric caused Chaka, the llama, to torment Lowell, which added to the side-splitting humor. Eric sends messages and clues to other characters throughout the story. Tears welled up in my eyes when Hawke thought about his son being taken out of the country by the ex-wife, comparing his loss to the despair of Sage's daughter being kidnapped. The different descriptions of a parent losing a child were heart-wrenching.

Ms.Drake's writing made her characters come alive and almost jump off the pages.Sage's guilt and despair over the kidnapping happening in the few minutes she was distracted by Hawke's kiss was described so vividly tears came to my eyes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. It was so much more than "just another cute romance." It had twists and turns, mystery and emotional drama to keep me turning the pages (and forgetting to cook supper,)

The characters were well developed into real people. One character was so well described it made me dislike him before I realized he was not a total bad guy, just a person with common human failings.

Descriptions of the winter activities, the snowy scenery and even the dialogue were wonderful.

Thistle Dew left me with some questions. Can dead people/spirits from the past communicate with living people? Can the ghostly beings actually cause physical things to move? And the cover picture - was the snow a symbol of something hidden? like a person's true personality??

Whatever answers a reader comes up with would be their own, I am left guessing.

Regardless, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed reading this story by Ms. Drake.