Dangerous Waters by Anne Allen -a review

Dangerous Waters (released April 2012) by Anne Allen

Jeanne, who is a writer, ventures back to Guernsey, a beautiful island, her birthplace and home until 15 years ago, to take care of her Gran’s estate.  Going back was hard on Jeanne for several reasons.  Not only had her Gran died suddenly, but 15 years earlier, she and her parents were in a terrible boating accident that killed her parents.  And Jeanne suffered traumatic amnesia and remembers nothing of the other boat that caused the accident.  Jeanne moved to England to live with her aunt and this is her first time back to the island.  She has also just recently broken up with her boyfriend and suffered a miscarriage.

Upon Jeanne’s arrival in Guernsey, she is greeted by old family friends, Peter and Molly.  They were friends with Jeanne’s parents and serve as surrogate family for her.  They take her to her Gran’s cottage so that she can look around and decide as to whether she wants to sell as is, or if she wants to remodel.  Feeling a little overwhelmed, she heads back with Peter and Molly to their place.  Over the next few days, Jeanne starts meetings with contractors, etc. to get quotes on remodeling.  Molly thinks it would be a great idea for Jeanne to stay in Guernsey, but Jeanne is not so sure.  She suffers anxiety whenever she gets close to the water, due to the accident she and her parents were in.  Molly has offered to help Jeanne to try and recover her memories from that accident through hypnosis and Jeanne agrees to accept her help.

One day, while they were out, Jeanne runs into some old friends from school.  They visit for a few minutes and invite Jeanne to a beach barbecue.  One of the old friends, Marcus, is someone whom Jeanne had a crush on in high school.  Peter and Molly are hopeful that by reconnecting with old friends, Jeanne will decide to stay in Guernsey.  Jeanne attends the barbecue and has a great time.  She makes new friends as well as reconnecting with old ones.  Marcus is immediately smitten with Jeanne and over the next few weeks, they start to see each other more frequently.  Unfortunately for Jeanne, she is not as attracted to Marcus as he is to her.  For some reason, Nick, one of her new friends, makes her heart race.  Which seems weird to Jeanne because he seems the less outgoing of the bunch.

Jeanne ultimately decides to stay in Guernsey.  Upon moving things out of the cottage in order for it to be remodeled, she stumbles across boxes of pictures and letters that belonged to her Gran.  And to say Gran had a huge secret is an understatement.  She also discovers an old family cookbook of sorts.  Jeanne comes up with an idea for a book, a love story of sorts, that incorporates the recipes with the story.  Her publishing company loves the premise and she signs a contract to write the book.  Marcus’ brother, Dan, just happens to be an antique dealer and buys the things she needs to get rid of, which is a huge relief.  She is on top of the world.

Unfortunately, things do not work out for Jeanne and Marcus.  He becomes almost obsessed with her and is moving way too fast for her, so she ends her relationship with him.  During the remodel, she needs a place to stay and Nick offers his boat, but she’s not sure she can do it.  The hypnosis sessions are going well and she is getting more comfortable around the water, but she doesn’t know if she can stay on the boat.  Nick assures her that it is moored in a slip and is perfectly safe.  Upon visiting the boat, she accepts his offer.  There is an accident one night and Jeanne ends up staying at Nick’s apartment with him.  Seems the accident was anything but.  The mystery of Jeanne’s parents death is solved, much to the surprise of Jeanne and her friends.  And, of course, Jeanne and Nick have their happily ever after.

I enjoyed this book.  It was a bit of a slow start, but once the story started unfolding, I found myself wanting to know what happens next.  The mystery of who caused the boating accident that killed Jeanne’s parents didn’t come as a huge surprise to me, but, with that said, I liked the way things worked out.  The biggest surprise for me was her Gran’s secret.  It is a very touching story and I believe you will be moved by it.  If there was one drawback for me, it would have to be that the use of foreign language was a bit too much for my taste.  Even though most of it had to do with the recipes, I still wanted to know if they were cooking beef or a tree!!  LOL!!  I knew what a lot of the words were, but there were just as many that I didn’t understand.  All in all, this is a very sweet story, with a little suspense thrown in.  Jeanne learns to let go of her past so that she can face her future and finds love doing it.  Who could ask for more?

Copy supplied by author.

Reviewed by Vickie

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website)

Anne Allen has been a hypnotherapist, psychotherapist and counsellor since 1983.  Over the years she has worked with hundreds of clients throughout the UK, Guernsey and Spain.

For a number of years she was affiliated to medical practices and has been a registered Counsellor for an Employee Assistance Programme.

In 2009 she completed several courses in Reiki, becoming a Master Practitioner in early 2010.