mona ingram | The Opinionated Woman's Musings

Fallen Angel ♥♥♥

Laura, addicted to prescription drugs, is in rehab. After weeks of therapy, she gets a job at a local hotel and winery. Bradley is there helping as well. He has his own problems. Once a fighter pilot, he suffered the loss of his voice because of a trauma related to a friendly fire accident. The attraction between them is palpable. Since he lost his voice, Bradley communicates with Laura using his cell phone to type messages to her.

In a nutshell, Fallen Angel follows two previously broken individuals who pick up the pieces of their lives and find love. The ending was satisfactory but unexpected.

I have found that Mona Ingram’s style lacks a little something for me. After reading her books, I was not filled with feelings of disgust as though I wasted my time. But I was not gushing about how sweet the romance was either.

The lack of emotional reaction on my part made me try to figure out why. What I can determine is that Mona Ingram gives a lot of detail to paint a picture for her reader. She gives the facts. She spends a great deal of time creating the scene but less time on the emotions feelings, and points of view of her main characters. I liked the plot, I was not drawn into the characters as real people. Their personalities remained 2-dimensional for me.
This is not to discourage anyone from reading this book. I think that her writing style does not enthuse me as it might for someone else.

The Lure of Love by Mona Ingram ♥♥♥

This story is about three friends and their individual love stories. I am not usually a fan of multiple love stories in one book but since these all happened concurrently it was okay with me. The setting for this story takes place at a fishing lodge in British Columbia.

Couple number one Craig and Jamie
Craig is a widower and documentary film director. Jamie is the owner of the lodge where Craig has come to visit to possibly film a documentary.

Couple number two Billy and Brooke
Billy is a baseball player with a reputation for being a ladies man. Brooke works at the lodge as sort of a office manager.

Couple number three Matt and Leeza
Matt is married and a real estate agent who won a trip to the fishing lodge. Lisa is the chef for the lodge.

The author did a good job of keeping their stories individualized, but intertwining them enough to create a cohesive story. As a novella, the book moves fast. That being said, each of the three couples have connections which is the reason for sharing very intimate personal baggage (and there was a lot of emotional baggage with these three couples) very quickly. The more that they share about each other provides the rationale for why they fall in love with each other so quickly. In some of Mona Ingram’s other books, I have found the stories to be lacking some feeling. However in this book, I think the characters’ story really comes out in a way that conveys the emotional situation of each person.

As a side note: I feel that I have to say something about the fact that Matt is married in the beginning of the story. His marriage is only a technicality and as you read the story you understand.

Overall, The Lure of Love was a sweet book and an enjoyable read. I finished it in a couple hours and was satisfied with the outcomes of each couple.