Long and Short Reviews

Bright Star Safari by Olivia Winter
Wings ePress, Inc.
Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Full Length, Spicy
Review by Frangipani

When Amanda Baker inherits a share in a large South African game ranch, she finds herself locked in a partnership with two strangers – good-looking game-ranger, Greg Anderson, and dark, mysterious Basil Simpson. The men are at loggerheads, and as Amanda probes their past, she is drawn into a web of deceit, greed and desire. The time comes when she must make a choice. Problem is, the wrong decision will lead her and the man she loves into terrifying danger.

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Amanda Baker is stunned when she attends her aunt’s funeral and finds she has inherited a third of a game ranch. From the moment she arrives on the property, she’s caught in the middle of a financial struggle with her two partners.

Greg Anderson, the ranch manager, wants to increase income by adding more bungalows, but Basil Simpson, the accountant, wants to make Bright Star into a hunting lodge. Amanda refuses to support either solution without time to research her decision.

Although Amanda is drawn to Greg she can’t trust him. Threatening notes and a cobra in her bed means someone wants her dead, and her aunt’s death may be anything but accidental.

While tension and suspicion increase, the whole ranch has to deal with demanding guests, poachers, and a cruel woman who causes Amanda to doubt her own heart.

The romance was sweet, but I thought there could have been more and a bit spicier. It did not knock my socks off or cause my imagination to kick into overdrive. This book is suitable for a young adult, and I would not hesitate to recommend it for anyone over fifteen. Instead of 5 stars, I gave it 4 because the plot was a bit obvious, and the tension was a little slow for me. Although there were some twist and turns in the plot, I thought the book didn’t build enough suspense.

Despite the previously mentioned issues, Bright Star Safari is a well written book, and I enjoyed the setting in South Africa. Olivia Winter is a talented writer that can describe a scene and place you right in the middle of it. It took me somewhere different and gave me a glimpse of life that was completely new.

The characters were well developed and their actions believable. This is a woman who knows South Africa, the animals, the land, and the people who own it.

I enjoyed Bright Star Safari and would look forward to another book from the author.