Anne Stuart has written a book that is so good, it's fabulous.

Where should I start? I don't like "bad boy" books, this *is* a bad boy book. I don't like ghosts in my stories, this book has ghosts. What can I say, except that I loved this book, it's so well written, so exceptionally, so sweetly done, that I forgot - what was it I don't like?

Anne Stuart has a different writing style from what I'm used to, a least in this book. This is a book that is written in a terse writing style, with the assumption that less is better. Most writers do tend to take more than a page or two to get to the point, some writers actually can make an entire book about a few days by s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g out the story to such an extent that it takes us pages and pages just to get through a single idea. Anne Stuart writes in exactly the opposite way - she writes as shortly and concisely as possible. I think that that's harder to do, but I happen to particularly enjoy that writing style more, and I also think that an author that can do this style is a much better writer.

So for those reviewers who complained that the story went to fast - no, you just have to read more slowly. If you skip a paragraph, you might lose the whole thread of the story. I'm one of those "fast readers" that likes to skip - sometimes writers go on and on about something, and I'm two pages ahead, and I didn't lose a thing about the plot. You can't do that here.

Generally, when I finish a book, I can usually give you some idea of the author's strengths and weaknesses - good at characterization, for instance, or this book has good dialogue, or this writer writes well, or she is good at plotting . . . But when I put down "Shadows at Sunset" my mind was a total blank. I couldn't even begin to analyze it, this is a writer who really knows what she is doing, and I can't even begin to figure out her techniques, they were way over my head. So I don't know how she did it, all I can say is that I was mesmerized from beginning to end.

Anne Stuart simply has the gift, there is no other way of putting it. To say that she's the best writer I have ever read, period - that's a very broad statement, and I would be hesitant to say that, but if there would be *one* best writer, period, in any genre, I think that I would nominate Anne Stuart. She's that good.

She is also a romance writer - even though she has brought in so many elements that would normally detract from a romance line, this author does not lose track of the bottom line - that we are looking for a very happy ending, and, believe it or not, this book delivers!

Anne Stuart has the gift - she has the gift of words, she has the gift of writing about *real* people, and especially, she has the gift to suck you into her book in a way that almost no other writer can.

I am so impressed with this author that I will probably buy *anything* she wrote, sight unseen, and I'm rationing them. There's no point in gobbling them up all at once, is there?

***** I have since read some other Anne Stuart books, and while they are all good, this one remains my personal favorite. It has such a perfect blend of the sweet and sour, that for me, this story was totally perfect. Recommended, recommended, recommended!!! I can't recommend this book highly enough!!!

Not since Moonrise and her earlier works has her narrative been that compelling, and in SHADOWS AT SUNSET, she gains mastery over complexed characters and a family saga beleaguered with deceit and treachery.

Anne Stuart's writing manifest genuine suspense and tension between the leads, Coltrane and Jilly Meyer as well as a secondary romance between her sister Rachel and Rico. The family rivalry, the tragic love story as a legacy from the two ghost Ted and Brenna and the mystery enshrouding Coltrane's betrayal strings up a story of substance and it is rare that a writer can keep you engaged right till the end of the book.

Coltrane and Jilly are also multi-faceted characters with their over-protectiveness and tortured souls and both linger between the heat of the passion and their feuds. SHADOWS AT SUNSET is laudable for its consistency through out the book and the irresistible characters that jump right out the page. Ms. Stuart wastes no time in dragging the plot with emotional quandary, and instead expresses the rage and turmoil in each character with clipped words that resonate powerfully the feelings and let readers revel in her short prose.

Proving once again, no matter if it contemporary or historical, short books or long, Stuart delivers!!!

WISE Writers and Readers Book of the Month for August 2000

Why is everyone raving over Anne Stuart? I read this novel and THE WIDOW because they got such good reviews, but each time, I was disappointed. I love bad boys in romance novels, but Anne Stuart's bad boys are so bad that she really never convinces me that they are falling in love with the heroines. In this novel, it seems like he treats Jillian like ..., and then every once in a while he has a stray thought about caring more for her than he will admit. Based on these few stray thoughts are we supposed to buy the ending? I couldn't. Besides, I never liked a desperate heroine and Jillian turns into one. I hate the fact that Zach is so sure of her and she lets him be.

All in all, I'm not impressed with Stuart's works.

Not since Moonrise and her earlier works has her narrative been that compelling, and in SHADOWS AT SUNSET, she gains mastery over complexed characters and a family saga beleaguered with deceit and treachery.

Anne Stuart's writing manifest genuine suspense and tension between the leads, Coltrane and Jilly Meyer as well as a secondary romance between her sister Rachel and Rico. The family rivalry, the tragic love story as a legacy from the two ghost Ted and Brenna and the mystery enshrouding Coltrane's betrayal strings up a story of substance and it is rare that a writer can keep you engaged right till the end of the book.

Coltrane and Jilly are also multi-faceted characters with their over-protectiveness and tortured souls and both linger between the heat of the passion and their feuds. SHADOWS AT SUNSET is laudable for its consistency through out the book and the irresistible characters that jump right out the page. Ms. Stuart wastes no time in dragging the plot with emotional quandary, and instead expresses the rage and turmoil in each character with clipped words that resonate powerfully the feelings and let readers revel in her short prose.

Proving once again, no matter if it contemporary or historical, short books or long, Stuart delivers!!!

WISE Writers and Readers Book of the Month for August 2000

If there's one thing I like, it's to be surprised at how good a novel is. This was my second Anne Stuart book and I was not disappointed. Besides being intrigued by the story, I was amazed at the sex scenes. Good gosh! I haven't read sex scenes that good since Donna Boyd. And even better, the characters weren't shacking up at every possible opportunity. In reading this book, you find yourself really getting to know the characters. Rachel-Ann's story, in particular, has a very ethereal, haunting quality. This was a great book!