Rogue Wave by Maureen A. Miller. $.99 from Smashwords or $.99 from Amazon. From the cover: U.S. Geological Survey expert, Nick McCord cannot account for the destructive waves assaulting the Windward coast of Oahu. The only viable culprit is the new housing development, Manale Palms and its attractive contractor, Briana Holt. Try as he might to find blame with Briana and her site, the truth remains a mystery as yet another threatening wave attacks the coast. Now allies, Nick and Briana narrow in on the source of these anomalies and find themselves in a struggle to save the island coast and their very lives. Approx. 70K words.
Maureen Miller’s Rogue Wave is a romantic suspense that takes place against the lush, exotic backdrop of the Hawaiian Islands. Ms. Miller’s style reflects that beautiful background, bringing an almost lyrical feel to the narrative, despite the harsher realities of the storyline, which includes conflict between modern beachfront developers and conservationists, along with some present-day pirating.
Ms. Miller presents her setting with a deft hand, describing scenery pithily, yet poetically: “Beyond Aloha Tower, the ocean was turning dusky rose under a violet twilight. The lights of the marketplace flickered on, and further beyond, a freighter moored at Sand Island became an illuminated hulk on the dark horizon.” With characters, she is equally clever, breathing life into not only the traditional good-looking, intelligent hero and heroine, but also the quirky side-kicks and troublesome family members.
The central conflict in Rogue Wave is a series of unexplained mini tidal waves that are threatening the coast of Hawaii. As the story unfolded, I was intrigued by the underlying mystery, and would have liked more of that. It seemed that the focus was more on the relationship between the hero and heroine and less on the bad guys’ shenanigans, which I wanted to know more about. In other words, the plot was more like that of a traditional romance than I personally would have liked, but for traditional romance fans, it would be spot-on.
From a technical standpoint, the story was well done, with no clunky transitions or shoddy plot holes, and no more than one or two typos. My one complaint was the frequency of point-of-view switches in the scenes between the hero and heroine. While I am a huge fan of multi-character POV, I prefer to spend more than a couple paragraphs at a time in any one character’s head, else I begin to suffer the onset of multiple personality disorder. That little detail aside, if you are in the market for an elegantly written romance mixed with an intriguing mystery, Maureen Miller’s Rogue Wave will not disappoint. Rogue Wave Book Review
Rogue Wave by Maureen A. Miller. $.99 from Smashwords or $.99 from Amazon. From the cover: U.S. Geological Survey expert, Nick McCord cannot account for the destructive waves assaulting the Windward coast of Oahu. The only viable culprit is the new housing development, Manale Palms and its attractive contractor, Briana Holt. Try as he might to find blame with Briana and her site, the truth remains a mystery as yet another threatening wave attacks the coast. Now allies, Nick and Briana narrow in on the source of these anomalies and find themselves in a struggle to save the island coast and their very lives. Approx. 70K words.
Maureen Miller’s Rogue Wave is a romantic suspense that takes place against the lush, exotic backdrop of the Hawaiian Islands. Ms. Miller’s style reflects that beautiful background, bringing an almost lyrical feel to the narrative, despite the harsher realities of the storyline, which includes conflict between modern beachfront developers and conservationists, along with some present-day pirating.
Ms. Miller presents her setting with a deft hand, describing scenery pithily, yet poetically: “Beyond Aloha Tower, the ocean was turning dusky rose under a violet twilight. The lights of the marketplace flickered on, and further beyond, a freighter moored at Sand Island became an illuminated hulk on the dark horizon.” With characters, she is equally clever, breathing life into not only the traditional good-looking, intelligent hero and heroine, but also the quirky side-kicks and troublesome family members.
The central conflict in Rogue Wave is a series of unexplained mini tidal waves that are threatening the coast of Hawaii. As the story unfolded, I was intrigued by the underlying mystery, and would have liked more of that. It seemed that the focus was more on the relationship between the hero and heroine and less on the bad guys’ shenanigans, which I wanted to know more about. In other words, the plot was more like that of a traditional romance than I personally would have liked, but for traditional romance fans, it would be spot-on.
From a technical standpoint, the story was well done, with no clunky transitions or shoddy plot holes, and no more than one or two typos. My one complaint was the frequency of point-of-view switches in the scenes between the hero and heroine. While I am a huge fan of multi-character POV, I prefer to spend more than a couple paragraphs at a time in any one character’s head, else I begin to suffer the onset of multiple personality disorder. That little detail aside, if you are in the market for an elegantly written romance mixed with an intriguing mystery, Maureen Miller’s Rogue Wave will not disappoint. 
