No geral, achei a história de Zeke e Natalie muito ao estilo de Nora Roberts.Trata-se de uma história em que o destino junta duas almas gémeas, que ao longo do livro vão encontrando muitos obstáculos e perigos. Ao contrário de Nora, Catherine Anderson não os separa, havendo só algum impacto quando o casal se conhece, e , por isso, permanecem sempre juntos e apoiando-se enquanto atravessam as dificuldades.A família é um ponto bastante desenvolvido e sempre presente. Natalie está sempre acompanhada por algum elemento, incluindo o ganso, tanto da sua como da família Zeke.O amor está sempre presente, talvez um pouco demasiado, mas o suspense e o mistério também. Não fiquei muito convencida com o vilão, visto que não é uma personagem revelação. Além disso, tem uma história pessoal que apela à nossa compaixão. Parece um pouco arranjado à pressa e tanto surge como desaparece demasiado rapidamente, como se apenas servisse para fechar a história, o que não está de acordo com tudo o que se passou anteriormente, já que a maior parte do livro andou em volta do que este homem fez. Penso que a mãe de Robert, o ex-marido de Natalie, daria uma excelente assassina, tanto pela sua frieza, como o seu egoísmo e pelo seu apego ao dinheiro.A primeira parte é bastante cómica com os episódios familiares, principalmente os que envolvem o ganso e o avô Charlie.Neste caso, achei Zeke demasiado macho e autoritário, tanto que a escritora reforça este ponto em determinada altura. Ao mesmo tempo que ele é protector, também é muito lamechas, o que faz com que não haja um meio termo. Em relação aos seus irmãos posso afirmar que me rendi a eles e lhes achei imensa piada; o mesmo para Rosie, com a sua inteligência e ingenuidade.Apesar de todo o "amor" presente em Olhos Brilhantes, e de Catherine o desenvolver bastante, muitas vezes repetindo discursos e ideias, notei um pouco de falta de interesse na personagem feminina para com a sua suposta alma gémea. O oposto foi bastante explicito. Penso que a autora falhou um pouco no POV da personagem principal.Em relação à capa e à sinopse achei-as cativantes, mas após ler o livro posso afirmar que estão muito àquem da história que se desenrola por dentro. A espessura do livro engana um pouco, já que a altura é menor que o normal, e o papel é mais espesso que o resto.Concluindo, a obra lê-se bastante bem principalmente graças à mistura de romance com thriller. A fluidez da escrita de Anderson e o seu leque de personagens são bastante atractivas para devorarmos o livro e continuarmos a acompanhar a bibliografia da escritora.
Bright Eyes was a little different than the previous 4 books in the series with a little more suspense but I still found it quite enjoyable. Zeke’s first intentions when seeing his vandalized property was to march next door to talk to the boys’ mother and teach him a lesson. When he meets Natalie, the sexy country singer, he almost forgets why he marched over there. He’s blown away with her beauty and the way her hips move in her sequin dress. They both decide that in order to pay off the damages Chad has to work for Zeke to pay off his debt. During their days at work Zeke starts bonding with Chad, a boy who is in serious need of a father figure due to his non-existent relationship with his father. Natalie and Chad's 4 year old sister also help out to speed up the repairs. But as Zeke spends time with the three of them he starts loving their company. He instantly falls in love with Rosie, who talks non-stop and speaks with the eloquence of an adult, and Natalie whose beauty and sexy voice just stops him dead in his tracks. Zeke who once enjoyed living in complete solitude suddenly finds his home empty. He has grown to love the three of them as if they were his own family and feels alone when they are not around. Natalie soon falls in love with Zeke and is always in need of his embrace. She spent 11 years married to an unfaithful man and Zeke is nothing like her cheating ex husband. When Natalie’s ex-husband is murdered she first becomes the number one suspect and then becomes the number one target. Zeke helps her clear her name and the real murderer is finally caught. Finally Natalie has met the man meant for her who loves her kids as his own. There were so many cute scenes in this book. I loved the part when Rosie knocks on Zeke’s door and they have a one on one. Such a little girl with so many demands! Zeke fell instantly in love with her then. Also, I thought it was cute how Zeke would climb into Natalie’s room window every night like sneaky teenagers! Zeke was so old fashioned that he wouldn’t be caught sleeping with Natalie even though they were engaged. They had to be married first! It was so funny when little Rosie caught Zeke in the room one morning...Oh and the part where Zeke proposed while Natalie was singing on stage…. I loved when he got down on both knees… VERY CUTE!
What do You think about Bright Eyes (2004)?
While we're back to the typical "poor traumatized divorcee learns to trust men again and is attacked by an evil stalker only to be rescued" format, I have to give this one some credit for making the ex-husband less rage-inducing than Rodney in "Sweet Nothings". Robert Patterson was a jerk, but at least he wasn't a psycho, and I do like that his Freudian Excuse wasn't meant to excuse his behavior. And Natalie accepted that her son still did love his dad even if his dad didn't love him.The murder mystery was kind of blah, though. The cops were so eager to believe Natalie did it, they didn't even bother to examine who else might have had plenty of reason to want Robert dead. And maybe it's just me, but the real culprit trying to kill Natalie felt very tacked-on, like it was an excuse for a gratuitous rescue scene.And Natalie got kind of annoying at one point, too. Too much "woe is me, my body isn't perfect enough for the hero, I'm so fat and ugly and unloveable" despite her flaws being minor at best, and the hero thinking she's the hottest thing since jalapeno peppers. At least she didn't wangst about it as much as Molly Sterling did.I did like the little subplot with Natalie and Valerie's parents, how they loved each other but got a divorce over a misunderstanding, and I was disappointed that we didn't get a lot of backstory or much of a resolution to that. And the scene with Natalie and Valerie bonding was pretty sweet, too. And despite Natalie's moaning and self-pity being annoying and Zeke being Yet Another Catherine Anderson Cowboy, the romance was kind of sweet and I was happy to see them finally get together.As for the kids...they were okay. Chad bonding with Zeke was pretty cute, but Rosie felt a little too fake for me. I know some kids are wise beyond their years but this book really pushed it. Still, her offering Zeke her money to help pay for Chad's vandalism was pretty cute.Overall, this was a pretty run-of-the-mill romance. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too horrible either.
—Sara
Catherine Anderson has written another wonderful book about the Coulter family. Zeke Coulter moves to a farm outside of town and next door to Natalie Patterson and her family. She has a four year old and a twelve year old who is getting into trouble trying to get noticed by his father who his mother divorced recently. Natalie's sister, father and grandfather also live with her and they are all trying to hold on to everything but having trouble doing so. Zeke was not the type to settle down but all that changed when he met Natalie's four year old and grew to love all of them. This is a great story and a wonderful read.
—Linda
Akhirnya selesai juga baca buku iniSetelah lama menunda membacanya ...menyelesaikan membca nya dalam 2 hari ...Dan kesan nya terhadap karangan c.a yang satu ini begitu diluar taerget ...xixixixxi.....Biasanya kan ....ciri khas ..c.a tuh heroinnya weak...butuh pertolongan terus sepanjang waktu...namun skali ini....tipe cewe nya agak berbeda ....means heroine bisa mandiri sendiri ...ga terlalu weak and crush gitulah...As usually .. heroine nya .cacat baik mental maupun fisik ...namun kali ini akhirnya kembali normal...walau dalam status janda...an yg paling keren ...nih cerita ada unsur detektif2 an nya ...xixixi....aq nya disuruh mengikuti cerita yang menegangkan mengungkP pembunuh eks suami si heroinny ...natalie...Walau ada unsur detektif nya tapi ga lupa authornya menenmpelkan sisi romantisnya ....yang begitu kental...Zeke yg too strong memberikan perlindungan ke natalie disaat menghadapi tuduhan menbunuh eks suaminya Zake...yang memberikan dorongan moril bagi anak2 natalie menghadapi sifat mantan ayahnya pasca perceraian yg kurang peduli dan asyik pancaran dengan gadis mudanya ...An zeke yang jadi superhero buat natali dalam segala trouble ny ...Love zake ...Suka juga dengan unsur moril yg terkandung didalamnya ...bagaimana zake jadi panutan yang baik buat chad...An buat saya nie novel diberi rate 5 dari 1 - 5
—Yasmina Jual novel kolpri
