Present Danger

by Susan Andersen

Fleeing an abusive husband who has vowed to kill her, Aunie Franklin thinks she has found refuge and a new life in the Pacific Northwest, until the threatening phone calls threaten her wonderful new life. Reissue.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Ebooks, Fiction

381 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

I grew up in a household with two brothers, a daddy, and my grandfather. Too many men, in other words. They diluted M'ma's influence by diverting my attention to things like the danger of answering nature's call in the dead of the night. I've got a hint for those of you raised in a less spit-and-scratch world: check before you sit, because chances are that seat is gonna be up. And they don't even have the grace to be embarrassed about it. According to my sweet baby boy, if you're the minority sex in the household, you oughtta be putting it up for them. Sigh.

Having brothers was a mixed bag. When anybody messed with me they were always quick with an offer to beat them up. That was sorta nice, although I personally believe it had more to do with the fact that guys just like to fight than with any towering concern for my welfare. You might think that's cynical but guess who the target was if no one else was around and they were tired of fighting each other? I must've spent half my childhood locked in the bathroom, screaming, "Dad's gonna get you when he gets home." I know, I know, nobody likes a stoolie. But it was either that or have my block knocked off on a regular basis, and trust me, Daddy was the best deterrent going.

A smart woman probably would've gone away to an all-girl school or moved in with some girlfriends at the first opportunity. Me, I got married to my high school sweetie. And the tradition continues. Our only kid (who hasn't been a kid for quite some time now) is the aforementioned sweet baby boy, and except for an Irish setter we had for eleven years a long time ago, even our pets have all been male. I just try to stay afloat whenever I find myself in the deep end of the testosterone pool, and if you don't think that isn't a trial sometimes, I'm here to tell you- it can be hell.

Then again, it can also be heaven. In fact, it mostly is. But listen, don't tell my guys I 'fessed up to that, okay? Trust me, it's difficult enough already, just trying to stay one step ahead of the game.

Reviews

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 2.5

This was just an average read mainly for half of the book nothing happened on the romance front and the hero was bit of a jerk for no good reason. After having taken care of his siblings all his life & that situation still going on, he didn't wanna take care of his new tenant the heroine, who shows up with bruises but she never asked him for help, so I found his assumptions conceited.

The heroine is starting over her life after a divorce and cutting herself from her old life where she only had to look pretty. For some reason I had a hard time finishing this book. When the romance did happen it moved too fast, suddenly we had the hero saying the three magic words too and I was left wondering, so quick when a few weeks before you weren't even ready to make a move on her since you wanted no ties.

[Blacky *Romance Addict* · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2,5 but I'm feeling generous.

[D.G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4.5 stars**

Wow! What an amazing book! This is so my kind of romance, the type where the main characters grow and love each other for who they are instead of only their looks. This is a great journey of empowerment where the heroine takes responsibility for herself after being a protected doll all her life. Her growth doesn't happen overnight - the events of the book take 9 months to enfold - and it's the most believable because of the slow pace.

This is the story of Aunie , a gorgeous Southern belle on the run from her abusive husband. She's always been fawned upon because of her looks and has been made to believe that's the only thing she has to offer. Her terrible ordeal has made her revisit her life so she moves as far away from her husband to create a new life for herself and find out who she really is.

In her new town, she meets James . They immediately clash as James thinks she will be an added burden in his life. You see, James has 3 brothers he's constantly bailing out of trouble and he's tired of the responsibility. He wants to live his own life for once.

I loved the characterization. Aunie and James are so well drawn that they feel like real people. He was a tough creative guy and she was fighting to become an independent woman. There is a lot of soul searching in both of them, as they evaluate themselves and what they mean to each other.

This is not romantic suspense in the usual sense of the genre. There is no running away from bad guys or doing it behind bushes. Here, the hero DOESN'T protect the heroine but instead, he gave her the tools to protect herself and I LOVED THAT.

Lola and Otis (the secondary characters) were wonderful as well and their association with Aunie was a great reflection of her evolution as a person as she went from only knowing African American people in the 'service industries' to forming a deep friendship with both of them.

Other readers didn't like the phonetic spelling but I didn't mind that. Listening to Aunie's Southern accent was how I started to imagine her looking like Maggie from Cat on the Hot Tin Roof (well, that and her being sex starved, LOL!)

Overall, a wonderful, wonderful book that I recommend to any real lover of romance.

[jenjn79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 / 5

I mostly enjoyed this book, but I have to admit, something about it tweaked me the wrong way or I would have giving it a little higher rating. I'm not really sure what didn't work for me, but something didn't.

The book is about Aunie Franklin, a gently bred Southerner who was taught that her beauty was the only thing she had going for her. She was to marry a rich man and live out her life as a society princess. But things went down hill when Aunie realized her husband only wanted her to be his arm candy. So she divorced him and set about taking control of her life. She wanted more. Only her ex went bonkers and tried to kill her. Aunie flees to Seattle, finds and apartment and befriends the other people who live there - one of which is the testy, but handsome, James Ryder. From the first moment, they rub each other the wrong way. But the chemistry finally overwhelms them and they start an affair. However, they won't be able to sort their lives out until the mysterious threat against Aunie is solved.

Lots of interesting characters in this book. The supporting cast of Lola, Otis, Mary and James' brothers are great. They add a nice flavor to the book. Actually, I kinda liked them better than Aunie and James. Maybe that's what was off about the book for me. At times, Aunie and James got on my nerves. It seemed like they spent the whole book pissed off at each other and that got on my nerves. They were just so combative with each other. I would have liked a bit less of that.

Otherwise...a decent enough book. The storyline is not the most original - an abused wife starting over with the prospect of the crazy ex finding her. It's a popular plot. But the fun side characters kept the story interesting. And it's probably worth mentioning that though this book is listed on the spine as a romantic suspense, the suspense is only the minor side. I'd call it more of a romance with a side-plot.

If you like Andersen's other books, or come across this one used somewhere, I'd say it's worth reading. I didn't mind it, but didn't love it either.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I really enjoyed the story, although I thought the writing had a few problems. Some of the writing was clunky, including the "voices" of two characters who had accents (Jamaican and "southern belle"). Andersen wasn't consistent in writing the accents and it got distracting after a while. I stopped trying to "hear" the ascents and just translated them in my head to non-accented speech. It made me cringe to read, Mistah Rydah!! in the middle of their foreplay. Too Scarlett O'Hara for me.

But this is an early work of Andersen's and I have enjoyed reading her more recent, straight contemporary (not suspense) romances in the past. I believe her writing has come a long way and so can mostly overlook that in this book. Overall the story was interesting and the characters, including the secondary characters, were good.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Present Danger by Susan Andersen is one of my favorite romances. It’s just such a complete comfort read. While Present Danger is advertized as a romantic suspense, I actually think it’s more contemporary romance, with a little suspense tossed-in.

Present Danger is about Aunie Franklin. She’s a southerner who has just moved to Seattle after a very bad experience with her ex husband. Aunie is trying to start over and wants to show the world, and herself, that she has something to offer besides her good looks. Yeah, Aunie is gorgeous. All her life she’s been told that she will be able to use her beauty to attract a husband. Which is what happened. But now she’s starting over.

I love Aunie’s determination. This was not an easy thing to do, especially when her mother is not supportive. It’s not an easy thing, to go out completely on your own and start your life over. And not only that, but Aunie moves across country, to a city where she knows no one. I just love that about Aunie. So much of Present Danger is about Aunie getting her new life set up. She meets new friends, and starts doing things she’s never done and it’s awesome. She tries new things even when she’s nervous and shy and I just love that about about her!

James is the love interest, and although Aunie and James get off to a very rocky start, I do love James so much. It’s understandable, knowing his background, that James is apprehensive about Aunie moving into his apartment building. Still, his reaction is over the top, and I love how Aunie stands up to him.

It was so much fun to see James fall for Aunie. It was not instant for either of them, and I loved that their relationship developed slowly over many months. It felt more genuine and more heartfelt that way.

I also just love the supporting characters, especially Lola and Otis. I loved seeing Otis and Lola, a married couple, and best friends to James )and eventually Aunie as well), deal with some struggles they were having. They are both so loving to their friends, to their families, and especially to each other.

I should warn you all that the accents are a bit over the top, though, in Present Danger. Aunie with her southern accent making lots of “Ah” instead of simply “I” is the biggest offender, but all the characters have strong accents that are written out in the book. It’s distracting, and sometimes hard to follow. And for some reason I did not quite love this one as much as usual this reread. I do think there are some issues with Present Danger. But I like Aunie, James and all the characters in Seattle so much, that I can forgive some of the issues.

Present Danger is great is you want to try out romantic suspense, but aren’t sure if you would like that subgenre. It never gets too dark. But I don’t think Present Danger is for everyone either. It does take a bit to get going, and, the accents can be difficult to deal with. But, either way, I do still love this one.This review was originally posted on Quinn's Book Nook

[~Megan~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book...it has a trope that usually makes me happy. Helpless woman on the run....big strong man takes care of her. I liked the fact that she wanted to take care of herself. James was a bit of a butthead, but that only makes me love him more (in fiction LOL). A lot of it was cliche and standard for the genre, but again, it's my favorite genre and so it appealed to me on every level. James' family and extended family added a lot to the story. Deducted one star for the wierd written accents that kind of detracted from the story for me. You could have said she had a strong southern accent, or Lola had an islander accent. No need to write out the sounds, if y'know what ah mean. ;-)

[Farah · Rating 2 out of 5]

That one was difficult to finish .. it was kinda of boring and the characters were unlikeable especially James. The second we were introduced to James I hated his guts , he was a first class A hole and the things that came out of his mouth were downright mean whether he had a valid point somewhere or not was irrelevant to me .. his attitude and approach was off putting and nasty , I didn't really warm up to him later and the relationship between him and Aunie was not interesting or captivating , I'm not really into hate/love relationships but some are done nicely .. this one was not and it's James's fault because he was too unlikeable. The support characters were fun and interesting but the main ones were not. Overall an okay read.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I bit the bullet and read this because I was trying to get the most points possible for a reading game, and I saw lots of other players reading this. It wouldn't have been something I would have picked up myself otherwise, but I liked it. Romance with a suspense side-plot is a good formula for me.

I also think the author wrote the characters well. Although at times James was a little over the top grouch, and definitely I was left reeling with how quickly everything came together at the end. I didn't mind the written accents as much as other readers seem to have found it annoying.

[ShoSho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually avoid books that are old ,I prefer to read the books published after 2000.but this book really surprised me.I loved the characters the plot and the writing and everything didn't happen overnight .If it wasn't for things like "mon" "woo-mon" "Ah" "evah" I would have given it 5 stars.What was Lola's accent anyway?

[Jenny Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one of my favorite books. I read it mayber twice a year. I love Susan Anderson books. "Aunie....Woo-man" "Mystah Rydah!"

[ilona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woman finds friendship, love and purpose after she moves across the country to escape her abusive ex.

[Viv · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorite author

[Kristiej · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Susan Andersen books - and I mean a lot. And I've thoroughly enjoyed 85% of them.
I first read this book a number of years ago and this is a reread. Aunie, our heroine is on the run from an abusive ex. For the time being she's staying in a small apartment building and right away she feels at home. But when owner James Ryder finds out the apartment has been rented to someone he can tell is in trouble he is not pleased, not pleased at all. He's the 'responsible' brother in his family and he's tired of bailing his brothers out of whatever mess they've gotten themselves into and he's not about to get sucked into helping the newest tenant.

But of course he does and of course they fall in love.

Ryder is my favourite kind of hero, the grouchy bear kind. And he makes for a most excellent grouch bear. And I liked Aunie too. Although she's had it very tough, there is an inner strength within her.

This is why I love rereading. I read this book long enough to have forgotten quite a bit of it, but I remembered enough to know I really liked it first time around. I think I like even better this time.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Registered on Bookcrossing - http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6...

I love this author, this is one of her early works, the characters are interesting and quirky. The main character Aunie was great, I love that she was from the South, since I am too. I didn't like them harping on her accent so much. I get it, she's Southern, but I felt like there was too much focus on her accent. It distracted me from the story.

[Rose Boniello · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was that??

Not sure what to say. Sooooooo drawn out, too many moments of how-can-you=be-so-stupid! The accents did not need to be written out all the time - got to be very annoying. Didn’t particularly like the 2 main characters. And you need to know that this was set many years ago - no modern technology, not even cell phones.

[Linda T Waldron-Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A feel good book

I love Susan Anderson's writing. I have owned this book for years. I have it in both forms. Although I love her humour, this has been one of my favorites. The heroine triumphed over many obstacles. As a nurse in the ED I have treated many battered women. I can't tell you how difficult it is to break the cycle of violence..

[Mimi Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Anderson is a new author to me

I started with tentative expectations, but quickly got so involved with the characters, I couldn't put it down. I definitely will be reading more Susan Anderson!

[Patricia English · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure if I was going to like this but it turned out really good. You sort of know whats going to happen but the story in between is pretty good.. I gave this 4 stars because i really enjoyed the writing.

[Tina Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beach read

[Pille Puškina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lugesin eestikeelset Kummitav oht

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Couldn't put it down.

[Dobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1993, this book was an interesting flashback to a time without cell phones, computers, and the internet, to name just a few things that have become so much a part of life almost a quarter of a century later.

The book lost two full stars for improperly using y'all as a singular pronoun. It's plural. One person is you, more than one is y'all, and a larger group can properly be referred to as all y'all. Pulled me out of the story each time Aunie referred to James as "y'all"—and she was talking about him as an individual.

Bless her heart.

[Izzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Not a proper review, more of a rant/bringing my thoughts to the table.*

When I first read this book, I reached page 20 and decided that it didn't click with me. The accents were very distracting and there were times when I had to re-read the page to make sure I understood what the characters were saying.
Don't misunderstand, I like characters with accents because it gives a sense of realism but not with every single character we're introduced to. Once you've reached page 20, you've met four characters that have different accents and that makes it very hard to follow.
I found the heroine and hero a little off, too.

This morning I decided to try reading it again, only this time I reached page 86 before putting it down. In this part, the writing became rather stilted. Aunie is revealing her past to two other character. Trying to, anyway. I want to know about her ex-husband and so I'm looking forward to her explanation.
This lasts for 16 pages, alternating between hot (about ex-husband) and cold (getting her a glass of wine, setting the table etc) topics. For every five sentences we get about her ex-husband, there's about 15 sentences on mundane things.
What's the point of doing that? It's disrupting the flow of the story, not to mention annoying.

Finally, the characters. I can't put my finger on it but they're just odd. If Aunie is supposed to be a strong Southern woman, why is she en emotional mess? She's rolling on the floor laughing in tears (literally!) over something that wasn't even funny, and then she's crying and going into hysterics because she didn't think about changing the light bulb in her lamp before asking for help for it to be fixed.
What the hell is this woman on?

Anyway, here is the list of reasons why I'm not carrying on:
* I find the hero boring and a bit of an ass at the beginning. The heroine is crazy, annoying and stupid.
* The writing is stilted and awkward with all those accents. The "hate turns love" aspect of the romance doesn't work and the suspense part doesn't hold my interest.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed this one on Libby with only reading the first little bit of the book. I enjoyed it I didn’t realize it was published in the 90s I figured it was just set there. Was a refreshing change of pace only thing I didnt love was the formatting of the book they wrote it in giant passages which made book feel like a long read.

Read with Libby

[gremlinkitten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got to page 206 then decided to stop reading the book; I had to face it, I wasn't enjoying it overly much. At over the halfway point, the story neither had much romance nor suspense to keep me reading, and really, I wasn't attached to any of the characters and didn't care what happened, I might as well stop while I'm ahead. I also had a hard time reading this because Aunie and Lola had their accents phonetically spelled for the reader, so it could repeatedly be beaten into the reader's head that one character is apparently from Scarlett O'Hara's Atlanta (and not present-day Atlanta) and the other hails from Jamaica; I get it, they have accents, move on. One other thing, the descriptions of Aunie's perfect and petite looks became nauseating, and low-and-behold, she doesn't see what the big deal is! Puh-lease! I rather have a heroine vain than oblivious. Aunie was such a Mary Sue I could gag. I was disappointed that the Pacific Northwest didn't play into the book much, or at least as far as I read. Oh well. The author is going to have to do a better job to keep me reading another book of hers.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've gone back and forth in my ratings on this one and finally settled on rounding up to four. To be honest, I almost DNF'd early on. The main characters southern accent, the way it was written, was a lot to take in and almost ruined the book for me. And there was just something kind of odd about the book, I can't even really say what. Obviously, I continued reading and eventually got pulled into the story.

The writing was good. I loved the characters of Lola and Otis. Loved them! This wasn't a sex heavy book and all the steamy parts were in the second half but the chemistry between the two main characters when they finally did come together- very sexy and well written! I love a great first kiss and they definitely had it!

It will be interesting to read another title by this author to see if there's something about her writing style I find odd or something specific to this book. Overall, I liked it and am glad I stuck with it.

I was able to borrow this book from Amazon through the Kindle Unlimited program.

[Jae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The downside to an author glom is that recycled plot lines are way more obvious. I just finished reading Exposure and the similarities between this book and that one are legion. I probably wouldn't have liked this book even if I hadn't just read the other, but I might have been inclined to give it another star.

I have to say this though, that it isn't necessary to print character accents. It's annoying and distracting. If the character is from Atlanta and is described as having a southern twang, if a person has heard that accent before they are probably capable of applying that without the text having to read "Why, Ah do dehclay-er" instead of "Why, I do declare". If you haven't actually heard the accent then it's just plain weird (obvs this is not just southern accents, this applies to whatever else have you). It's something I've seen in numerous books, and I hate it. HATE it. I will tolerate an occasional dropped g or whatever, but the rest of it makes me want to hulk-smash.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished this one in a couple days. Great characters and easy to read. This is classified as romance suspense novel. The heroine is from Atlanta and ends up in Seattle after running from an abusive ex-husband. The hero is a surly apartment owner who is afraid of commitment. The suspense angle if predictable, but very well done, and does have a ssmall twist. The story is not overloaded with characters and the ones there are well described and when I can picture them in my mind, I know that is a good sign I will enjoy following them. To make a character somewhat unique is difficult sometimes in a romance novel, but the author does a good job. I breezed through it fast and enjoyed it and so I am giving it 4 stars.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the premise but there's so much repetition that it's over-shadowed. I mean how many times do we need to learn about these characters. The first introductions were more than adequate but then each character gets nearly a whole freakin' chapter about their past and how they came to be like they are in even greater detail. At nearly 400 pages I want to rip my hair out when I think of forcing myself to continue. I just can't finish. I once loved this book and have read it so many times (6 I think?). I guess that should speak for itself that this is a very good book if you can handle wading through all the muck. I don't know how I did it back then... I have zero patience now. DNF on page 111 (29%).