REVIEW: Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

In Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Annie Hewitt’s trek back to Peregrine Island, off the coast of Maine, is not for a relaxing vacation. Instead, she is coming to terms with her mother’s death as well as having nowhere else to go. She hopes little Moonraker Cottage will stand up to the harsh winter elements and allow her to figure out where she is headed next. But Annie is soon thrust back into her childhood nightmare when her neighbor, and former stepbrother, Theo Harp makes his presence known her first night on the island. Theo himself is dealing with the death of his wife and has been secluded up on the cliff in his family’s home, the Harp House.

‘Should she follow her head or her instincts? Definitely her head. Trusting Theo Harp was like trusting a poisonous snake not to bite.’

Annie and Theo begin to dance around the tragedies that have befallen their families, as well as the attraction that still looms between them after more than a decade apart. Annie’s distrust starts to waver as she learns more about Theo and his past, but is it enough to allow him into her life again? And he becomes confused as to why he feels like he needs to be near Annie. She is nothing like the women he has surrounded himself with before. But as it turns out, maybe that’s the reason why Theo can’t stay away from her.

‘Having her on Peregrine again was like being shoved back into a nightmare, so why did he look forward to being with her? Maybe because he found a certain bizarre safety in her company.’

Heroes Are My Weakness is the newest contemporary romance from the one and only Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and it is unlike anything I have read by her before.

‘He’d been a hero, and heroes were her weakness… Except this particular hero had once nearly killed her.’

Okay, I’ll admit it. I had a real hard time getting into this book. But I think perseverance is the key here, or at least it was for me. For some reason, I didn’t have an instant connection to Annie and Theo, unlike most of the characters Ms. Phillips has previously created. I guess I wasn’t expecting the dark, almost gothic, tone of the story. It did work well with this being set on an isolated island off the coast of Maine in the winter. (Which she did a fabulous job of describing, by the way.) And believe me, I understand the frigid, sometimes dismal landscape, having grown up on the coast of Maine, myself. That heavy, foreboding feeling did finally start to lighten up a bit, as a touch of humor and compassion was introduced into Annie and Theo’s relationship about halfway through the book. And that was when I started to get a real sense of attachment to their tale.

I did think Ms. Phillips did a good job of keeping a lid on who was trying to force Annie off Peregrine Island. I enjoyed the fact that just when I thought I had figured it all out, a new twist was added to the plot which changed everything. And I did grow to like Theo once the truth about his past started coming out. Things are definitely not always what they seem with people, and he was nothing like I first thought. Thank goodness! I think what also helped was the alternating POVs, so we did get a glimpse into his thoughts here and there. Now, I did like Annie, especially when she started standing up for herself.

I was a little weirded out by the puppet thing at first, but they actually became an integral part, even helping little Livia come out of her shell. I’m not quite sure I would have made some of the choices Annie did, getting close to Theo being one, but I ultimately liked how the book came to a close and seeing how everything worked out.

If you don’t mind a story with a dark undertone and lots of secrets, I would try Heroes Are My Weakness for something a little bit different.

Book Info:

Published August 26th 2014 by William Morrow

The dead of winter.

An isolated island off the coast of Maine.

A man.

A woman.

A sinister house looming over the sea …

He’s a reclusive writer whose macabre imagination creates chilling horror novels. She’s a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids’ puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs.

But she’s not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they’re trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine. Is he the villain she remembers or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.

It’s going to be a long, hot winter.