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Stephie Ably-Ranier and her husband Ben were looking forward to their three-week trip to South America which included a week in Buenos Aires and a two-week cruise around South America from the Argentinean capital to Santiago, Chile. This turned out to be a life-threatening and life-altering experience for Stephie.
It was an exciting trip for Ben, too, because he decided on an audacious scheme—to bring his mistress along on the trip—without his wife’s knowledge. When Stephie gets to Buenos Aires, she soon learns she is being stalked. The reader wonders whether it relates to her job with the highly secretive intelligence-gathering National Security Agency or whether her cheating husband is involved.
In Buenos Aires the couple immerse themselves in the world of the tango with its passionate themes of desire, seduction, betrayal and jealousy—themes that the wayward Ben certainly doesn’t want to be reminded of. While in the city, Ben and Stephie meet some of their fellow cruise ship passengers including the somewhat whacky dancing Rilleaus who can’t seem to keep their feet still, and Kim and Doug Simpson who have a strange, secret-laden marriage.
On the cruise Stephie becomes fascinated with the region’s penguin rookeries and with the ship’s naturalist, Mike Lambert, a hunky guy who seems too good to be true. They seem to hit it off from the start, and the relationship gets intense when Stephie gets stranded in the Falkland Islands with Mike there to keep her warm and comfy. She misses her ship but finds a chance for real happiness.
The novel has vivid characters, an intriguing sense of place, and a plot that will ensnare readers.
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