Showing posts with label Romance Suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance Suspense. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2016

Kendra Elliot's BONE SECRETS Sunday Spotlight!!

Author Kendra Elliot’s latest book KNOWN, is releasing in just a short couple of days! If you have yet to discover her work, then I suggest you check out her Bone Secrets Series ASAP. Especially if you’re a fan of romantic suspense. KNOWN is book 5 in the series. Read below for a letter from Kendra Elliot as well as an excerpt from KNOWN, and a giveaway at the bottom of the post!


Title: Known
Author: Kendra Elliot
Release Date: January 19, 2016
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Montlake Romance

Summary


After a brutal snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains, Chris Jacobs discovers two things he never expected to see: the charred shell of a cabin, and Gianna Trask and her sixteen-year-old daughter huddled in an SUV, having barely escaped from their burning vacation rental.


Still scarred from a childhood ordeal, Chris knows there’s something sinister about the scene—it’s the stench of burned flesh.


Forced to wait out the blizzard in their rescuer’s retreat, medical examiner Gianna Trask wonders if her hidden past has finally caught up with her. When a body is found in the destroyed cabin’s ashes and a forest ranger is brutally murdered, both Gianna and Chris must confront their secrets if they want to escape the violent threat lurking outside.


In the fifth book in the Bone Secrets series, Kendra Elliot leads readers on a dangerous, twisting journey of two lives forever changed by a fiery snowstorm in the mountains.

Author Message - Kendra Elliot

KNOWN is the hardest book I've ever written. I think it's because my fans had such a fantastic reaction to the first appearance of the hero, Chris Jacobs, in BURIED as a secondary character. I've never received so much email about a character. I put a lot of pressure on myself to create a story worth this honorable character.

Chris was abducted as a child and held in an underground bunker with his schoolmates by a sadistic serial killer. After two years, Chris and another boy escaped, but his friend died before reaching safety. Chris assumed his dead friend's identity, knowing his own family could be killed if they discovered he was alive. 

In BURIED, Chris is reunited with his real family, but the novel belongs to his brother, Michael Brody. Readers clamored for Chris to have his HEA and I knew he needed his own novel, not a novella. I worked hard to come up with a love interest that was worthy of Chris. 

Gianna Trask is a forensic pathologist with a teen daughter and a background that slightly echoes Chris's past. They have both been through hell and are drawn together by their shared pain. Everything Gianna believes about her past is turned on its side when a dead body shows up after her remote cabin catches fire. She and her daughter are trapped outside the cabin in a snowstorm until Chris appears. 

During every word I wrote, I felt like I had my fans looking over my shoulder, wanting the best for Chris. It had a tendency to make me second guess every decision, drawing out the creative process. But I now feel like I did him justice. I hope my fans love Gianna as much as they adore Chris and agree that they are perfect for each other.  

Excerpt - KNOWN

Chris’s brain shot into fifth gear.

It had been at a full stop as he told Gianna that he remembered everything about his captivity with the Ghostman. He hadn’t shared his memories with anyone since Brian’s mother, Elena. His secrets had died with her. Early on, Michael and Jamie had asked a few leading questions, but he’d shut them down. He didn’t want their minds polluted with images from his past. They had imaginations; they could use them.

But with Gianna it was different. She’d moved toward him when he alluded to the horrors that had been done to him. She hadn’t run. She hadn’t rejected him. For one terrifying, heart-stopping moment he’d thought she’d look away; instead she’d reached out.

He’d grabbed her offering and clamped on like a man dying of thirst.

As he kissed her, he acknowledged that he’d been closed off for years. Gianna had gently touched his surface, sending small waves across his senses. The waves had rippled over the black memories that’d risen to the surface and calmed them, buried them. He hadn’t fought his usual internal struggle to make the images vanish; they’d simply dissolved.

He wasn’t a fool. They weren’t magically gone. But they’d never fallen away into the background with such ease.

Since he’d first seen her, Gianna had soothed his environment. Usually he escaped to his cabin to find that calm; yesterday he’d discovered it’d followed him back home on two legs. Two petite legs attached to one of the most gorgeous women he’d ever seen.

And she accepted him. She’d looked right into his nightmare and not shied away.

Her heart beat against his and he ran his hand up into her hair, cradling her skull. She felt so small under his fingertips. Her hand was still clutched in his, gripping like she was scared to let go, and he held their clasped hands against her back, feeling the soft give of her skin and the harder bumps of her spine. With her arm behind her she was open and vulnerable to him, but she didn’t seem to care. He tightened his hold on her, causing her to exhale, and she turned her lips from his, her breath brushing over his cheek. He moved his lips up her face to her cheekbones and her eyelids, to her forehead. A soft scent of coconut shampoo entered his senses, and he abruptly wished they were alone on a tropical island, not standing in her violated home in a rainy city.

He went back to her lips and her doorbell rang.

“Holy crap,” she uttered.

“We’re not done here.” He held her gaze, turning his statement into a question. Once again he placed the decision in her hands.

“Definitely not.” She pulled back; her eyes were dark, but her lips curved in a promising smile that made his heart painfully contract. In a good way.

“I’ll get the door.”


***


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About the Author

Kendra Elliot won the 2015 and 2014 Daphne du Maurier awards for Romantic Suspense. She was also an International Thriller Writers finalist for Best Paperback Original and a Romantic Times finalist for Romantic Suspense. She grew up in the lush Pacific Northwest and still lives there with her husband, three daughters, two cats, and a Pomeranian. She’s always been fascinated with forensics, refuses to eat anything green, and loves a strong mai tai on the beach on Kauai. Visit Kendra at www.kendraelliot.com.


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GIVEAWAY TIME!!! 

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/248343f66df40259







 
Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Cover Your Eyes (Morgans of Nashville #1) by Mary Burton



Publication: October 28, 2014
Publisher: Zebra / Kensington Books
Source: Publisher

Don't Look
At first, they struggle to escape. Then a torrent of blows rains down upon their bodies until their eyes cloud over in final agony. The killer shows no remorse--just a twisted need to witness each victim's last terrified moments.
Don't Speak
Public defender Rachel Wainwright is struggling to reopen a decades-old case, convinced that the wrong man is in prison. Homicide detective Deke Morgan doesn't want to agree. But if Rachel's hunch is correct, whoever fatally bludgeoned young, beautiful Annie Dawson thirty years ago could be the source of a new string of brutal slayings.
Just Prepare To Die
Rachel's investigation is about to reveal answers--but at a price she never thought to pay. Now she's become the target of a rage honed by years of jealousy and madness. And a murderer is ready to show her just how vicious the truth can be. . .


Rachel Wainwright is an up and coming lawyer/public defender. She has made it her mission to help the wrongly convicted.  Her life take an interesting turn when she is given a case from The Innocence Project, a group that attempts to help free innocent people who are in prison. Her potential client was convicted of murder thirty years ago. A murder that everyone is 100% sure he committed. Since DNA wasn’t as developed back then as it is now, she wants a DNA test done on the murder weapon to see if it belongs to her client, Jeb. This opens up a big can of worms. Especially for Deke Morgan, the Detective who gets the request. Turns out Deke’s father, Buddy was the one of the people responsible for Jeb going to prison. He was a great cop and no one wants to doubt that he did anything wrong. But new murders are occurring a


Rachel is very persistent and strong willed. With her parents passed away and her brother dying in prison, Rachel doesn’t have too many people in her life, so she is used to relying on herself. Her social life is limited and she throws herself into her work. Once she has a plan and she knows what she wants, nothing tends to sway her. She is a woman on a mission, attempting to get the DNA results for Jeb.

Two failed marriages and having to work in the shadow of his well respected cop father (who has died), does not make life or work easy for Deke. He is serious, determined, and very protective of his family, especially his little sister. He tries his best to keep all his siblings together, but busy work schedules make things difficult. Deke’s worked hard to make a name for himself at work and he is very good at what he does. Rachel becomes a pain in the butt when her DNA request comes across his desk. He knows his father arrested the right guy. But what happens if he didn’t and the killer is still out there?


Cover Your Eyes was an intriguing murder mystery that pretty much kept me guessing all the way through the story. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the romance between Rachel and Deke. It seemed inevitable, them getting together, but ultimately I couldn’t feel the connection between them.  But what was lacking in the romance, the mystery made up for. Some little things I was able to guess, but the big mystery I didn’t figure out until the reveal. There were plenty twists and turns and interesting characters to throw me off and lure me down the wrong alley. This is the first book I have read from Mary Burton and I thought it was a solid mystery. I love it when a story keeps me guessing from beginning to end.



RATING: 3 ½ out of 5.




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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

No Turning Back by Tiffany A. Snow



Kathleen Turner has goals. She moved to Indianapolis to start seeing to them, but things aren't going quite as well as she'd hoped. She's a runner for a high-powered law firm in town, not the most prestigious of positions, but it and her part-time bartender gig at least pays the bills. And one of the senior partners is a dreamboat in that obscenely rich, disturbingly good looking, slightly snobbish sort of way.

Before she did a mortifying face plant in his lap during a meeting, she was quite happy ogling him from afar. After that...well...she was more about the avoiding. Mature, no. More likely to assure she keeps her job, yes.

She's made some friends in the few months she's been in Indy. One of those friends is her neighbor Sheila, though Kathleen can't say she's completely comfortable with Sheila's job choice as a high-dollar escort.

It's the middle of the night when Kathleen hears fighing coming from Sheila's apartment. As disturbing as that is, it's the ominous sound of silence afterwards that keeps Kathleen from falling back to sleep. Slipping from bed with the intention of making sure everything is okay, Kathleen knocks on friend's door, only to find Sheila murdered, her naked body sprawled on sheets stained crimson with her blood.

Shock and horror are followed by gritty determination when it becomes clear that Sheila's death isn't random and it isn't the result of a jealous boyfriend. It's the opening gambit in a web of murder, deceit, conspiracy, and fraud that stretches to the law firm for which Kathleen works. Maybe to the very office that Blane Kirk commands.

And Kathleen Turner, law office runner, can trust no one if she wants to survive.

***********************************************

I bought this book during the summer and never got around to reading it. A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to finally read it and I was pleasantly surprised how much I got into it. The story had a funny start and from there I wanted to keep reading. 
Kathleen Turner is a Runner for a prestigious law firm. One day when she is delivering a package to one of the senior partners, Blane she accidentally trips and falls face down into Blane’s lap. Not exactly the best way to make a good impression and get noticed by your boss. Later that day Blaine comes to her department to inquire about her…

“Oh God. I panicked when I heard Diane tell him where my cube was.   This could not be happening to me.   What was I supposed to say?   What if he thought I’d done that on purpose?   I'd have to get a new job because I'd be too mortified to work here any longer.
Tossing aside my pride, that ship had sailed, as well as the thought that perhaps I might be acting more like a twelve-year old rather than a mature twenty-four, I dived underneath my desk, and not a moment too soon.”
-Snow, Tiffany A. No Turning Back (Kathleen Turner Series)

After Sheila, her friend and neighbor is murdered, Kathleen feels an obligation to make sure her killer is brought to justice.  She turns to Blane for his help since he is a good lawyer. Kathleen did not completely trust Blane at first, yet even though her dad was a cop she never thought to tell the police everything she knew. That I had an issue with. I kept thinking if she didn’t trust Blane, why not just go to the police. During her quest to find out what happened to Sheila, Kathleen gets into trouble a few times and her life is put in danger more than once. She ends up meeting Kade during one of those danger moments. Kade is more or less a gun for hire, but even though Kathleen knows he is dangerous to be around there is a part of her that likes him regardless.  While she wrestles with her feelings for these two men, she is still trying to solve Sheila’s murder and keep herself alive in the process. I admire her determination, because if it were me, after my life was threatened, I don’t think I would have kept putting myself in harm’s way like that.

I really enjoyed this book and rushed to pick up the second one in the series after I was done with this one. It had just the right amount of suspense and romance to keep me interested. No Turning Back is told through Kathleen’s POV which makes for entertaining and funny moments. I liked Kathleen. Her lack of judgment or inability to connect some of the dots was a bit annoying, but other than that I thought she was caring and a quick thinker. Blane is nice enough, but I am rooting for Kade to be the final winner of Kathleen’s affections.  No Turning Back is a breezy and fun romance suspense book that is worth the read.

                                       
                                                        No Turning Back (Kathleen Turner, #1)
Rating: 4 out of 5.

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