Thank you for stopping by my leg of The Buried blog tour! This book was just entertaining and suspenseful read. I’m very excited for you guys to check the book and my review! Don’t forget to check out the author’s info and excerpt from the book at the bottom.
P.S. Enter the giveaway below to win a print copy of The Buried by Shelley Coriell! For those that leave a comment on my blog from now until November 3, 2014, I will be giving away an additional print copy of the book for US/Canada only!
Publication: October 28, 2014
Publisher: Forever / Hachette Book Group
Source: Publisher
Secrets from the past.
Voices from the grave.
Because nothing stays buried forever...
Cypress Bend, Florida, is a small southern bayou town filled with long-buried secrets. It's also the home of successful, fiercely independent state prosecutor Grace Courtemanche, who's pulled into a world of terror and self-doubt when she receives a phone call from a young woman buried alive.
In a race to stop a revenge-seeking killer, Grace unearths skeletons from her past along with feelings for the one man she swore she'd never need again, Theodore "Hatch" Hatcher, a rootless, smooth-talking FBI crisis negotiator who's back in Cypress Bend to deal with a secret of his own.
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“Keep breathing. Lia, Keep breathing.”
Those are the words Grace keeps repeating in her head like a mantra. Hoping that she’ll get lucky and find Lia who is buried alive. Most people might just tell the police after receiving a phone call claiming they were trapped/buried alive, but not Grace. After receiving a phone call from Lia, she tries to do everything in her power to save her before it is too late.
Grace Courtemanche is a rising up and coming state prosecutor with an amazing track record. Patience is definitely not her strong suit that’s for sure. But she is tough, tenacious, ambitious, and not afraid of a challenge. Especially one with deadly consequences such as this one.
Hatch is a semi-laid back guy who knows how to handle a tough situation. As an FBI Agent and crisis negotiator, he has been trained on how to develop connections with people in order to help save lives. He is great with making people feel comfortable and opening up to him. Everyone except maybe his thirteen year old son, Alex whom he just found out about upon returning to Cypress Bend. Couple that with running into Grace, his ex-wife and helping her track down a sick killer, things just went from complicated to dangerous in a short period of time.
I think them being thrown together in this type of situation was a good experience for the both of them. These two are opposites for sure, but I liked how their personalities sort of played off each other. Together they made a really great team. Not to mention their chemistry and feelings seemed to be just as strong as it had been years ago when they first met.
I really enjoyed the storyline, especially the mystery. It was laid out very well, and it had me guessing the whole time. The characters were both interesting and easy to get to know. Not only did I want to get to find out more about them, I loved discovering more and following them on their journey. There was a good amount of suspense and action with some romance thrown into the mix. Fans of romantic suspense should try out this series.
Grace Courtemanche is a rising up and coming state prosecutor with an amazing track record. Patience is definitely not her strong suit that’s for sure. But she is tough, tenacious, ambitious, and not afraid of a challenge. Especially one with deadly consequences such as this one.
Hatch is a semi-laid back guy who knows how to handle a tough situation. As an FBI Agent and crisis negotiator, he has been trained on how to develop connections with people in order to help save lives. He is great with making people feel comfortable and opening up to him. Everyone except maybe his thirteen year old son, Alex whom he just found out about upon returning to Cypress Bend. Couple that with running into Grace, his ex-wife and helping her track down a sick killer, things just went from complicated to dangerous in a short period of time.
I think them being thrown together in this type of situation was a good experience for the both of them. These two are opposites for sure, but I liked how their personalities sort of played off each other. Together they made a really great team. Not to mention their chemistry and feelings seemed to be just as strong as it had been years ago when they first met.
I really enjoyed the storyline, especially the mystery. It was laid out very well, and it had me guessing the whole time. The characters were both interesting and easy to get to know. Not only did I want to get to find out more about them, I loved discovering more and following them on their journey. There was a good amount of suspense and action with some romance thrown into the mix. Fans of romantic suspense should try out this series.
RATING: 4 out of 5.
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About the Author:
A former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and restaurant reviewer. These days Shelley writes smart, funny novels for teens and big, edgy romantic suspense. A six-time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, she lives and loves in Arizona with her family and the world's neediest rescue Weimaraner. When she's not behind the keyboard, you'll find her baking high-calorie, high-fat desserts and haunting local farmers markets for the perfect plum.
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Excerpt:
“Shine the light to the right near the lilies,” Grace said as she squinted through the blackness, softened only by a sliver of moon. “Something’s been there.”
The spotlight cut across the lilies and landed on a flattened patch of broken reeds. His pulse spiking, he grabbed a low-hanging cypress branch and pulled them closer.
Damn. Too narrow for a boat, even a fourteen footer. “Another gator slide,” he said. Another dead end.
Grace maneuvered the boat out of the tiny creek, gliding to a set of yellow-slitted eyes poking out of the water. Hatch stared down the gator until it blinked and spun away. He’d take on every gator in Florida if it meant getting to Janis Jaffee in time. Although time was key, Grace continued to boat slowly down the river as he searched the banks, looking for any signs of human disturbance. Hatch ground his back teeth. Make that any signs of a disturbed human. They were dealing with a twisted and dangerous mind.
Once on the Apalachicola River, Hatch’s phone vibrated with a text from Lieutenant Lang. “Cell phone company just identified two towers picking up signals,” he told Grace. “Cross section of the towers is some place called Bremen’s Bayou. Name ring a bell?”
“Northwest of here,” Grace called out over the gun of the motor.
“Big area?” Hatch asked.
“Couple hundred acres.”
Even with the roar of the outboard, he heard the excitement in her voice. “What?”
“One of Lamar’s old hunting buddies keeps his dogs on a floating pen in that area. Janis heard the dogs right before she was dragged from the boat. We find the dogs, we’ll find the girl.”
Within fifteen minutes, Grace had them racing down the Apalachicola River and onto Bremen’s Bayou, a slow-moving waterway surrounded by cypress and oak dripping with Spanish moss. His light glided over cypress roots reaching up from the water like fingerless hands. The trees hung low over the water, and branches scratched the side of the boat. And some of the branches—
“Broken!” Grace said on a fast breath. “The wood’s still damp at the break. Someone’s had a boat back in here recently.”
She inched the boat through the tangle of branches. His light landed on a flattened bush and a pair of crushed white trumpet-like flowers. He fanned the light higher. “Drag marks. Too wide for a gator.”
Grace jammed the boat into the bank. He launched himself over the side, his feet sinking into swampy earth. Swatting brush, he chased the drag marks into the knot of blue-black shrubs and trees. Vines reached for his hands and legs. A ropy length of moss wrapped around his neck, and he yanked. Something snarled. Something else hissed. And still he ran.
The brush gave way to marsh. Mud sucked at his feet. His shins. His knees.
On the other side of the bog, he spotted the earthen mound.
He tore up the rise. Something sharp sliced into his right foot. Shoe. He’d lost a shoe.
At the mound, he fell to his knees and clawed the earth. “Janis!” he called. “It’s Hatch. I’m here.”
No banging. No choking gasp.
He scraped harder, faster, sandy soil flying. His finger scraped against something flat and cold. He tugged, and a rock came free. With the flat rock he shoveled earth.
Something crashed through the marshy grass and fell next to him. Another set of hands.
“Spotted three boats coming this way.” Grace jammed her hands in the dirt and shoveled.
His rock hit wood. Someone let loose a cry. Grace? Him? Janis?
More sandy soil flew through the air. He unearthed one corner. Another. With two feet of wood exposed, he banged the rock at the seam along the top. The wood split. He grabbed the broken lengths of wood and yanked, every muscle in his body straining. Nails screeched, the wood splintered, and half of the top board broke off, exposing a pale, dark-haired young woman.
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Hello! Nice review. I love a good romantic suspense story. This one is going on my TBR for sure.
ReplyDeleteI love this author, her writing is so unique!
ReplyDeleteNice review Cristal. This sounds like a good suspenseful series.
ReplyDelete