Romance adventures are a tough one. It's hard to get the right balance where both elements are completely satisfying. Sometimes you get a strong romance that sacrifices the action, or you get great action with a second-thought romance. If one is strong enough, you might be satisfied overall. And sometimes neither one is quite right. That was the case here.

Romance and a thriller! I had to skip a few pages here and there since I found the pace a bit lagging for my interest.

I think this one suffered a bit from a lack of spark. It needed some more chemistry between Maura and Brock. Also, I prefer my romantic suspense to have more open door in the romance area. Overall this was a decent read and I’ll be checking out her other works.

I enjoyed this fast-paced, intriguing, and suspenseful mystery by Heather Graham. It was well-written, appeared to be well-researched, and kept my interest from start to finish. I liked the main characters, Maura and Brock, and a few of the secondary characters, namely detectives Flannery & Lawrence, but honestly had a bit of difficulty keeping the rest of the characters straight. However, it didn’t bother me enough to take me out of the story. I liked the chemistry between Maura and Brock, and found myself pulling for them to have their second chance at a permanent relationship, since I thought they got a bum deal the first time around. I was hoping they would find the happy-ever-after that they missed as teenagers. I would have liked to see more of their relationship developed before the end of the book, but I was glad with the direction they seemed to be heading. I was totally surprised when the murderer’s identity was revealed. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley, and these opinions are my own.

This had an intriguing plotline and amazing, characters. I highly recommend this book! I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I really enjoy some of this author's other series so I thought I'd give this one a try. I liked it well enough although not as much as some of her others. It was entertaining but was a little slow in places. I thought the overall story was entertaining but the pace didn't work for me. Not a bad book by any means but not where I'd start if you've never read this author before.

**ARC provided through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Overall:

As much as I love Heather, this was a very "meh" story. It just wasn't for me. I tried reading it as an ARC and wasn't hooked, then snagged a copy of the audio to listen to. While it flowed well, the story had too much history and not enough time spent on creating the tension in plot. There were supposed to be on the hunt for missing women and yet despite saying they were worried almost everyone seemed to just be blase' about it. Even a woman who would fit the description was a total idiot when being told to be careful. The characters were supposed to be hot and heavy teens with their who lives figured out and when they deal with a tragedy it changes them and yet when they meet up again there is this absolutely no tension about how things were left, no resentment, no anger about how they were treated no hurt, just a easy acceptance without there being any tension one would expect, it just falls in so easy ( like way too easy).


Narrator: Eva Kaminsky

This is my first time with this narrator and she certainly tried to make the story flow well. Her inflections and narration helped to make the story much more interesting. When I expected something explosive it was truly based on the way she was reading the material, but when scenes fell flat it was because of the material.

Story:

For the first time in a long time with a Heather Graham book I was looking forward to the end and not because I wanted to get to the whole story, nope I just wanted it to end. This is a second chance romance and I didn't feel like the characters were interesting, and with all the potential the story was boring. There wasn't much chemistry, they barely talked and I don't know there wasn't any real tension about what her mother had done or how things were handled. The build up of the locations and the way the history was being talked about I expected way more than we got.

I learned more about Florida's history and frankly very little of what we learned aided in the story. It wasn't until the last ten pages that the tension of the book even manifested. The villains and their motivation were very weak and I honestly just didn't care at the end. Someone can only be so dumb before you want them to be one of the people who goes missing. The red herring we were giving would have been a better solution than the answer we were given.

When i started following along in the physical book and realized we were over half way through without the two star crossed lovers even really getting anytime alone I knew I was done. Everyone was acting like him spending one night in jail was supposed to derail his life ( considering he never even saw the judge and no charges were pressed against him, and his family money and influence made sure he never faced any consequences, not sure how that was supposed to happen). The idea that you loved someone so much that one night makes you turn away from them and neither of you show up to demand answers?? You followed your parents directive and made no attempt to reach out to the other person and then wondered why they didn't follow up???

For a couple that was supposed to be getting back together from a 12 year separation I didn't feel the heat of their relationship. they didn't really have any depth of feeling and While it only took 3 hours to listen to the story I wasn't hooked. When it ended I was like wait what that's it?? Where is the rest?? It felt unfinished.

★★★☆☆

RECOMMENDATIONS

Heather Graham Krewe of Hunters series
Sizzle Julie Garwood
Happy Reading my loves,

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC. 3.5 stars I really enjoyed this mystery/thriller/romance from a new-to-me author. The suspense had me on my guard most of the time. What had me confused was the jumps between character dialogues, it took me time to focus on where I was.

There’s nothing better than a twisty suspense, when the mystery goes back over decades and it’s a real second chance. Add in some supernatural elements, the possibilities of secret societies and cheating spouses, cavorting coworkers... what else can you ask for?

Maura and Brock were involved when they were 18 and worked together at a summer resort job, but a murder separated them.

Now, years later, they meet there again when murder brings them together. Will they mend fences and make things worse before the body count mounts? Or will they be part of it?

I love the twists and turns, the elements that are added as red herrings, and the things that you think are red herrings that really are clues.

This is the kind of murder mystery I’d happily lend to my mother or grandmother. I’m guessing it will appeal to more conservative readers. There is a gentle Southern charm to the story and the characters but it failed to keep my attention at times and I personally prefer more action in my crime thrillers.

Another fantastic Harlequin Intrigue of Heather Graham. I just keep on coming back to her books, because she always delivers my expectations than some more. Loveable, real and fantastic characters with a steamy suspense story to bring them closer. Good with mystery, action and romance. Truly a masterpiece.

I have read other books from this author as well and I seem to enjoy them. This is an intriguing; quick read. The mystery aspect and twist were both good.

Top Harlequin Intrigue which is extremely enjoyable and has a brilliant amount of intrigue.

Maura and Brock are great characters and hold the story together while they solve the mystery of the story. There is depth in the mystery and plenty to keep me interested and page turning.

I don't read too many Harlequin Intrigues lately and this is a brilliant reminder of why I should and why I loved them in the past.

I’ve been reading Heather Graham’s books forever and was hoping this one would be similar to a Krewe of Hunters book. I liked the story and the characters but I felt something was off. Once I realized that this book was written for Harlequin who is notorious for issuing “form” books, I realized what the problem was. It was as if the book had been pared down to meet the Harlequin restrictions. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book. I will probably, however, stick to reading those books she publishes through her usual editor/publisher.

What a great story! I have never read anything by Heather Graham but I can tell you that this will not be the last time I read her books. She writes a very exciting and thrilling story! Many twists and turns and a great ending! Thanks for such a great book!

I really wanted to love this story. It's got tons in the pros column...it's Heather Graham, and I've been loving her stories for a long time, it's a mystery (my first love), it's Harlequin Intrigue, and it's Heather Graham (need I say more).
But... as much as I've always loved her stories this one fell flat. It was a lot of repetetive conversation, characters that weren't intriguing, and when the less than stellar ending rolled around it felt rushed.
I'm completely disappointed, but it won't stop me from grabbing the next one and trying again. I assume my expectations were just too high.

I love this author and I am so happy that I got this book it made me realize how much I have missed her writing. I loved the characters and the story line. A little romance and some suspense made this a great read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

I figured some of it out really early, but the story was really good... until the end dropped out. The explanations were in the epilogue, which I thought was weird. I really liked Maura and Brock separately, but I wasn’t feeling the chemistry.

This was my first romantic suspense and I really enjoyed it! The perfect amount of steam and action. It was well paced and definitely kept my attention.

Heather Graham is an amazing Storyteller! Every single book I read of hers is great! Can't wait for her next book!!