I’ll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton

November 26, 2015 By Leave a Comment

NEVER
I’ll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (367 pgs)
Heat: Spicy
Rated: 3.5 stars
Review by Poppy

LOVE HURTS

He promised to kill her. One night four years ago, Leah Carson’s husband almost succeeded. Philip stabbed her twenty-three times before fleeing. The police are sure he’s dead. But fear won’t let Leah believe it.

AND SOMETIMES

It starts with little things. Missing keys. A flat tire. Mysterious flowers. All easily explained away if the pattern wasn’t so terrifyingly familiar. Leah has a new veterinary practice and a new life with no ties to her nightmare. But Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent Alex Morgan suspects something. And when another woman’s body is found, stabbed twenty-three times, Leah knows her past has found her.
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IT KILLS

As Leah and Alex untangle the horrifying truth, he watches her, ready for the perfect moment. Until death—that was the vow they made. And a killer always keeps his word…

Far more suspense than romance, I’ll Never Let You Go had a heart-stopping plot.

The heroine, Leah, is incredibly strong. She (barely) got away from her abusive husband once and is determined to never be a victim again. She has a lot of deep-seated fears and a little bit of OCD behavior (like checking and re-checking her locks), but who could blame her. She manages to lead a pretty normal life despite it all. I really loved how she recognized her weaknesses but took steps to overcome them. Leah was a woman to be admired.

Alex is part of the internal affairs department at the police department and not well-loved by his fellow officers (except his family, who are all involved in law enforcement in some manner). Still, he has strong values and convictions and manages to not let it really affect him. And when he has to investigate Leah’s best friend, he uses Leah to get information, not realizing that eventually he’d find himself legitimately attracted to her. I got a kick out of Alex and his interactions with his family. He’s an awesome guy, but almost a little too perfect. I don’t think he honestly had any flaws. He was handsome, smart, honorable … but he was also likely exactly what Leah needed. Her former husband certainly had his share, so perhaps Alex in all his perfection was the only thing that would have worked for her.

The story is packed with twists and turns. While I wouldn’t say it was a non-stop, adrenaline pumping suspense, it certainly kept me thinking and wondering. All the hard evidence from the past points to Leah’s husband being dead, but everything happening now screams that he’s alive. I knew there had to be a twist somewhere, and there is, but you won’t find out until the very end!

The main reason I chose the rating I did here, though, was because the book is marketed as romantic suspense and it really isn’t. The romance is nearly nil. Calling the heat “spicy” is almost a misnomer—as there is one very briefly described (no sexy details) sex scene and honestly, the first three-quarters of the book, it’s really as if Leah and Alex are barely friends. Yes, there is a HEA for them, but it’s a pretty quick turn of events. Believable, I suppose, but I really missed seeing the relationship truly develop over the course of the entire book.

So, don’t go into this expecting romance like I did. You’ll likely be disappointed. Go into this for a mystery instead and then you’ll get the most enjoyment from the story. Mary Burton is a very good writer, with a clever mind and clear description. The next time I pick up a book of hers to read, though, I’ll know what to expect.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Against the Tide by Kat Martin

May 15, 2015 By 1 Comment

TIDE
Against the Tide by Kat Martin
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (367 pages)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Camellia

Secrets—and safety—melt under a midnight sun…

Liv Chandler is running for her life, and the cops haven’t been able to do a thing to help. But there’s one man who makes her feel safe, no matter what…rugged charter boat captain Rafe Brodie.

To Rafe, Liv is a beautiful mystery, one he can’t ignore. He means to unearth her secrets, and in the process, if luck is on his side, maybe the spark between them will ignite.

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Mystery, murder, a secretive beauty, and a “Freckin’ Hot” hero bring Against the Tide to life.

Olivia Chandler hopes, after three years, her past is erased forever. She likes Valdez, Alaska. The people have befriended her. Here is where she’d like to make a life for herself.

When an employee’s fiancé, is murdered, Olivia joins forces with Rafe Brodie, the one Katie, the waitress, calls “Freckin’ Hot.” As they and a few friends do their own investigation to clear one friend’s name and find the real murderer, Olivia and Rafe’s attraction to each other raises the heat level. Love scenes sizzle.

However, Rafe senses all is not right with Olivia, who has a highly trained guard dog, plus she never speaks of her past and avoids his questions about it. He gets his brother Nick to check her out.

As they deal with would-be terrorists, and the fallout from an innocent picture of a party posted on Facebook, plus the information Nick gleans, Olivia seems to get more boxed in minute by minute. How they deal with the situation makes breathtaking and, sometimes, adrenaline-pumping reading.

Kat Martin weaves a tapestry of a tale with dark, dark, threads of antagonists on a mission that could create another “9-11” along with dark threads of a different shade from Olivia’s past. These dark threads threaten to overpower, but cannot dim the bright threads of friendship, love, and hope. Ms. Martin’s weaving shows the beauty of the Alaskan setting as she weaves in a few sub-plots that enhance the main plot while never ceasing to work in the bright golden threads of a love that has “toe-curling” moments.

This captivating story sweeps the reader along with loyal friends and family, with danger that lurks, and, best of all, with love that finally sparkles with happiness. GOOD reading!

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

You’re Not Safe by Mary Burton

September 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment

SAFE
You’re Not Safe by Mary Burton
Publisher: Zebra / Kensington Publishing Corp.
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (392 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewed by Camellia

He Will Never Forget

The broken body hanging from a tree in Texas Hill Country. . .the frozen figure huddled in a meat locker. . .only at second glance does the truth become apparent. What seems like suicide is far more sinister, and the terror is only beginning…

Never Forgive

One devastating moment changed Greer Templeton’s life and ended two others. Now, with a body found on her property and Texas Ranger Tec Bragg on her doorstep, Greer’s nightmare has returned. With each new victim, her link to Tec’s case grows, and soon it will be too late to run.

And Never Let Them Live. . .

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Murder with unsettling, eerie elements grabs the reader’s attention from the get-go.

Mary Burton weaves a tale of mystery and suspense that made me shudder at times. She takes the reader into the setting so one can almost feel the sweltering heat in the hill country of the dry Texas summer as the temperature soars above 100 degrees regularly, while all the time pulling the reader into a tale that put down roots in events that happened twelve years earlier. Now, the things that grew from those roots are ripe for harvest—what a horrifying harvest it is.

Texas Ranger Tec Bragg is back in Austin after his stint on the border fighting drug cartels. The media coverage of his warrior deeds on the border make people a little leery of him. He goes about his duties with polite manners and soft-spoken words. Yet, the hard glint in his eyes and straight forward questions make it clear, he tolerates no nonsense. He is not happy when his nephew Mitch, who is back from Iraq with PTSD, goes to work for Greer Templeton, a person of interest in a murder investigation..

At age fifteen, Greer Templeton disappeared from Austin society after she was injured and her brother and his fiancée were killed in a car accident when she was driving. She cannot forgive herself and neither can her parents. They put her in Shady Grove, a ritzy place where “broken” rich children were sent to be “repaired.” Her Aunt Lydia, who owns a vineyard, comes for her when she is released from Shady Grove. With her aunt’s unconditional love and hard work day in and day out, Greer makes a life for herself.

Fulfilling a promise, she made to her dying aunt; Greer hires Mitch, a person Dr. Stewart at the crisis center recommended. This “good deed” really puts her in Ranger Bragg’s sights. He keeps close tabs on her and her activities.

As bodies pile up, all of them people who’d been in Shady Grove when Greer was there, the situation gets tense. Is she the killer? Even with this being a possibility, Ranger Bragg is attracted to her and she to him.

The possible suspects and spooky activity along with unidentified characters that slip in and out of the story, keep tension high. As new characters enter the story, I just knew I’d be able to guess who the killer or killers were. WOW, did I get a surprise!

Mary Burton never drops a single thread as she weaves a tale that involves so many characters with so many problems it makes one head swim. YOU’RE NOT SAFE is a gripping tale about people surviving the best they know how—some winning the battle and other losing.

Mary Burton delivers a scary suspense/ mystery story along with an in-depth look into the characters’ troubled personalities. EXCELLENT READING!

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

No Escape by Mary Burton

October 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

ESCAPE
No Escape by Mary Burton
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (364 pages)
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Camellia

He Was Taught How To Kill

Even behind bars, serial killer Harvey Day Smith exudes menace. Psychologist Jolene Granger has agreed to hear his dying confession, vowing not to let the monster inside her head. And Harvey has secrets to share—about bodies that were never found, and about the apprentice who is continuing his grisly work. . .

And Now He’ll Teach Them

He buries his victims alive the way his mentor Harvey did, relishing their final screams as the earth rains down. And as one last gift to the only father he knew, he’ll make the most perfect kill of all.

How To Die

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“A coyote howled in the distance.” Where I live this is an ominous sound. It is the harbinger of killing. That howl made me feel sure bad things were in store for the characters of  No Escape—and they were.

Harvey Smith is Pure Evil and knows how to get into people’s minds and play havoc with their lives. He has two secrets. One he’ll reveal; the other he’ll leave clues for others to use to find out on their own.

Dr. Jo Granger knows a lot about Harvey Smith in a superficial way. Before he is through with his machinations, she’ll know about him in-depth and maybe to her detriment. The imprisoned, dying Smith will speak only to Dr. Jo Granger to tell about his past and where bodies can be found. Consequently, Jo is once again in the arena of action with Texas Ranger Brody Winchester, a man from her past. It has been fourteen years since they parted but Jo still has to repeat her mantra “Let go, Let go.”

Texas Ranger Brody Winchester is no longer the self-centered college athlete that is heedless to the needs of others. He’s not the classic ‘pretty boy’ but is tall, lean, broad shouldered and radiates raw power and dangerous energy. He knows his job and does it well. However, he carries a ton of guilt about the way he treated Jo fourteen years ago when she needed his support and all he could think was ‘poor me.’ He wants to set things right—not an easy thing to do.

Jo, in her logical way, tells Brody they should just be grateful for the civility they have managed and not try to make it anything else. But hearts don’t seem to understand logic. Hearts have needs that logic cannot explain. The strong undercurrent of the ‘I-will-be-acknowledged emotions almost swamp both Jo and Brody as they work together to unravel the horrific, grisly details and clues from interviews and surveillance tapes that relate to Harvey Smith.

Mary Burton sweeps the reader into the action where buried-alive women, an apprentice has stepped up to continue Smith’s unconscionable, murdering ways, and where an array of sociopaths for red-herrings muddies the waters. Suspense keeps the nerves on edge as Jo realizes she is being stalked and that her own mother has dark secrets that could change Jo’s life forever. Little by little Jo becomes more entangled in the web of Smith’s doings. It truly seems there is “no escape” for her.

Secondary characters give depth and insight into events and into the actions of the primary characters. Texas Ranger Rick Santos that Jo has worked with on cases and whom she considers a dear friend slips in and out of the action keeping the reader alert to where he fits in. Joe’s friends Lara and Cassidy along with the “at-risk” girls Jo works with show other facets of her personality; while her more professional acquaintances like the realtor Tim Neumann, the dentist Dr. Dayton, the brother of one of the dead women Scott Connors, and, of course, Robbie that Harvey Smith raised and trained from the age of twelve all keep the reader aware of the horrific murders Smith committed and they create adrenaline-pumping action that keeps one turning pages.

Mary Burton embraces the dark side of humanity as she juxtapositions beautiful pastures of Bluebonnets with the graves of women buried alive beneath them. The complexities of the plot and the characters along with Ms. Burton’s engrossing storytelling style make one shudder at the grisly details at times and at other times makes one sigh with satisfaction when seemingly impossible odds are overcome and LOVE is rewarded with the pure joy of having been acknowledged and given a place in the hearts of Jo and Brody forever.

No Escape is a chilling thriller that makes one shiver and it has a climax that is terrifying. The horror of the climax makes the happy-ever-after even sweeter. It is like a balm that soothes and heals the hurts. This well-paced tale that assails the senses and makes emotions bubble is excellent entertainment.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,