Sandy's Spotlight
BOOK REVIEW
Tide Of Lies
by
Sarah Ballance
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Mystery
Length: Novella
The following is my July 24, 2012, 5 Star review:
TIDE OF LIES by SARAH BALLANCE is a follow up of FAMILIAR LIGHT. Tide Of Lies is a stand alone. It's not necessary to read Familiar Light first, but I highly recommend doing just that because I enjoyed Familiar Light as much as I did Tide Of Lies.
Julia Cohen has been getting disturbing notes. Detective Holden Whitlow is a lover from her past and a man she hasn't been able to get over in all of these years. Julia is sure these letters that she's been receiving have something to do with an ongoing serial killer case so she swallows her pride and goes to talk to Holden, whom she hasn't seen in ten years, when she is brutally attacked and left for dead. The letters disappear before Holden can see them. Did they really exist, or did her attacker take them?
Holden has never gotten over Julia, but never fully realized that what his seventeen-year-old heart was feeling for her at the time was love and not just sex. Now he's got a second chance to see if they have a future together but only if they can get past all the secrets from so long ago and only if he can keep her alive.
Tide Of Lies is a masterfully written suspense with beautifully seductive and sensual love scenes and several shocking twists at the end. I really like the flow of Ms. Ballance's writing, and I've become a huge fan. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough while reading this book. Just like Familiar Light, Tide Of Lies starts at a fast pace and picks up steam with each page. I devoured it. I couldn't put it down and highly recommend it.
A devastating secret. A shocking betrayal. A deadly obsession.
Haunted by three unsolved murders, Detective Holden Whitlow is stunned when his cold case takes a heated turn. Julia Cohen, his ex-lover, is back in town, and in the face of a brutal attack she's ready to run. No matter how tightly she holds her secrets, for Holden, turning away from the woman he's spent a decade trying to forget isn't any more an option than walking away from his job . . .even when it threatens to cost Julia her life.
Julia is still reeling from a past she can't bear to face. When she becomes the target of a killer, fate throws her back into Holden's arms, but she's yet to recover from a truth that has stripped her of everything—and everyone—she loves. Will she tell him the secret that will destroy him, or will her lie destroy them both?
*****
The following is my March 20, 2012, 5 Star Review:
Awesome read!
FAMILIAR LIGHT by SARAH BALLANCE is a beautifully written, fantastic short story! I am so impressed that Ms. Ballance could put together such a wonderfully suspenseful, sensuous read in a short story. What a talent she has. It left me breathing heavy after a particular scene at the beach and wanting for nothing, except in the Epilogue when it gives you a taste of the upcoming sequel called Tide of Lies. I CAN'T WAIT FOR IT! I WANT IT NOW! I can assure you that I will be reading much more of Ms. Ballance's work. I highly recommend this read.
Seven years of longing comes down to just one night.
Laney Kent returns to Barrier Shoals hoping to reunite with her first love, Bridger. She anticipates his reception might be chilly, but what she doesn't expect is to become the victim of a deadly obsession … or that this night with Bridger could be her last.
Bridger Jansen tangled a lot of sheets trying to forget about Laney, but his heart knew what the rest of him refused to admit: he could love no one else. He's determined not to forgive her for leaving him without explanation, but when he fails to protect her from a viscous attack, the person he can't forgive just might be himself.
Author Links:
Author Website
Author Blog
Goodreads