by Elisabeth Naughton
Blurb:
Three
years ago, Alec McClane and Raegan Devereaux lived every parent’s worst
nightmare: their one-year-old daughter, Emma, was abducted from a park when
Alec turned his back for just a moment. Emma was never found, and presumed
dead. The crushing trauma, plus Alec’s unbearable guilt, ended the couple’s
marriage.
Now
a four-year-old girl matching Emma’s profile is found wandering a local park.
Alec and Raegan are heartbroken to discover she’s not their daughter but are
newly motivated to find closure…and each secretly feels desperate to be in the other’s
presence again.
Alec
suspects his vengeful biological father is behind Emma’s disappearance. But as
Raegan investigates other abductions in the area, she sees a pattern—and begins
to wonder if Emma’s kidnapping is actually linked to something more sinister.
As
Alec and Raegan race to uncover the truth, a long-burning spark rekindles into
smoldering passion, and they realize they need each other now more than ever.
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Wow I haven’t read a story with this much
emotional turmoil and drama in a very long time and truly found myself in tears
several times—you can literally feel this couple’s heartache as they each try
to find a way to deal with the loss of not only their child but their marriage.
This second installment of the Deadly Secrets series took an unexpected turn
from the very beginning. We knew from
book one that Alec, Ethan’s brother (Repressed), was dealing with some serious
shit and that he was having a very hard time coping, but we never imagined he
was going through something this difficult.
Elisabeth has this terrifying skill of taking her readers deep into the psyche
of her characters, both good and bad, and pulling the reader into their hearts
and stories until you feel like you are living their lives along with
them. Despite the heart-wrenching
emotions in this story, I enjoyed this novel thoroughly and I’m definitely
looking forward to the next one in the series. Alec and Raegan are dealing with
the kidnapping, and possible murder, of their daughter Emma, in the best way
they know how, which for Alec meant pushing Raegan out of his life. But now
that they are thrown together again Alec finds that he can’t resist her pull
any longer, especially when Raegan is determined to follow a story she hopes
will lead to their missing daughter and that he knows could cost her life. Together they work to uncover the truth
behind a string of mysterious kidnappings of local children and the more time
they spend together, the harder they find it to resist the passion that still
burns in both their bellies and the love that never died in their hearts. I am always a huge proponent of second
chances at love and this story has so many twists and turns incorporated that I
couldn’t stop reading, even though I knew I needed sleep before going to work
the next day! Alec was a good guy through and through, with a lot of past traumas
and fears about his future because of his parentage, even though he tries to believe
he was saved by the McClanes in time to nip the criminal instincts in the
bud. He never stopped loving his wife,
but someone had to slap him hard enough to get him to understand that pushing
Raegan away to keep her safe is never the best choice for anyone. Raegan is one of those women that could be
easily written off as shallow and TSTL, but truly she is just holding on to
hope with the very tips of her fingers and trying to hold it together all on
her own. She lost the two most important people in
her life, almost at the same time, and is still floundering as
she tries to live long enough to at least get one of them back. She continues to
believe she will get her daughter back, even if she thinks she has lost Alec
forever, but she is also as determined as a bloodhound when she catches wind of
a story that could lead her to Emma.
Once you dug past that shell she put around herself for protection, you
see how great of a character she is and I found her to be the perfect match for
Alec. The passion between these two is apparent even as they are fighting and
trying to keep one another at a safe distance, and that obvious pull becomes
more and more flagrant as they are forced into tense and life-threatening situations. In the end I can honestly say these two
earned every second of their HEA and I cannot wait to see more of it in future
stories. Excellent work Ms. Naughton.
*ebook provided by publisher (via
netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.
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