My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Buried Lies by Kaylea Cross
This book takes entertainment and goes one step above. You don’t just get one plot in this tortured love story, you get three. Being the second in a squeal, and my first time reading anything from the series, I don’t think it is absolutely necessary to read the first book to enjoy this one.
Poppy is a girl with a tangled past, looking to start a new life and a new business, Whale’s Tale, just off the coastline. Noah is the small town’s “sexy” sheriff, and the most sought after bachelor for miles. Everyone wants a piece of him except for his new hardworking neighbor Poppy. If running from a dark past wasn’t enough to stifle a new flame from igniting, then a suspected serial killer on the loose makes the plot boil over.
Women keep disappearing off the coastline and the FBI is finally closing in on their lists of suspects. He’s local, friendly, and has his eye on the newest flower for his garden. Now that the beautiful Poppy has moved into town, maybe she will be the last kill the monster inside of him needs to complete his own wicked garden.
Molly has been married to Carter for years but after he came home with a Purple Heart from combat, he hasn’t been the same. After moving closer to their friends in Crimson Point Carter’s behavior started to become increasingly more violent. He wasn’t the same man she fell in love with anymore. Soon they became separated and she was grateful to have her friends surrounding her, including Jace, Carter’s best friend. What Molly wasn’t aware of was that Jace has been in love with her since the moment they met. Now that his best friend was hurting her emotionally Jace would do anything he could to protect her, even if that meant ruining his relationship with the man he considered as one of his brothers.
Critique:
This book is cram-packed with action, romance, and suspense. The structure of the novel can be confusing to adjust to but I appreciated getting the point of view from all of the characters (I just wish they would have been more clearly defined when switching pov). If the element of the serial killer wasn’t in this book my review would probably be a lot different because I feel that at times the thoughts and feelings of the characters are spoon feed to the reader multiple times. We get it. They like each other, she is damaged, he doesn’t want to push her. Thank you. However, that being stated, the serial killer’s thoughts were on point and a nice contrast to all the relationship term oil in the book (I also appreciated the addition of the red herring. Nice touch.).
Overall, I would read this author again and hope they focus on more murder mysteries in the future. The drama and intensity is there in the writing and I would recommend this book to anyone that craves a mix of horror and romance to spice things up.
Author L. R. Rutherford 