Review: Intense thriller with sweet romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2014
After being attacked by an ex-boyfriend in her hometown in California, Lexi Hanson has moved to the east coast to heal and start to rebuild her life.  Knowing her attacker will be out in a few years, she’s trying to take the time to breathe before she figures out what moves to make once he’s released from prison.  She fills her days with photography and senior citizens, mostly the Troublesome Trio, who was here grandmother’s three best friends.After spending the last fifteen years of his life recording and tour with his very successful band, Noah Matthews is finally taking a vacation.  He’s decided the summer spent at his beach house will be just the break he needs before getting back after it.Lexi was crawling through her neighbor’s garden in search of the perfect photo when she meets the elusive owner who hasn’t shown up in the four years since he purchased the house.  Up until this point, she’s only met the caretakers.  He quickly finds himself intrigued with the girl next door.  All the while she truly begins to heal instead of just letting life pass her by. It is truly sweet to read how they form an unlikely, yet strong friendship.  They both begin to do the simples things they haven’t done in years.  In some ways it feels like a rebirth of both their souls.While there bond grows, strange occurrences begin to happen around Lexi.  She confides in Noah about her attack.  He develops an overprotectiveness of her like he’s never felt for anyone else.  Incidences continue to increase until she’s attacked again.  It’s what she finds out in the second act of violence which changes the course of everything.The focus on the book is a combination of the relationship formed as well as the suspense.  M Stratton writes one heck of a psycho, a genuinely uber crazy person.  It’s probably one of the creepiest, sadistic, and most vindictive villains ever.  This is a great uncanny whodunit mixed with a sweet liaison, very much a yin and yang.Rating:  4 Stars~Complimentary copy received in exchange for honest review.~