Promise Not to Tell Jayne Ann Krentz

Published: Hachette Aus/Piatkus
Date: 2nd January 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 338
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: Hachette Australia via NetGalley
Rating:
                  

Seattle gallery owner Virginia Troy has spent years battling the demons that stem from her childhood time in a cult and the night a fire burned through the compound, killing her mother. And now one of her artists has taken her own life, but not before sending Virginia a last picture: a painting that makes Virginia doubt everything about the so-called suicide - and her own past.

Like Virginia, private investigator Cabot Sutter was one of the children in the cult who survived that fire... and only he can help her now. As they struggle to unravel the clues in the painting, it becomes clear that someone thinks Virginia knows more than she does and that she must be stopped. Thrown into an inferno of desire and deception, Virginia and Cabot draw ever closer to the mystery of their shared memories - and the shocking fate of the one man who still wields the power to destroy everything they hold dear.

Promise not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz is #2 in her Cutler, Sutter and Salinas series. This one is about Cabot Sutter, one of three men, who as a boy was rescued at a crime scene and adopted by their rescuer.   

Has the mad cult driven Quinton Zane returned? Why has a woman gone off a cliff? And so the mystery and the suspense begins.  Virginia and Cabot combine to follow the clues.  Virginia was also there that horrible night when fire almost engulfed them as children, she now runs an art gallery and has had contact with the artist who is now dead after going off the cliff. 

Virginia and Cabot are a great couple. They have been together as children, suffer from the same horrific experience in their childhood, so they understand each other and the way they still suffer from that now in adulthood. Each was very compassionate towards the other. As they work on the case, they grow in their relationship. I liked how there was no false parting and then reuniting due to some mistaken issue. 

I really enjoyed as well Cabot's issue with his family, his grandfather disowned his mother when she went off to do her own thing, but now he is dead, and there is some new happenings. Greatest of all a surprise visit from one relative - one who soon became very much part of the story.

The mystery kept me guessing, I thought it was all clear early on, but no - plenty of twists and turns and a very good set up for the next book as well. The plot moved along at a great clip, moving from one event to another with speed, which kept me turning the pages.

The kind of suspense I like - not too graphic in the gory detail, and characters who worm there way into my heart. I am certainly looking forward to the next one in the series.

Trust No One. Jayne Ann Krentz

Trust No One
Jayne Ann Krentz
Published: Recorded Books
Date: January 2015
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Amanda Cobb
Length: 9hrs 43 min
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: Own book.

It's no coincidence when Grace Elland finds a vodka bottle next to the lifeless body of her boss, motivational speaker Sprague Witherspoon. The bottle is a terrifying - and deliberate - reminder of the horrors of her past. Grace retreats to her hometown to regroup and tries to put everything she's learned about positive thinking into practice - a process that is seriously challenged on the world's worst blind date. Awkward doesn't begin to describe her evening with venture-capitalist Julius Arkwright. She has nothing in common with a man who lives to make money, but the intense former Marine does have some skills that Grace can use - and he's the perfect man to help her when it becomes clear she is being stalked. As Witherspoon's financial empire continues to crumble around them, taking a deadly toll, Julius will help Grace step into her past to uncover a devious plan to destroy not only Grace, but everyone around her.

Seven reasons why this was a worthwhile use of a credit at Audible.

• Excellent narration, Amanda Cobb again did a superb job and made it all a very easy listen.
• A set of mysterious circumstances all entwined and linked.
• Grace - a charming character who doesn't deserve her life to be turned into the turmoil that happens when she discovers a body. And it's not the first one. She already has nightmares. Grace though is intelligent, talented and mostly positive, she has been the reason why her dead boss has made such an impact.
• Julius - while Grace doesn't appreciate the blind date her friends set her up with, it turns out Julius might be the one for Grace. Julius is a successful businessman - nothing bad about that!
• Little surprises along the way.  Trust the title of the book - Trust No One, that's Julius' little motto and in this case he's on the money.
• At the final resolution when the cavalry arrives the women have it all in hand.
• Oh yeah!It has a happy ever after. - "Love Changes Everything".

River Road Jayne Ann Krentz

River Road
Jayne Ann Krentz
Publisher: Recorded Books
Date: 2014
Format: Audiobook
Length: 9hrs 53 min
Narrator: Amanda Lee Cobb
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: Own audiobook.

It's been thirteen years since Lucy Sheridan was in Summer River. The last time she visited her aunt Sara there, as a teenager, she'd been sent home suddenly after being dragged out of a wild party - by the guy she had a crush on, just to make it more embarrassing.

Obviously Mason Fletcher - only a few years older but somehow a lot more of a grown-up - was the overprotective type who thought he had to come to her rescue. Now, returning after her aunt' s fatal car accident, Lucy is learning there was more to the story than she realized at the time. Mason had saved her from a very nasty crime that night - and soon afterward, Tristan, the cold-blooded rich kid who'd targeted her, disappeared mysteriously, his body never found.

A lot has changed in thirteen years. Lucy now works for a private investigation firm as a forensic genealogist, while Mason has quit the police force to run a successful security firm with his brother - though he still knows his way around a wrench when he fills in at his uncle' s local hardware store. Even Summer River has changed, from a sleepy farm town into a trendy upscale spot in California' s wine country.

But Mason is still a protector at heart, a serious (and seriously attractive) man. And when he and Lucy make a shocking discovery inside Sara' s house, and some of Tristan' s old friends start acting suspicious, Mason' s quietly fierce instincts kick into gear. He saved Lucy once, and he' ll save her again. But this time, she insists on playing a role in her own rescue.

I have had River Road sitting on my iPod for awhile now, I was put off by a few reviews on Audible about the narrator.  Eventually I decided to listen to it .... and was pleasantly surprised.  The narrator was not awful and I enjoyed her reading of River Road.  Amanda Lee Cob was good and although her voice variation of characters was not great, everything else satisfied me. I like romantic suspense written by this author - Falling Awake I think is my favourite.  

Lucy is a strong heroine, she has returned to town to tidy up the estate of her aunt.  While doing so she meets up again with Mason.  Previously when Lucy had stayed in town when she was younger, Mason had kept an eye out for her and saved her from a bad experience.  Although to say Lucy was grateful would be stretching it.  Mason is a wonderful hero and the friendship that rekindles into a more intimate relationship moves forward slowly but surely.

There is a heap of mystery in the story and as Lucy sorts out her Aunt Sara's house  she and Mason make a grisly discovery.  Drugs, money, jealousy, and murder are soon weaving the twists and turns of events that follow.  Lucy is in danger yet she keeps her head and Mason provides needed back up.  As the story unfolds I didn't guess the present day murderer until revealed.  I rarely do though!

Very much worth my credit at Audible!