Great story by Melissa James. Really thrilling read, great characters and an enjoyable story. Highly recommend to others!!

Book blurb...
I’m coming for you. This time, it’s forever…’
Flying Doctor Elly Lavender has spent years on the run from a violent stalker. Her obsessive former patient will do anything and threaten anyone in his campaign to force her to love him. When her most recent cover is blown, she runs for help to the childhood friend she could never get out of her mind — outback cop Adam Jepson.

Isolated, hurting, all Adam wants is to forget. After the deaths of his wife and son three years before, he’s moved to the outback with his young daughter, Zoe, to put the past behind him for good. But when Elly walks into his station, she reminds him of all the childhood joy and love he’d forgotten. Soon, he’s lost in a desire he never knew could exist. And while his guilt at leaving Elly behind years ago and the vow he made to his dying wife means he can never be the man she needs, he can’t stop caring, can’t stop trying to make Elly’s life right. Though the whole town seems against them, he can’t stop wanting the forbidden.

But when anonymous harassment escalates to murder, Elly knows her presence in Macks Lake has put Adam and Zoe’s lives at risk. Everyone’s safer if she remains alone — a fact that her stalker is very much counting on as he gets ever closer to his prey…

My thoughts…
The characters in Beneath the Skin are haunted by their past, and by decisions made (both their family's and their own). The two main characters, Adam and Elly, are young (first loves) but their backgrounds and their families mean their fate is uncertain.
Adam, as an adult, has a very emotional journey and this had the greatest impact on me. The male point of view was well handled and added to the authenticity the author delivers. The writing has some beautiful prose, despite the darkness of the plot. With Elly I did feel like I was on a seesaw quite a bit: Will she stay? Will she go? Will she live or will she die? Even though throughout the story readers are constantly reminded about the characters’ earliest childhood love (and how this determines their futures), by books-end I had a better understanding of Elly and her issues.
Overall, this novel is easy to follow and one for readers who enjoy the pursuit of the bad guy along mixed in with the love of the good guy.

Unfortunately I just could not get into this book. The characters and the flow of the novel just didn't connect for me.

This was a really good romantic suspense novel with an emphasis on suspense. I enjoyed the way the story was told from the main 3 or 4 characters view points. Getting into the head of Danny throughout the story really added to the suspense and was quite scary to see how mentally unwell he was. I was extremely interested in Melissa's portrayal of Elly as a Koori woman and found learning about the aboriginal ways and culture very interesting. There are some big topics covered in this book and I thought it was all sewn together really well. I was definitely hooked on finding out what happened next. I look forward to reading more by Melissa James

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for a copy to review