Lost Innocence by Jannine Gallant

Lost Innocence sounded like my kind of romantic suspense, but it didn't grab me the way I hoped it would. You've got two shallow main characters, who care more about each other's looks than anything else. I got really tired of hearing about how perfect and hot and sexy these two are. Nina is pretty self-centered and expects Teague to put her before everything in his life. I understand wanting to feel important and wanting to be seen as a priority, but she wants to be above it all, including his 6-year-old daughter and the job he loves. I can sympathize about the job, but every good parent will put their child first and Nina should understand that. I know I'd want that quality in my future partner. The mystery aspect started off well and I was interested, but once these two make it to the bedroom everything slowed way down. Nina and Teague are both lacking in common sense. How are they not putting two and two together and figuring out what's going on AT ALL? They're too busy either having sex and wanting to have sex that that's really all that happened in the book. The writing is well done, but the development of the story just wasn't up to par for me. If I don't like the characters, there's not a lot that can save a book for me.

Jannine Gallant is a queen of romantic suspense. She writes fast-paced stories that always manage to capture this reader's attention right from the beginning and have my eyes glued to every word. Usually, I read her books in one sitting if I don't have anywhere to be. Luckily, this time, I had the opportunity to read this book in one go.

Yay for me!

So, Nina Hutton is in a bit of trouble after finding a lotto ticket on the beach. She needs help and the only person she can turn to is her hot neighbor, Teague O'Dell. However, looking out for Nina isn't going to be easy for the hero. Not after losing the woman he loved in such a horrible way. Then again, he's not about to lose someone else to a bad guy.

The hero, Teague, is such a wonderful character. He's determined to raise his daughter in a place he believes he can keep her safe. Yet, it seems, Siren Cove doesn't seem to be all that safe. Not with what's happening to Nina. Then again, perhaps the heroine shouldn't have picked up something that wasn't hers. If she'd left well enough alone, she wouldn't be getting unwanted attention from someone determined to get back what is theirs. Moreover, I liked how protective the hero was of the heroine, even despite the loss he's suffered and his desire to keep his daughter out of harm's way. While Nina, she's strong, brave and I liked how she handled everything thrown her way. It wasn't easy for her to rely on Teague for help, but she needed someone on her side. Someone other than her friends. Someone that could help her instead of being an innocent bystander that could very well get hurt by whoever was breaking into the heroine's home.

Overall, Ms. Gallant has delivered an enthralling, suspenseful read in this book where things happen for a reason and bring the right person into one's life when they most need it. Furthermore, I loved the ending and was happy that Nina gave Teague a chance because he's good for her.

Lost Innocence is the second novel in the Siren Cove series, and I liked the previous novel in this series, Buried Truth, well enough to request an advance reader copy of this one. Sadly, I liked this one quite a bit less than the first book, and, upon reflection, and for several reasons, I could only give this novel a 2-star rating.

As romantic suspense novels go, this one simply didn't grab me. The main characters, Nina, an artist, her new neighbor, Teague, a fireman, and his precocious 6-year-old daughter, Keely, were a bit too formulaic. Nina's fiance died in Afghanistan 5 years earlier and she hasn't found a man who she deems worthy of commitment since then. We eventually learn that Nina wanted him to leave the military and return to her home town, but instead, he ignored her wishes and he re-enlisted without even discussing it with her. As a result, she doesn't want a man who doesn't put her and her needs first, before his job, or anything else. I found her attitude about this issue to be totally unrealistic, and I found her character to be more than a little self-centered.

She first spots the hero, Teague, her new neighbor, on the day he moves in, and she also notices his small daughter and her small "yippy" dog. She's certainly impressed by his looks, he's a tall, handsome hunk of a man, and she assumes that his wife is inside their new home telling the moving crew where to place the furniture, and shortly thereafter, Keely shows up Nina's backyard, where she's working on a commissioned painting, and Keely, who is a bit too precocious for words, leads Nina to believe that her handsome new neighbor is married. When Nina welcomes him to the neighborhood with a pot of beef stew in hand, she soon learns that he is a fireman and a widower, whose wife died tragically in a drive-by shooting in the L.A. area, prompting him to move to a small, quiet town on the Oregon coast.

So far, so good, but be prepared for these two characters to dwell repeatedly on each others looks. Teague is clearly obsessed by Nina's beauty, and he can't stop watching her walk away in the short shorts she favors, and Nina can't stop admiring Teague's face, his hair, and his buff body, admiration which starts the moment she first sees him. Did this mutual physical admiration need to be repeated ad nauseum throughout the novel? For this reader, the answer to that question is a resounding no. It's not long after these two meet that they first agree to be friends, but soon end up in bed together in what's supposed to be more the scratching of a mutual itch than a romantic relationship.

As for the suspense part of this romantic suspense novel, it all starts when Nina goes for a run on the beach, notices what appears to be a mother and daughter in passing, and picks up a slip of paper she assumes is litter, stuffs it into her pocket and continues on home, where she tosses her dirty clothes into the washer. If you're a fan of Alfred Hitchcock films, that piece of paper, which we soon learn is a $3 million dollar winning lottery ticket, is the "McGuffin," the single item around which all the suspense in this novel revolves, and as McGuffins go, there was one flaw, and that flaw was that once Nina's began folding her laundry, she noticed that the piece of paper, now washed, dried, and faded, appears to be a lottery ticket. Shortly thereafter, there's a break-in at her house, but nothing is stolen. There are additional odd occurrences just like the first, but she never guesses that it might be that lottery ticket, even when the fact that a local convenience store in Siren's Cove sold the winning ticket appears on the local news. Could that possibly be the reason for the break-in? Does she ever even mention it to anyone? Nope.

As the break-ins continue and Nina feels as though she's being stalked, she's soon spending most of her time in Teague's home and in his bed, and the forward momentum of this story slows down to a crawl. We know who's breaking in and searching, yet Teague and Nina assume, without any evidence, that the culprit/stalker is male, although we readers know early on that the culprit is female, especially after Nina takes Keely to the park, doesn't pay much attention to the little girl while absorbed in her painting, and a strange woman almost succeeds in spiriting Keely away before Nina even realizes it. Does she even bother to mention it to Teague when she next sees him, nope, and when she does, he's quick to fly off the handle, resulting in their first real argument and a break-up. Nina's take on all this is that Teague's job and his daughter will always be his priority, rather than her. Hello? Could she possibly be more self-absorbed? To say that I couldn't warm up to her character is putting it mildly.

The action doesn't really get underway until the last quarter of the novel, when Nina is displaying her paintings at the annual town art festival and a couple of vacationers notice that the small girl that Nina depicted in her beach painting bears a striking resemblance to their missing daughter, Emma, who was kidnapped 3 years earlier. Shortly thereafter, when Keely is also kidnapped, the search for her really revs into high gear, and even though Nina really steps up to the plate while the search is on, it was far too little, far too late for me to like or identify with her.

As far as Teague goes, he had his moments too, like when he was looking for a babysitter for his precious daughter, Keely, and hired the third applicant, a rather odd and eccentric old woman, who shows up on a motorcycle, wearing full leathers, and he never even bothers to check her references, yet he's quick to anger at Nina as soon as he learns of the incident at the park, blaming Nina for not having her eyes on his daughter every single moment. Hypocritical much?

While the plot of this novel was interesting, although not quite as interesting as the plot of the previous novel in this series, these characters simply didn't resonate with me at all, nor did the chemistry between them work for me either, and if I can't warm up to the characters, I find it difficult to really care what happens to them. While the book is well-written, both Nina and Teague lacked a certain depth of character, and seemed far too willing to look at the each other's flaws. Both were quick to judge, quick to assign blame, and quick to anger. They were also quick to jump into bed at every opportunity, while still telling themselves this was all casual, although, from the outset, we learn that Nina doesn't do casual. In fact, they spend more time having sex, talking about having sex, and justifying having sex, than they ever spend really getting to know one another on a deeper level, and even a weekend away, without Keely, ends with the two of them barely speaking to one another, but suddenly, they're both declaring their love for one another. It just didn't jibe with this reader at all.

There are a number of additional issues I had with this novel, like the title, which had no relevance to the story whatsoever, aside from a rather odd comment made by Teague after Keely's abduction, as well as the immaturity of the main characters, and the cavalier way the break-ins at Nina's house were handled by the police, who never even bothered to dust for prints. The fact that we eventually learn that the culprit in this novel isn't new to kidnapping, and has, in fact, been doing this for the past 30 years, makes me wonder why the police didn't even suspect a connection to earlier missing child cases, even when they learn that 3 years earlier, little Emma was also kidnapped. In point of fact, there is a national database on missing and exploited children where the police might have spotted the connection to a dozen similar cases, but they, and the author, seemed to know nothing about it. This database has been mentioned in almost every other Law & Order episode, and every other true crime series on television for years, and what about Amber Alerts? Why was that never mentioned either? It was, in my opinion, perhaps the largest oversight and flaw in this already flawed novel.

If you're looking for a quick, not terribly engrossing or deep romantic suspense novel, this one might work better for you than it did for this reader. If you're new to this author, I suggest that you might want to start with the first novel in the series, Buried Truth, which was quite a bit more interesting and a more suspenseful read than this one.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

First book I've read by this author & I really enjoyed it. Billed as romantic suspense and it had both. It pretty much grabbed me at the 1st page. Great writing, characters and plot. This is the 2nd book in the series and you do not need to read the 1st as it's different people in the same small town. With that said I'm now going to read the 1st book.

Honestly, with that cover I was hoping for a bit darker and more suspenseful plot than what revealed here. Not that “Lost Innocence” a fail read, but it wasn’t exactly a win either.

The story revolved around a new comer to Siren Cove and his next door neighbor. Firefighter Teague O’Dell moved from the city to a small town, hoping to raise his daughter in a safer environment after his wife was gun-down crossing the street while working. He didn’t count on instant attraction to the intriguing artist who lived next door. Before long Nina was drawn into Teague’s life amidst the chaos of Teague’s daughter and her pup, and in turn Teague’s family caught the notice of an evil character.

Despite my reference to evil character and what the title implied, the bigger portion of this book circled around the budding romance between Teague and Nina. Both lost loved ones in violent way and had chip on their shoulders as a result. They were running hot and cold, easy to get provoked over minor incident.

As much as I liked both characters, I almost got fed-up with how often Teague let loose on Nina and her expected defensive response. And I supposed over the fact no matter how vigilant our heroine was, Nina got walloped and lost consciousness three times by the same villain!! I blamed her, the hero, and the town’s law enforcement over this issue. Personally, I found the lukewarm treatment of the case disappointing. Adding the bad guy’s POV to complement Teague’s and Nina’s voice didn’t even lend the mystery more merit to me.

As (personal) introduction to Jannine Gallant’s book “Lost Innocence” is more than okay start for me. Considering it being part of an ongoing series but I had no issues following the plot, the book can be read as a standalone too. And I don’t think this will be the last of the author’s book I read - I shall check out her backlist title after this.


Advanced copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lost Innocence by Jannine Gallant
Siren Cove #2

The romance between artist Nina Hutton and firefighter Teague O’Dell was pretty normal in most ways. Both have lost partners in the past so have and still are dealing with residual grief. Teague has a young daughter so is focused on her as he moves into his new home in a new community working with a new team at the fire station. Keely and her dog Coco are quickly over to visit Nina and become friends easily. Teague and Nina find one another attractive but don’t act immediately and are somewhat guarded at first. That changes ;) Eventually a possible kidnapping is revealed and the search for a young girl begins but before that happens Nina starts finding things out of place or disrupted, her home is broken into and other things happen that put her on edge. Teague is there for her but still…she is uneasy…and with just cause.

The story is fairly even paced with a normal road to true love for the main characters. The story is well written and the bad guy caught. The main take away from the story was that I would like to find out who Paige, Quentin and Chris will end up with along with a few other single people/friends mentioned in the book.

Did I enjoy the story? Yes
Will I read more by this author? Yes
Did I see Teague and Nina together in real life? Yes
Could the story happen? I think so

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing – Lyrical Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

Lost Innocence is book two in the Siren Cove series. Nina the main female lead character is friends with Leah from the first book but mostly this is a stand-alone read. It has newcomer to the town, Teague O'Dell as the male lead character. The first book in the series, Buried Truth was pretty intense so maybe he should have rethought moving to the Siren Cove area with his young daughter, I know I would have.

Again, Jannine Gallant gives us strong, complex main characters, another scary villain, with twists and turns in a superb story. Like the first book, the characters are everyday people that you might know in your own town. Then what you think will be the main crime in this story turns into a much more dangerous one for Nina, Teague and his daughter Keely. The villain is also a surprise; as well as being one that is unusual.

Well written, attention holding, I found this to be a wonderful romantic suspense. While I never want to live in Siren Cove, I don’t mind reading about the place. Lost Innocence is as I have found Ms. Gallant’s books to be; consistently accomplished with the suspense building as the story goes along with same being said for the romance.

This was a great suspenseful book, that also had a good romance. While this can be read as a standalone, I enjoyed seeing characters from Buried truth. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

There's a lot going on in Siren Cove- especially for such a small town! Two important things happen to Nina, who has been living a very quiet life: she finds a lottery ticket and Teague moves in next door with his young daughter Keeley. Then all sorts of things happen. This is a romance wrapped in a suspense novel (or vice versa) with some elements that were a bit over the top and others than fit. Who has been breaking into Nina's house and why? Hmmm. It's well crafted and written with a good twist. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good beach book!

Romance and mystery combined to make an exciting and intriguing read. I was glad the intimate details didn't get too graphic. The suspense involving young girls kept one turning the pages.

Well constructed but I didn’t care for the characters

Thank you to Jannine Gallant for reaching out and asking for a review, and thank you to Lyrical Press/Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to give this work three or four stars. Structurally and mechanically, it’s excellent. There were some minor typos which I trust will be corrected for the final copy, small mistakes like “is” instead of “his,” but the pacing was reasonable; the romance was character-driven and progressed naturally; the suspense built gradually and had me fooled; and the writing was professional and skilled. All the boxes were ticked. As a school assignment, I give it an A.

But it lacked that je ne sais quoi. It failed to excite, to intrigue. When I’m enthralled by a story, I tend to ignore real life, but I had no trouble setting this book down to do chores. I fell asleep while reading it on two separate occasions. It held no energy for me; it didn’t grip my heart or my mind. That’s not to say it was passionless, I think Gallant enjoyed writing it, but that passion didn’t get translated well to the page. It wasn’t quite boring, but it didn’t have the kind of chemistry that demands my attention.

The main characters certainly didn’t help. I disliked both Nina and Teague. They lacked depth and had fragile egos, which means their relationship also lacked depth and was fragile. Sex was something of a fixation for them; they seemed to use it to cover up their insecurities but didn’t realize they were doing it. The act seemed to become obligatory, like if they had sex at every opportunity, then they were proving something, such as justifying the fact that they were dating or demonstrating passion between them, but it did neither. Even on the rare occasions when they decided to just sleep, they discussed it like they needed to make excuses for not wanting to have sex, as if not being constantly turned on by one another was a serious infraction. It was disturbing and negated any romantic vibes I might have felt from the book.

Also, their personalities were contradictions in and of themselves. Teague wanted to be a father who was overprotective and laid-back at the same time. He also wanted to be calm under pressure, but panicked and canceled his plans when Keely so much as scraped her knee. Nina wanted to appear self-confident and independent, yet she had an inferiority complex that made her needy and self-centered. They were horribly perfect for each other: Nina was something Teague could give his attention to so he wouldn’t turn into a helicopter parent, and all of his attention made Nina feel valued. That attention was mostly in the form of sex, and when it was stripped away, they really didn’t like each other much. It struck me as unhealthy and I’m not at all convinced that they fell in love.

Spoilers

One specific thing I wanted to remark on—

In reference to finding his daughter after she was kidnapped, Teague delivers the line: “I just hope it’s before she loses her innocence.” I found that an odd and awkward thing to say. Most people would say, “I just hope it’s soon,” or, more dramatically, “I just hope we find her before it’s too late.” It was obviously forced to make the title relevant, and I didn’t appreciate it. Plus, it’s an empty sentiment, because Keely was over it by the next day anyway. No innocence lost. Not even misplaced.

Although, there were other instances of dialogue seeming unnatural, either ridiculously mature to the point of businesslike or unsubtly trying to work in exposition without actually writing exposition, so I suppose I’m not surprised by such a line.

End Spoilers

Overall, Gallant’s a good writer, and I’ve enjoyed her work in the past, but this particular story wasn’t for me.

Oh, FYI - this is the second book in a series, and the first definitely factors in but doesn’t matter to the plot. Leah and Ryan’s story sounded interesting, but I’m not compelled to read it immediately. Paige and Quentin’s book is next, due out in November. I can’t decide if I want to read it or not; they’ve obviously been breaking each other’s hearts for a long time without confronting each other, and I don't want to watch them hurt each other again and again. But the mere potential of their story interested me far more than Nina and Teague’s did at any time, so maybe I'd enjoy it.

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Lost Innocence starts off with sweet Nina Hutton enjoying her quite life than everything is turned upside down with someone breaking in her house, a new neighbor and his daughter moving in across the street and emotions no one wants to feel.



The author used certain charterers as placements until they were needed instead of using them throughout the story.

The story is more romance than mystery but its the characters builds that will have readers hooked to the story.

As the story ends readers will see the twist coming. Its the emotions that come along that readers will not expect.

Add this to your summer to be read pile and enjoy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Lyrical Press, Inc for the advance copy of Jannine Gallant Lost Innocence.

Nina lives a simple life with no excitement and no drama. When a new neighbor and his young daughter move into the house across the street, things change quickly. There is a spark between Nina and Teague, but strange things start to happen to Nina after he moves in. Her house gets broken into and she is being stalked, but why and by whom? The story takes many twists as the truth is unraveled. This is a very well written book with a lot of drama and mystery. It keeps you interested and reading straight through until the end. I would recommend this book.

4.5 Stars A great romantic suspense, with its twist and well written balance between storyline and romance Lost Innocence is an amazing read. I loved the characters and the story and hope to read more like this from this author.

Good story! Kept me guessing on who had done it, which is quite difficult. I also loved the relationship between Teague and Nina.

While part of the Siren Cover series, this is easily read as a stand alone novel.

A bit of romance, a bit of suspense, and even a bit of misdirection all add up to a great story that keeps you turning each and every page.

This was my first book by Jannine Gallant. I enjoyed it every much. It kept me captivated throughout the entire book. I enjoyed meeting the characters and getting to see into their lives. I was glad to see that the sex scenes were not the major focus of the book, The villain in the piece was definitely a surprise. I would definitely like to read more of her books. #LostInnocence #NetGalley

What, she doesn't like kids, or just noise?

Mmm, Clint Eastwood...

You are so cute, Keely.

Creepy. "Day of reckoning"?

Violence is not the answer, Paige.

I need Stella to babysit me.

Nooo! Doesn't she check the pockets first?

Five bucks for a tooth? Shoot, I got a dollar!

How many pieces of clothing does she have?

Wait, how old is Lynette? Is this woman having a psychotic break?

Kid's learning a lot of new words. It's good that she's inquisitive.

Oof. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth.

Why does he assume her stalker is a man?

Get it, Grandma!

If she only knew how close she was in her guess...That old woman is so dangerous!

I'm on his side. She was babysitting his kid. You watch the child like a hawk. End of story.

Top-notch police work. Not.

Thank God, Emma.

What the hell? I had to go back to figure out who this person even was!

How can parents deal with something like that? How do you explain it to a brainwashed child?

At least Chris gave up gracefully, finally.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.