I've read quite a few books now by Colleen Coble and this one is my favorite so far. The setting added to the feeling of peace at times, as well as foreboding. As I read, I was trying to figure out what was going on and I came up with a couple of possibilities. The author did a good job of having believable, flawed characters. I look forward to continuing the series.

I really, really liked this book. This was my first Colleen Coble book, and I'm definitely looking forward to more from her. I liked the suspense, and was so happy that there was no gore or paranormal elements. The story really grabbed me and kept me thinking about it when I wasn't reading. The writing flowed well, it was edited well. I really enjoyed my reading experience.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

A vacation to Sunset Cove was her way of celebrating and thanking her parents. After all, Claire Dellamore's childhood was like a fairytale. But with the help of Luke Elwell, Claire discovers that fairytale was really an elaborate lie . . .
The minute she steps inside the grand Inn at Ocean's Edge, Claire Dellamare knows something terrible happened there. She feels it in her bones. Her ensuing panic attack causes a scene, upsetting her parents. Claire attempts to quiet her nerves with a walk on the beach, to no avail. She's at too great a distance to make out details, but she believes she witnesses a murder on a nearby cliff. When local police find no evidence of foul play, they quickly write off the "nervous" woman's testimony as less than credible.
But Luke Elwell, home on leave from the Coast Guard, has reason to believe Claire. Years ago when his mother went missing, Luke's father suspected she'd been murdered. He died never having convinced the police to investigate. So when an employee of the grand hotel doesn't show up for work, Luke steps in to help Claire track down the missing woman.
As Claire and Luke put together the pieces of a decades-old mystery, they discover that some family secrets refuse to stay buried. And some passions are worth killing for.

There were definitely two sides to this book - the plot/mystery and the storytelling. Sadly, the latter undid the good work of the former...

But let's start with the good, shall we? This was a really tight mystery, with some interesting sub-plots to keep pulling the story along. Kidnapping, murder and mystery in a quiet Maine seaside town worked for me as well - there is a real sense of atmosphere and location in this story and I really did emjoy those aspects as well.

So, where did things go wrong for me? In the telling of the story - it was really hard to suspend disbelief, especially with Claire. One minute she is having a panic attack over a "feeling", the next she watches dead bodies land at her feet and nothing. I found that there was more "telling" than "showing", which made me believe that the author didn't trust us to put 2 and 2 together, or didn't trust herself enough to tell the story. Either way, it left me feeling quite detached.

Overall, a decent mystery novel, marred by the execution (pun intended!)


Paul
ARH

Thank you for the opportunity read and review this title! I didn't enjoy it as much as I"d hoped, and rather than post a negative review, I chose to not feature it on my blog. I look forward to seeing what new releases you have in store!