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Pages: 110
Goes Well With: snacks shared with friends and fresh brewed coffee
Set in Oklahoma, author Alicia Dean’s Thicker Than Water is a fast-moving romantic suspense, with evocative scenery and characters so real that you’ll feel like you’ve met them before, in the roadhouse parking lot.
The mysterious Julia Bennett is back home after ten years away, but tragedies from the past and present combine to threaten her friends and family as the story’s death toll mounts. While a packed suitcase reassures Julia that she won’t be staying long, events just might unpack memories of love and change her plans.
Meanwhile, an ancient scrimshaw doll adds hints of the paranormal, like memories of teens telling stories in the graveyard. And the handsome sheriff keeps a rational hand on the investigation while trying to bury the love in his heart.
The details of law enforcement ring true. The small town feels very real. And the characters come quickly to life with nicely told details and great dialogue. The romance rings true, too, and the mystery twists and turns intriguingly on its way to an exciting and satisfying conclusion.
You’ll need a long lunch break to read this tale—or two lunch breaks, perhaps—but the chapters provide good stopping points, and the ending will send you back to work satisfied with its mix of surprises and suspense. In this story, blood does indeed prove thicker than water, and love proves stronger than anger or self-doubt.
Genuine mystery, genuine romance, and a satisfying, well-told plot make this a great read—neither too long nor too short, sweetly wise and pleasingly intriguing.
Ed. Note: For more on Thicker Than Water, visit TheWildRosePress.com.
