4.5 Smooches!
Synopsis
I’m Felicity Stone, a twenty-five-year-old with my whole life ahead of me. Well, until recently.
I didn’t do it. Why would they think I did? Why would I want my twin brother dead? Why is everyone looking at me like I’m a criminal?
Well, everyone except him… Hayes Peyton, the charmingly beautiful stranger I met in the park at midnight; a totally legitimate place to meet the man of my dreams. Plus, he knows I’m innocent.
Believing him is easy. So very easy. Maybe too easy?
But when you hear things like: ‘All good is laced with some bad, and everything you think is the truth, is nothing more than a blatant lie,’ it makes you question reality.
In Shari J. Ryan’s latest Romantic Suspense, Red Nights, you wonder how dark your world can get before all you see is red.
—A standalone, Romantic Suspense—
Review
“I see firemen emerge through the cloud of smoke billowing from the front door carrying a body.”
Felicity Stone’s entire world changed in the blink of an eye. The 25-year-old chef lost her home, her twin brother, Blake, and nearly her life in a devastating fire. With very vague recollections of that night, while still in the hospital, Felicity gives her statement to the police. That statement would later be turned against her as the real story of what happened that night begins to emerge.
“Gran always told me, the sky is a two-way mirror; us on one side, and our loved ones that have passed on the other. They’re in the stars, and they’re able to look down and watch over us.”
In the aftermath of her grief, with nowhere to really go, Felicity stays with her best friend and sous chef, Aspen. Overwhelmed with grief, confused, sad and anxious, Felicity finds it difficult to sleep. She begins taking a walks late at night in a nearby park, where she lays in the grass, staring at the stars, hoping to connect on some level with her brother. There she meets a handsome, charming man and his adorable dog, Lady.
“He makes me forget.”
Hayes Peyton, a former detective and current private investigator, knows all to well the pain of losing someone you love. While walking his dog in the park late one night, he stumbles upon a woman. He’s drawn to her, recognizing the pain he himself feels in her. An undeniable attraction builds between Hayes and Felicity. They each find relief from their pain in each other and forget their losses, if only briefly, while they’re together.
“I’m terrified…that you may have come into my life for bad reasons…and yet, I don’t want to be away from you.”
As the investigation heats up, one thing is clear – all the evidence points towards directly at Felicity. In her attempt to clear herself, she enlists the help and support of Aspen as well as Tanner Holt, Blake’s lifelong best friend, someone she’s grown up with and who is an honorary member of her family, as well as her ex-boyfriend. Tanner shares some interesting information about the former police detective, Hayes, that he learned from his father, a fellow officer from the same precinct. Questions begin swirling around everyone in Felicity and Blake’s lives – Aspen, Tanner and Hayes – and she doesn’t know whom she can trust or whom to believe. All the while, the evidence against her is mounting.
“Our pain is like the earth, slowly moving, never really changing, and always seeking the light of another day.”
Will Felicity follow her heart and take the she is help offered? Is it possible that the one person in the world she never would have believed could harm a fly actually perpetrated this horrible crime? Will all the secrets that are slowly unraveling ruin every relationship that she holds dear?
“Let me show you 365 reasons why you’ll want to be with me forever.”
This book had me on the edge of my seat! I could honestly see it going so many different directions. When the author finally focused her attention on one person, the secrets and lies that were uncovered were chilling. Shari Ryan did a fantastic job mixing a griping romantic suspense story with a steamy love affair. It was well written, with a page-turner of plot and a sexy, sweet romance. Red Nights gets a solid 4.5 smooches from me!
~ Danielle Palumbo
