Friday, 16 June 2017

An Unexpected Truth by S A Meade - Review Tour






Buy Links: Pride (Early Download)| Amazon US | Amazon UK (Out July 11) 

Length: 58,591 

Publisher: Pride Publishing


Blurb


A trust destroyed is a trust that is hard to recover…


Brendan Matthews is happy training racehorses for a living. He thinks he’s hit the jackpot when a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, Adam Ahmadi, sends six yearlings his way. Not only are the horses a cut above the rest, their owner isn’t too shabby either.


But not everything is as it seems. Adam has many secrets, most of them dark and deadly. When Adam’s past returns with a vengeance, he disappears, leaving Brendan confused and hurt.


If Adam survives, will his past destroy their future?


Review


This book surprised me in the best possible way, and I live for books that do that. It’s not so much that the blurb doesn’t cover the content, because it does. The description hints at a love story hindered by Adam’s secrets and disappearance, and that is exactly what this book delivers. But it gave me so very much more than a suspenseful love story. The writing is beautiful, the storytelling captivating, the characters charmed their way into my heart, and the setting — those racing stables — were a joy in and of themselves. But, allow me to get back to the beginning.

The story starts off so cute, with both Brendan and Adam nervous about what should just be a business weekend but feels to both far more like an exciting first date. But even then, in those early days, when the two men are only getting to know each other, there’s something about Adam that made me, the reader, weary. As charming and, if I’m honest, genuine, as he appeared, there was something not quite kosher about him or his motives lingering just below the surface. I was well and truly intrigued and also somewhat scared; I wanted Adam to be a good guy, I liked him and loved how happy he made Brendan. I yearned to be able to continue trusting Adam, but I wasn’t quite sure. I was scared long before the story got scary. J

As much as Adam charmed me, Brendan was the one to steal my heart. He’s down to earth, uncomplicated, honest, but by no means a walk-over. He’s good, but nowhere near too good to be true. He’s willing to listen and forgive, but has his limits. He’s the sort of man I’d want in my life if I didn’t already have a husband I adore.

I liked the layered way in which this story unfolded. When Adam disappears, fairly early on in the story I expected that to somehow lead to the pivotal moment, but it didn’t, and before we’re 50% into the book, Adam is back with Brendan. And of course, the reader knows — I knew — there had to be more. Poor Brendan on the other hand thinks he’s reached his personal ‘all’s well that ends well’.

And that’s really all I want to say about the story. For me one of the huge joys was the way the story kept on surprising me, and I wouldn’t want to rob another reader of that pleasure. All I’ll say is that just when I thought things were good, the best was yet to come.

I loved the pacing of this story. We’re not fed any unnecessary details, and yet the story is filled with beautiful, atmospheric, and vivid descriptions.

“The world faded away to nothing but the subtle creak of the mattress, the rustle of bedclothes and the juniper scent of his lover’s cologne. Light slipped into the room from the hallway, casting a dancing shadow on the wall. Outside, the rain continued to fall, whispering against the window.”

And thanks to that wonderful pacing, this story almost read itself and was impossible to stay away from for longer than absolutely necessary.

Grace and her husband Chris were great secondary characters. Not just because Grace was a wonderful, no nonsense, force of nature who wouldn’t allow Brendan to wallow in his pain, but also because their personal history isn’t too far removed from what Brendan is now going through and that added perspective both to the story and for poor Brendan.


So this review comes with a wholehearted ‘go and read the book’ recommendation from me. If you like your books well written, your stories unpredictable and very well told, and your characters charming and intriguing, you’re going to love An Unexpected Truth.

Author Bio

S.A. Meade lives in deepest Wiltshire with her son, a dog and two cats. She is still partial to gin and tonic and loves to cook. When she's not working, she stares at her laptop and waits for inspiration to strike, preferring that to mowing the lawn or weeding. When parked in front of a computer, she can be found wandering the streets of her village, dog in tow.



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