Yvonne
For all you ‘First Page Browsers’
FIRST LINES – KINDLE EDITION
PROLOGUE – WEDDING DAY
June 1st
He tugs at his collar and takes a swig of tepid coffee. He doesn’t care for coffee, but he will accept any liquid at this point, especially liquid that contains caffeine. He hasn’t slept in so long, he’s too tired to count up how many hours it’s been.
The sheriff presses his big, meaty palms on the table and leans in. “Well, Mr. Spacey,” he says. “You ready to give your statement?”
MAY 15-16 – TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE WEDDING
Annie
Though she has made it as far as parking outside the lawyer’s office, she finds herself unable to go in. She has her fingers around the door handle, ready to tug it open at any moment. The car is new, so the door won’t creak loudly when she opens it like her old car did. (Ah, the Jetta, may she rest in peace.) This SUV, a pristine, mature vehicle choice, will not give her any problems. Like her fiancé, Scott, who selected and bought her the Honda CR-V as an early wedding gift, this car is new and reliable and suitable for starting her new life in a few weeks as Mrs. Annie Hanson.
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THE PREMISE
It was to be the perfect wedding—until the bride disappeared.
Annie Taft’s wedding is four days away, and it will be one of the grandest anyone can remember in her small South Carolina town. Preparations are in order. Friends and family are gathering in anticipation. Everything is going according to plan. Except that Annie herself has vanished. Did she have second thoughts?
Or has something much worse happened to the bride-to-be?
As the days pass, the list of suspects in her disappearance grows. Could it be the recently released man a young Annie misidentified as her mother’s killer? Could it be someone even closer to her?
While her loved ones frantically try to track her down, they’re forced to grapple with their own secrets—secrets with the power to reframe entire relationships, leaving each to wonder how well they really knew Annie and how well they know themselves.
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So you have taken a look, will you read the book?
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
You might also like to visit Gilion, over at ‘Rose City Reader‘, where you can share links to the book beginnings from her own reading schedule and that of many of our fellow bloggers. There are always plenty of new authors and titles to be discovered.
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Oh. This one sounds really good. Enjoy. My quotes for Unsheltered
Hi Anne,
Marybeth is a new to me author, although I have come across her name on several sites of my blogging friends on your side of the pond, where she seems to be very popular.
I am hoping that this story is as good as it sounds!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading 🙂
For some reason all the pronouns in the sections you quoted made me feel distanced from the story. I like the premise, though.
I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks and have a great weekend 🙂
Hi Roberta,
I can’t say that I had noticed anything amiss with the narrative until you pointed it out, but I do see what you mean, especially about feeling distanced, that’s a great way to describe it.
Personally the use of pronouns doesn’t really worry me too much, what is most important for me, is that the narrative stays in tense, which is where so many authors fall down and when they do that shouts out to me so loudly!
I’m pleased that the premise managed to win you back onside a little, but it wouldn’t do if we all enjoyed the same thing, now would it? 🙂
I hope that you have some great reading lined up and enjoy your weekend 🙂
The first time you mentioned this book, all I could think of was “foul play”. The part about the car makes me wonder now if it’s a case of “second thoughts”. Still…. I’m leaning towards the former. Regardless, it sounds good!
Hi Kelly,
I must admit that I am also still leaning towards foul play, although I am intrigued to discover who Mr. Spacey is and why he is having to give evidence to the Sheriff.
Also, there is the small matter of the bride’s mother having been murdered and the misidentified killer having been released – I wonder if this could be the mysterious Mr. Spacey?
So, we have a killer on the loose, a wrongly arrested man who must be more than a little angry, a mysterious man waiting to give his statement and a bride who has disappeared – and all in one small town!!
I hope that you decide to stick with the journey of this story and thanks for stopping by to comment 🙂
This sounds like a good mystery and I like the cover alot. Enjoy it when you get to it Yvonne! I wonder what happened to Annie.
Hi Naida,
This definitely isn’t going to be such an intense and gritty thriller as the one I am reading right now, but I always enjoy a good mystery.
Given that Annie’s mother was murdered, I’m wondering if the suspect has come back for Annie because she might know too much. Or has she simply had second thoughts about marrying the reliable Mr. Hanson, got back into her pristine Honda CR-V and driven off into the sunset?
I am also left wondering exactly why she needs to be visiting a lawyer’s office at this point in her wedding planning diary?
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and I hope that your reading week has been good!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday 🙂
Yes, I’d read this one. I’ve met Marybeth a time or two and you couldn’t find a nicer person.
Hi Kathy,
Because of the commitment I have made to the publicist, this one is next on my reading list, so I am looking forward to that.
Although this copy was sent to me on the basis of a review only, as she sounds like such an amenable person, I am quite tempted to email Marybeth direct and ask if she might consider a guest post to kick off the promotion trail.
I really must try and get along to one of the conventions one day and meet some of these lovely authors in person – and hopefully bump into one or two of my lovely fellow bloggers too, of course!
Have a great week 🙂