Seagrass Pier by Colleen Coble

When Elin Summerall contracted a virus that damaged her heart, she was lucky to get a transplant. At first it was an overwhelmingly good gift. But then she began to remember a murder she never witnessed—the murder of her heart's donor.

When she reveals what she knows to a disbelieving police officer, she's exposed as a witness and must flee for her life to a remote cottage on Hope Beach.

Fearing what might happen to her daughter and mother, she asks Marc Everton for help, though she hasn't seen him since the night her father died. She remembers that night with shame, and she never told Marc about their daughter.

Marc is less than convinced that Elin's "memories" are real. He is blindsided by the news about his daughter, but for her sake, he agrees to help. Then he begins to notice the small ways Elin is different. She now likes coffee, her musical tastes have changed, and she's ditched her jeans and sneakers for dresses and high heels.

As Elin tries to stay alive and bring the killer to justice, she begins to doubt her own identity. Did her new heart save her life only to cause her to lose herself? And if she's really changed, why does her new heart love Marc just as much as her old one did?

“Never judge a book by its cover”.  This is a great quote that we have all heard for a long time.  I believe that quote fits this book perfectly, as judging by its cover, I think this is a book that a lot of men would overlook.  If you did, though, you would be missing a pretty terrific story.

Elin has had a difficult life between her father dying, her husband dying and being diagnosed with heart disease.  The only good thing has been being able to get a heart transplant.  That is, until she starts “seeing” scenes from a murder that she never witnessed, the actual murder of the person who’s heart now resides in her chest.  Making statements to the police about her visions only causes her to look crazy, something she doesn’t want to put her daughter through.  As a result, she moves to Hope Beach and there she runs into Marc who has heard about her visions and reaches out to see if there’s more to them then what he’s been hearing.  Running into Marc was the last thing Elin wanted.  Not only did he elicit bad memories of the night her father died, but also the fact that he is the father to her daughter, a fact she never let him know.  As they work together to find out what her memories mean and if they are truly memories from the murder, they find their feelings for each other rekindling.  Throw in an equally great storyline with Marc’s cousin, Sara, and the suspense never ends.  Are the memories really from her heart donor? What troubles can Sara get into? Can they track down the killer before its too late?  Shake off the sand and go BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

This genre of “Romantic Suspense” is getting under my skin.  I do like me some suspense, but I guess that I’m also getting to be a closet romantic.  This is the third book in the Hope Beach series.  While they may have been written as stand alone, there are characters that you reconnect with from each book.  The suspense is accelerator to floor excitement that never lets up once.  While I’m not 100% sure about some of the “coincidences” that happened for plot lines, but they weren’t so overtly unrealistic that they detracted from the story.  The romance is pretty evenly distributed throughout the book but it does wind up with a typical ending.

Is this a "guy's book"?  If you rank the suspense from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most suspenseful novel ever, I would rate this as a 7.  Some great suspense blended with touches of romance will make this book one that should be added to your “needs to be read” pile.

About The Author

Best-selling author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana. 

You can connect with Ms. Coble at the following locations:

Colleen's Website
Twitter
Facebook

Don’t miss Colleen Coble‘s latest release in the Hope Beach series, Seagrass Pier. The book releases July 1st, and Colleen's publisher is offering the ebook at a special pre-order price of just $4.99 between now and 6/30 everywhere ebooks are sold.

PLUS . . . between 6/9 – 6/30 Colleen will be hosting a Kindle giveaway.

One winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
• Seagrass Pier and the rest of the Hope Beach series by Colleen Coble

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 30th. Winner will be announced on Colleen's blog on July 1st.

Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning and be sure to stop by Colleen's blog on July 1st to see if you won!

I received this book from the publisher and Litfuse Publicity in exchange for my honest opinion.