The Deadening (Olivia Callahan Suspense, Book 1)

 

KERRY PERESTA

Stats: Mass market paperback, Worldwide, 2024.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: The stiff bristles of the brush grew coppery as he scrubbed back and forth, back and forth.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I plucked this book off my shelf at random one day, where it had been sitting for a couple of years, and I was riveted pretty much from the very beginning.

Olivia narrates some of the chapters in first person POV, telling us her story as she recovers from a coma following a savage attack that she cannot remember. In fact, she awakens with amnesia, not recognizing or remembering her daughters, her mother, her estranged husband, her life. The rest of the chapters are in third person POV, giving us glimpses of other characters and what's going on with them, but leaving us in the dark about what exactly happened to Olivia.

Olivia's memory begins to return in little bits and spurts, and she and Hunter, the detective assigned to her case, slowly piece events together, which often just leads to more questions and surprising reveals in this intricately plotted story. And while this is not by any means a romance book, I liked Hunter and I liked that they did grow closer, leaving me with the impression that after I turned the last page their relationship would continue to bloom.

I'm now eager to find the second book in the series, and/or anything else I can hunt down from this author.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Discovered on the lawn of a Maryland hospital, bleeding and unconscious, Olivia Callahan is whisked into surgery. She floats in endless darkness. And when she finally awakes, she has no memory of what happened...or who she is. Then her medical tests are tampered with. The doctor's office is ransacked, and her file is stolen. 

She doesn't know the family who comes to claim her or the husband who wants to divorce her. And as her memories begin to return in flashes, she doesn't recognize the meek, compliant wife and mother she used to be. Set on bringing her attacker to justice, a braver, stronger Olivia fights to put together the scattered pieces of her past before a violent predator returns to finish the job.

Dear Santa

 

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS.

NANCY NAIGLE

Stats: Mass market paperback, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2018

First line: Dear Santa, it’s me, Chrissy, again.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: My least favorite Nancy Naigle. I struggled to feel empathy for Angela. Yes, it was sad that her business was floundering, and I felt sorry for her, but we were told more than once that she had resisted doing anything to bring her Christmas store into the 21st century, eschewing tech that may have helped increase her sales. And I liked Geoff well enough, but while treating his employees well, he was still a corporate man whose bottom line was sales and making more money and opening more stores. It wasn't his fault Angela was going out of business, though certainly his big box Christmas store, that also sold everything else under the sun, opening up in the small town of Pleasant Sands did contribute to Angela's declining sales. But I got really tired of Angela hating on him and blaming him for her problems.

I also became very angry with Geoff's mother. All his life he was angry at the father he never knew, who was never around, who had apparently abandoned Geoff and his mother, who never wanted to talk about him or answer questions about him. Not until she experienced a medical event did his mother confess to him that his father was the love of her life, was going to marry her, would have loved him and been proud of him, but died before he was born. Let me repeat that. His father DIED before he was born! How selfish and dishonorable of Geoff's mother to let him grow up believing his father was just out there in the world somewhere, not caring that he had a son, or maybe not even knowing that he had son. Oh I wanted to slap that bitch!

In the end Geoff made a grand gesture for Angela, but there wasn't necessarily any character growth, other than him realizing that he was ready to settle down in one place rather than move every year to oversee the opening of another chain of his store. Fortunately Angela came to her senses and admitted that it was wrong to blame Geoff for her business closing, and she landed on her feet, though it would have been nice if she did so on her own and not because of Geoff's grand gesture - and abundant money.

This review makes it sound like I hated this book, but I didn't. I did like it, and there were some really good parts. But I did not love it the way I've loved everything else I've read from this author.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Angela Carson wants nothing more than to be the third-generation to run her family’s holiday store, Heart of Christmas, successfully. They’ve weathered over sixty tourist seasons, major hurricanes, and urban sprawl, in their old decommissioned lighthouse. But the national chain that set up shop in their small North Carolina town of Pleasant Sands may be more than Heart of Christmas can survive.

Encouraged by her niece to ask Santa for help, Angela gives in and lets the words fly in a way that, if Santa were real, would no doubt land her on the naughty list. What’s the harm when it’s just a computer-generated response?

Geoff Paisley has been at his mother’s side running the mega-chain Christmas Galore for the last ten years. When his mother falls ill, Geoff promises to answer the town’s Dear Santa letters in her stead. Soon he realizes the woman he’s been corresponding with on Dear Santa is Angela. How could the woman that grates his every last nerve in person have intrigued him so deeply through those letters? 

When Geoff reveals that he’s her Dear Santa, will Angela be able to set aside their very public feud to embrace the magic of the holiday and possibly find true love?