Maggie Willings knew that returning home for her estranged grandfather’s funeral would not be easy, but she never expected the reading of his will to be the most difficult part. The four people named in the will—Maggie, her brother Robert, her ex-boyfriend Andrew, and her grandfather’s far-too-young girlfriend Bethany—are given a challenge: find out the truth about what happened to Maggie’s younger sister Cassandra, who vanished over eight years ago, and win the entirety of the estate.
Maggie is thrown by the strange request, reluctant to drag up painful memories of her sister’s disappearance, and bothered by her lingering attraction to Andrew, who wants to team up to solve the mystery. But there are ten million dollars on the line and Maggie has no idea where to start—or who she’ll be able to trust.
Excerpt:
What had her grandfather been thinking? She couldn’t believe he had picked the four of them, four childhood friends and siblings whose lives had splintered so far apart. He was a shrewd man, a calculated risk-taker. And he knew each of them would have a stake in solving Cassandra’s…disappearance. Kidnapping. Murder. Or whatever it was that had happened to her eight years ago.
Obviously, Maggie and her brother had the personal angle in the case, since Cassandra was their younger sister. Both Bethany and Andrew had been close to the family when they were teens, so the two of them would likely know as much about the case as anyone else. Upon chewing these facts over, Grandpa’s reasoning made sense to Maggie, but that knowledge didn’t ease her turmoil.
Her gaze met Andrew’s. He accepted her scrutiny and matched it with a bold, open look of his own. His hand was steady, his face smooth. He’d obviously grown adept over the years at disguising his emotions; she could read nothing on him.
Would he accept the challenge for the money?
Or did he have something else to gain here?
My Review:
4 stars
4 stars
This is one of the first serials I've read. I'm impatient, and I don't like waiting for parts of the story, since I lose interest quickly. However, this sounded like such a good book, I couldn't resist.
I was pleasantly surprised by part 1 of this story. The clever plot moved along quickly, and I was drawn into the intrigue and mystery. The characters were interesting, and all the hinted at drama and mystery definitely caught my attention. Now, I don't want to give away any spoilers, so you'll have to read yourself to find out about all the intrigue.
The only downside was that again, it's only part 1. It ends in a cliffhanger, which leaves me to sit here full of questions with no answers. I looked, and other parts are available, which makes me wonder why the author didn't just wait and publish it as one book. Plus, at times the plot seemed to get a bit over the top and way too complicated, so I have no idea how it's all going to work out in the end.
All in all though, this was an interesting read, and I will be continuing on to part 2.
I was pleasantly surprised by part 1 of this story. The clever plot moved along quickly, and I was drawn into the intrigue and mystery. The characters were interesting, and all the hinted at drama and mystery definitely caught my attention. Now, I don't want to give away any spoilers, so you'll have to read yourself to find out about all the intrigue.
The only downside was that again, it's only part 1. It ends in a cliffhanger, which leaves me to sit here full of questions with no answers. I looked, and other parts are available, which makes me wonder why the author didn't just wait and publish it as one book. Plus, at times the plot seemed to get a bit over the top and way too complicated, so I have no idea how it's all going to work out in the end.
All in all though, this was an interesting read, and I will be continuing on to part 2.
Olivia will be awarding $25 Amazon or BN.com gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
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Author Information:
Olivia Mayfield has been an unabashed fan of romance since she was a young teen, secretly devouring her mom’s Harlequins. She has a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, as well as a Master’s degree in English, and lives with her family in Ohio. In her free time, she loves reading, shopping, wearing absurdly high-heeled boots, cheesecake, singing karaoke, and harassing her friends.
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Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the blurb and excerpt! I can't wait to see what you think :D
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Thanks for hosting me on your site!!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your review when it's ready.
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I'll be back for your review.
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