Reviewer: Holly Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree
Series: Hearts of the South #1
Also in this series: What Mattered Most, His Ordinary Life, Uncovered, Fall Into Me, Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5), Hearts Awakened, Facing It, Hold On To Me, Gone From Me (Hearts of the South, #10), Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: June 19th 2007
Genres: Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 287
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:
When deceit and desire collide, the results can be deadly...
Book One of the Hearts of the South series.
For undercover FBI agent Jason Harding, coming face to face with the grown-up version of his adolescent dreams is a nightmare. Kathleen Palmer sees him as a despicably corrupt small-town law officer and a murder suspect. Trapped in a web of his own making, he must see his mission through to the end and bring down the crooked cops who’ve run Haynes County for decades. To do so, he must betray the only family he’s ever known and fight his growing love for Kathleen, a relationship that could get one, or both of them, killed.
Determined to uncover the truth, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Kathleen struggles with her attraction to the one person who’s awakened her since she buried her heart and emotions in her son’s tiny grave. Listening to her heart could destroy all she has left in life—her career and reputation. When the truth about Jason’s identity surfaces, they both face unimaginable consequences: Jason may lose his life and Kathleen the man she loves.
Warning: Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, violence.
Lori recommended this series, and since she and I have similar tastes, I decided to check them out.
This is the first book in Linda Winfree‘s Hearts of the South Series.
The Good: I enjoyed the relationship between Jason and Kathleen. It was real and solid, and not something that seemed to be thrown together or contrived. They each had demons to face – Kathleen losing her son to SIDS and Jason realizing his own cousin, the only family he has, is corrupt – but they faced them together. Once they made the decision to commit to each other, that’s exactly what they did. I liked that a lot.
The Bad: The “corrupt” cops seemed a little too stereotypical to me. I know there are corrupt cops out there, just like I know not every single man arrested is guilty, but I think the way Jim Ed (yes, that was really his name) acted was just a bit too over the top. He was the quintessential country bumpkin officer who was on the take and not too smart with it. At times it seemed like he was going to be a bit colder, a bit more real, but in the end it didn’t work out that way. He did everything the “bad” cops in the movies do, from beat his wife to punish his children for no reason. I could have done without that, I think.
The Ugly: Honestly? I can’t think of anything ugly in this story.
Although it wasn’t perfect, and that bit about the “country cops” really bothered me, overall it was a good, well written read with two characters who seemed real and a plot that, while a bit contrived and somewhat predictable, was well fleshed out. I’d recommend it.
4.o out of 5
You can buy it here or here.
The series is as follows:
Truth and Consequences
His Ordinary Life
Hold On To Me
Anything But Mine
*Raises hand* what does SIDS stands for? 😛
Nice review… but I have to say, i hate corrupted cops LOL
Great review, Hols. I think I’ll have to give it a try.
Nath, SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It usually happens to babies under 12 months old. Very sad.
I don’t know if it’s something I would ever read, due to the dirty cop angle, but it does sound interesting.
Brie,
I’m totally biased when it comes to corrupt cops, so that might have been the reason that didn’t work for me.
Casee,
Try it, it’s not a bad book. 🙂
You know, I’m convinced that there’re very few *truly original, never told before* stories out there. The challenge is grabbing an old chestnut and turning out a jewel. I think I’ll be trying this one out as well.
azteclady
Azteclady,
I completely agree. I’m not sure it’s even possible to have “original” anymore. But this one was a nice way of telling an old story.
Lori,
I did read What Mattered Most first..I just forgot to review it first. Funnily enough..that was the one I liked least in the series. The heroine got on my nerves and the “plot” was ridiculously under developed. I mean, what about her partner? What happened to the ex? WTF? LOL
BUT! I liked the rest of the books (for the most part).
Well, on my blog when I said that 4 out of the 5 were spot on? This was the one that was just off. And for the same reasons. It doesn’t focus on the relationship as much as the other books do. But still a good read.
Did you read What Mattered Most first? That one was a kick in my gut. It’s the prequel to the series, if you will. The others are, IMO, even better than this one.
And, LOL, I should have remembered that MM is a cop. Oops!
And yikes! I just noticed that I’m your blog pimp. I guess that means I should review something!
Hi, hope it’s okay that I’m stopping by . . . this completely made my bad-teacher-day better. 🙂
And I agree — my early plotting needed help. Thanks to a fantastic editor who kicks my derriere pretty regularly during edits and lots of practice, I think (I *hope*)I’ve gotten better. I hadn’t looked at WMM in months, until I got my print copies. People would ask me about plot points and finally I had to go re-read. My overall thought was “Darn, I wish I could rework this or that.”