Review: Facing It by Linda Winfree

Reviewer: Holly
Facing It by Linda Winfree
Series: Hearts of the South #8
Also in this series: Truth and Consequences, What Mattered Most, His Ordinary Life, Uncovered, Fall Into Me, Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5), Hearts Awakened, 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: April 7th 2009
Genres: Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 330
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

There are worse things than facing your greatest fear.
A Hearts of the South story.
Mired in a brutal marriage for far too long, Ruthie Chason takes her courage and her children in hand to flee the trap that has become her life. Yet she’s no fool. She knows he’ll come after her once he discovers she possesses criminal evidence that will put him away for good—and seal her deadly fate if he ever catches up with her.
Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Parker offers emotional refuge, a safe place to begin to reclaim her life…if she can let herself trust the strong, quiet cop that far.
Chris surprises himself when he agrees to act as guardian for Ruthie and her children. He does it as a favor, then finds something about her calm strength soothes his battered soul. Now if only he can silence the demons from his past that make him cautious of falling too fast for any woman.
Their need explodes into a heart-stopping night of passion that exposes their deepest vulnerabilities. But just as they begin to explore how healing love can be, violence tracks them down. And backs them into a desperate corner…

I’m a huge fan of Linda Winfree’s Hearts of the South series. Although I’ve had issues with some of her books in the past, she continues on as one of my auto-buy authors. As a matter of fact, I’m currently on a campaign to get Rowena to read this series. Come on Ween, you know you want to…

While I liked aspects of this book, overall I’m afraid it didn’t work for me. I think in this case it really may be a “it’s not you, it’s me” thing. The thing is, I was in a marriage similar to Ruthie’s. I got married young and allowed him to pretty much take over my life. It wasn’t a period of time in my life I’m proud of – to have lost so much of myself in another person is, well, embarrassing.

Having said that, it was hard for me to accept Ruthie’s actions and reactions throughout the book. She leaves her husband – who is completely and totally psycho – and runs to her brother Tick for help, taking her kids with her. Tick needs some time to figure out just how dirty her husband is and buys some time by sending her and her kids away with Chris, who’s just heading out of town on vacation.

So, the day after she runs away from her psycho abusive husband Ruthie finds herself living with another man. A man she’s attracted to and totally at ease with? Even worse, a man she allows her children to get close to and become comfortable with. I think this was the clincher for me. As a mother, I couldn’t imagine letting my children get attached to a man I barely know. Not while I’m on the run from my crazy ex and they’re dealing with the trauma of having their lives ripped out from under them. Especially since this man I barely know obviously has issues of his own – one of which makes him jump away from any female touch. Hello, red flag.

Try as I might, I just couldn’t set that aside. Jumping into a relationship with a man who has issues while you’re trying to get away from another man who has issues isn’t a good idea. Doing it when your kids are involved is just plain wrong.

Having said that, I did find it as well done as her other books in terms of the writing, plot and other characters. Chris was a complex man who’d suffered greatly in his past. I thought his issues were dealt with in a believable way. I really appreciate that Winfree tackled a rather tough issue with him. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say that I wondered if I’d have as much respect for him after learning what his problems were. The answer? A resounding YES! I adored him.

It was good to see Tick back to acting like the man I knew and loved from his book. I don’t know why, but he really wasn’t himself the last couple of books. Lori (who turned me onto the series) and I have been bitching about very annoyed with his behavior lately. I, for one, am glad to see he’s back to being himself.

I’m kind of curious to see where Winfree takes the series yet. Despite my issues with this book I’ll be buying the next on on release day.

3.5 out of 5

*This review was originally published in 2009. For some reason it disappeared from our database when we switched to our new site.

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