Reviewer: Casee Memories of Us (Hearts of the South #5) by Linda Winfree
Series: Hearts of the South #5
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, Facing It, Hold On To Me, Gone From Me (Hearts of the South, #10)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: June 10th 2008
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:
Beneath the lies is truth—and temptation that neither of them can resist.
Book Five of the Hearts of the South series.
Investigator Celia St. John is hopelessly attracted to the one man she shouldn’t want, district attorney Tom McMillian. Arrogant and completely alpha, McMillian is the type of man she likes—a tough son of a bitch. The problem? He’s her boss, and he’s still hung up on his ex-wife.
Since his marriage to a law enforcement agent failed after the death of his infant son, Tom has avoided emotional involvement with any woman. Despite his attraction to Celia, he refuses to get involved with another cop.
Their no-strings affair quickly becomes a tangled web of intrigue as they investigate an illegal baby adoption ring and more than one murder, one of which points to Tom as a suspect. The more they dig under the lies, the higher the risk, not only to their relationship, but their lives.
***Every Thursday in 2018 we will be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books.
At the time of this review, I have completed the Hearts of the South series. So I can say with complete conviction that Tom and Celia are my favorite couple of the series. I don’t know if it was Tom w/ the heartbreaking tragedy of his son dying or Celia with her unequivocal understanding and empathy for him.
Celia has lusted for Tom since she started working at the DA’s office. Knowing him as well as she does, she knows that there is no chance for them. Tom is still hung up on his ex-wife and Celia will never get involved with someone she works with again. When a dead baby is found in a car that was pulled over for a traffic stop, Celia and Tom get much closer than expected.
Babies’ deaths always hit Tom hard. With his ex-wife remarried and now expecting her own child, this case hits even harder. With his emotions going every which way, he finds himself instead concentrating on Celia. He has always known that she’s a good Investigator, he has just never looked at her as a woman. Now that he has, he can’t get her out of his head.
Following the trail to the person(s) responsible for the baby’s death takes Celia and Tom to a place they’re ill prepared to go. Not only that, but it makes Celia a target. Someone doesn’t want her finding the answers to the questions she’s been asking and they’ll do anything to prevent it.
The relationship between Tom and Celia was just so real. I can’t think of another way to describe it. I continued to be amazed by the characters that Linda Winfree writes.
Hearts of the South Series
4.5 out of 5
Yes, that broke my heart too. Especially at the end.
I wasn’t even remotely looking forward to his book. He just didn’t interest me as a hero at all. So it really surprised me that I loved him as much as I did.
I thought this one was really good, too. The only minor quibble I had with it was that as both DA and a SIDS father, Tom was driven to personally investigate every child death that crossed his desk. I would have loved to see Winfree explore that much more in-depth, rather than focusing more on him coming to terms with Kathleen, cause she was already totally settled w/Jason (I thought, anyway – and I had to find something to nitpick, LOL).
And the way she handled his psychic abilities? Wow. Completely broke my heart.
And she wrote him nothing like I pictured him from Kathleen’s book – what about you? But it was definitely a good switch from how I pictured him.
This book looks very interesting.
Pat L.
I miss her in the romance space so much. Ih how I love this series.