Texas Summer by Leslie Hachtel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
** ARC received for an honest review ***
Texas Summer by Leslie Hachtel is a story filled with romance, suspense, murder, love, and secrets. The last thing writer Wylie Nichols expected to happen when his car broke down in a tiny little town is that he would meet a beautiful woman who may just be more trouble than she is worth.
Kennedy is a woman who has endured so much pain, betrayal, and disgust in her life she has begun to believe that everyone is right about her and she is the scum of the earth. However, Wylie doesn’t see it that way and “the immediate fire between them was almost palpable. Wylie drew in a breath, mesmerized, stumbled, then caught himself and continued forward, closing the distance. She raised her eyebrows, as if daring him to speak.”
When Kennedy’s sister Delie is found brutally murdered Wylie becomes an immediate suspect. Could this kind stranger really be capable of that kind of violence? Is this another case where Kennedy’s bad judgement surfaces? As the body count continues to rack up, it looks as though Wylie and Kennedy are the prime suspects. Did Wylie’s car really break down or is that just part of an elaborate plan him and Kennedy came up with?
Kennedy’s other sister Dolores has such contempt for Kennedy it is dripping from her mouth. She is convinced that Wylie and Kennedy are behind all of it to prevent Delie and Dolores from receiving money they all inherited. The mayor Freddie is also Kennedy’s stepfather and is breathing down Sheriff Miller’s neck to solve this crime immediately. As Sheriff Miller is trying to put the pieces together secrets begin to surface and he soon realizes that things aren’t always how they seem.
Why would this little town suddenly be riddled with violence and murder? Nothing will prepare the reader for what unfolds and secrets that come to light. Can Wylie and Kennedy survive the predicament they find themselves in? Are they really strangers who just fell in love or are they calculated murderer’s one step ahead of everyone else?
I think that Leslie Hachtel did a beautiful job of writing strong characters with a very complex history. The author took the time to give a lot of history on the characters which causes the reader to engage. I also enjoyed the fact that the author sort-of tricked us with the cover. I expected a mushy, sweet, romance between two quirky people and instead got one heck of a mystery with all kinds of things I never saw coming!
WARNING: This story contains some violent sexual situations, some vulgarity, and violence.
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