Romance

I was given the second book in this trilogy but when I realized there was a first I am the type of person that has to start at the beginning. So, this book had me up reading well into the morning hours. I couldn't put it down nor did I want to. Fantastic!! ( )

Review: Going Once by Sharon Sala.

This is an amazing first book to Force of Nature Trilogy series. It’s well written, interesting developed characters, a disaster setting in Queens Crossing, Louisiana, plenty of action, suspenseful, intensifying, riveting, adventurous, and classified as a romance mystery but it’s a thriller of a story with one rekindled romance that added spice to a fast pace book. It’s a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering how much more the main characters can take and stay sane at the same time.

The story begins with a young woman named Nola Landry who finds herself in danger waking up after several days of rain and the floods of the Mississippi river. What woke her up was the voice of her deceased mother telling her to get out of the house…run, Nola run, run…being ill and running a fever for the past few days makes her weak but she manages to get out of the house realizing the water is almost to her knees. She looks around, spots a grove of trees a ways away but knew she had no other choice but to get to a tree and climb as high as she could to be safe. While the waters keep rising she manages to wade through the reptiles and debris flowing in the floodwaters to a strong tree and climbs up and clings on. After many hours and climbing higher and higher above the rising water Nola hears a boat and then that’s when she notices her neighbors on the roof of their house and sighs with relief when an officer in the boat heads their way to rescue them and thinks he will also rescue her when she gets his attention.

Nola’s life turns upside down when she witnesses the officer shooting all three people in cold blood and starts to cruise her way. She places herself on a branch on the backside of the trunk of the tree to hide herself in order to stay alive. She holds her breath while he slowly goes by looking for other victims, not to rescue but to kill….At a later time Nola does get rescued and is taken to be cared for and placed with other survivors who lost their homes.

Than three FBI agents enter the scene looking for someone they called the “Stormchaser”. One of the FBI agents knew Nola seven years before and tried to get her to leave town with him because some problem he was having with his father but she didn’t want to leave her mother. So, with no explanation Tate just up and leaves town. Now he has come back as an FBI profiler and she is angry with him. The other two FBI agents, Cameron, and Wade feel the tension in the air between Nola and Tate. The tension rises especially when they learn Nola witnessed the murder of three people. She is the only one who has ever seen the Stormchaser.

So, the story goes on with more action motivated scenes because the killer finds out there is a witness hanging out among the other survivors with very few places to hide. With all the chaos that surrounds a town that’s trying to deal with a deadly disaster and a stalking killer in their midst who is one step ahead of them makes the story more compelling. (1). Is Nola safe..? (2). Who is the Stormchaser and why is he killing..? The ending leaves the reader hanging. These questions will be answered but what really happened to the “Stormchaser”…? Find out in Book two…..Worth the Read….
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Nola Landry really did mean to go before the storm hit, but she was sick. She escapes her house and is swept away by the floodwaters, finding safety in a tree near a neighbours house, those neighbours are on the roof of their house. When a cop comes they all think they've been saved but then he starts shooting. She climbs higher in the tree and he doesn't see her.

Tate Benton has been tracking the Stormchaser killer and finally he has discovered someone who has survived the attack. And she was his first love, they haven't seen each other in years, since he left the area with his mother. His father is still the coroner and the relationship between the two of them is still fraught.

It's an interesting read, there's a lot of stuff happening and several characters that sound like they have potential to be very interesting. ( )

This was my first book by Sharon Sala and GOING ONCE was an enjoyable read. The book had a great romantic suspense element--the concept of the Stormchaser, who shoots surviving storm victims in the head while they're clinging to rooftops for life is compelling. I also loved having a ringside seat for the investigation and the "brotherhood" of the all-male investigative team is always fun. The reunion romance between Nola and Tate is sweet, although I finished the book with the feeling that a little more talking between the two of them might have averted more than one bump in their relationship road. Indeed, despite the omnipresent Stormchaser and plenty of action scenes, I found the overall tone very sweet. The hero even drops by church and asks the resident priest to hear his confession! While there is some sexual chemistry between Nola and Tate, this is definitely more of a "closed door" book when it comes to the love scenes… so some really clever plotting, but not the sparks-flying-and-slightly-impossible-sexual-acrobatics of a Lora Leigh. Definitely a book I can share with my mother-in-law! ( )