Her criminal past is behind her. The road to revenge is ahead. But the pit stop she makes along the way could reroute her life.Amanda Martin refuses to burn for the crimes of her manipulative ex-boyfriend. After all, he was the one who strong-armed her into committing fraud and left her to shoulder the blame. When an enraged investor sets fire to their office building, she scrambles onto the … scrambles onto the first bus out of the city. With the authorities hunting for her, she hides out to plot her revenge in the last place anyone would look—the tiny Texas town of Phoenix.
But when Amanda uncovers a hidden talent for reporting at the local paper and starts a sweet romance with a charming cop, she starts to question whether she’d be better off building a new life than tearing her ex a new one. Just as she starts settling in, her work at the paper unearths a decades old cold case that threatens to turn the town against her and expose her criminal past. With time running out before the townsfolk discover her true identity, Amanda is faced with an impossible choice—turn her back on a fellow victim of crime or stand her ground and lose her precious freedom.
Phoenix is the first book in an enthralling women’s fiction series. If you like compelling characters, nail-biting suspense, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Kimberly Packard’s small-town mystery.
Buy Phoenix to experience one woman’s rise from the ashes today!
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You will not be able to put this book down! And it’s a long book full of depth, great story weaving, and mystery and romance galore to boot. I only say this because it wasn’t too long, but rather, I found myself reading this well, well, past my bedtime so that I could finish it. At the end of the first chapter I was entranced with Amanda. Her character was relatable, and even though she is being accused of terrible things and on the run so to speak, you root for her because you want her to be able to solve things and have that bit of satisfaction that she has done a right and good thing by solving the unsolved murder from years and years ago.
Amanda has the perfect life, literally. Great job, money for everything she needs and more, and who she thinks is the perfect boyfriend. That is until he literally throws her world into a tailspin. He has decided to pin some shady things on her and now the SEC is involved. In an attempt to escape this mess and start over, as well as wait till things calm down and she can safely return home, she leaves her home of Chicago and doesn’t decide to settle down for a bit till she reaches the idyllic town of Phoenix Texas. There she will find a job and a mystery to solve. While working for the local newspaper she discovers a murder case that was never solved and has gone cold. She has decided this will give her validation for all the wrong she has done, or all the wrong she thinks she has done. While doing so it is when she meets David. He is a local police officer. She doesn’t’ really want to get in bed with the law so avoids him and all advances at all costs. Until she can’t… What happens when they are at that no return point with their feelings? Can they get past her past? What happens when he realizes who she REALLY is?
There are many different point of views in this book, which is super neat. It wasn’t’ overdone and confusing like those can often be. In fact in made the book much more connectable. You get to see point of views from locals and David. I especially enjoyed this aspect of the book.
I don’t want to give too much of this book away, it would honestly be a great disservice. I have never been so entranced with a new author so fast, at least not in a long time. I have to get my hands on all of her books ASAP. I will say, fair warning this ends in one heck of a cliffhanger, so be prepared to want that next book as soon as possible. You will be addicted to Kimberly Packard by the end!
I heard this author speak at a book festival in October and what she read from her books intrigued me so I decided to look into the books. I found the first eBook was only $0.99 and so I couldn’t pass up that bargain.
Once I picked the book up to read, I was sucked into a world of deception, fear, desperation, and hope. Amanda/Mandy is caught up in something that she has no control over and while I’m not 100% sure why she was heading to El Paso (chasing someone but I must of missed how she knew he was there) she stops over in Phoenix because that is where the bus broke down. Here she finds some caring citizens but other have secrets that they are hiding. There is a little bit of a mystery as Amanda seeks to uncover what happened to Katie who was found murdered 10 years ago. She does uncover the killer and while I might have suspected this character, there was nothing that screamed at me to look at them further.
Amanda also finds love from the town Sheriff. She has trust issues and while she wants to tell him everything she is afraid she will be sent back to face what she is running from. (I know – very vague, you have to read the book to find out more)
The book does leave you hanging and it is a good thing that the next book is out so we can find out what is in store for Amanda and if she is getting closer to finding who she seeks or if this will be cathartic for her own well being. After all, she is not the same person that left Chicago and ended up in Phoenix. What other revelations will we discover about her?