They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice…
After surviving a lightning strike that killed two members of her family and left both her body and mind irrevocably altered, Adeline Walker is well familiar with how quickly things can change. Thanks to her rewired brain, Adeline is gifted – or cursed – with a heightened sense of intuition, including the occasional ability to sense evil … evil in others. Following the death of her father, she struggles to find a way forward by revisiting the past – her mother’s childhood home in Rabun County, Georgia.
But sometimes that place is a person…
Filled with quiet lakes and sparsely inhabited forests, the North Georgia Mountains seem like the perfect place for Adeline to forge a new path. However, within the space of twenty-four hours, things begin to go awry, an early-morning mishap necessitating her rescue by volunteer firefighter Sutton McCloud. Attraction sparked, their relationship begins to heat up even as Adeline’s luck seems to get worse. A string of unsettling accidents and encounters lead her to question whether the apparent black cloud over her head is simply misfortune, or something far more sinister.
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Adeline Walker’s life was defined by a tragic event that occurred when she was a young girl. Being struck by lightning took away her world – her mother, her baby sister and irrevocably changed her father – leaving her with physical and emotional injures that left brutal scars. But unknown to her, her life is about to have another defining moment when she sets foot back in her Mom’s hometown in Rabun County, Georgia.
Like the fog swirling around the old homestead Adeline first stumbles upon, there are so many feels swirling around in this book. Sadness and a sense of loss mix in with touches of humor and sunlight; this author has become a master of creating evocative settings for her stories, and Slow Burn is no exception. With every turn of the page, I became more and more immersed into Adeline’s situation and more and more enamored with her “intuition.”
Sutton McCloud was also a fascinating character, also haunted to an extent by events from his past. I could totally see how Sutton would be fascinated by Adeline, from her Cherry Fizz-colored hair to her Lichtenberg scars. And I could totally see Adeline’s attraction to Sutton, who proves himself a worthy partner for Adeline. Of course, the author always fills her books with interesting, at times complex, secondary characters that tend to pop up later in series and surprise us. I fell in love with Ms. Clark O’Neill’s writing from her very first book, and it has been amazing how that writing continues to evolve with each series. I am anxiously awaiting the next visit to Rabun County, as I know it will be filled with romance, suspense and hopefully a bit more “intuition!”
The first book book in a new series taking place in the beautiful mountains of Georgia.
I won’t say to much about the story because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I didn’t guess who it was.
Small town novels are a favorite of mine and I really loved the distraction of the town and its people and off course all the interaction between the main characters. Both of them carry scars on the inside and outside, but together they heal.
These are very trying, stressful and scary times and this book helped escape for a few hours. I am so grateful for that.
This is the first book in a new series from Lisa Clark O’Neill. She is one of my favorite authors and I have literally read all of her books. I am super excited about this new series.
We have Adeline and Sutton in this story. There is a slight paranormal-ish thing going on with Adeline, but this is definitely not a PNR book. They meet and sparks ignite 😉 We think Adeline might just accident-prone, but then we find out that someone is behind her recent run of bad luck.
One thing that I love about the author’s stories is her character development. In her now 17th book, she has characters with distinct and fully developed personalities and behaviors. We really get to know the main characters throughout the story and series (since characters show up throughout her series). I will say that Sutton may be tied with Noah (from Undertow) on my favorite male lead. He’s just so freaking adorable.
I’m always looking forward to the next book by Lisa Clark O’Neill and this one did not disappoint. This story pulled me in from the first page and never let up. I only wish she could write as fast as I read. She’s definitely one of my favorite authors. I guess now that I’ve finished Slow Burn, I’ll just have to reread all her other books while I wait for the next new story.