After uncovering a devastating secret, Casey McKay left her beloved home town and pretended not to look back. For years, the truth her sisters hid from her has kept her away. Now, in desperate need of Casey’s help, her sisters have hired a PI to find her.As a private investigator, Ryan Keller is used to getting into sticky situations, but nothing could have prepared him for the likes of Ms. … McKay. Unable to resist her appeal for help, Ryan returns with her to Blue Creek. Little do they know they are walking right into a deadly plot to destroy the McKay sisters.The closer they get to the truth, the harder it is for them to resist temptation. But succumbing to their desires puts Ryan in the crosshairs of a vengeful foe. To save them, Casey must face her past and the secrets that have shaped her.
more
This is the second book in the series of the McKays about 10 -15 years later. After their adoptive dad married the high school principal, Savannah, life continued on for all of them. Fletcher is a police detective, Alexandra runs a Bed and Breakfast, Charlie has a daughter and runs the family diner, and Casey left home six years prior because of a huge secret. Now, Fletcher is going out of her mind, quit the force and took off in the woods. So, the girls hire Ryan Keller PI to go retrieve Casey. He finds her, but has to return twice before she will leave. She gets back home and they find Fletcher who is in really bad shape…only, someone was poisoning her! Casey decides to stay home and buys the old garage in town…someone tries to kill her and Alexandra~ In between the shenanigans amongst the sisters, the secrets everyone keeps, the laughter of the reader, the sparks between Casey and Ryan, and the rest of those in the book…you have a huge mystery to solve…good luck figuring out who is the suspect…because once you find out…think again! I received this as an ARC and am leaving a voluntary review.
This book starts off a few years after the first one ends, but the blanks are filled in as we listen. Once again this family finds out that they have enemies from their pasts and will have to join together to solve the mystery and put an end to it all. It answers some questions you may have after the first book but does leave it open for more in the future.
Having three younger sisters, when I read the book blurb, I thought this might give me a few chuckles about how siblings act and react to each other. This was not quite what I was expecting and in no way brought me any memories to share.
Casey McKay left home several years ago, leaving her parents and younger sisters. For years, her sisters kept a secret, that when found out, Casey was angry enough to leave her home.
Ryan Keller, the Private Investigator the younger sisters have hired to find Casey reluctantly takes the job .. and soon finds himself in the cross-hairs of someone who wants to destroy the sisters … and him.
Having three younger sisters is where any similarity ends. Page after page after page, I was forced to endure siblings who love each other .. but certainly don’t show it. There is name-calling, pushing, shoving, and insults. This overshadowed the mystery that should have been front and center. There’s a bit of romance, but it seems a bit disjointed and doesn’t flow well in the story. I found it really hard to like any of the characters.
To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
Many thanks to the author / Wild Rose Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of THE SECRETS THAT SHAPE US. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
The Secrets that Shape Us has the potential to be a gripping story of suspense as the McKay sisters search for clues about who is out to get them. We even get the occasional creepy paragraph or two from the viewpoint of the villain. With a little more on that, this could’ve been an edge of your seat suspense. The problem is the story moves a little too slowly and gets bogged down in the mundane. There’s a lot of dialogue – some that is necessary and some, not so much. While the suspense side of this one moves at a slower pace than I prefer, the romance between Ryan and Casey happens rather quickly. They seem to go from zero to all over each other in a blink. Once things start to come together and the villain is revealed, it does make sense. The bad guy is crazy, no doubt, but their reasons do have a twisted logic to them. There’s also an extra little twist toward the end that leaves things open and while I didn’t see the need for it, other than to set things up for another book, it was interesting to ponder. All in all, I ended up somewhere in the middle on this one. There were things I liked and things I didn’t, but the story did keep me interested.