Evie Taylor loves her life in Boston, running her bookstore and café, but an accident has made it so she needs to return home to take care of her grandmother. With extra time on her hands, she decides to start looking for the monster that haunts her best friend’s nightmares. A chain of events starts no one could see coming.
When the last person she ever expects shows up and rings her grandmother’s doorbell she finds herself in the middle of danger. Bound together in a common mission, they’ll search the world looking for answers. But can they find them in time or will they end up paying the ultimate price?
As the storm rages around them, they find each other, and the calm in the Eye of the Storm.
Excerpt:
“Wow, are you reading any of this?” Evie asked Anthony as they sat at the kitchen table with a plate of fruit and cheese between them while working on laptops.
“Not really, just trying to see if we can find Christina.”
“Seriously, you should read some of this. It’s classic.”
“Well, I figure we’re kind of in a time crunch, so maybe it’s more important to not get sidetracked.”
“Party-pooper.”
“Whatever it takes. Have you found anything useful that doesn’t have to do with liking long walks on the beach?”
“Actually yes, it seems that on this site if you are in contact with someone it shows up on the sidebar. I’m hoping if we find Christina we can find Jeremy. She must have lied about her age or something because she’s not coming up in this age bracket.”
“Now, there’s a surprise. Let’s try going down to twenty-nine. Seems women love to say they’re that age.”
“I’ll ignore that comment. I’ve also found that unless you delete your profile it stays up there. I found this woman who hasn’t been active in three years. That’s good news.”
“Unless he deleted her profile after he killed her.”
“Well, aren’t you little Mr. Sunshine?”
“Can we please just continue?”
“Fine.”
They worked in silence for another hour before Evie let out a whoop and stood up shaking her ass around the room.
“I take it you found something?”
“Yep, Sherlock, I sure did. Look here.” She turned her laptop around and moved so that she stood next to him to point out the profile. “There she is. I was nervous, I couldn’t click on it. This could be the break we’re looking for.”
Anthony slowly reached over and clicked it. They both leaned in closer. She was torn between burying her face in his neck and inhaling his intoxicating scent and or moving her head and scanning the screen for something that could help them. Responsibility won out.
“There.” He tapped the screen. “There he is. Let’s see what he has to say.”
They scanned the profile of Jay Ellison. There wasn’t any new information. Except the name.
Anthony turned towards her. “We never thought to do a search on a Jay Ellison. Maybe we can get more information.”
Their faces were inches apart. She slowly blinked, trying to focus on his words and not his mesmerizing blue eyes. When she saw his pupils dilate, she knew he was feeling the same thing. Disappointment flowed through her when he blinked a few times then turned back to the screen.
Standing up she walked to the other side of the room. She went to focus on the maps, hoping something might come to her. Turning back around she said to him, “Maybe we should go interview people who had ties to the other murders.”
Sitting back in the chair he crossed his arms across his chest. “You might have a good idea there.”
“Not might, I do have a good idea. Look what we learned today. It’s something, even if they can’t give us much information, every little bit will help. Come on. Since we are on this coast I think we should start with Natalie. I know this will be the hardest for you, so we should get it over with first.”
“You’re right. But I will be doing this alone.”
“Alone, what the hell are you talking about? I’m in this one hundred percent. I go with you.”
He got up and walked over to her standing right in front of her trying to intimidate her. “No, you don’t.”
“You know I’ll just book my own flight and be right behind you. So your choice is to let me do this on my own, or take me with you. Your pick, but I am going. Now move out of my way, I’ve got a flight to book.”
She tried to push past him but he just pinned her to the wall. In a voice which was too calm and soft compared to the fire in his eyes, he said, “No, you’re not going.”
“What are you going to do? Tie me to the bed?” The image flashed through her mind before she could stop it.
“Don’t tempt me. I’m sure your grandmother would be on my side.”
“Actually you’d be wrong buddy, she’s behind me. She might not like it, but she supports me. You might as well give in now. I really don’t want to be up all night fighting.” Her breathing started to increase.
“Then give in and we won’t.”
“I never give in.”
“We’ll just have to see about that.” He pressed his body into hers and devoured her mouth. Grabbing her ass, he hoisted her up so she was pinned to the wall.
With his hands occupied, she took the opportunity to dive her hands into his hair, grabbing hard and pulling his head back from her swollen lips. She could see the passion in his hooded eyes. Yanking him back to her lips, they continued their battle of wills with their kisses. She wanted his hands free, wanted to feel them all over her body. She wrapped her legs around his waist. She didn’t have to wait long before she felt his hands on her breasts, squeezing and pinching. Letting out a primal moan, she tightened her legs around him, trying to get closer to the hardness she could feel between them.
Moving away from the wall he spun around and laid her on the table pushing everything out of the way, his lips never leaving hers. Her touches became frantic with the thought of having him inside of her. The blood pumped so fast in her veins, her ears rang.
The ringing wasn’t just in her ears and she whimpered when he pulled his lips from hers and glared over at the phone. With a curse, he left her and answered the call. His eyes burned with passion as he talked to whoever was on the other end of the call.
Hearing the frustration in his voice, she knew it wasn’t going to be a quick phone call. Getting up from the table she grabbed her laptop and started to walk out the door. She continued to leave even when she heard him say “Hold on.”
She was whipped back around and his lips came down hard on hers. “I’m sorry; I’ve got to take this. Book us both a flight for the first available they have.”
Not trusting her voice, she just nodded and walked out into the cool night air.
Playlist:
Dream Cast:
Alexia Hanson - Melissa Claire Egan
Noah Matthews - Adam Levine
Anthony Maldono - David Gandy
Evelyne Stone - Olympia Dukakis
Leigh Winslow - Julie Christie
Marie Holmes - Faye Dunaway
Evie Taylor - Bianca Balti
Jackson Taylor - Bradley Cooper
Kat Snyder - Piper Perabo My Review:
This is book two in the Storm Series so if you haven't read book one please read it first! There is so much you need to understand from book one to fully dive into book two and understand the true power and creepiness of it!
This story focuses more around Evie Taylor, Lexi's best friend, and Anthony Maldono. Although we see most of the characters from book one again, they become the main focus. Evie contacts Anthony in hopes to join forces on the hunt for Jeremy. Evie knows he is out there and her best friend will never be fully safe and happy until he is finally put away for good.
So, Anthony goes to meet Evie and little does he know when he arrives he will get knocked out by her grandmother.... with a frying pan!!!! Oh, how I love Evelyne and the other ladies of the Troublesome Trio! They were hilarious in book one and we get a little more of them in book two! I think I would die from laughter if I had grown up with these ladies around!!!
Evie and Anthony soon embark on their hunt for Jeremy which will lead them all over the world. They will find clues and hints that neither of them were expecting. The closer they get to who Jeremy is and what makes him 'tick' the worse things are. Jeremy is on to their game though and has left them clues along the way. One thing though that Evie and Anthony didn't expect to find was a passion for each other that was intense.
"Stop me now. Once isn't going to be enough. I'm going to want you forever. If you don't want that, stop me now."
There is so much in this story that will keep you on your toes and have you reading into the wee hours of the night wanting to know what will happen next. It gives you enough love to keep your heart happy and enough spook to make your skin crawl... let's just say I may never look at a fork the same again! It did end with a cliffhanger and makes me wander what will happen in the next book because not all the characters in this book were what they first appeared to be!
Meet the Author:
M. Stratton is an International Amazon bestselling author in the romantic suspense and mystery suspense categories for her debut novel After the Storm. She is a self-proclaimed dork that loves to make people laugh and can trip over nothing. Her inner rock star is always on stage performing to a sold out crowd but is quiet and shy on the outside.
She lives with her husband and son in Arizona, which is a big difference from where she grew up north of Chicago Illinois. As an only child she learned to tell herself stories to make the long winters go by quicker while dreaming of summer vacations. Now as an adult she still makes up stories to pass the time, but now she writes them down to share with other people.
When not writing you can find M. watching football (Go Bears!), NASCAR, or classic movies, watching her husband and father restore classic cars, and seeing who can be sillier, her or her son, and of course reading.
Things you don’t know about M. Stratton:
1. She loves the movie Twister… she can say all the lines along with the actors. She will also use those lines in real life as often as possible.
2. Halloween is her favorite holiday. She starts planning months in advance. She has more Halloween decorations than Christmas.
3. She once made up a monologue about her love of chocolate chip cookie dough for her high school drama class.
4. There are times she thinks she is so funny she has tears running down her face while laughing at herself.
5. M. can play the clarinet but is in awe of anyone who can play the guitar, piano or drums, pretty much anything where your hands have to do two different things at the same time.
6. Cary Grant is her favorite actor. When she was in high school after Cary Grant died one of the cable stations ran a marathon, she watched his movies from 6 in the morning all day and night until 4 AM the next day.
7. Reading has always been an escape for her. She can devour a book in hours. When she moved in with her husband she literally donated over 1,000 books and saved over 1,000 for herself. She can reread books over and over again if she loves them. There are some that she has reread about once a year for the past 20 years.
8. She eloped after knowing her husband for only two months in 2006. They are still married over seven years later.
Social Links:
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