Review: Secrets In the Shadows

Secrets In The Shadows
by Sheridon Smythe

The lovely widow Lacy had taken in two young children – and the rambunctious little angels wasted no time getting her into trouble with Shadow City’s new sheriff . . .

Adam came to town on a personal quest for justice – and nothing would distract him from it. Until chasing a mischievous young devil brought him face-to-face with a spirited woman’s shotgun . . .

After their first meeting, Lacy and Adam vowed to steer clear of each other. But soon Adam discovered Lacy’s childhood memories were the key to solving a fifteen-year-old mystery…

What neither of them knew was that an old danger lurked nearby, threatening their new attraction.

Looking at the cover of Secrets In The Shadows, I wondered how in the world the author could produce a love story from a hanging. She did and what a story!

Not long after, I started reading I thought, “The lady doth protest too much…", but her protestations proved to be an intriguing element of the story. Loving and caring toward her extended family and her neighbors, Lacey fears a man/woman love relationship because of abuse in her past. Her attraction to Adam sets her emotions aflutter in a way she doesn’t understand. She's much like a frightened kitten that hisses and claws, frantically trying to escape because it does not know the joy of being taken care of, cuddled, and petted.

I can see the story as a tapestry with many threads being woven together when Adam comes to Shadow City to fulfill a promise he made to his mother before her death. His learning Lacey is the key to his success joined with Lacey’s protestations create a revealing pattern in which the golden thread of romantic love becomes part of the design. While the love scenes do not have the finesse and subtlety I expected, they do not diminish the overall beauty of the design.

The author also weaves into the pattern the collective secrecy of the town’s inhabitants about the hanging that mingles with the dark thread of greed. This part of the tapestry influences the total picture.

The foundation pattern of the tapestry is the familial love revealed through Lacey’s relationship with many secondary characters that play important roles in the untangling of threads that bring to light the secret of the long-ago hanging. These characters represent people who often fall through the cracks in society but Lacey reaches out to and takes care of them. Ben, Takola, and Rusty are treasures whom this reader came to love. They are bright spots in the design.

Secret in the Shadows is a tale of tensions, truths, tempers, and good tidings—a treat to read.



Reviewed by Camellia