Deeper Than Need (Secrets & Shadows, #1) by Shiloh Walker
Romance Suspense
E book, 400 pages
June 3, 2013
St Martin’s Paperbacks
Reviewed By Tori
Favorite Quote: She felt like she’d been waiting her whole life for him, only she hadn’t realized it until the very second their gazes locked.
Trinity Ewing, a former ad exec from New York, needed a fresh start for her and her young son so she purchases a house, sight unseen, in the small town of Madison, Indiana. Once she arrives, she realizes the house needs some major repairs which leads her straight to the town handyman, Noah Benningfield.
Noah Benningfield, a former preacher turned carpenter, carries some heavy burdens that all revolve around the house that Trinity bought. Years ago, Noah’s girlfriend went into this house and never came out. The only clues to her demise were a set of bloody fingerprints left smeared across a window. Noah has blamed himself for her possible death and only in the past few years has begun to get his life back on track.
Trinity is a breath of fresh for Noah and the feeling is mutual. To Noah, Trinity is everything he has ever wanted in his life but knows that he may not be what she needs. When a skeleton is discovered in Trinity’s house, the rumors fly fast and hard and Noah finds himself caught between the past and present.
As the secrets of this small town begins to spill out of the shadows and into the light, Noah and Trinity find themselves standing on the cusp of a scandal so shocking…no one will escape the aftermath.
Shiloh Walker’s Deeper Than Need is the first book in her newest romance suspense series-Secrets & Shadows. Set in the small town of Madison, IN, Walker weaves her magic in a dark and suspenseful tale of lies and atrocities set amongst a seductive romance. Slow and steady, Walker builds her world: layering it in pain, sorrow, heartbreak, and fear as she delicately sets the stage. Dynamic flawed characters only add to the overall somber emotional tone of the multi plotted storyline. Each new revolution serves to add tension and suspense as we are given clues to the secret that traps this small town in it’s clutches.
Trinity Ewing and Noah Benningfield are strong characters; together and separately. Loyal, intelligent, and prone to taking on the problems of others. Each has secrets that they fear will cause the other to run away. The chemistry literally lights the pages on fire from the moment these two first meet.
Noah Benningfield made her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth and her hands got all sweaty just thinking about him.They’d met just a few short weeks ago, saw each other in passing while he set up everything for the renovations on her house. A few meetings here and there, a few phone calls.
Not much, right?
So why did she keep waking up, hot and sweaty from all of those dreams? The hottest, dirtiest dreams, where he ran those rough, calloused hands over her, where he pressed his lips to her neck, skimmed them down, down, down…
I like how realistic they and their problems were. I also enjoyed how Walker doesn’t impede their romance with huge hurdles or misunderstandings. The slow steamy sexual heat and tension these two generate will leave you panting as you watch them hurdle personal and external obstacles and dance their way in to each others arms. The romance isn’t prevalent but rather a soft silent stream of consciousness that flows beneath the main storyline. A touch of humor winds through the story with Trinity’s four year old son, Micah. His curiosity had me giggling at times.
Forcing herself to breathe, she managed to say, “Micah, that’s enough.”
“Would you cuss if you’d got burnt there?” he asked.
Obviously, he didn’t see the warning on her face. Of course not. He was too busy thinking penises.
Boys and their toys…and she’d already learned that a male’s fascination with the penis started pretty young.
The mystery is chilling as we began to piece together what is happening and it’s connections to Noah’s past. Walker doesn’t inundate you with any gruesome details but instead uses the players in this tragic play to tell us their stories. Each one giving us small clues that begin to paint for us a bleak picture. An extensive secondary cast has you looking over your shoulder and wondering who’s walks with the angels and who is fully submerged in the darkness that is the soul of this town. Ms. Walker does not make it easy for you. She uses Deeper Than Need to set up for the other books in the series so you’re being introduced to new characters and subplots throughout.
I will warn that even though the romantic conflict is resolved and set on the right path but the mystery is not. Though not a fan of cliffhangers, this particular one does nothing more than whet my appetite for the second in the series, Sweeter Than Sin, which releases in September 2014. With this latest release, my belief only continues to solidify that Shiloh Walker is a master when writing dark and brooding romantic suspense. If you want more of this town and the residents who live there, Walker released a steamy sexy novella trilogy earlier this year that centers around the Bell siblings and the disappearance of their mother. You don’t have to read the trilogy in order to read Deeper Than Need.
Overall Rating: B
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