Behind the Lies (The Northern Lights Book 2) 

Amazon Synopsis:

With nowhere else to go but a house bequeathed to her from an old friend, Olivia Morgan finds herself back in Oak River. The small town holds memories of abuse, neglect, and sorrow, but also stirs up longings she’d thought were long buried.

She thinks she can live in seclusion, but resisting the kindness of an elderly neighbor, her tenacious younger sister, and the magnetic attraction of the most handsome man she’s ever seen, is undoing the best of intentions.

Pulled into using her artistic talents to help the police in the disappearance of a young violin player, Olivia finds that reconnecting with the canvas and her camera might just be the lifeline she needs to survive coming home.

Will old enemies and new ones drive her over the edge, or can she finally make peace with the past and see beauty spring up from the ashes?

Things I liked about this book:

• Originality. I’ve not read another story exactly like this one. A must-have quality for any book to be a favorite with me.
• It moved along at a good pace and had tension in all the right places. It was able to hold my interest, no problem.
• The characters were well developed and engaging, according to their importance in the story.
• I read the story behind the story, and from that I think the author did an excellent job of pulling it all together. There were many moving parts with a large cast of characters. Definitely not an easy story to write and do it well.

Disappointing things:

• The synopsis didn’t do justice to the story. It was so much better than I expected going in. I think a better synopsis would attract more readers.

• It was a difficult chore keeping the characters straight. I had trouble remembering who they were and what part they played in the story. Partly because there were so many of them and partly because some of the names and functions were similar and easily confused.

• The ending. It left me feeling like the book was about Isabella when the main character was Olivia. A small tweak could have solved the issue. It’s like the last bite leaves you with a right or wrong impression of the whole meal. You want to finish with the right taste in your mouth.
• Although, when I go back and look at the cover … Isabella is the implied main character. Maybe the synopsis had it a bit wrong. Maybe Isabella is the intended, albeit absentee, main character.

In the end: I considered dropping this book to three stars due to the constant struggles with character identity. However, I settled on four because the story was that good.

This is one of my favorite stories this week. It definitely stands out above most of the books I’ve read lately.

I loved the characters and enjoyed being part of their lives for a brief space of time.

Check it out, I think you will enjoy it too.

It’s still at a bargain price and that’s always good incentive.

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Next up… my submission for the weekly Story Prompt.