Thicker Than Water

News Anchor Julie Jones will do anything to keep her past a secret. If the truth ever got out, she could lose the most important person in her life- her daughter Dawn. For sixteen years, she has paid to keep her true identity unknown. That is until her blackmailer is killed on the very day she is making her last payment. Someone knows and is after her. Her only ally is her biggest nemisis, Sean MacKenzie. Another reporter who is all too clever at exposing the truth and may be her only hope to stopping a madman. Unfortunately, the two have been competing with one another for so long, that neither one of them knows what to do when they suddenly find themselves attracted to the other. Can Julie trust Sean enough to expose her deepest darkest secrets? Will it be enough to prevent the unthinkable from happening? Thicker Than Water is a non-stop romantic suspense. The bickering and comical antics between Julie and Sean only feed into the romantic tension between them. I couldn't turn the pages quick enough. The author does a good job of leading into the sequel "Colder than Ice" Is it worth buying? Yes.

Since the other reviewers have done such a marvelous job of explaining the overall plotline of Thicker Than Water, I will simply say that I couldn't put this book down. It's fast paced, well-written, and downright chilling. I loved the characters, the concept, and basically everything about the story. I can't wait to read the sequel.

Thicker than water is romantic suspense that will rock your world. The story is a tale about one woman's attempt to escape her past, and then her fight when the past comes back to visit in the form of a maddened cult leader. As she struggles with the troubles that start to rise, and the ramifications of the truth of her past, she finds herself striking a strange and delicate alliance with a rival journalist that explodes into a powerful attraction that threatens her as much (if not more) than the villain. I don't want to ruin this by giving out too many details, because when you read it, you will be guessing every step of the way, surprised with every page turned, and sucked into the story before you even know what hit you! The villain is particularly believable because he has human qualities we can recognize and understand. His intelligence and his ability to surmount obstacles makes him a formidable opponent, and the heroine and hero are that much stronger characters as a result. When the truth of the past can no longer be suppressed, a confrontation between the heroine, her friend, her daughter, the villain, the hero, and the ghosts of the past arises that will leave you breathless. The most terrifying aspect of this book is the fact that it could literally have been ripped from the headlines : Cult leader gone bad. Government attack gone bad. People going to ground, living another life, always wondering if they are one step ahead of the past they are trying to escape. The most satisfying aspect of this book: Love happens. You can't rationalize it, nor can you fight it. When it comes, it comes hard, strong and takes no prisoners. The relationship that develops between the hero and heroine is at once achingly delicate and wildly passionate, and completely believable. This book is succeeded by a second in the series, that I highly recommend: Colder than Ice. (see my other review) Both are a worthy investment of your time, and will leave you thinking about many facets of the book long after you are done.

Running from her past that she thought she had left behind in the rubble of Mordecai Young's religious compound for runaways, Julie Jones has a secret she won't let get out. At 16 years old Julie ran away from an abusive father that killed her mother to live on the streets. While living on the streets she meets a girl named Lizzie that is also a run away. They become best friends and learn to live together. One day a teen comes up and tells them about this so called haven for run away teens, well it turns out to be more like a nightmare rather than a haven. Mordecai Young turns out to be this religious freak and to top it of also a murderer. Julie Figures out the truth about this teen haven and about the drugs that are being put in their food, so her and Lizzie come up with this plan to become his favorites so that they could get away. Well Lizzie gets pregnant by Mordecai and falls in love with him so Julie convinces her to runaway with her. On the day they were supposed to runaway the FBI raided the place. While attempting to get out Lizzie got shot and Told Julie to take Sunny (her baby) and raise her. So she got out, got a new identity and made a good life for her and Dawn (her babies new name). Many years later she becomes a successful anchor woman with a loving daughter. But then a man named Harry blackmails her because of her dirty secret, when he turns up dead the same night she decides to tell him off things become complicated. Then the murder weapon turns up in her house and she starts getting anonymous phone calls etc. Her rival anchor man becomes her only allie as they twirl into a world of love and deceit. This romantic story with a suspenseful twist is the best book I have read all year. Although i have read many novels of this sort, Thicker Than Water is set apart from the rest because of the chilling ability the author has to make it seem so real. There were times in this book when I was laughing and times when I was on the edge of my seat wondering what twist was going to be next. All in all this entire book was just an incredible read!! I couldn't have put it down once I started even if I had wanted to. It definitely was an attention grabber that I would recommend to anyone. I think that the point the author was trying to get across was learning the ability to stick together in trying times even when you feel like falling apart. This is clear by how much importance the author tells about family matters. In conclusion it is probably tell that I liked this book a lot and enjoyed reading it. If you think that you liked what you have heard so far about this book, read it to find out the twisted ending it has.

This was just an incredible read! I couldn't put it down. The suspense kept me turning the pages. I could taste the fear of the characters. Sean is hot and the cult leader is the creepiest. And I just LOVED the witty banter between Julie and Sean. FABULOUS BOOK! JUST FABULOUS! Hope a sequel featuring Lizzie will be coming soon. Maggie Shayne is equally talented in everything she writes: vampires, suspense and category.