Book #30 Shattered Blue by Jane Taylor Starwood

Shattered Blue

Length of Time In Possession : 2 weeks

Shane Mackinnon lives off the grid. She has an isolated house in the hillside of a small town, she doesn't have a mobile and she doesn't go on the internet. An artist with a talent for tapestry, she sells her creations in a small, local gallery, and lives a quiet and private life. She is irked when a man, Matt, buys the property next to hers and begins building a home, encroaching on her cherished seclusion.

For some people this is a preferred lifestyle choice, but for Shane, it is necessary, deliberate, and cultivated. Her name is not Shane Mackinnon, but who or what is she hiding from?

Charming and good looking Matt begins to win Shane over, but her past has not yet finished with her.

A romantic thriller, Shattered Blue is a self publish from Jane Starwood, available from the Kindle on Amazon. I have to say that it is surprising that this hasn't been snapped up by a traditional publisher as it fits a certain sub genre really well, publishers are crying out for novels of this type right now.

I say this because it reminded me a lot of the Fifty Shades novels, don't mistake me, the sex in Shattered Blue is not BDSM associated or dreadfully gratuitous or anything like that, but in those novels the Christian/Ana relationship exists against a backdrop of various threats : Christian's mentally ill former sub and his jealous foster brother to name two, which ramp up the excitement and add soap opera style qualities to it. Shattered Blue has the potential to satisfy readers who are looking for "the next thing" to read afterwards.

The threat Shane exists under is an interesting one because it isn't the threat she has initially run from, and doesn't anticipate, she is stalked by her aggressor until he can build a strong picture of her habits and knows how to attack. As a menace, he is an ugly and uncomfortable character against whom the reader has strong convictions, and therefore succeeds well as a villain.

For my part, though the sex with Matt is often steamy and their relationship is enjoyable, I felt that slowing it down and allowing it time to develop over a number of months, and allowing her stalker to do the same with his surveillance would have given the realism of the book extra weight. In addition Matt discovers who Shane really is in a too quick, too convenient way, and I would have changed this slightly.  To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I would change it, but in my opinion it needed to be less easy.

If this description sounds like the sort of thing you enjoy, then I would really recommend this novel to you. Again, I was happy to read a thriller that doesn't go down the traditional police procedural route and hope to see more from Starwood in future.

Verdict : 7/10

Destination : ebook storage