Heather D'Agostino

Brooke “Kellie” is literally running for her life. Her abusive husband Warren has been trying to find Brooke and her daughter, Ava for six years, after a pregnant and beaten Brooke fled her home. Normal never lasts. Will he finally track her down?

Told in past and present-day, Brooke’s story is extremely realistic and heartbreaking while she lives a transient life of fear to protect her sweet daughter. No friends. No sleep. No end. She’s moved 12 times since she left and she may have show more found someone to protect them and something to stay for. Can she trust a man again? Can she trust anyone again?

Officer Blake Douglas is determined to keep Brooke and her daughter safe, but he needs to know her whole story in order to do that. Can he convince her to tell him the truth?

I am impressed with the detail of Brooke’s journey through the extremely organized battered wife network, and how, as she and Ava got older and integrated into the system, she was considered ready to hideout on her own.

Overall, this is a terrifying and suspenseful budding love story about protecting the one you love by any means possible. If you like a dark tale about running for your life, give this one a try. A note that book 1 ends in a cliffhanger.

Thank you to Ms. D’Agostino for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less

I found myself having the same problem I had when I read another book in the series. The story was lacking some depth. Will drops a bomb about Addison's past and Cayden didn't even bother to give it a second thought. She didn't even dare to mention it to Cayden but she was ok with saying pretty much everything else about her life. She doesn't even think about it and we just know that she has trust issues. Why go and add something deep about your characters if you are not going to expand it? show more It's like "She was married before" or "she has a child" but let's just leave it to that and never mention it again. Not cool. I didn't want to find out why Addison was acting in a certain way from her brother, I needed her to tell Cayden so I would feel like she was able to reveal and explain her feelings to a man she will spend the rest of her life with (no, they weren't engaged at the time). Instead, we wasted time on her been jealous when she wasn't supposed to.

In the story, we saw some couples that weren't from the previous books and were on the stage of "will they or they won't?" and I would have loved to know if they became a couple or not. It does bother me because there is no chance of seeing them again and I won't find out if they even briefly dated.

The book was easy to read. Addison and Cayden have their ups and downs, but there is not over the top drama, just the normal stuff in a relationship that's forbidden. I did get the impression that Cayden needed a different calling when it came to his major, but as we saw in the epilogue he had a perfect life and that's all I can ask.

My rating is 3.5 stars and I will round it to 3 because I am not feeling very generous at the moment, despite my first impulse to give it 4. show less

“No matter how far you run, you can never outrun your past”.When I read the synopsis, I figured I knew the angle the author would take. After reading the first paragraph, I was even more convinced that I was right in my assumptions. Boy oh boy! Was I wrong? This was nothing like what I expected.
“I look terrible,” I mumbled as I scrutinized my reflection in the mirror. Who would want to hire me? I look like I just went a few rounds with a baseball bat. I sighed as I dropped my chin to show more my chest and let my shoulders sag. I was running low on funds, and if I didn’t get a regular job soon I was going to be back at the shelter. That thought alone propelled me into motion. Melissa had been a godsend, but life in hiding and running is not something that I ever want to go back to. The ladies at Thrive made me feel like I could do this. I can survive on my own, and I will make it. I just need to find a place that doesn’t ask a lot of questions.
Below the Surface, the 5th book in Witness series was intense, shocking, suspenseful and addictive, but the thing that set it apart from the other books was its darkness and edginess. It is a well-written story with fascinating characters and a captivating plot that made this a difficult book to put down.Lena, having experienced unspeakable horrors had no trust when it came to men. Haunted by painful memories, but with the will to survive she sets out to reclaim her life. However, demons from her past had other plans and now her sister was in grave danger. To save her sister would mean returning to a fate worse than death. I admired her inner strength and selflessness. The fact that she was willing to go back to the world that broken and destroyed her mentally, emotionally and physically to save her sister spoke to who she was as a person.The story moved between the past and present, making easy to relate to Lena’s traumatic experience. It took place at around the same time as book 4. However, reading book 4 before reading this installment is not a requirement. The story is easily read as a stand-alone. There were scenes that gave me an uncomfortable feeling; however, I was curious to see how the events would unfold. This is definitely not for the faint of heart. Not only that, it had me on edge throughout most of the story.Despite me liking the story, I believe a few areas needed more development. I had a hard time accepting that Lena’s sister could so easily get over her experience after being in such a hell hole. Her actions were not typical of someone who experienced trauma making that aspect of the story somewhat unbelievable. Then there were the secret Jeff, the male protagonist was keeping. To be honest it was not what I expected and it left me feeling disappointed. I was hoping for something with a little zing. Honestly, I did not believe that his family being well off was that big of a deal and besides I did not see where it added any value to the story. Furthermore, he did not have a relationship with his family. I was hoping for a reconciliation, but the author did not explore that angle Nevertheless, I loved the role he played in the story. He is patient and protective, especially with LenaI don’t want to say much about the plot because personally, I believe one should go into this story blindly. If you only knew how tempted I was to skip the pages to see how it played, but I am, glad I did not yield, as that would have ruined the experience for me. One thing I will say though is that I liked how the events played out.I do not think there is anything else I can say to convince you to read this book. All I can say is this if you enjoy stories that are intense, suspenseful, edgy and semi-dark then this book is for you. show less

I had read and reviewed Vanishing Act some time ago, so it took me a bit to realize what was happening in the sequel. Without giving anything away, I understand what the author was doing with this book, but I felt disappointed that I wasted time reading book 1 which I enjoyed very much.

Getting past my confusion for this plot line, I admired Brooke’s strength and perseverance to work on herself to get away from an extremely abusive husband. I also loved Blake’s patience, understanding show more and respect for Brooke’s plight and her need to adjust to a normal life while caring for an infant. Speaking of which, Blake pulled at my heartstrings on how he bonded with Ava, Brooke’s baby. There are very sweet moments where he unintentionally demonstrates to Brooke what a good man can be.

In addition, supporting characters such as Donna, the nurse who helped Brooke get away from her husband, and Cal, a police detective and Blake’s brother, are great role models for Brooke to see what friendship truly is.

Overall, the characters are well-developed and the story line with the very real subject matter of spousal abuse is very important to address. However, again, I felt the story was a more subtle repeat of the first book and a bit of a let down for me.

Thank you to Ms. D’Agostino for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less