✰ Bianca ✰ 
TANYA HOLMES
WITHIN TEMPTATION
WITHIN TEMPTATION
• 350 pages
Love, betrayal and murder in a small town.
Twelve years after her mother's murder, Shannon Bradford fears she may have helped convict an innocent man. Even worse, her prominent family may have had something to do with it. Desperate for answers, she seeks help from the one person least likely to give it. Her best friend and childhood crush, Trace Dawson. The man she sent to prison.
Serving hard time for murder has left Trace angry and bitter. As far as he's concerned, digging into the past won't replace the years he's lost or erase the hell he's lived. Now that he's free, Shannon Bradford tops his list of bad memories. But he never counted on falling in love.
Set in a sleepy little town during the dead of winter, this award-winning romance novel is a tale of one woman's quest for truth and a man's struggle to forgive….
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This story is the first in a trilogy of standalone contemporary romance novels in the 'Sons of Temptation' series.
Category: Romantic Mystery/Romantic Suspense. This is not erotica or romantica. This is a romance centered around a murder mystery.
Heat Factor: 3 out of 5 -- The sexual tension is high, and the burn is slow. Sex is character-driven, rather than plot-driven.
Love, betrayal and murder in a small town.
Twelve years after her mother's murder, Shannon Bradford fears she may have helped convict an innocent man. Even worse, her prominent family may have had something to do with it. Desperate for answers, she seeks help from the one person least likely to give it. Her best friend and childhood crush, Trace Dawson. The man she sent to prison.
Serving hard time for murder has left Trace angry and bitter. As far as he's concerned, digging into the past won't replace the years he's lost or erase the hell he's lived. Now that he's free, Shannon Bradford tops his list of bad memories. But he never counted on falling in love.
Set in a sleepy little town during the dead of winter, this award-winning romance novel is a tale of one woman's quest for truth and a man's struggle to forgive….
================================
This story is the first in a trilogy of standalone contemporary romance novels in the 'Sons of Temptation' series.
Category: Romantic Mystery/Romantic Suspense. This is not erotica or romantica. This is a romance centered around a murder mystery.
Heat Factor: 3 out of 5 -- The sexual tension is high, and the burn is slow. Sex is character-driven, rather than plot-driven.
Twelve years ago, 18-year old Trace Dawson was put to jail for a murder he didn't commit.
Now he's back in town and the first person he sees is Shannon - the then 14-year old girl whose mother he supposedly killed. Shannon was the main witness for the prosecution.
But now she's here and she wants to re-connect.
They used to be friends. She was the girl who always followed him around when he worked at her family's huge estate. She was a good friend, but 12 years in prison can change a person.
And even though he promised her would never hate her, there's this little bit of resentment towards her inside of him.
But now he's back home, not much of a home though. His parents both died recently and his sister is married to an ex-con 'friend' of his. And the town hates him.
And then there's Shannon. She can't remember much of what happened 12 years ago. But since she recently found an old diary of hers, memories started to come back. And now she's not sure about anything anymore. Did she really see Trace kill her mother? Or was he only leaning over her mother to help her? She never really believed that the boy she loved as a little girl could do something like that.
But with everybody in her family keeping secrets and the sheriff not returning her calls, something must have happened back then. Something she can't remember just yet, something that could be very dangerous once she does remember.
And while Shannon and Trace try to find out what really happened, their friendship starts to blossom again. More than friendship. 12 years ago 14-year old Shannon was way too young for 18-year-old Trace, but now she's not a little girl anymore. And even though she's engaged, they can't stay away from each other.
But the whole town is against them. How can Shannon hang out with this psychopathic murderer??? Everybody is spying on them and making problems for them, and nobody is giving Trace the chance to prove he's innocent.
Will they find out who really killed Lilith??? Why is everybody trying to hide something? And more importantly, what are they hiding?
Will there be a chance of a Happy Ever After for Shannon and Trace???
Or will everybody die at the end?
Will there be a Cliffhanger????☺☺☺
I'm not telling you of course ☺☺☺
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I REALLY ENJOYED READING THE BOOK!!!
When I first saw the cover and the title of the book, I was totally expecting a sexy Motor-bike-gang-Romance. But that is SO not what is happening here. Trace does have a bike, but he's not a biker. He's an adorable, sad, gorgeous man, who loves to dance (he even taught dance-lessons in jail!).
A man who was sent to prison for something he didn't do.
He missed so much of his life! The unfairness of that all made me cry right at the beginning of the book...
Poor Trace!
But now he's back and he can finally start his life. But the stupid people in this stupid town....grrrrr
Without his best friend and without Shannon, he would probably not have known what to do....
it's all so sad :(
I like the way the Author tells the story in both Shannon and Trace's POV....that way we get to know them both really good.
You can't put the book down, because you NEED to know what happened 12 years ago. You need to know who is to blame for sending our sweet innocent Trace to jail!!!
And we soooo need to see Trace and Shannon together at the end of it, because she just can't end up with this old guy!!!!!! o.O
Lots of people in this book totally deserve one of those (or 2 or 3) ☺
Were there some things I didn't like??
yep - 3 ☺ - but those are only my personal dislikes ☺
First - the name of our heroine: Shannon. I have NO idea why, but I don't like that name. No offense to all you Shannons out there, but the name just doesn't have any heroine potential for me...
Second - for my extremely anti-religious self, there was a bit much religion in it - not all that bad, but a bit too much for a sexy suspense Romance!
Third - the cover. I love it - and I love the guy on it, but it doesn't fit the book in any way. Yes, they added Trace's tattoos and handcuffs...but...he's just OUT of jail - not just IN jail, so that doesn't make any sense. And he doesn't run around without a shirt all the time either ;)
BUT all ^that^ aside....
The book is an amazingly interesting mix of moving drama, suspense, romance, sexiness, mystery.
GO GET IT!!! ☺
oooh and book #2??? It will be about Cole - that's all I'm saying ☺ I can't wait!!!
