Sandy M’s review of Chains by Shiloh Walker
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 5 May 09

As some of you know, I’m a huge, huge Shiloh Walker fan, as my review of one of her latest, A Forever Kind of Love, earlier this week attests. I’ve vowed I’m going to read her backlist when I can, and this time I chose Chains. I love everything about this book, of course. I had one teeny tiny issue, but in the end it really didn’t mean all that much, because the story Ms. Walker gives readers hits hard, hits low, and the way these heroines survive the blows is beyond incredible.

These three heroines are brought together by violence in one tragic night, and it’s amazing to see how they triumph over it all. They come from very different areas of life, so while in high school, where their lives take a turn no one could have ever imagined, they don’t interact or run in the same circles. But they all end up at the same party, all for different reasons, and then end up uniting together when things get out of control and one of them is in dire trouble. I like that the other two come to her aid because it’s the right thing to do, as well as they do with what happens afterward. But it’s more that they help because only another woman can understand this type of violence.

Renee is the girl most of us hated in high school. Perfect everything, but not is all as it seems. Lacey is the athlete, everyone loved her and knew she was going places. Sherra is the wrong-side-of-the-tracks girl.

It’s the party girl Sherra who attends a rowdy blowout given by the mayor’s son and it’s her reputation that instigates harassment by some guys, one of whom won’t take no for an answer. Renee and Lacey come to her rescue, even though the culprit is a guy who her parents approve of and who Renee came to the party with. But things get even worse when a gun comes into play during this horrible night. The ensuing nightmares for all three girls send them fleeing, never to return until fifteen years later.

Each of the women has prospered in the intervening years, though still haunted by that one awful night. They get their own new story with their heroes, who eventually bring them peace as well as love, and there’s a lot of sizzling hot sex, which shouldn’t surprise anyone if they’ve read Ms. Walker before this. There’s still danger out there amidst their reunion, and the suspense and mystery of this stalker only gives the book another layer which weaves everything together into one immensely satisfying read.

My one tiny issue? I was a little off balance with the way the book ended. I even asked Sybil to try to get me another e-copy, just in case mine had inadvertently lost a couple of pages. But it hadn’t and I moved on. It really didn’t change anything for me at all and I laughed at myself afterward, asking why I’d been so nitpicky in and among such awesome writing. No idea. Maybe I just wanted the book to go on and on. That, I wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow at.

Grade: A

Summary:

They weren’t friends. They weren’t enemies. The only thing the three girls had in common was the high school they went to in Madison, Ohio—until one tragic night. Now, fifteen years later, they’re returning home where passion—and danger—await…

Renee Lincoln was the homecoming queen—with the perfect boyfriend and the perfect life. After that horrible night, she rebelled the only way she knew how: by submitting to her wildest fantasies…

Tall, blonde, and athletic, Lacey Talbot was a golden girl with a bright future. She’s found success as a photographer, but no man has ever been able to satisfy her. No man but the bad boy she left behind…

Sherra Salinger has always looked like a princess out of some fairy tale. The books she writes, though, stem from the nightmare of that one night. And she shrinks from any man’s attention—especially the one stalking her…

They’re coming back to Madison—and it won’t be happy reunion. There are three men, all dangerous in a different way. And when each of them surrender their bodies to the heat, when they succumb to desire, they’ll find the safety they desperately need…

Read an excerpt.

Want to win $100 in free books?
To help promote her upcoming release, Chains, author Shiloh Walker is doing a dash through some of the blogs in romanceland, leaving behind excerpts. If you’d like to get entered to win a gift certificate for $100 (your choice from the online booksellers), all you have to do is visit the blogs, read the excerpts and leave a comment. The excerpts are in order, just visit the first blog, Karen Knows Best and go on from there!

Chains
An all new novel of erotic suspense
They weren’t friends. They weren’t enemies. The only thing the three girls had in common was the high school they went to in Madison, Ohio—until one tragic night. Now, fifteen years later, they’re returning home where passion—and danger—await…
Renee Lincoln was the homecoming queen—with the perfect boyfriend and the perfect life. After that horrible night, she rebelled the only way she knew how: by submitting to her wildest fantasies…
Tall, blonde, and athletic, Lacey Talbot was a golden girl with a bright future. She’s found success as a photographer, but no man has ever been able to satisfy her. No man but the bad boy she left behind…
Sherra Salinger has always looked like a princess out of some fairy tale. The books she writes, though, stem from the nightmare of that one night. And she shrinks from any man’s attention—especially the one stalking her…
They’re coming back to Madison—and it won’t be happy reunion. There are three men, all dangerous in a different way. And when each of them surrender their bodies to the heat, when they succumb to desire, they’ll find the safety they desperately need…

Excerpt (part two)

Fifteen Years Later
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Lacey tried to block out the sound of the leaky water faucet, closing her eyes and resting her back against the wall.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Muttering under her breath, she surged out of the hard, ladder-backed chair and stomped across the waiting room, into the bathroom. It was small, with nothing more than a toilet, a mirror and a sink. A sink with a faucet that kept going…drip. Drip. Drip.
Clenching her jaw, she turned the knobs until that infernal dripping stopped. “There.” Spinning around, she headed out of the bathroom—and crashed straight into Seth Salinger’s chest.
Seth—shit.
One of the main reasons she rarely came back home for more than a day or two. Enough time had passed. Lacey would have thought that maybe she could handle seeing him.
Obviously not.
Get over it. It was one fucking night. Five years ago!
One long, blissful night…one night…and the last damn time a guy touched me and made me feel much of anything—
A night where her brain had actually shut down on her. A night that haunted her dreams. A night that still had the power to make her belly get all hot and shaky. There you go, making things seem bigger than they really are. It was one night—the earth didn’t move, you didn’t fall head over heels in love, and there’s no reason you can’t act like an adult here.
No reason. Adult. Got it. She forced herself to look in his eyes and reminded herself, It’s been five years since that night, kid. It was a fluke—
She might have even succeeded if he hadn’t touched her. His hands came up, cupped over her upper arms and steadied her and heat flared along her skin. Her heart skipped a few beats and started to slam in a sexy little rumba against her breastbone while she tried to get her breathing to level.
“Hey. You okay?”
Easing back, she forced herself to smile at him. “Just peachy, Sheriff.”
A smile tugged at his mouth. His very nice mouth…
“You look exhausted.”
But Lacey barely heard the words at first—she was too busy focusing on that mouth and remembering. Lacey groaned inwardly and gave herself a mental kick in the ass. This was why she hadn’t come back home much since then. At Christmastime, always in and out, a few quick weekends where she stayed with her parents and didn’t leave the house.
Because of him.
What had he been saying…
Oh. Yeah.
Exhausted…smothering a laugh, she edged around him and said, “I am exhausted.” Just barely, she managed to keep enough distance between them so that her arm didn’t brush up against his. She felt his heat though, caught a trace of his scent and wanted to press her face against his neck and just breathe him in.

Visit Book Binge for the next excerpt. You can also visit Shiloh’s blog for details. The blog will be updated to include the live links for each of the participating blogs.

Disclaimer: Only one entry per household. Open to everybody, as long as the author is able to purchase/email you a gift certificate for one of the major online booksellers-Amazon, BN.com, Borders, Powell’s, etc. Winner’s name to be posted on Shiloh’s blog-author will ATTEMPT to notify the winner via email, but cannot be held accountable if her email bounces back- please make sure you enter the correct email and that you add Shiloh to your addy book to prevent problems. Void where prohibited. Please do not post to sweepstakes sites-the author reserves the right to end the contest at anytime, and likely will end it early if the contest ends up posted to sweepstakes sites.