Tuesday

ARC Review, Excerpt & Spotlight : Pulled Beneath (Bar Harbor Series, #1) by Marni Mann


Book Blurb & Info

What happens when you uncover years of secrets and find out everything you thought to be true was a lie?

Drew Stevens finds her world turned upside down when her parents are brutally murdered. Soon after, she learns she inherited a property in Bar Harbor, Maine from recently deceased grandparents that she believed had died when she was a baby.

Drew travels north to settle her grandparents’ estate, but finds more questions than answers as the truth starts unraveling. What she didn’t expect to find was Saint, whose reputation was as tumultuous as his past. But the very thing that brought them together was the same thing that kept them emotionally caged.

With Saint’s scars so deep and Drew’s so fresh, can the pair heal from their painful wounds or will they be pulled beneath the darkness of their pasts?
Book Excerpt

I pulled into the entrance of my parents’ subdivision and rounded the first bend. I could smell smoke in the distance. Brush fires were common this time of year, and since the weather affected my parents business, I was constantly reminded of how little rain we had received this spring. The current fires were several miles east and largely contained. But a few years before, I’d witnessed how fast they could spread and how much damage they could cause. I had volunteered to help clean-up after one. They were serious danger. I hoped they wouldn’t be heading our way.

I took the second turn and noticed red and white lights flickering across the palm trees up ahead. Blue lights followed. I knew those colors came from emergency vehicles, but why were they in my neighborhood in the middle of the night? It couldn’t be the fires…the smell would be stronger, clouds of smoke would be filling the air. Maybe someone got sick. It couldn’t be for any other reason…not where I lived. Nothing ever happened here.

My fingers gripped the steering wheel even harder as I prepared to take the final corner. The road straightened as our block came into full view, and my foot hammered the brake. A crowd stood in the middle of the road. Faces I recognized. Neighbors….my neighbors. They were huddled together, dressed in their pajamas, their arms wrapped around each other. Their bodies were pointed toward the house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

My house.

A sharp pain began to stab at my stomach when I noticed the yellow tape. It bordered our lot, wrapping around each of the palms and disappearing into the darkness of the backyard. Our front door continuously opened and closed, strangers moving inside and out.

Strangers dressed in uniforms.

I knew my mouth was open. I knew my hands were squeezing the steering wheel so tightly that my fingers were cramping. I knew my feet were pushing so hard on the brake that my toenails were threatening to bend. But even as my mind bolted to the house, rushing between the crowds and tearing through the yellow tape, my body was unable to move.

“Drew,” a woman said. “Thank God you’re okay, honey. We all thought you were inside…with your parents.”

I turned my head and looked toward the voice.

“Drew’s here,” the woman yelled. It took a few seconds, but I finally realized it was Carol, a neighbor I’d known since middle school when my family bought this house. She pointed down to me and waved. “Drew’s here,” she repeated, “she’s safe.” She then glanced at me. “Drew…I…”

I concentrated on her face. She was trying to tell me something.

It suddenly became so clear… in her stare, in her mouth, in the way her shoulders drooped. In the way she had said my name.

Yellow tape.

It was surrounding my house, which everyone was staring at. They knew. But what exactly did they know?

“What happened?” I asked her. I felt the words come from my mouth, but they had slid through my lips on their own as if someone other than me was forcing them out. I had no control. It had been lost as soon as I’d passed the last turn in our neighborhood…as soon as I’d witnessed the people standing in the road. The same foreign strength that had pushed those words out of my mouth also put my car in park, opened the driver side door and compelled my feet onto the pavement.

I was moving, rushing, sprinting toward the house.

To my parents.

I didn’t feel the shoulders that bumped me as I passed. I didn’t feel my flip-flop fall off. I didn’t feel the rain trickle down on my forehead, burning my eyes as it softened my makeup.

“I can’t let you go in there,” a man said. His face was close to my ear.

I felt his breath spreading over my cheek, warming skin that felt frozen despite how sweltering it was outside. Then I felt his arms as he wrapped them around me from behind, lifting me off the ground and holding me against him. I couldn’t take another step. He wouldn’t let me.

“It’s a crime scene,” he said. “Only authorized personnel can go inside.”

Crime scene.
Toot's Review by Stacy Sabala

Drew was an aspiring photographer living in Florida helping her parents with their flower business. She felt that she knew everything about her life and her parents. It all changed one night when her world shattered into a million pieces. She came home late one night to find devastation and tragedy. Her parents had been murdered while she was away. Her pain and guilt overwhelmed her. Her best friend Gianna stepped in with her parents to take care of details to help Drew deal with her loss. All that brought Drew peace from her pain was swimming. She would swim for hours everyday to cope.

Her world changed again when she received a letter from Maine stating that she had recently inherited a house from a grandmother she didn’t realize she had. Her mother claimed she died right after Drew was born. Drew is completely shocked. When Drew goes to Maine to settle things she is determined to find answers. Once there she finds her life was built on lies. She even has an aunt. Drew is reeling from the news and lost. Her pain is overwhelming. She doesn’t know what to do next. She doesn’t want to stay in Maine but is forced to for longer than she planned.

She is drawn to Justin or Saint as he is called. He is considered the town bad boy and she is warned to stay away from him. She finds a kindred spirit in him. He has experienced that same pain that she has. She can see it in his eyes. He understands her more than she realizes. Unfortunately the shocking discoveries that she is about to unearth are going to bring her to her knees.

I liked this book. The storyline was emotional and the reader could easily witness Drew’s pain. I liked the fact that Drew’s character was overwhelmed but was determined to find the truth. She was a strong character in that aspect. I liked Saint also. It was interesting to see two broken souls find each other.

The secrets revealed weren’t over the top. However, the extent that Drew’s parents went to keep them was crazy. The author didn’t hold anything back. I was guessing the whole time what the secrets were. Then when I found out what they were she would slowly reveal what Drew’s parents did. The last bombshell was a surprise. I didn’t see that one coming. Excellent twist in a story already full of twist and turns. I give it a 4 out of 5.
Author Info

A New Englander at heart, Marni Mann is now a Floridian inspired by the sandy beaches and hot pink sunsets of Sarasota. She taps mainstream appeal and shakes worldwide taboos, taking her readers on a dark and breathtaking journey.

When she’s not nose deep in her laptop, she’s scouring for chocolate, traveling, reading, or walking her four-legged children.

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