Journal Entry 1 by JuneBug31 from Omemee, Ontario Canada on Thursday, January 07, 2010

This was my first Crandall novel and I wasn’t disappointed.

Abby Whitman was a sleepwalker as a child and during one of her episodes she accidentally set the family home on fire leaving her younger sister Courtney scarred for life. Scars to her face, neck, and arms which were glaringly apparent for everyone to see. The guilt Abby has carried her entire life is extremely overwhelming which causes her to feel she doesn’t ‘deserve’ to have a good and happy life, and builds a wall around herself to protect her emotions and guilt, like jailing herself as a punishment for what she did.

Years pass without any sleepwalking episodes until one evening Abby finds herself crawling out of her vehicle, off the side of the road and down into a swamp. As she climbs out of her partially water-filled vehicle she realizes there is another vehicle involved. A motorcycle and that person is DEAD! Did Abby pass out at the wheel? Was she drunk? Was this a recurrence of her sleepwalking after all these years? Soon enough Abby discovers the other driver is the son of a well-known family in town, and only nineteen-years-old!!

The town’s handsome psychiatrist, Doctor James Coble, feels sorry for Abby and offers to help her figure out what has happened. Coble’s professionalism begins to slide when he finds himself falling passionately for Abby and wants to provide her with the love she feels she’s never really had.

Susan Crandall has crafted a great cast of characters, each intricately developed with their own set of problems. A wonderful romantic suspense with a terrifying, edge of your seat read that makes you want to turn the pages faster than you can read. The mystery, the suspense and the romance knit together to make for a nerve-racking build-up throughout the book. I’ll definitely be reading more of this author’s work.