TRUST ME
by
Kelly Irvin
Genre: Romantic Suspense / Christian Fiction
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Date of Publication: February 8, 202
384 pages
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When her best friend is murdered the same way her brother was, who can she possibly trust?
A decade ago, Delaney Broward discovered her brother’s murdered body at the San Antonio art co-op he founded with friends. Her artist boyfriend, Hunter Nash, went to prison for the murder, despite his not-guilty plea.
This morning, Hunter walks out of prison a free man, having served his sentence.
This afternoon, Delaney finds her best friend dead, murdered in the same fashion as her brother.
Stay out of it or you’re next, the killer warns.
Hunter never stopped loving Delaney, though he can’t blame her for not forgiving her. He knows he’ll get his life back one day at a time, one step at a time. But he’s blindsided to realize he’s a murder suspect. Again.
When Hunter shows up on her doorstep, asking her to help him find the real killer, Delaney’s head says to run away, yet her heart tells her there’s more to his story than what came out in the trial. An uneasy truce leads to their probe into a dark past that shatters Delaney’s image of her brother. She can’t stop and neither can Hunter—which lands them both in the crosshairs of a murderer growing more desperate by the day (hour?).
In this gripping romantic suspense, Kelly Irvin plumbs the complexity of broken trust in the people we love—and in God—and whether either can be mended.
PRAISE FOR TRUST ME
“Irvin follows the characters through twists and turns, writing through the lens of faith and broken faith, while illuminating a bridge across shattered relationships to second chances. This one’s an emotional roller-coaster.” — Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency in Publishers Weekly Review
“Trust Me is an apt title for Irvin’s new suspense novel. Kelly Irvin is a master at spinning a complex story web with surprising twists and relatable characters. Highly recommended!” —Colleen Coble, USA TODAY bestselling author of A Stranger’s Game and the Pelican Harbor series
“I found I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough in Kelly Irvin’s latest novel, Trust Me. I promised myself just one more page and I’d stop reading for the night…just one more…just one more. At times I could barely breathe. What a fabulous story! I loved it!”
–Carrie Stuart Parks, award-winning author of the Gwen Marcey series
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There are common expectations when one picks up a Christian romantic suspense novel – the usual tropes if you will. On the Christian angle, there are one or two characters, or maybe more, who have a strong faith and are open to sharing that faith with others. Then when the central character’s faith has been shattered for some reason, someone, usually the other primary character, leads them gently back to believing again.
On the romance side, there are two characters, perhaps who have loved before when circumstances pushed them apart; and now circumstances pull them back together. Of course, it would be a very short book if the coming-together happens quickly or easily, so the personal relationship struggles are as paramount to the story as the suspense – the third side of this triangle of tropes.
Kelly Irvin handles all angles of the story well, with vivid descriptive narrative, great characterization, a tantalizing mystery, and unique lines that help raise her books above the ordinary. One of those clever lines is this response from Hunter after Delaney comes at him with a baseball bat when when comes to her house and it’s priceless: “He’d spent eight years in prison dreaming of seeing her again. In his dream there had been no bat.”
Delaney and Hunter are wonderful characters, and I was fully invested in their story as they work together, tentatively at first, to find out who really killed Delaney’s brother ten years ago because Hunter swears it wasn’t him. In fact, during all the years he served in prison after being convicted, he’s asserted that he did not kill Corey. Then Delaney’s good friend Ellie is killed, and in the midst of that investigation, Delaney is assaulted by the killer and given a warning to stay out of it. The warning adds another layer of danger and ratchets the tension up several notches.
The supporting cast of characters are interesting and relatable, especially Hunter’s mother. Her actions stay within character and make her believable, and I particularly liked her support of Hunter as well as her enduring affection for Delaney. Michael, Ellie’s husband of just a year, is the one character who comes across unevenly for me. He does things that don’t seem to fit the image of a successful, wealthy accountant, and I had a hard time believing in him.
Suspects abound in this engrossing thriller, and Delaney and Hunter are on a wild ride to find the killer. The suspense is taut, with only the occasional moment for the characters, and the reader, to catch collective breaths. Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Bestseller Kelly Irvin is the author of almost 30 books and novellas, in romantic suspense and Amish romance genres. The two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist worked as a newspaper reporter for six years on the Texas-Mexico border. Those experiences fuel her romantic suspense novels set in Texas. A retired public relations professional, Kelly now writes fiction full-time. She lives with her husband professional photographer Tim Irvin in San Antonio. They have two children, three grandchildren, and two ornery cats.
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THREE WINNERS
Three winners each receive autographed paperback copies of Trust Me.
(US only; ends midnight CST 3/4/2022.)
CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGEFOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY, or visit the blogs directly:
| 2/22/22 | Excerpt | Forgotten Winds |
| 2/22/22 | BONUS Promo | Hall Ways Blog |
| 2/23/22 | Review | Reading by Moonlight |
| 2/23/22 | BONUS Promo | LSBBT Blog |
| 2/24/22 | Review | Book Bustle |
| 2/25/22 | Guest Post | All the Ups and Downs |
| 2/26/22 | Character Spotlight | Sybrina’s Book Blog |
| 2/27/22 | Notable Quotables | StoreyBook Reviews |
| 2/28/22 | Review | Jennie Reads |
| 3/1/22 | Deleted Scene | Chapter Break Book Blog |
| 3/2/22 | Review | It’s Not All Gravy |
| 3/3/22 | Review | The Plain-Spoken Pen |
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