5 Wine Glass #Review of White Lies by Linda Howard

Title: WHITE LIES
Series: Rescues #4
Author: Linda Howard
Narrator: Lesa Lockford
Format: Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hours and 4 minutes
Published: Dreamscape Media, LLC (December 29, 2015)
ISBN: ASIN: B019PA8RR8
Links:  Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Audible
Reviewer: Linda
Source: AudioBook JukeBox
Rating: 5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Available digitally for the first time ever, White Lies is a classic novel of romantic suspense from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Linda Howard.

Jay Granger is shocked when the FBI shows up on her doorstep, saying her ex-husband has been in a terrible accident. She keeps a bedside vigil, but when Steve Crossfield awakes from his coma, he is nothing like the man Jay married. Ironically, she finds herself more drawn to him than ever. She can't help but wonder who this man really is, and whether the revelation of his true identity will shatter their newly discovered passion.

Linda's Thoughts:
The voice was calm and infinitely tender. He didn't understand the words, because unconsciousness still wrapped his mind in layers of blackness, but he heard the voice, felt it, like something warm touching his skin. It made him feel less alone, that tiny, dim contact. Something hard and vital in him focused on the contact, yearning toward it, forcing him upward out of the blackness, even though he sensed the fanged monsters that waited for him, waiting to tear at his flesh with hot knives and brutal teeth. He would have to endure that before he could reach the voice, and he was very weak. He might not make it. Yet the voice reached out to him, pulling at him like a magnet, lifting him out of the deep senselessness that had held him.

WHITE LIES by Linda Howard is an engrossing romantic suspense of epic proportions! I literally inhaled it, loving both the characters and the settings. The story is passionate, compelling, emotional and riveting. You may be interested to know that while the audio was recently released in 2015, WHITE LIES was first released in print in 1988. Therefore, if you are familiar with modern day crime solving techniques, the premise of this book would not hold up to the light-of-day today. If you cannot overlook the time period differences, do yourself a favor and don't read this book. BUT, just know that you will be missing out big time! Even with the 1980s references, the suspense  and the romantic aspects held my rapt attention. WHITE LIES was such a fantastic listen that I would not hesitate to enjoy it over and over again! Yes, it was that good.

Lesa Lockford utterly nailed the narration. Her voice was clear. She differentiated between the characters with realistic-sounding voices. Her performance was so spot on that it gave me chills as I listened, laughing, crying, yearning and trembling along with the characters. I credit Lesa's dramatization with exponentially increasing my enjoyment of the book. This marked the first time I'd ever listened to any of Lesa's works, but it won't be the last as I will most assuredly be picking up more books that she's narrated.

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from this listen:

Jay stepped into the room, and for a split second both her heart and lungs seemed to stop functioning. Then her heart lurched into rhythm again, and she drew a deep, painful breath. Tears sprang to her eyes as she stared at the inert form on the white hospital bed, and his name trembled soundlessly on her lips. It didn't seem possible that this ... this could be Steve.
---

She glanced at her watch. He'd been massaging his legs for half an hour. "I think that's enough," she said firmly. "Don't you want to go back to bed?"
He straightened up in the wheelchair and his teeth flashed in a grin. "Baby, I'm so tired of that bed, the only way you could get me back in it would be if you crawled in there with me."
---

His head jerked up. For another moment he was motionless. Her lips were parted slightly, trembling. Her eyes looked heavy. Her nipples were hard little circles plainly visible though the wet dress, her arms limp at her sides as she let him look. He shuddered, and his control snapped.
She couldn't move. He walked toward her without taking his gaze from her, without seeing or hearing anything else, a primal male animal intent on mating. He was breathing hard and deep, his nostrils flaring. Water dripped off him as he moved. She waited, shaking with need and fear, because he was out of control and she knew it. It was an exhilarating terror, freezing her but at the same filling her with an anticipation so acute she was almost in pain.
Then his hands were on her, and she moaned aloud from the sudden release of tension.
She didn't have time to respond. She had expected to be swept up in his arms and carried to bed, but he had gone far beyond paying attention to niceties. Nothing mattered to him but to have her, right then. 
---

Her lips parted slightly in a smile so female it took his breath away, and her deep blue eyes beckoned him, dared him. Once again her hips lifted. "What are you waiting for?" she breathed.
"For you," he answered, and even as he lost himself in the mindless ecstasy of making love to her, the truth of that remained. He'd waited for her forever.

WHITE LIES is the fourth book in the author's Rescues series. I can attest that WHITE LIES works very well as a stand-alone and, while I do plan to check out the rest of the series soon, there's no need to enjoy this series in order.

WHITE LIES is nothing short of a classic and will be a  keeper on my bookshelf! There's absolutely nothing that falls short in this book. If you enjoy excellent romantic suspense, I dare you not to love it! It mesmerized me from the very beginning, holding me under its spell straight through to the edge-of-your-seat finale. Romantic suspense doesn't get better than WHITE LIES!



Suggested Reading Order: 
Midnight Rainbow (Book #1)
Diamond Bay (Book #2)
Heartbreaker (Book #3)
White Lies (Book #4)