Release Blitz & Book Review: False Hope by Meli Raine

False Hope

by Meli Raine
Series: The False Series #2
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: December 11th, 2018

 
Blurb:

She thinks she’s fooled me. But I’ve known all along.
Almost.

Lily is hiding something, a secret so big, she came out of a year-long coma and her first instinct was to lie.

Who does that? Someone who is afraid. No—not afraid.
Terrified. And it’s my job to take that fear away.

My partner and I have spent countless man-hours hunting down the cold-blooded killer who did this to her. Meanwhile, Lily’s spent her waking hours recovering. Getting stronger. Getting smarter.

Staying beautiful.

Never get involved emotionally. That’s my dictate. Never get attached.

When you realize you’re caught in a triangle, it turns out there is no exit.
Crossing a line is easy. Holding a line takes strength.

Lily’s shooter knows that she’s my weakness.
One I have to get back.
No matter what it takes.

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Apple Books exclusive: https://apple.co/2C4Zk7b

Excerpt: 

 

“How can you stand there in front of me after kissing me like that and tell me everything will be okay when you know there’s no way out?”

“If I thought there was no way out, Lily, I wouldn’t be here.”

“And if I thought there was a way out, Duff, I wouldn’t be here, either.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, hypothetically,” she says slowly, “that you’re asking me to give you information I don’t have.”

The tipping point happened.

I lost.

She’s gone over the edge. Or maybe I’m the one who’s gone over the edge. There’s no backtracking here. But I’m planting seeds, and seeds, when exposed to sunlight, eventually have to grow.

“Lily, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

“I know.”

“But if you did, if you were going to give me one shred of information, I would ask this: Is the person who tried to kill you standing in this stairwell with you?”

I just handed her my heart. Pulled it straight out of my chest and held it up, waiting for her to take it.

ALSO AVAILABLE IN THE FALSE SERIES:

False Memory
by Meli Raine
Series: The False Series #1

Buy now:
Apple Books exclusive: https://apple.co/2CxcNpq


COMING SOON IN THE FALSE SERIES:

False Start
by Meli Raine
Series: The False Series #3 

Release Date: January 15th, 2019

Pre-order here:
Apple Books exclusive: https://apple.co/2IKlTzr

About the author:

Meli Raine writes romantic suspense with hot bikers, intense undercover DEA agents, bad boys turned good, and Special Ops heroes — and the women who love them. Meli rode her first motorcycle when she was five years old, but she played in the ocean long before that. She lives in New England with her family.

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 My review:

Who would have thought?! There's a lot more behind the attempted murder of Lily than what first met the eye. Well, obviously it’s more complex than just someone trying to kill a random girl, but it still kept surprising me with how deep the scheming went so far. You gotta be careful and pay attention to the details to keep up.

This entire book was from Duff's POV and while a few secrets were revealed, a lot of them are still in the dark and a ton more questions were raised. The story's long not over and I'm really curious were this will end at one point and how far this will lead us.

'We all have a deep, dark secret. We all have a hidden self that slithers inside of us, doing everything it can to avoid detection.'

As with the previous series, I felt like it's dragging too much and could have been done in a duet rather than a trilogy. It would have been sufficient enough and probably even better for the pace which needs to be faster in my opinion for a suspenseful story.

I loved how this book started – right were book #1 left off – and that Duff finally was suspicious of the killer. It was so exciting because it heightened the tension.

At first – especially in the first book – I really wondered why Lily didn’t tell anyone about Romeo – even though I understood that she couldn’t trust anyone. But now it got so much clearer with how complex this intrigue was.

'We recover from our wounds because the survival instinct is so strong. And those who survive and thrive are the most attractive of all.'

And finally, there were some emotions from Duff, who had been rather emotionless and quiet so far.

But, and here's the obligatory but, Duff's thoughts were frustrating. He thought too often about being human but also being a robot for his job. He was weighing his options of opening up about his secrets or not. It was just too drawn out and it got repetitive. I didn’t understand why his insignificant thoughts kept turning in a circle, and his very strange nightmares didn't help the matter.

Duff had and still keeps a lot of secrets which he can't tell anyone about. It irritated me somehow that this book was all about him and that he all of a sudden became the center of everything. Why was he so special?! Well, at least there was a big mystery puzzle solved from the previous series. But it's still never ending because as soon as one question's answered, a ton more of them open up. More lies, more intrigues.

I liked the book but there was so much filler. As with the other books and series, the beginning and ending was suspenseful and kept me engaged, though the stuff in between was not all necessary and more or less slowing the pace down.

The sudden physical closeness between Duff and Lily surprised me. He had been her detail for a while but there wasn't even a real friendship because she didn’t yet fully trust him, so it just felt a bit like coming out of nowhere with full force. But this was the least of my worries in this book because I was more frustrated with the repeating thoughts from Duff. At any rate, there was more of Duff and I surely can't complain about that, though the story suffered a bit from it.

Let's see what the last book brings and if there will be a new series where this complexion goes on.

-- I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book given by Give Me Books Promotions. --

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
View review on goodreads