IF I WERE YOU (Inside Out Trilogy #1) by Lisa Renee Jones-a review

IF I WERE YOU  (Inside Out Trilogy #1) by Lisa Renee Jones

 NOTE: This is the latest cover of IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones

IF I WERE YOU is the first storyline in Lisa Renee Jones new Inside Out Trilogy. There are bound to be comparisons to Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, Crossfire series by Sylvia Day and Beth Kery’s Because You are Mine as the premise focuses on two people whose lives have been haunted by pain and sorrow, and the measures to which they go to in order to dull that pain.  The similarities are plenty right down to the BDSM, family secrets, art galleries and issues of control, but there is also an underlying storyline that first presents itself to the heroine as she searches for information about a missing woman who has written a very revealing journal about her personal life.

Sara McMillan is a 28year old high school English Teacher with a Master’s degree in Art.  And when her best friend Ella discovers a series of personal journals in a storage unit, Sara’s life will change forever. Rebecca Mason, the author of the journals, has been missing for several months, and hidden within her writings are the clues as to what has happened.  Discovering the woman who was the marketing director for a prestigious art gallery, Sara finds herself at an exclusive showing with a personal invite from the owner to fill Rebecca’s position.  But it is the erotic writings and personal entries that will force Sara to question who is behind Rebecca’s disappearance and why.

Mark Compton is the gallery owner.  From wealth and prestige, Mark makes it his mission to train and educate Sara on the ins and outs of the Art business, including the hosting of gallery affairs.  But Sara finds herself uncomfortable around Mark especially when the other employees drop hints that Mark likes to be in control and punish those who are disobedient.  And Sara begins to suspect that Mark has played a major role in Rebecca’s journal entries.

35 year old Chris Merit is a local artist whose works were presently on display at the gallery where Sara was currently working and Chris is a man who rarely reveals anything about himself.  During a recent showing, Chris will make a promise to himself to get to know Sara, but he will find himself revealing more information and developing feelings for a woman who had only crossed his path a few evenings before.  His attraction to Sara is sexually charged, but there is an underlying need to protect the woman from a path that she may not realize she is heading. But Sara is no wallflower and knows what she wants in life.

Chris has a secret that both he and Mark share.  Although not friends, they are acquaintances in business but their paths cross into a world that Sara is unable to comprehend.  As troubled as Sara’s past has been and the secrets that she refuses to reveal, Chris’s revelations will confuse and add more sorrow to Sara’s life.  Believing she was falling in love with Chris, Sara will begin to question what is behind the man to whom she is losing her heart.

IF I WERE YOU is a sexually seductive and erotic storyline that ends abruptly with many unanswered questions that beg to be addressed and a cliff hanger that bleeds to darkness. But this is a trilogy after all, and with each successive novel, more will be revealed and questions will be answered.  The secondary storyline intertwines itself throughout the novel, as Sara reads the entries from Rebecca’s journals and wonders who or what has caused the mysterious Rebecca so much pleasure and so much pain.  Lisa Renee Jones does a wonderful job building up the suspense and the reader is pulled into the storyline right from the very first word in Rebecca’s journal.

LINKS TO ORDER
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Nook

Reviewed by Sandy

Copy supplied by Netgalley