Hush by Carey Baldwin – a Review

Links to order Hush: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Description:
Reformed bad boy Charlie “Drex” Drexler returns to his hometown of Tangleheart, Texas hoping to make peace with his dark past and make amends to those he’s wronged. He’s also looking to reconnect with an old flame. But Anna won’t cooperate, new questions tear open old wounds and his best friend’s wife and baby disappear. Can Drex and Anna mend their broken hearts while fighting for their lives and racing to bring mother and baby home safely?

Review:
I could not wait to read Hush by Carey Baldwin!  Do you remember how I gushed over First Do No Evil (I’m sure you can access it here, by the way!)?  I put the family to bed (Albert didn’t need much prodding) and sunk right in!  It started off so descriptive, so lovely, so swoon-worthy…I tweeted my love for it before I was done with the first chapter!  Without further delay…Charlie Drexler ran away from his problems 6 years ago, but breaking hearts left deadly impressions and he’s back in Tangleheart, Texas to right those wrongs.  Will the town be so welcoming?  Anna, aka “the one who got away”, sure isn’t.  And the more Charlie looks at her and calls her “Peaches”, the more she’s fighting herself for resisting!  Once you meet Charlie…who would want to?!

Anna Kincaid was the turned-down page corner in the book of Charlie Drexler’s life.  With a placeholder like Anna he had to question his decision to skip ahead in the first place.  

In all fairness, the suicide of Charlie’s ex-girlfriend, Megan, was the impetus behind his departure.  What weighed heaviest on his conscience, however, was that his too quick escape resulted in losing contact with his best friend, Anna.  Back in Tangleheart (pretty apropos), Charlie is resigned to facing his demons.  

What he hadn’t prepared for was this.  This neutral look on her face.  This indifferent demeanor.  It was as if Anna simply didn’t care one way or another that he’d returned to her determined to find out what he’d missed.  It was as if the girl who’d looked up to him, who’d, let’s face it, worshipped him, didn’t care one way or another that he’d come home.

Yeah, I like Anna already, too! 😀  This mild-mannered librarian is no wilting flower although her personal story is imbued with quiet suffering.  Charlie sets out to apologize and pour his heart out to Anna.  The process wasn’t handled in a typical way so conventional to romance novels.  Charlie was messed up, pure and simple.  When he broke up with Megan, she killed herself.  Instead of “manning up”, he left to enlist in the army and forget the past.  Trouble with forgetting the past?  You can’t forget the past.  Surely Charlie could have written a letter, sent an email at the very least?  Yeah, Anna (and I) want all those questions, and more, answered.  As charming as Charlie is (he serves up some steam!), Anna deserves the truth.

A back story of gritty suspense (Ms. Baldwin writes it so well!) begins when Charlie begins to detangle the last 6 years.  Megan had been cheating on Charlie…Megan never left a suicide note…Megan’s mother started receiving five hundred dollars every two weeks following her daughter’s death…These pursuits of truth added great tension and the revelations completely delivered satisfaction.  I got caught up in the mystery…started theorizing on my own.  I was way off, but isn’t that the beauty of a thriller?!  You will learn it all and realize that Ms. Baldwin’s writing is so effortless and finessed, you should read all her work, follow her on Twitter, become her friend on Goodreads, Like her on Facebook, etc.

My only criticism is that the book was just shy of 100 pages.  After enduring so much anguish, Charlie and Anna deserve an uncomplicated future…and sequel?  I’d sure read it!  

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Author