Someone Else’s Shadow by Monica James-Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 20, 2022

My name is Peyton Lane, and I have no idea who I am.

Six months ago, I woke from a coma with no recollection of anybody, anything.

My family tells me that I’m a good woman, that I’m loved. It seems I’ve lived a full, rewarding life, but I would give all of it up in a heartbeat to remember who I was.

My mind is a blank slate. Every moment in time wiped clean.

But there is one thing I can remember, something I haven’t dared to tell anyone about—a mysterious oak tree, a red ribbon, and a vision of drowning.

I know the answers I seek lie buried at the bottom of a lake. And that’s why I’m here in South Carolina. The memory I have is something I witnessed…

So I wonder what it would feel like to remember…remember who I was, but more importantly, remember what I did.

•••••

REVIEW:SOMEONE ELSE’S SHADOW by Monica James is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, romantic suspense story focusing on single father/renovator Cayden Coachman, and twenty-seven year old Peyton Lane.

WARNING: Due to the nature of the story line premise there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from first person perspective (Peyton) using present day and memories from the past, SOMEONE ELSE’S SHADOW focuses on Peyton Lane’s need to uncover the truth. Six months earlier, Peyton suffered critical injuries in a car accident that left our heroine in a coma, resulting in her current state of amnesia. Struggling to make sense of everything, including the bits and pieces of dreams and memories that do not make sense but a ‘need’ to move away from home sends our heroine to South Carolina, to a familiar place where everything began. Enter Peyton’s neighbor Cayden Coachman, and the man with whom Peyton will fall in love. What ensues is the acrimonious but building relationship between Peyton and Cayden, and the fall-out when the truth is revealed, and the past returns determined to destroy them all.

Peyton Lane is unable to remember anything about her past but for the ‘snippets’ of memory that do not make any sense but her arrival in South Carolina pulls at the horror of what happened and why, and with the help of the man with whom she is falling in love, does the reality of the past begin to seep into our heroine’s life. Cayden Coachman is a man battling his own demons including the demons of the man that destroyed his life.Living on the ‘wrong’ side of the lake meant Cayden was never good enough but Peyton does not see the line, a line that divides between the haves and the have-nots.

The relationship between Peyton and Cayden is one of immediate attraction but Cayden knows Peyton’s secrets, and struggles in the wake of our heroine’s amnesia but the ghosts from the past refuse to let go, and with it the return of the pain that all but destroy Peyton Lane. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Cayden’s daughter Ellie, and his sister Lacey, as well as Cayden’s ex Hazel; Peyton’s mother Stella Lanes, her step-father Augusto, and Peyton’s less than accommodating siblings and their families, and the locals who may or may not accept our story line heroine.

SOMEONE ELSE’S SHADOW is a story of secrets and lies, the present and the past, obsession and rejection, acceptance and love. The premise is intriguing, suspense-filled and engaging; the romance is seductive and fated: the characters are broken, desperate and determined.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Monica James spent her youth devouring the works of Anne Rice, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson.

When she is not writing, Monica is busy running her own business, but she always finds a balance between the two. She enjoys writing honest, heartfelt, and turbulent stories, hoping to leave an imprint on her readers. She draws her inspiration from life.

She is a bestselling author in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the U.K.

Monica James resides in Melbourne, Australia, with her wonderful family, and menagerie of animals. She is slightly obsessed with cats, chucks, and lip gloss, and secretly wishes she was a ninja on the weekends.

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