DEEPER THAN NEED by Shiloh Walker

DEEPER THAN NEED

(Secrets & Shadows #1)

by Shiloh Walker

ARC Review

Release: June 3, 2014

My rating: 4.5 of 5 ⭐️

For about two decades, Noah Benningfield has existed the best he knew how. Almost half of the years he can barely recall and the rest of the time he was stuck in a shadowy limbo, while doing his best to keep himself and others from sliding into the deep dark. But when a single mother with a young son came to town and hired him to fix up the old house she bought, he felt his lungs filling with air for the first time in twenty years.

Slightly disturbed, Trinity Ewing wondered how it was possible the town and the house had felt exactly right when she bought it, yet made her uncomfortable now she lived in it. Perhaps when all the necessary renovations were done, things would be different. But that would mean she wouldn't have Noah around every anymore, and nothing felt right like Noah did. The town, the house, the man, from the moment she laid eyes on them she knew she was home. 

Both still showing the scars from painful histories, Noah and Trinity are hesitant to act on their unusual response to each other. But once they discover those intense feelings are mutual it is difficult to control their instinctive need. When the discovery of a dead body sets a sequence of events in motion that shakes up the entire town, it also stirs up a slew of unresolved questions dating back decades. And brings to light some issues long thought to have been dead. 

As a many years' old status quo starts to crumble, Noah and Trinity grab for the one thing that is pure and true amid the resulting chaos......

*****

I'm in love with Shiloh Walker's writing........ It's broody and moody, mysterious and sensitive, it feels and tastes, smells, sees, hears and senses..... 

Reading anything by Shiloh is a full six-sense experience. Her descriptive abilities are such, that every word becomes tangible, like a flavour on your tastebuds. And it's not just in the descriptions, it is the way she has her characters experience things with the full engagement of their senses, being completely in the moment. Every scene becomes a multi-dimensional experience for the reader, with not just the mind, but the emotions as well as most of the senses stimulated. And all of those different layers simply enchance the 'scene' into something we don't just read, but if we let it, "experience". 

I get lost, when reading Shiloh's books, as in, I disappear into myself, get pissed off at interruptions, not wanting to be pulled out of my 'zone'. I like it there. I like the sensation of floating in someone else's imagination so completely.

This story is the first full novel in the Secrets & Shadows Series. I reviewed the three novellas that came before and loved them. I loved DEEPER THAN NEED as well. 

The characters are so sympathetic and I was so drawn to them. Even Trinity's little boy has such a distinct personality, making for some entertaining and lighthearted moments. Trinity herself may be bruised from her experiences, but I don't think she is damaged, not really. I think she is scared, for sure, and who wouldn't be. She is hurt, but she is also very strong and determined, with an amazing faith in her heart. 

Noah is a tougher nut. I would venture to say he is a little more beat up. Granted, he did a lot of that himself, but his demons are darker and deeper with much more conflict at the root. And as becomes clear, the scope is beyond his control alone. But he does recognize his future when it appears to him and he doesn't hesitate then, to grab onto it with both hands.

The backstory is a dark one and although this novel is by definition a standalone HEA for Trinity and Noah, the story is not over. Some of the mystery surrounding the backstory is a little confusing at time and is slowly coming together. I am sure over the next few novels, the full scope will become clearer. But because of the 'piecing' of some of the context and the resulting loose ends, I am keeping it to 4.5 instead of the 5 stars I would not have hesitated granting!!

If you have not yet read Shiloh Walker, you are truly missing out!!!

✨Unique love connection, dark mystery, glorious writing.....✨

**Copy provided in return for an honest review**