SWEETER THAN SIN by Shiloh Walker

SWEETER THAN SIN

(Secrets & Shadows #2)

by Shiloh Walker

ARC Review

Release: September 30, 2014, St. Martin's Paperbacks

My rating: 4 of 5 ⭐️

"CAN’T FORGET THE PAIN

It took years for Adam to stop drowning his regrets in alcohol, and running the local bar doesn’t make it any easier—especially not when everyone he knows gathers there to discuss the shocking allegations that have shattered his hometown. When another murder rocks sleepy Madison to its core, it becomes chillingly clear that even more vicious wounds are waiting to be exposed.

WON’T RESIST THE PLEASURE

Nothing is sacred anymore, and no one is safe, least of all the mystery woman who shows up in town out of the blue, looking like every fantasy Adam’s ever had. She may have her own dangerous secrets, but she can’t ignore the urgent heat between them any more than he can. As a killer’s quest for vengeance explodes into violence, Adam is tempted to lose himself in the delicious promise of her body—until he realizes he’ll risk anything if she’ll give him her heart…in Sweeter than Sin by Shiloh Walker."

*****

The second full novel in the Secrets & Shadows series provides a few more answers to the dark and mysterious events that took place twenty years ago. Events that were supposed to herald the end to decades of depraved old traditions that sicken the community of Madison to the core. But they didn't stop.

Some of the answers come in the form of a woman who has returned to Madison in hopes of finishing something that should have been taken care of long ago. Aware that her return will cause disruption and pain to loved ones left behind, she is determined to see things through this time regardless. She did not expect feelings dormant for all these years to return quite so strongly.

Adam's daily battle avoiding the slide back into the bottle is becoming more difficult. With the underbelly of Madison more exposed every day, the disturbing events are taking a toll on everyone in town. The arrival of what appears to be a new face, is only a brief distraction until new deaths send more shockwaves through the community. And when the new arrival turns out to be someone more familiar to him than his own shadow, his heart slowly comes alive.

This episode of Secrets & Shadows has a much darker and ominous feel to it than even the previous books. There is a purity in the feelings Adam has for the woman who unexpectedly returns to his life, that is untouched by all that happened in the interim. However, a sense of gloom stayed with me even after finishing this book. Feeling that, although steps were made to unravel the mysteries of Madison, the cesspool is merely being stirred with more twisted and sick truths coming to the surface. 

Fantastically written by Shiloh Walker, who has mysterious and dark down to a perfect science, the book still leaves me with a foul taste. Not because of the quality, but because of the content. I will read the entire series, because I need resolution and 'cleansing' if you will. This is how deeply the story is getting to me. 

✨Dark, disturbing, twisted and brilliantly written.✨

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