The envelope delivered to Shelby Cole's Seattle home contains no return address, just a photograph of a little girl. Shelby knows at once that this is the daughter she was told died at birth. And in that moment, Shelby knows something else: she needs to go back to Bad Luck, Texas.
The More You Tell
She's not the only one coming home. A long-ago killing is in the news again following recanted testimony. A violent nightmare from Shelby's past has been set free. And she can't shake a suspicion that someone is baiting her, luring her back here for their own ends.
The More There Is To Fear
Shelby's search for answers is met with stonewalling and hostility. Her only ally is a figure from her past--someone she has every reason not to trust. And in the midst of dark family revelations she uncovers a terrifying scheme of revenge. Because some secrets, once spoken, can never be forgotten--or forgiven. . .
Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of over ninety-five novels, including the Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya Series, the Pescoli and Alvarez Series, the Savannah series, and numerous stand alone novels. She also is the co-author of One Last Breath, Last Girl Standing, and the Colony Series, written with her sister and bestselling author Nancy Bush, as well as the collaborative novels Sinister and Ominous, written with Nancy Bush and Rosalind Noonan. There are over thirty million copies of her novels in print and her writing has been translated into twenty languages.
Before she became a nationally bestselling author, she was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.
With dozens of bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity—and back—in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions. She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional, and the downright twisted. As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies, and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families.
Okay, I'm still reading this book but there are a few things that are really annoying me: 1: for a book written/published in 2012, I can't figure out why the kids are in the front of the pick up truck with no car seats.... 2: apparently condoms don't exist or weren't invented yet? 3: why a sheriff would leave his six and four-year-old kids by themselves in a truck while he went into a store to shop...not to mention it was 100+ degrees outside and no A/C 4: chewing tobacco-YUCK! And again, the sheriff, with the need to spit it everywhere he goes-including in somebody's yard while he's talking to them… If he were in my yard and did that, we would definitely have words! That is disgusting! The descriptiveness of him and his chewing tobacco are vile.
These things may not seem like much, but they add up to a lot of Eye rolling so far...
*****Just finished the book and when I read the authors notes in the end, I realized that this book was originally written in the 1990s, which explains a lot – however, it is stated that she updated the book..... I would've updated more. All in all, I found the last half of the book super cheesy, and seeing as how I've never really read much of Lisa Jackson, I'm not sure I would be willing to pick up another one very soon, if at all. I'm just glad to be done with it so that I can move on.
I generally love Lisa Jackson books. I think she is a great writer and one of my faves. She writes great romantic suspense thriller. But this one was just ok for me. The plot was great, but it felt like so much more romance played into this one. And I am not big on romance. It seemed like the book revolved more around a love hate triangle that it did the mystery.
I did not really connect to any of the characters. I thought Shelby, the lead character was ridiculously weak in many areas and I did not care for her because of that. There were some twists in the story, but one of them was never explained which I felt really needed to be. It made the story feel a little sloppy.
Either way, it was an ok read, just not great like so many of her others are. It was maybe a little disappointing as well.
Sample prose: Why was it that she always noticed how all-male he was, how raw and rugged and untamed? Like these dry, wind-blown hills, he was earthy and wild and Texan.
Did you roll your eyes just reading that short paragraph? Imagine how sore mine were after 400+ pages if that drivel. I would have stopped reading...I WANTED to stop reading...but I was trapped in bed with the flu.
When I picked it up at the drugstore along with my prescription, the premise sounded ok: Mysterious envelope arrives at Shelby's door in Seattle containing nothing but a picture of a little girl. Shelby knows at once its the daughter she was told died at birth and heads to Texas to find the child and the truth.
The cover stated that the author was a New York Times bestseller, so how bad could it be? Damn near unreadable, that's how bad. Unless you too are trapped with nothing else to read or do, stay far, far away.
Unspoken by Lisa Jackson is a mystery packed booked that will leave you with many questions, but present you with all of the answers.
My Mom originally got this book. She went into Coles and asked for books like V.C. Andrews. She was presented with this book and was thoroughly disappointed. My Mom, knowing I'm a bookworm, passed this book along to me and said I'd enjoy it. And man, was she right! I thoroughly enjoyed Unspoken, but reader beware... this book definitely isn't like V.C. Andrews (I'm kind of confused why the Coles rep though it was, but there's no time to go into that)
Shelby Cole is going on and living her life, when an unaddressed envelope comes in the mail. Inside this mail? A photo of a little girl that she is convinced was the daughter she had who supposedly died ate birth. From that moment, Shelby knows she has to return home and find her baby. So she returns to Bad Luck Texas (what a name, eh?). Bad Luck is full of... well, Bad Luck. It's a small town with lots of troubled history, like past murders, suspicious people, lies, and bad relationships. If you wanted drama, you found it. As Shelby works hard to find her daughter, an old "friend" is brought into her life... And she learns you can't always trust everyone...
This book is a slow thrill ride, yet so intriguing. At first I found it a bit too slow for my liking (since I love a fast paced book), but the writing style kept me hooked. I had to know about Shelby's daughter and I could not put the book down... So I didn't. I didn't connect with the characters well, but lucky for me the story kept me interested. I can definitely see this being a hit or miss book with people, because it didn't fully grab me the way I had hoped it would.
My negatives? The book has a lot of sexual angst in it, and also has an adult police officer sleeping with an underage girl and everyone acts like this is completely fine. Every other page also seems to reference how the leads have the hots for each other. Like, okay, I get it - they want to get it on. Maybe we don't mention it on every page though. The book could have lost one hundred or so pages just from that. And, some of those pages have the most awkward "sexy" lines that... I just felt like it was a joke at times.
Despite the repetitive factor, I did enjoy this book. The mystery kept me glued even though the characters were pretty dull and some of this book was massively cringe worthy. From my research, this isn't the strongest Lisa Jackson book so I'm definitely going to be picking up more by her in the future.
The town of Bad Luck, Texas, is home to all kinds of secrets. Shelby Cole had her share, before she left to start a new life. After almost ten years away, a mysterious package arrives at her Seattle home. There’s no return address, just a photograph of a little girl. Shelby knows immediately that this is the daughter she was told died at birth—and that going back is the only way to discover what really happened.
This story centers on Shelby finding her daughter but also at the same time uncovering all the secrets in her family that she left behind 10 years earlier. Very twisting and covers emotions like love, hate, anger, surprise, lust and control. A page turner because you need to find out if she finds her daughter and then what? Love Lisa Jackson books. #kindleunlimited
I have some good things to say about this book. The premise of the story was a great hook for me - a secret from the past suddenly popping up and growing legs. The plot is twisty and unpredictable. There were several "outcomes" that I thought I had guessed, but was wrong. I always enjoy that sort of surprise in a story.
There are some strong supporting characters who are well-drawn and whose motivation seems spot-on to me. The author is really good at creating suspense. These parts of the books were very satisfying for me and kept the action moving. You'll note I did use enough stars on the rating to show I like the book. These elements should add up to a fantastic book.
But for me, they did not, and there are a few reasons why.
The first is the fact that the pregnancy that started it all happened when Shelby was 17. Nevada was a working police officer so obviously not her age. I personally can't ignore the whole statutory rape thing though I believe the author intends us to ignore it. Certainly nobody in the story makes an issue of it, and the girl's father is a judge, for heaven's sake. I think it's meant to be okay because secretly Nevada loved her?
As a side note, apparently all men in Texas drive around in their pickups with walnut-cracking erections at pretty much all times. Certainly everyone in this book did.
The next is the endless, angsty, tormented (for no real reason) sexual tension between Shelby and Nevada. It's the same trope in thousands of romance books, which is one reason I don't like them. The character's inner dialogue goes something like this (I'm making this bit up - summarizing, if you will):
"Okay, he is super hot and I wanna have sex with him, but I can't. If he comes around, I'll shut him down so fast! Omigod, here he comes. I don't want sex with him, I don't, ooh look at those muscles, okay I do. WHEEEEEEEEEEEE! Omigod, I had sex with him but I didn't mean to. Never again! He's totally hot, but NO! Oh, there is again. I won't have sex, oh his jeans fit so nice, okay, I'll do it. OOOOOOOOOOOH! Dammit. Again!"
Repeat at regular intervals.
I know I may be in the minority here. Some people seem to like that sort of irritatingly long-winded, overwrought sexual tension. I'm not sure they are the same people who pick up Lisa Jackson's book to read a suspenseful mystery, though. For me, it pretty much destroyed an otherwise good story. I just rolled my eyes and skipped as much of it as I could.
The other thing that bothers me is the utterly inane banter between Shelby and Nevada. What on God's Green Earth makes Shelby turn into some tipsy-sounding, Mae-West-wannabe every time Nevada speaks to her? She spouts the most idiotic stuff I have ever heard, such as "whatcha gonna do about me, cowboy?" and "maybe it's trouble I'm lookin' for, am I gonna get it?". Seriously? Is that meant to be sexy? And it's not all her; he is almost as bad. You always know there's a sex scene coming for these two when the cheese factor ramps up.
At one point I said "do you know how stupid you sound?" to my book. Yes, out loud. I couldn't help it. The dialogue was so painfully lame. I know I shouldn't, but I couldn't resist ... WHEEEEEE!
I gave it one-star because I finished it, but it was just too "cheesy" for me. Yes, we figured out you were "horny" the first fifty times you appeared in the book for no particular reason. Except that you were the detective investigating the murder ... yet all you thought about was what color bra she was wearing (?) Or if she was wearing panties. Really? And yes, we also figured out that you two were "hot" for each other considering it was mentioned every three or four pages. Strangely I was actually expecting a "suspense novel". My bad.
I understand that Nevada was upset that Shelby didn’t tell him he had a daughter, but the way he worded things sometimes, it would sound like he was ordering her around. He did have his good moments where he would be kind to Shelby, but for the most part I didn’t like him. Besides, back when they were dating, Nevada had tried to push her away because she was a minor. And then he had the nerve to ask her why she didn’t tell him that she was pregnant? He told her several times that they shouldn’t be together. She had every reason to believe that he would just leave her to deal with it on her own.
And then there was Shelby’s father. He arranged for her child to be adopted without Shelby’s consent, when she was high on pain meds from the birth. She was even told at the time that the baby was born dead, and now that she knows the truth, her father expects her to just “let it go”. And don’t even get me started on Ross. That man was just filled with anger and had a thirst for revenge. All the men in this book were awful.
This format didn’t really work for me. We found out from the start that Shelby had a baby that she wasn’t aware was put up for adoption. The rest of the book was just Shelby fighting her feelings for Nevada and fearing for a possible confrontation from Ross. Shelby’s search for her daughter was kind of put on the side burner, but the few times she tried to gather information she was stonewalled by everyone. Either the people that were involved were dead or they would refuse to talk to her about it. Which left the last 100 pages to be just one reveal right after the other. It was like some crazy drama.
Too Harlequin romance-ish for me and the repetitiveness drove me crazy. Gave it one star because I finished it although I wasn't sure I was going to. I wanted to see how it turned out...so, I'll give the author that. Had read several of Lisa Jackson's books and they were okay for being churned out on a regular basis, but this one was just crap!
I love the way Lisa Jackson writes. Although I consider this one of my lazy books, where I don't have to think about what's going on, she still finds a way to keep me interested and wanting to find out how the story ends. Some things were predictable, but I would read this again.
Shelby gets a picture of a little girl in the mail and knows it is the daughter she was told died at birth. She knows she has to go home to Texas and try to find her daughter and why her father has lied to her. A man who raped her years ago has been let out of prison for a killing that someone recanted their testimony. She is met with lies and her father refuses to tell her anything about her daughter.
Very underwhelming. If the author had focused more on moving the storyline along rather than all of the sex scenes and the men getting hard allll the time, it would’ve been much better!
I was not a fan of this book. I should have known that it was not for me when I took it off my 85 year old aunt's dresser, but I really thought it was going to be a suspense novel, and it turned out to be a romance novel. I found that many parts of the mystery were underdeveloped while unnecessary elements to the main story were over developed. Many of the characters were disappointing stereotypes. The underlying mystery was interesting but it took 360 pages to get to the who-dunnit which was wrapped up in a 2-page epilogue. Many storylines and scandals were opened throughout the book that were never settled. Like, what was the deal with Katrina? And was Shelby and Nevada's relationship incest? The final point that drove me nuts was that very little action happened in this book. It was a lot of thinking by the main characters (Shelby, Nevada, and Shep), and repetitive thinking at that. I really wanted to like this book, but alas, it didn't live up to my expectations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I'd give it just over 3.5 for entertainment value. It kept me reading. Some scenes were intense. There was a lot going on in this book, almost too much to really get in depth anywhere. I found I wanted more. I loved the chemistry between Shelby and Nevada. I didn't understand the need for Katrina's back story. I didn't like how Ross's story ended. And I didn't see a point to knowing a lot of what was going on in the supporting characters lives. I would have trimmed down the content of this book and developed the important parts more. In my opinion, she could have written 3 stories. There were a few phrases that got repeated too much, like "pock-marked pavement", which I just noticed and kind of bugged me. All-in-all, I enjoyed it. I'd read Lisa Jackson again.
If I could give less than a star, I would. Disgusting book about an adult cop (who she may be related to!) seducing a 17 year old girl, who also gets assaulted by a different man the same night she loses her virginity to the cop. Of course, she becomes pregnant, now who's the father? Stomach-churning, to say the least. Another creepy thing is that the author dedicated the book to her sons! W. T. F.?! Avoid this mess of a book!
FREE PRIME READ THIS HAD AN OLD FEEL TO IT, LIKE AN OLD TENNESSEE WILLIAMS PLAY, WITH TOUGH GRITTY SWEATY CHARACTERS AND LOTS'O SECRETS. I WAS HOOKED AROUND 14% IN. I COULD SEE SOME OF THE OLD ACTORS WHO HAD REAL STAR QUALITIES A; PAUL NEWMAN, JOANNE WOODWARD, DENNIS HARPER, BRUCE DERN OR STEVE MCQUEEN TYPES. I READ THIS WAS WRITTEN IN THE 90's SO I GUESS THAT EXPLAINS IT. VERY ENJOYABLE. ;D
If you have enjoyed any of Lisa Jackson's books, you will enjoy this one by her also. When the main character finds out the baby girl she had been told died at birth, is alive, she goes on a mission to locate her, inspite of her Father, "Judge" Cole's attempts to thwart her efforts, and he still has influence on other people to stop them from assisting Shelby. Will she ever find out the truth?
I normally love Lisa Jackson's books. This one, not quite so much. I read another review where they said it was too cheesy. I agree. I also did not like the fact that every other page talked about how hot either Shelby or Nevada were for each other, in detail. I also expected this to be a bit more of a thriller than a cheesy love type story. I am afraid I would not recommend this book to others. I rated it a 3 because the premise was really good - it did get me hooked in the beginning. I just am not interested in reading it a second time, which is a sign it was not the book for me.
The twists were pretty predictable, and I wasn’t a fan of all the sex scenes. Also, there was one “mystery” that was mentioned but never confirmed or denied by the end of the book which is mildly irritating.
DNF. I think it's just that it's so old, and told that way. the stereotypes are so bad. I read too much dark romance to be excited by the generic cowboy type who calls her darlin or to feel the suspense of it all.
The book and the chapters were WAY too long and there was too much repetition and chatter to suit me. All of the action and plot twists took place toward the end of the book. Might have been more interesting if the book was half its length.
I thought this was going to be a suspenseful thriller, but it turned out to be more of a romance novel. A romance novel sprinkled with a very slow burn ,soap opera-like mystery. It wasn't a terrible book, but just wasn't really my thing.
I was kind of undecided with how to rate this story. It had a bit too much steamy romance and the reader wondered if the 9 year old lost daughter would ever be found. There was an annoying little rhyme that kept being repeated about the deceptive judge. Still it held my interest with a dramatic end.