Running Out Of Fear

Running #1

by Sandy Loyd

Michelle Matthews has decided to quit running from her past and meet it head on. Yet, nothing goes as planned, starting when she returns to her hometown to meet her ex-best friend, who collapses in her arms after making a puzzling statement.
Shelly then survives two near fatal misses that are too coincidental to be accidents. After a third incident, where she dodges a couple of bullets aimed at her, Shelly has no choice but to run again. Only this time she's running with Jacob Collier, the man she originally left behind and the last person she intended to see.

Jake Collier hasn't got time to worry over Michelle Matthews' hesitance to accept his protection. Women are dying of drug overdoses, his ex-wife included. As the lead DEA agent on the case, it's up to him to investigate rumors of a sex slave/drug operation floating around that Jake believes are tied to the dead women. The attempts on Michelle's life are also somehow related to his current case and whether Michelle wants his help or not, she's stuck with him.

When another fiery attempt sends the two into deeper cover, hurtful truths about their pasts come out. Neither is guilt free. At this point, both Shelly and Jake wonder the same thing. Even if they do survive, can they find enough forgiveness in their hearts in order to love again?

Genres: Romance

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Sandy Loyd is a Western girl through and through. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, she's worked and lived in some fabulous places in the US,including South Florida. She now resides in Kentucky and writes full time. As much as she loves her current hometown, she misses the mountains and has to go back to her roots to get her mountain fix at least once a year.

She spent her single years in San Francisco and considers that city one of America's treasures, comparable to no other city in the world. Her California Series, starting out with Winter Interlude, are all set in the Bay Area. Her series consists of fun, heartwarming stories about crazy friends who, like single people everywhere, are seeking that someone special to share their lives with among thousands of eligible candidates.

Reviews

[Christie Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked:

I really enjoyed the mystery of Running Out Of Fear, the premise behind the new high end drug was very interesting. The change of heart of the characters and growth was true to life.

Disliked:

The back story was a little tedious and I thought it caused the story to slow down in places. There were to many bad guys, I had a hard time following the number of players.

My Review

Keira returns to the small town where she grew up to put all hurts to rest. But finds herself in danger at every turn. And not just simple danger but the type of danger where her life is at stake.

This is a great murder mystery, with characters who are true to life. The twists and turns make it a fun read and I practically read it in one sitting.

Overall:

If you are looking for a true to life story with a great murder mystery twist then this book is for you. Overall I enjoyed reading it and it plays to all the sense's. You get the closure everyone would like to have from past harms and problems. There is a host of characters and back story that takes away from the story, but regardless of that it was a fun and interesting read.

??Recommend??

Regardless of the lag in story because of the back story I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves murder mystery and a fun story of growing up and learning to let old hurts to rest.

Rating:

I am giving Running Out Of Fear by: Sandy Loyd 3.5 Stars

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to say I love this author's writing but hated this book. I didn't like Jake's past choices and Michelle was a pushover. I couldn't forgive Jake for choosing Kiera. I definitely couldn't forgive Kiera no matter what. She was a selfish stuck up witch and I'm glad she died she was a horrible person and that was her karma for everything she did. I don't know how the characters could forgive her because she did one thing right in the end. One right doesn't erase everything else she did. Michelle was not at fault for anything because Kiera told her she could go after Jake and then when she did she wanted it back simply because it was hers first and no one else could have it. Michelle hid her son because Jake made his choice in Kiera and wanted to protect her child. Her only fault was what she told Mikey about his dad. The romance just wasn't happening for me in this book. As I'm a fan of Sandy this was worth the one time read but I won't read it again. Too much frustration as you have to be very forgiving Something I don't have for the countless flaws in Kiera and Jake. The books not horrible you just have to be overly compassionate and extremely sympathetic to very flawed characters if you don't wanna pull your hair out while reading this.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. Michelle goes back to her home town for the first time in 6 years. She has received a message from her used to be best friend that she wants to talk to her. She gets to the high school where they were going to meet first and sees her friend coming to her. She ends up dying in Michelle's arms. There's romance, drug dealing, sex slaves, all involved here in a good clean book. I wasn't sure how good it was going to be at first but I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to get more of her books. If they are as good as this one, it'll be worth reading them all. I highly recommend this book.

[Anne Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from wanting to throat punch all the inner monologue, I liked this book. Characters were well developed, and by the end of the book, I was rooting for them to get together. In fact, after reading all the inner monologue, I was ready to put it down, but the chemistry was great, so I kept on. In fact, if they hadn't had sex, I would not have given this four stars. This book had addiction in it, and I tend to shy away from author's treatment of drug abuse in novels. The author is either using the novel as a soapbox, or they have no idea what they're talking about. Ms. Loyd treated the addiction in Running really well, it seemed pretty right on. All in all, I enjoyed the book.