Blood Kin

Tawes Bay Series #1

by Judith E. French

Searching for her birth mother, Bailey Elliot arrives on Tawes Island only to be met with hostility by its residents and soon discovers that her life is in danger when she finds a diary that reveals the truth about a decades-old murder. Original.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Fiction, Suspense

356 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2006

About the author

ABOUT JUDITH E. FRENCH

Judith E. French captures the essence of passion and brings her special characters alive on every page. A multiple award winner, including RT's Historical Romance Lifetime Achievement Author, Best Historical Author of the Year, The PEARL award for Best Anthology, and The Delaware Diamond Award for Literary Excellence, she is best known for her American frontier historical fiction. A master storyteller, she finds inspiration in her Scottish, Irish, Welsh, English and Lenni-Lenape ancestry near Chesapeake Bay, where the French family has made its home for more than 300 years. Judith’s novels have sold millions and been translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Bulgarian, and Mandarin. She appeals to readers of Christi Caldwell, Mary Balogh, C. J. Petit, Shirleen Davies, Karen Kay, Madeline Baker, Elle Marlow, Ellen O'Connell, Vonna Harper, Kathryn Le Veque, Colleen French, Julie Garwood, Cecelia Mecca, Caroline Fyffe, and Hannah Howell. She is the mother of bestselling novelist Colleen French.

Reviews

[Paula Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bailey Elliott travels to Tawes Island after land is left to her by her great aunt. Many on the island don't seem to like her being there, and tell her to go home, including Daniel Catlin, the island handyman with a secretive past that Bailey develops an itch south of the navel for. The thinly veiled hostility is because the island holds many secrets. There's the recent suspicious death of a senator, but more importantly, the death of Bailey's birth mother, who died shortly after giving birth to her. Bailey wants to find out more about her death, and obviously, someone on the island doesn't like that!

This is the second romantic suspense book in a row that has involved the protagonist trying to solve the mystery surrounding her birth mother's death. But that's okay. This was an interesting, enjoyable read as well. French certainly conjures up a decent gothic atmosphere for the island. The scenes where Bailey encounters a mysterious figure outside the bed and breakfast she's staying in are very effectively spooky. If there had been more stuff like that, the book would have been even better. The romance is par for the course. Handymen always have to have a secret military of CIA past, don't they? The revelation that one of the characters is transsexual didn't work, because French seemed very confused about the difference between sex, gender and sexuality, making it come across as quite offensive, and it didn't really add anything to the story anyway.

All in all, it's a decent gothic romantic suspense that lets you chuck your brain behind the couch for a few hours.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. A young girl named Bailey in her 30s was left a house in a remote island by an Aunt who died that she just found out about. She was adopted as a baby. She goes out to the island to figure out who her family is/was, who her parents are, finds out that her Uncle Will is really her Grandfather, finds out that theres abuse and incest on the island. She almost gets killed by Grace who is the preachers wife. Grace tries to kill off her husband and killed the senator (who we find out is Baileys father who raped Baileys mom) and tried to kill Emma (a trans Mto F), tries to kill Uncle Will just so Bailey wont find out the ugly truth about the past of the island. The Caitlins and Tawes are like a present day version of the Capulets vs Montagues. Its a very interesting book that I couldn't put down and was constantly turning pages.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great read but I did finish the book. The action was all the way at the end. Most of the book was Bailey on the island trying to figure out who she is and who killed her mother. Only gave this book a 2 Star because it wasn’t the page turner I was hoping for.

[Kona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be a good book for the plane. Easy to put down when the turbulence made me queasy and easy to pick back up when sitting on the tarmac waiting for who knows what. I don't know that I would want to read more about this island. It is apparently the first in a series. How many murderers can you have on one isolated island. They don't like mainlanders so any more murders and I would begin to question the close knit, everyone knows your business concept.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. Great family intrigue and lots of secrets and surprises.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book...

[Gaizka]

This book seems like the TV show, The Reven8e! Flipping through the pages become intriguing...

[Cathie McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book. Kept me on the edge of my seat wondering who was doing all the killing.