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Rosemary Run #1

Her Deepest Fear

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Cate Brady almost had it all. Until a knock on her front door brought news that her beloved husband had been in a terrible accident. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Reeling from the shock and suspecting she's being followed, Cate must question everything she thinks she knows.

Is she in danger? Will she find the answers she reluctantly seeks? And what will it all mean for her future?

Her Deepest Fear is the first book in the Rosemary Run Series of domestic thrillers.


About the Rosemary Run Series:

In the charming Northern California town of Rosemary Run, there's trouble brewing below the picture-perfect surface.

Don't let the manicured lawns and stylish place settings fool you. Nothing is exactly as it seems. Secrets and lies threaten to upend the status quo and destroy lives when— not if— they're revealed.

With surprising twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the end, each Rosemary Run novel features a different woman's nail-biting story. Books in the series can be read in any order.

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2019

1904 people are currently reading
1171 people want to read

About the author

Kelly Utt

40 books153 followers
Kelly Utt writes novels about life, love, and the choices that shape our destinies. The stakes are high. The emotions run deep.

Kelly was raised by a dad who would read a book, ask her to read it, too, and then insist they discuss it together, igniting her passion for life's big questions. That passion is often reflected in her novels, giving them a depth which leaves readers wanting more and thinking about her stories long after the last lines are read.

Her earlier works—like the Rosemary Run, Hideaway Isle, and Appleman's Gap series—focus on family secrets, suspense, and psychological twists. Her newest novels, including Sierra Oscar Sierra and What’s Left to Burn, delve into cosmic love stories with high-stakes romance.

In her free time, Kelly enjoys travel, great books, and good food, along with movies, music, and social media. She is a founding author of My Book Friends, a vibrant reader community dedicated to connecting authors and book lovers. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and sons.

For free books, updates, and other bonuses, sign up for her newsletter at kellyutt.com.

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5 stars
727 (30%)
4 stars
612 (25%)
3 stars
544 (22%)
2 stars
312 (13%)
1 star
197 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 207 reviews
Profile Image for Stephen Clynes.
657 reviews41 followers
November 1, 2019
Cate Brady gets a knock on her door and it is bad news, her husband Mick has been killed in an accident. How will she and her three young children cope?

Oh dear, this thriller does drone on a lot. There is a lot of padding around a shallow plot and I thought that Cate's deepest fear was being stuck in a mundane story with no way out of the pages.

Yes, this book is easy reading but it is too light with no bite or depth. It is B-Movie material and the whole tale is unlikely. I found Her Deepest Fear to be a disappointing, POOR 2 star read. I thought the ending was stupid, extremely unrealistic and had me gasping "as if!".

The best bit of the whole book was the penultimate paragraph, which made me cry for Cate Brady and the time I had wasted reading this dull novel.
Profile Image for Vickie.
493 reviews
September 19, 2019
Very poor writing. The author explains everything. Even things that don't need explaining. Then re-explains things. Quotation marks are left off, scenes & situations are rushed,unbelievable scenes take place, etc. I can't say much without spoiling it for anyone who decides to read it, except that anyone who is following someone but wants to stay hidden, should not be standing right behind them in a storm, or make it obvious that they are following them, or bang trash cans around. There were only two good lines in the entire book, one was the first thing the brother said when he used his key to let himself in the house, the other was a description about how the dog reacted to the person that entered the back door.. that was it I was really let down all the way from start to finish.
Profile Image for Lindsey Hawkins Gould.
333 reviews4 followers
September 12, 2019
Ugh!

What a load of garbage! I can't believe I wasted my time with this book. Completely amateurish writing, unbelievable scenarios, and ridiculous dialogue. A woman's husband is killed in an accident and she doesn't ask any questions. Then, only a week after her husband's death she begins a love affair with the detective investigating his death? Give me a break. I hated this book.
459 reviews
September 15, 2019
Ah no,

This story was just not believable. She is good her husband died in an accident, but she doesn't even ask how, when?
She has sex with a cop who is investigating her in the death of her husband within a week of death of her husband?!?!
The cops never say why she is a suspect.
Her "friend" calls the cops on her stating she had a conversation with a homeless man, why?
I'll give credit to the author for writing a story but this one needs work!


Profile Image for Sherri Thacker.
1,678 reviews373 followers
May 19, 2025
I’m finally getting around to reading my amazon prime day free books from a year ago. Her Deepest Fear by Kelly Utt is my first book by her. It starts off by Cate finding out her husband has been found dead in a terrible accident. Secrets, lies, cover ups … this has it all and nothing is as it seems. I enjoyed this and will have to look for more books in this series.
Profile Image for Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews.
2,901 reviews214 followers
December 3, 2021
This was chosen for my author alphabet challenge but it turned out to be quite a suspenseful tale.

Cate is mourning the loss of her husband and has three children at home to take care of but something doesn't seem quite right and the police think that she had something to do with her husband's death. After all, the spouse is usually the most likely suspect. However, in this case, it couldn't be further from the truth.

Cate feels like she is being watched and that leads her to look into her husband's death after she learns a few things that make her suspect foul play.

Cate also falls for one of the investigators on the case. One might normally find this odd since she just buried her husband a few weeks ago, but sometimes love doesn't observe grief.

There are some unexpected revelations at the end which took me by surprise, well some of them did anyway.

I enjoyed all of the characters and look forward to more in this series.
40 reviews
September 10, 2019
Not realistic

Let me start by saying I love to read and will rarely give a book a low rating. However this book was so unrealistic. We are supposed to believe that a week after her husband of 15 years and a good marriage dies and she sleeps with another guy!! The book was just not well written nor logical.
Profile Image for Rachel Bullock.
35 reviews9 followers
September 13, 2019
I wanted to like it...

But I just couldn’t. There are just too many unbelievable situations in this book.
1. Nobody I know would just blindly accept that their husband died in a “terrible accident” and not demand answers as to what happened, where it happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Not believable.
2. So he died in an accident but his vehicle is in the garage?
3. NOBODY who has just lost the man they truly love is going to start screwing a cop who is also investigating them for murder. Or any cop for that matter. Or any man, especially less than a week after burying their husband. Maybe, MAYBE if they’d had months to prepare for the death, but no way only days after a surprise death. Nope.
4. How did these gangsters even find a stand up guy like her husband in the first place? Makes zero sense.
5. What kind of “detectives” plan to make an arrest with the crap evidence they had?
6. And they’re just going to let a man go who faked his death and caused all this drama? But they would have arrested the wife with zero evidence?

I could go on but I won’t. I liked the premise but the story just didn’t pan out. Also, someone needs to do a better job of editing. There are words missing, improper punctuation, and at one point the main character “Cate” is even called “Clare”. I’ll make my notes public so y’all can see it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ted Tayler.
Author 79 books299 followers
October 22, 2020
"Least said, soonest mended"

I don't hear that phrase too often these days. My mother used it on occasion and I understood the wisdom of following her advice in many things. Let's just say this wasn't the best book I've read this year, but there's an audience out there for books in this genre. Maybe it will do okay. Not for me.
Profile Image for Jane.
1,266 reviews16 followers
December 10, 2019
Cate Brady is devasted to learn from her brother James that her husband Mick has been killed in an accident.

Cate’s worries are far from over when she learns from her mother-in-law, Nancy that Mick owed her a lot of money and Cate might lose her house.

The police, however, believe Mick was murdered and they send Detective Neil Fredricks from the Rosemary Run Police Department to investigate. Neil suspects Cate is holding something back and he’s determined to find out.

Cate had noticed earlier that someone has been following her since her late husband’s funeral and she calls Neil to tell him that she and kids might be in danger.

When Neil’s partner Luke Hemming sees that Neil’s emotions are getting in the way of the investigation, he threatens to get him off the case.

Something doesn’t add up and Cate is left wondering if she ever knew her husband at all.
Profile Image for Michelle.
256 reviews
June 24, 2023
I could not finish this complete, and “utter”, piece of trash. The writing is atrocious. The author is all over the place - take some ritalin and focus, already! I stopped reading after cate sleeps with the detective a week after her husband is killed. Not only was this absurd, but the love scene was a short paragraph. She was more descriptive about the goats at her parents farm. This is the entire story - more detail about trivial information than the murder plot.
Profile Image for Maritza.
532 reviews32 followers
September 17, 2019
Honestly I did not like this at all. It just seemed to lack content editing and content flow. In theory it could have been a good book but was lacking finesse.
Profile Image for Chris Wright.
Author 2 books3 followers
February 7, 2022
Uncovering secrets can be fun. But when those secrets are inside your own home and threaten everyone and everything you love... nothing in your life can be taken fro granted anymore. Kelly Utt will make you question everything you hold closest to you.
Profile Image for Veronica  Gavilanes.
416 reviews9 followers
December 28, 2024
The plot of this book was all over the place, so many unbelievable things happened, conflicts magically resolved, most of the things that happened did not develop properly, and logic was not present. At least it was a short and easy read...
155 reviews1 follower
June 7, 2025
I have this on Audible and I hate to think that I actually wasted a credit on this. This book was advertised non-stop on FB as some "if Desperate Housewives was a book" it was horrible and that's false advertising! DNF'd.
Profile Image for LORRIE.
3,535 reviews63 followers
October 18, 2021
Cate and her family suffered a tragedy. Soon, a deeper mystery started. This was a wonderful
Book
416 reviews
July 13, 2021
Surprising end!

How do you deal with your husband of sixteen years suddenly dead? What will you and the children do?
Who is following you, who broke into your house? Are you and the kids in danger? Why are you about to be arrested for your husbands murder?
15 reviews
July 15, 2021
Great book and great story..i found a new author. I am really excited about 3.
Profile Image for Amber Dawn.
886 reviews1 follower
March 12, 2022
Rosemary Run

I cried at the end but this is an excellent mystery that will keep you on your toes the entire time. The romance did move way to fast but its still sweet and adds a good dose of drama.
Profile Image for Dana Bingham-Cruz.
2 reviews
August 14, 2025
I simply could not get into this one. I quit before I was even finished, which is very rare for me.
180 reviews5 followers
April 23, 2022
Great new series to read

I started with this book which is numb one in the series. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The twists and turns keep you guessing. Definitely worth reading
Profile Image for Donna.
874 reviews4 followers
February 28, 2022
Great Suspense

A great read. Interesting characters with a fantastic plot. A fast read because you don't want to stop reading once you start reading.
796 reviews9 followers
February 24, 2022
addictive and suspenseful!

Extremely addictive! Suspenseful! A few, unexpected twists and turns! This first book in the series has everything. A mother trying to take care of her family after losing her husband, it may sound ordinary, but it’s anything but ordinary. You will not be disappointed!Suspenseful!
Profile Image for Mikki O.
141 reviews
January 12, 2022
Her deepest fear

Kelly Utt is an excellent author. I've pretty much enjoyed everything I've ever read of hers.
Looking forward to starting the next book in this series
Profile Image for Claudia Ketcham.
14 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2021
What was her Deepest Fear?

I enjoyed this book. It was a mystery but not a hold your breathe one, although it still had me wondering at times.
2 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2021
*spoilers!*
The book “Her Deepest Fear” by Kelly Utt is a mystery/thriller book about a wife, Cate Brady, and her late husband Mick Brady. The story starts with Cate being approached by her brother James who is apart of the local towns police department saying that Mick has died in an accident. From there on out, Cate’s life took a turn for the worst. She found herself being followed, her life being in danger, and now her families lives being in danger. From the first page of the book, everything begins to be a mystery of how Mick had died. They then suspect it to had been a murder, and the first suspect is Cate.
I personally love crime/mystery/thriller type stories or even movies so I deeply enjoyed this book. With that being said, I would rate this book a five. It is not a predictable book and with the great suspense it gives you while reading, you can’t stop until you know. It is not too long but more the long side of things with it being over 300 pages. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery of ages 14 and up. It does have some mature content in the book which is why I recommend this age recommendation. This book can be found free online through the books app. (ISBN number of 978-1-705-28068-3)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 207 reviews

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