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High Bluffs Trilogy #1
High Bluffs
“An engaging tale of danger and romance.” — Kirkus Reviews
“This quick, entertaining series opener is well paced, and the intriguing murder mystery is balanced with sexy encounters…” — Kirkus Reviews
“Royer-Derr's High Bluffs will keep the reader on the edge of their seat with her effective storytelling, thrilling plot, and fast-paced narrative.” — BookLife Prize
“High Bluffs is hard to put down…” — BookLife Prize
Joanna Dresden lives an idyllic life in High Bluffs, Maine, running her family inn with her husband and daughter. She’s devastated when her husband is killed in a car accident, leaving her emotionally shaken and vulnerable. The inn they have spent their lives tending no longer interests her, and some unusual occurrences are happening around town.
A relationship develops between Joanna and a younger man, much to her surprise. Rick reawakes her in a way she didn’t realize was possible, but something isn’t quite right in High Bluffs. The dark secrets surrounding her in this supposed idyllic existence have started to surface.
He’s watching her.
Always.
“This quick, entertaining series opener is well paced, and the intriguing murder mystery is balanced with sexy encounters…” — Kirkus Reviews
“Royer-Derr's High Bluffs will keep the reader on the edge of their seat with her effective storytelling, thrilling plot, and fast-paced narrative.” — BookLife Prize
“High Bluffs is hard to put down…” — BookLife Prize
Joanna Dresden lives an idyllic life in High Bluffs, Maine, running her family inn with her husband and daughter. She’s devastated when her husband is killed in a car accident, leaving her emotionally shaken and vulnerable. The inn they have spent their lives tending no longer interests her, and some unusual occurrences are happening around town.
A relationship develops between Joanna and a younger man, much to her surprise. Rick reawakes her in a way she didn’t realize was possible, but something isn’t quite right in High Bluffs. The dark secrets surrounding her in this supposed idyllic existence have started to surface.
He’s watching her.
Always.
453 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 2, 2022
55 people are currently reading
1122 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 18, 2022
As a fan of romantic suspense, I was excited to read High Bluffs and see what it had to offer. The book blurb and quoted reviews sounded promising, so I dived in hoping for lots of intrigue, danger, and thrills.
Ultimately, however, I struggled to find both the romance and the suspense that I was expecting in this book.
The short, to the point review:
After expecting a thrilling ride, I was surprised to read about a vanilla love story with few emotional moments and no real mystery. The murderer is easy to spot, the pace is slow at certain points, and although it’s fairly well-written—albeit with an unfamiliar chapter structure—the language can be a bit limiting and bland, while the plot isn’t as complex or intriguing as other romantic suspenses that I’ve read.
If you like a simple, gentle romance with only the tiniest bit of steam—as well as some small moments of murder/stalker drama thrown in—then High Bluffs could be for you. If you want something thrilling and sizzling that feels more real and gritty, I recommend Rachel Grant instead.
***
The looong review (for those that like to ramble on about books as I do):
**NOTE: I don't think there are any huge spoilers below, and I've covered up a potential one, but if you don't want to know anything at all about the book's plot and characters, don't read any further**
Lets starts with the romance…
Joanna’s relationship with Rick is picture perfect. She has only a small reservation about town gossip at the beginning, then quickly gets over it. Her internal thoughts and expressed feelings are almost exclusively about how happy she is. And she really is happy!
Here’s some examples:
Personally, I would have liked to see more emotions besides happiness…or at least, some more descriptive, deeper ways of writing about her feelings.
Even the way Joanna and Rick talk to one another is very reminiscent of a Hallmark movie. No disrespect if that’s how you like it, but personally I find it a bit bland. I prefer my book relationships to be more gritty and real. Romance for me is all about heartfelt emotions that draw the reader in and take them on a journey. That was kind of missing here. A shame, because the plot—losing a loving husband suddenly—lent itself perfectly to that.
Jared seemed to be a wonderful husband and father, and although grief and mourning is individual—and certainly not something I would openly comment on like Joanna’s rude neighbours do—only two months after his death, she is falling for someone else. That in itself isn’t necessarily a problem (although I still struggle to imagine how someone could get through their grief that fast), but I would have liked to have understood her mindset during that grieving process, and how she got to the point of being able to move on so quickly after losing the incredible man who she spent over half her life with. Maybe her new relationship wouldn’t have felt so sudden if that had happened.
Jared would have, presumably, been everywhere for her; at the Inn, on the beach, in their bed…yet thoughts of him are few and far between.
I was surprised by how little Jared is mentioned, even at times where it seemed natural to do so.
*At Thanksgiving she does recall one sweet memory of him…although it ends with her painting a picture of her and Rick, then doing the horizontal tango with him on the floor.
*Around Christmas, there’s no mention of it being their first without him, how she and Jilly are coping with that, all the things he’s missing out on, the memories that such a time of year can evoke. Joanna is just…happy.
*Even the anniversary of his death isn’t mentioned (and it’s autumn at the climax of the book, so we know it has passed because his funeral was mid-August the year before). There’s nothing about them visiting his grave, remembering him, missing him. That surprised me most.
Generally, I think if there had been more focus on Joanna's emotions—especially those of grief, worry, guilt, doubt...the kind of thing I think almost everyone would experience in her position—and how they develop and evolve over the passing year in line with her new relationship, that could have allowed the reader to feel much more connected to her. As it is, she and Rick came across as a bit robotic or too-good-to-be-true at times, and I ended up feeling quite sorry and sad for Jared. This may be a romance about Joanna and Rick, but it came off the back of her husbands death only two months prior. He would still have been very much a part of their relationship and lives, and deserved to be remembered more than he was, in my opinion.
I understand that some writers don't want their stories to be so heavy, and that's fair enough, but then it's probably best to use a less emotionally charged plot point if that's the case.
Anyway, lets get back to the main relationship in this story…
Rick is 21 going on 35. Joanna is 32, with an angelic child, and no serious qualms or concerns about anything (which is probably why she doesn’t look a day over 21). Everything is peachy keen, and for parts of the story I felt like I was simply watching them partake in their regular daily life. There were sections that didn’t seem to add much to the story, nor move it along.
One that sticks out to me is people discussing the best way to make angel food cake. Another involves them going to a nativity play, or to adopt a dog. Again, perfectly fine if that’s what you like, but not exactly the “engaging romance” “edge of your seat” “fast paced narrative” that certain reviews spoke of.
When it comes to sexy encounters, there’s only two of them, both of which are mild and short lived, so if you’re not a fan of steam you’ll probably appreciate that. However, if you like intense chemistry and spice between the protagonists, you’ll be left wanting more.
By the time I got to the end of High Bluffs, I’m sad to say I didn’t really feel like I knew Joanna or Rick much better than I did at the beginning. Their personalities didn't shine through, and there was no real connection to either of them for me. Other than the lack of character development, I think it could also be partly due to the way High Bluffs is structured.
It’s not something I’ve seen before, but each chapter is split up into “chunks”. You get a few paragraphs, then there’s a page break, and we’re jumping ahead in time a bit or seeing a different perspective. As a result, you don’t really get down into the nitty gritty of each character like you do in a lot of other contemporary romances (or romantic suspenses), and it left me feeling like an outsider looking in on their perfect, infallible relationship. Fine enough, I suppose, but I’m not necessarily sure where the draw for the reader is in that.
It's not just romance here though, so let's get into the “suspense” element…
As an avid reader of authors like Rachel Grant and Toni Anderson, I’m well versed in the twists and turns that these type of stories weave to create page-turning drama and action, with a teasing mystery threaded throughout. A lot of that, for me, was missing here.
After hearing from the stalker/murderer in the first few chapters, they disappear for a time in the middle of the book, to the point that I was hoping they’d finally do something to spice things up a bit!
I also guessed who the murderer was from the first chapter or two. I’m confident you will too, especially as there’s only a handful of characters in the story—and the guilty party isn’t exactly subtle about it—but if not, it’s pretty much confirmed around 25% of the way in. Despite that, there’s still some strange attempts to get the reader to suspect it’s someone else, which simply doesn’t fly when the answer has been so obvious the whole way through.
One example of that is a moment where Joanna comments that it “disturbed her a bit” to learn Rick had a crush on her before they got together…
Someone being attracted to her is disturbing, yet she barely thinks twice about having a relationship with a college student who she’s known since he was a child. To be clear, I personally don’t find either concept disturbing; Age is nothing but a number, Rick is an adult, and they weren’t close family friends or anything, but I thought it was a strange remark, and a bit of a contradiction, for Joanna to make. Likely it was an attempt to make Rick look suspicious to the reader, but considering we know who the killer is, it just felt out of place.
We also have a few scenes with Sierra, the town’s local news station personality (who has some bizarre narcissist complex and a serious coke habit), but considering Joanna can easily brush off the nasty behaviour, and Sierra’s comments about revenge come to nothing, I’m not sure what this woman added to the story (other than a convenient way to help take down the murderer at the end).
Overall, there’s no big twists or turns, no intriguing mystery, and only a little drama and action in the middle and towards the climax, although none of it was especially surprising, even if it did help pick up the pace considerably.
Maybe it’s worth noting too that, although High Bluffs doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, the last paragraph does set up the next book. I was actually hoping we might get a different story with different characters, but it sounds like the murderer will be back for more of the same. Probably the most surprising part, considering what they did at the end!
***
In conclusion, if you like a sweet, vanilla, gently plodding romance, with a bit of murder and drama thrown in at various points, then you may well enjoy High Bluffs.
However, if you’re looking for thrilling suspense, with high stakes, high emotions, and sizzling romance, then I’m going to recommend you check out Rachel Grant’s Tinderbox or Evidence series instead.
Ultimately, however, I struggled to find both the romance and the suspense that I was expecting in this book.
The short, to the point review:
After expecting a thrilling ride, I was surprised to read about a vanilla love story with few emotional moments and no real mystery. The murderer is easy to spot, the pace is slow at certain points, and although it’s fairly well-written—albeit with an unfamiliar chapter structure—the language can be a bit limiting and bland, while the plot isn’t as complex or intriguing as other romantic suspenses that I’ve read.
If you like a simple, gentle romance with only the tiniest bit of steam—as well as some small moments of murder/stalker drama thrown in—then High Bluffs could be for you. If you want something thrilling and sizzling that feels more real and gritty, I recommend Rachel Grant instead.
***
The looong review (for those that like to ramble on about books as I do):
**NOTE: I don't think there are any huge spoilers below, and I've covered up a potential one, but if you don't want to know anything at all about the book's plot and characters, don't read any further**
Lets starts with the romance…
Joanna’s relationship with Rick is picture perfect. She has only a small reservation about town gossip at the beginning, then quickly gets over it. Her internal thoughts and expressed feelings are almost exclusively about how happy she is. And she really is happy!
Here’s some examples:
He makes me happy.
This really makes me happy, Rick.
He makes me really happy, Simon.
He makes me feel happy, too.
If I’m happy, why can’t they just be happy for me.
He makes me happy, and I need that.
He makes me so happy.
This makes me so happy.
Personally, I would have liked to see more emotions besides happiness…or at least, some more descriptive, deeper ways of writing about her feelings.
Even the way Joanna and Rick talk to one another is very reminiscent of a Hallmark movie. No disrespect if that’s how you like it, but personally I find it a bit bland. I prefer my book relationships to be more gritty and real. Romance for me is all about heartfelt emotions that draw the reader in and take them on a journey. That was kind of missing here. A shame, because the plot—losing a loving husband suddenly—lent itself perfectly to that.
Jared seemed to be a wonderful husband and father, and although grief and mourning is individual—and certainly not something I would openly comment on like Joanna’s rude neighbours do—only two months after his death, she is falling for someone else. That in itself isn’t necessarily a problem (although I still struggle to imagine how someone could get through their grief that fast), but I would have liked to have understood her mindset during that grieving process, and how she got to the point of being able to move on so quickly after losing the incredible man who she spent over half her life with. Maybe her new relationship wouldn’t have felt so sudden if that had happened.
Jared would have, presumably, been everywhere for her; at the Inn, on the beach, in their bed…yet thoughts of him are few and far between.
I was surprised by how little Jared is mentioned, even at times where it seemed natural to do so.
*At Thanksgiving she does recall one sweet memory of him…although it ends with her painting a picture of her and Rick, then doing the horizontal tango with him on the floor.
*Around Christmas, there’s no mention of it being their first without him, how she and Jilly are coping with that, all the things he’s missing out on, the memories that such a time of year can evoke. Joanna is just…happy.
*Even the anniversary of his death isn’t mentioned (and it’s autumn at the climax of the book, so we know it has passed because his funeral was mid-August the year before). There’s nothing about them visiting his grave, remembering him, missing him. That surprised me most.
Generally, I think if there had been more focus on Joanna's emotions—especially those of grief, worry, guilt, doubt...the kind of thing I think almost everyone would experience in her position—and how they develop and evolve over the passing year in line with her new relationship, that could have allowed the reader to feel much more connected to her. As it is, she and Rick came across as a bit robotic or too-good-to-be-true at times, and I ended up feeling quite sorry and sad for Jared. This may be a romance about Joanna and Rick, but it came off the back of her husbands death only two months prior. He would still have been very much a part of their relationship and lives, and deserved to be remembered more than he was, in my opinion.
I understand that some writers don't want their stories to be so heavy, and that's fair enough, but then it's probably best to use a less emotionally charged plot point if that's the case.
Anyway, lets get back to the main relationship in this story…
Rick is 21 going on 35. Joanna is 32, with an angelic child, and no serious qualms or concerns about anything (which is probably why she doesn’t look a day over 21). Everything is peachy keen, and for parts of the story I felt like I was simply watching them partake in their regular daily life. There were sections that didn’t seem to add much to the story, nor move it along.
One that sticks out to me is people discussing the best way to make angel food cake. Another involves them going to a nativity play, or to adopt a dog. Again, perfectly fine if that’s what you like, but not exactly the “engaging romance” “edge of your seat” “fast paced narrative” that certain reviews spoke of.
When it comes to sexy encounters, there’s only two of them, both of which are mild and short lived, so if you’re not a fan of steam you’ll probably appreciate that. However, if you like intense chemistry and spice between the protagonists, you’ll be left wanting more.
By the time I got to the end of High Bluffs, I’m sad to say I didn’t really feel like I knew Joanna or Rick much better than I did at the beginning. Their personalities didn't shine through, and there was no real connection to either of them for me. Other than the lack of character development, I think it could also be partly due to the way High Bluffs is structured.
It’s not something I’ve seen before, but each chapter is split up into “chunks”. You get a few paragraphs, then there’s a page break, and we’re jumping ahead in time a bit or seeing a different perspective. As a result, you don’t really get down into the nitty gritty of each character like you do in a lot of other contemporary romances (or romantic suspenses), and it left me feeling like an outsider looking in on their perfect, infallible relationship. Fine enough, I suppose, but I’m not necessarily sure where the draw for the reader is in that.
It's not just romance here though, so let's get into the “suspense” element…
As an avid reader of authors like Rachel Grant and Toni Anderson, I’m well versed in the twists and turns that these type of stories weave to create page-turning drama and action, with a teasing mystery threaded throughout. A lot of that, for me, was missing here.
After hearing from the stalker/murderer in the first few chapters, they disappear for a time in the middle of the book, to the point that I was hoping they’d finally do something to spice things up a bit!
I also guessed who the murderer was from the first chapter or two. I’m confident you will too, especially as there’s only a handful of characters in the story—and the guilty party isn’t exactly subtle about it—but if not, it’s pretty much confirmed around 25% of the way in. Despite that, there’s still some strange attempts to get the reader to suspect it’s someone else, which simply doesn’t fly when the answer has been so obvious the whole way through.
One example of that is a moment where Joanna comments that it “disturbed her a bit” to learn Rick had a crush on her before they got together…
Someone being attracted to her is disturbing, yet she barely thinks twice about having a relationship with a college student who she’s known since he was a child. To be clear, I personally don’t find either concept disturbing; Age is nothing but a number, Rick is an adult, and they weren’t close family friends or anything, but I thought it was a strange remark, and a bit of a contradiction, for Joanna to make. Likely it was an attempt to make Rick look suspicious to the reader, but considering we know who the killer is, it just felt out of place.
We also have a few scenes with Sierra, the town’s local news station personality (who has some bizarre narcissist complex and a serious coke habit), but considering Joanna can easily brush off the nasty behaviour, and Sierra’s comments about revenge come to nothing, I’m not sure what this woman added to the story (other than a convenient way to help take down the murderer at the end).
Overall, there’s no big twists or turns, no intriguing mystery, and only a little drama and action in the middle and towards the climax, although none of it was especially surprising, even if it did help pick up the pace considerably.
Maybe it’s worth noting too that, although High Bluffs doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, the last paragraph does set up the next book. I was actually hoping we might get a different story with different characters, but it sounds like the murderer will be back for more of the same. Probably the most surprising part, considering what they did at the end!
***
In conclusion, if you like a sweet, vanilla, gently plodding romance, with a bit of murder and drama thrown in at various points, then you may well enjoy High Bluffs.
However, if you’re looking for thrilling suspense, with high stakes, high emotions, and sizzling romance, then I’m going to recommend you check out Rachel Grant’s Tinderbox or Evidence series instead.
May 31, 2025
So suspenseful! I can’t wait to read Book 2!
February 17, 2024
A beautiful cliffside inn in Maine, a lonely widow, a romance with a sexy younger man, a stalker, a tragic death...High Bluffs has it ALL!!
This was a fast-paced thriller with a nice dose of romance. I really liked Joanna and Rick as a couple. The ups and downs of their relationship were so fun to read about, really a beautiful romance between them.
This book had everything, the mystery, romance, small town chatter, beautiful setting and a very creepy stalker with many secrets. I loved the eerie suspense of this story. I wouldn't say the twists were shocking but they were entertaining, and I liked all the main characters.
The stalker was incredibly creepy, and I found his POV to be one of the strongest in the book. He was obsessed and so weird. His thought process was pretty fascinating.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and I will be reading the next two books very soon!
Well written, fast paced thriller with a nice dose of romance! Loved it!
This was a fast-paced thriller with a nice dose of romance. I really liked Joanna and Rick as a couple. The ups and downs of their relationship were so fun to read about, really a beautiful romance between them.
This book had everything, the mystery, romance, small town chatter, beautiful setting and a very creepy stalker with many secrets. I loved the eerie suspense of this story. I wouldn't say the twists were shocking but they were entertaining, and I liked all the main characters.
The stalker was incredibly creepy, and I found his POV to be one of the strongest in the book. He was obsessed and so weird. His thought process was pretty fascinating.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and I will be reading the next two books very soon!
Well written, fast paced thriller with a nice dose of romance! Loved it!
September 8, 2022
This one kept me guessing until almost the end. 4.5 stars if I could give them :) but I can't so it is unfortunately 4 because I figured it out before the end. I will be adding the other 2 books in the trilogy to my want to read list.
The author was great at wrapping a cloud around the "stalker" where it could have been more than one person in the main characters life. This made me go back and forth between an eventual two characters as the "stalker" who killed without remorse to have his "prey".
The main character was a character that was easy to connect to, to feel her pain and joy throughout the book, to travel through a period of her life with her. The storyline was well developed and not something that couldn't happen to anyone. There was nothing to was such a stretch that it was unbelievable that it occurred.
The author was great at wrapping a cloud around the "stalker" where it could have been more than one person in the main characters life. This made me go back and forth between an eventual two characters as the "stalker" who killed without remorse to have his "prey".
The main character was a character that was easy to connect to, to feel her pain and joy throughout the book, to travel through a period of her life with her. The storyline was well developed and not something that couldn't happen to anyone. There was nothing to was such a stretch that it was unbelievable that it occurred.
September 21, 2022
This is part of a Trilogy. I am not sure there is enough here for a book 2 or 3. This starts off with a mystery in the beginning and then settles into a Hallmark movie. "Joanna wore a white turtleneck sweater which appeared to him as if it almost sparkled, a perfect complement to her dark hair. He'd had to look twice this morning when she'd put it on, wondering if he was seeing the glitter in his own mind, since in his mind's eye, Joanna always shined." I have no problem with a woman being with a younger man but, the age of the man played too big a role in this story for me. I couldn't forget his age. In any event, I wondered if the mystery part had fallen by the wayside but by the end, all the exaggerated characters that could be suspects reemerged and were quite campy and cliched in their actions and words.
June 21, 2023
held my interest, but a bit predictable
It may have been an oversight on my part while reading the synopsis and genre categories, but this was definitely more of a romance, and less of a thriller IMO. I’m not a huge fan of romance, but the story still held my internet enough. My only other critiques were that it was a bit predictable and the legal/law enforcement aspects were unrealistic.
All in all, if you’re looking for an easy, romantic thriller, I’d say give High Bluffs a shot.
It may have been an oversight on my part while reading the synopsis and genre categories, but this was definitely more of a romance, and less of a thriller IMO. I’m not a huge fan of romance, but the story still held my internet enough. My only other critiques were that it was a bit predictable and the legal/law enforcement aspects were unrealistic.
All in all, if you’re looking for an easy, romantic thriller, I’d say give High Bluffs a shot.
September 5, 2022
Awesome book, had trouble putting it down, wanted to find out ending, glad I started reading it on a 3 day weekend !!!
September 11, 2022
nice read but predictable
I started getting into this book about half way through it. Some of the characters seemed to just appear and then we quickly killed off.
I started getting into this book about half way through it. Some of the characters seemed to just appear and then we quickly killed off.
December 10, 2022
High Bluffs
Excellent book. The story held your interest and attention making it hard to put down. Loved it. Very highly recommend to anyone who loves a mystery.
Excellent book. The story held your interest and attention making it hard to put down. Loved it. Very highly recommend to anyone who loves a mystery.
February 2, 2023
what a wild ride!
This one is a strange story! Mystery, thriller, love story, obsession, murder and mayhem! A good read once I got into it.
This one is a strange story! Mystery, thriller, love story, obsession, murder and mayhem! A good read once I got into it.
August 20, 2023
Read it in a day! Totally held my interest. Just wanted to keep reading. Great romantic thriller.
Now I have to buy the others! Thank you, Sally Royer-Derr
Now I have to buy the others! Thank you, Sally Royer-Derr
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews