Pretend You're Safe by Alexandra Ivy

Pretend You're Safe (The Agency, #1)

by Alexandra Ivy

HE SEES YOU
First came the floods. Then came the bodies. The victims—strangled, then buried along the shores of the Mississippi—have finally been unearthed, years after they disappeared. He remembers every satisfying kill . . . each woman’s terror and agony. But there’s only one he truly wanted. And fate has brought her within reach again . . .

HE KNOWS YOU
Jaci Patterson was sixteen when she found the first golden locket on her porch. Inside were a few strands of hair wrapped around a scrap of bloodstained ribbon. Though the “gifts” kept arriving, no one believed her hunch that a serial killer was at work. Now Jaci has returned home . . . and the nightmare is starting once more.

AND HE’LL NEVER LET YOU GO
Back then, Rylan Cooper was an arrogant deputy sheriff convinced that Jaci was just an attention—seeking teen. It was a fatal mistake. There’s a murderer in their midst, someone determined to settle old scores and keep playing a twisted game. And it won’t end until Jaci is his forever . . .

“Alexandra Ivy gives readers a nice balance of romance and suspense in her fast-paced, well-plotted novel.” —Kat Martin, New York Times bestselling author

Reviewed by Melanie on

4 of 5 stars

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My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I’ve read a few books by Alexandra Ivy. I’ve really enjoyed them. I’m also a huge fan of Jim Frangione, so getting to listen to this first in a new romantic suspense series was a real treat.

So the story starts with some flooding. Bodies turn up, even a skull. Did a cemetery flood and the bodies just resurface? Or is there something worse going on here?

So, Jaci is a young woman who lives in the house that she was raised in by her grandparents. She really doesn’t have a relationship with her estranged mother, who remarried when Jaci was young and went on to have two more children with her new husband, who didn’t want anything to do with Jaci (hence why she was raised by her grandparents). She isn’t upset about her situation. She just doesn’t really deal with her family if she can help it. She likes living in her modest house and making her goods that she sells. She bakes and also does some crafting.

Rylan is a former sheriff’s deputy who grew up in this same small town. Now he lives in California and runs a very well-to-do security business. He comes home to see his father, who still lives in the town and right next door to Jaci.

So, back with Jaci was in high school, she was getting lockets with a bloody ribbon and hair in them. She tried to talk to Rylan about it. He kinda blew her off as a teen trying to get attention. She left for college and hadn’t had issues since she returned, until these floods happened. Now she’s getting them again. Oh, and her mother’s housekeeper has gone missing.

This is a fun suspenseful story. If you like stories that follow cops trying to solve a crime, this is a good story for you. Rylan uses his security business contact to help search for this person who is stalking Jaci. I also really enjoyed spending time in this small town, with all of it’s small town pros and cons. I think this story is more suspense than romance, but there is a strong romance, it just takes a while for both of them to accept it.

Narration
I continue to enjoy Jim Frangione’s narration. He does a great job with all the different voices of the characters. I think he always picks the perfect pace and tone for each scene. He does a good job whether he needs to sound sexy, funny, scared or serious. If you haven’t tried listening to him, I highly recommend him. He’s known a lot around the romance community for his narration of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, which is how I found him.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 June, 2018: Finished reading
  • 4 June, 2018: Reviewed