Title: Solace Island by Meg Tilly
Solace Island Series Book One
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery
Length: 301 pages
Book Rating: C
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
A contemporary novel with a strong suspense element from Oscar-nominated actress Meg Tilly set on a peaceful island village in the Pacific Northwest.
Dumped on the eve of her wedding and looking for a quiet place to lick her emotional wounds, Maggie Harris joins her sister on Solace Island, where she hopes to recover from the stunning betrayal. At first, Maggie resists Eve’s impassioned argument about relocating permanently so the sisters can open their own local bakery. What she definitely doesn’t need on her road to recovery are Eve’s efforts to fix her up with their mysterious and alluring neighbor, Luke Benson–even if he is incredibly handsome and desirable.
Just as Maggie starts to get comfortable in her new surroundings, a car tries to run her down in the middle of the street. If it weren’t for Luke’s extremely quick reflexes, Maggie could have been killed, leading her to wonder just who exactly Luke Benson really is…
Luke thought he’d left the violence of the high risk security world behind. But he can’t stand by while Maggie’s life is threatened. Luke will do anything to keep her safe–even moving Maggie and her sister into his house with its state-of-the-art security features. But with the secrets between them and an unknown threat stalking her heels, Luke will have to think fast to prove to Maggie that she can trust him with her life–and with her heart.
Review:
Solace Island by Meg Tilly is a perplexing mystery which features a substantial romance arc.
After Maggie Harris is unceremoniously dumped by her fiancé and business partner, Brett, she joins her sister, Eve, for a vacation on Solace Island. Maggie is blindsided by Brett’s actions but she quickly bounces back and demands he either buy her out or she will sell her portion of the business. While Brett is working on securing a loan, Maggie’s broken heart heals so fast after meeting Luke Benson it will make readers’ heads spin. As she and Luke are still in the “get to know” you phase, Maggie acquires a stalker who is intent on doing her grave bodily harm. Undaunted, she and Eve embark on a life changing plan as her and Luke’s mutual attraction leads to some explicitly steamy love scenes.
Luke is a marvelous character but both Maggie and Eve are somewhat obnoxious. Eve is certain she knows what is best and she steamrolls over any and all of Maggie’s objections. Eve’s reactions are also over the top and somewhat ridiculous. Maggie’s romance with Luke would have been much more believable if there had been more time between her breaking down in heaving sobs over Brett’s betrayal and her lightning fast relationship with Luke. It is virtually impossible to buy into their lickety-split romance and headlong plunge into a very physical relationship.
The suspense element is extremely understated since this part of the storyline does not begin until about halfway into the novel. Maggie has no idea why anyone would want to harm her and she is somewhat naive when her past crashes headlong into her present. The resolution of this portion of the plot is quite unexpected once the perpetrator is unmasked.
Solace Island by Meg Tilly has an interesting plot but the pacing is slow and some of the scene transitions are very confusing. Maggie and Eve are bit immature and irritating but they are likable. Luke is surprisingly vulnerable once the truth about his past is revealed. This first installment in the Solace Island series comes to an unanticipated conclusion that will definitely surprise mystery readers.