Don't Tell
4 Stars

Synopsis:
The victim of horrendous abuse at the hands of her police officer husband, Gracie Winters saved her own life and that of her young son by staging their deaths. Nine years later, Gracie has reinvented herself as Caroline Stewart and is on the verge of falling in love and trusting a man again. But Caroline’s past is about to catch up with her and the threat could cost not only her newfound relationship but her very life.

Review:
The suspense is excellent and makes this a worthwhile read. However, the romance is a little bland and the primary characters can be aggravating at times.

Rose does an incredible job imparting the feelings of terror, anguish and shame associated with domestic abuse. While the scenes are brutally realistic and difficult to read about, they grab the reader by the throat and make it easy to empathize with the heroine and her amazing courage and determination. They also emphasize the danger posed by the villain, who is enough to make your skin crawl.

In general, Max and Caroline are likeable characters with good chemistry but they also tended to rub me the wrong way. Max is too quick to anger and wallow in self-pity, and Caroline tends to jump to conclusions. Moreover, their arguments become tedious after a while and contribute nothing to their relationship. The secondary characters are far more engaging, especially Max’s brother, Caroline best friend and the agent investigating the case. All of these characters have books of their own in the series and I look forward to reading their stories.

Rose’s writing is fast-paced and compelling, and the action sequence at the end is exciting. As mentioned in other reviews, the plot of is reminiscent of the film Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts. So if you are a fan of the movie you will definitely enjoy this book. ( )

After picking up a few Karen Rose books at a local church fair, we started to collect the whole series as I do like to start at the beginning, even when the books are not necessarily linked. So I contentedly started at the beginning with Karen Rose’s debut novel from 2003, Don’t Tell.

This is a really riveting debut based around a story of domestic violence and police brutality. Although it is a difficult subject matter, it is told with courage and strength that I believe would give hope to many abused women. Mary Grace Winters took her final beating from her husband, Rob and hatched a plan for her and her son, Robbie, to escape. With the help of a woman’s refuge, Mary Grace and Robbie became Caroline and Tom and started their new lives. Rob thinks they are dead until Mary Grace’s car is recovered from a lake but there are no bodies. Rob then goes on the hunt to find his wife and son, and God help anyone who gets in his way.

It was difficult to read sometimes as we learned of Mary Grace and Robbie’s past and I must admit that if it was a film I would have closed my eyes at times. Karen Rose has created a truly detestable character in Rob Winters; he doesn’t have an ounce of compassion in his body. What I did find interesting was when Rob’s colleagues were asked if they noticed any injuries to Mary Grace. It is true that sometimes people choose what they want to see; they don’t see it because they can’t believe that a policeman who has sworn to protect and serve would use his wife as a punch bag. Unfortunately there are probably many violent people who hide behind masks of respectability.

I rocketed through this book as it was so fast paced and gripping. I am so pleased that I have many more Karen Rose books to look forward to. ( )

It took 3 years for me to finish it but I finally got it finished. It was about a woman named Caroline (Mary Grace) that faked her and her sons death to get away from her abusive asshole cop of a husband. He finds out that she had faked their deaths and goes on the hunt for them, killing several people in the process. It was such a good book, it just took so long because every time I would pick the book up Winters would piss me off so badly I didn't want to pick it back up. ( )

Don't Tell
4 Stars

Synopsis:
The victim of horrendous abuse at the hands of her police officer husband, Gracie Winters saved her own life and that of her young son by staging their deaths. Nine years later, Gracie has reinvented herself as Caroline Stewart and is on the verge of falling in love and trusting a man again. But Caroline’s past is about to catch up with her and the threat could cost not only her newfound relationship but her very life.

Review:
The suspense is excellent and makes this a worthwhile read. However, the romance is a little bland and the primary characters can be aggravating at times.

Rose does an incredible job imparting the feelings of terror, anguish and shame associated with domestic abuse. While the scenes are brutally realistic and difficult to read about, they grab the reader by the throat and make it easy to empathize with the heroine and her amazing courage and determination. They also emphasize the danger posed by the villain, who is enough to make your skin crawl.

In general, Max and Caroline are likeable characters with good chemistry but they also tended to rub me the wrong way. Max is too quick to anger and wallow in self-pity, and Caroline tends to jump to conclusions. Moreover, their arguments become tedious after a while and contribute nothing to their relationship. The secondary characters are far more engaging, especially Max’s brother, Caroline best friend and the agent investigating the case. All of these characters have books of their own in the series and I look forward to reading their stories.

Rose’s writing is fast-paced and compelling, and the action sequence at the end is exciting. As mentioned in other reviews, the plot of is reminiscent of the film Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts. So if you are a fan of the movie you will definitely enjoy this book. ( )

It wasn't really bad but I really didn't like the main characters and perhaps the author could had made a lot of scenes more interesting and briefer. But I loved Thatcher, David and Toni, a pity the third one doesn't seem to have a book where she is the heroine, I would read it for sure!

I'm not sure, though, if I'll give this author another chance... ( )