TBR Challenge: Sandra Brown - Low Pressure

Bellamy Lyston Price was only twelve years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene as well as her memory of one vital fact that still eludes her ...Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a novel based on Susan's murder. It's her first book, and it's an instant sensation. But because the novel is based on the most traumatic event of her life, she's published it under a pseudonym to protect herself and her family. But when a sleazy reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on a real crime, Bellamy's identity - and dark family secrets - are exposed. Suddenly, she finds herself embroiled in a personal conflict and at the mercy of her sister's killer, who for almost two decades has gotten away with murder ...and will stop at nothing to keep it that way.

Comment: Another of Sandra Brown's titles I've had in my TBR list was what I chose for this month's TBR Challenge post. October is about a paranormal or romantic suspense book and I don't think picking a Sandra Brown book would ever be a bad choice. 

In this book we follow Bellamy Price and her attempt to remember what happened to her older sister and why she was murdered when Bellamy was 12. One way to to do was to write a book about it, with an obvious pseudonym but a paparazzi found her out and the public was very receptive except some of the real people she based her characters on.  

As Bellamy and Denton Carter, her sister's boyfriend at the time of her murder, team up to try to understand why some inconsistencies happened and who might be the real killer instead of the man sent to prison for that, problems arise and Bellamy starts getting clues someone must be watching what she does...

Those who have read more than one romantic suspense title by Sandra Brown will know her stories are always richly done, even if the characters sometimes drive us crazy with their attitudes. I think mrs Brown has done quite the transition from the old 80s and 90s romances to these more contemporary suspense titles but her trademark use of a romantic relationship as one of the driving motors of her plots is something I appreciate a lot.

In this book, Bellamy Price is a heroine looking to find a way to get over a traumatic event in her past and her means to vent her need to get past it was to write a book but she didn't count on being discovered, which means her successful book is easily recognized as real by those who lived it. This premise makes it believable that Bellamy will try to uncover what really happened in the past and if the man condemned and sent to prison was actually the killer. I liked Bellamy, she had some traits I like in heroines, such as her sort of reserve and lack of arrogance. I think it played well since the author decided to use her murdered sister as a complete opposite.

The plot is not a very complex one but the aim isn't obviously that and although I couldn't say it for certain, the killer was not a complete surprise. I just think things were tidied up a bit too perfectly but on the other hand it makes sense, through an emotional point of view. Bellamy and Denton's attempts were quite valid and the whole notion of the crime, why it existed in the first place has all reason if one considers the negative aspects of the human flaws and why some people have such a huge amount of them and others, thankfully, don't.

The romance is a heavy subject explored in the author's books and I really liked to see the evolution of Bellamy and Denton's relationship, how little by little they developed a connection. It was especially rewarding to see things between them weren't easy or simple and, personally, I appreciated the author didn't dramatize how the past between Denton and Bellamy's older sister could be used to emphasize how things are with Bellamy now. I also liked how the sexual tension was described between Bellamy and Denton, in this the author never fails to deliver.

The HEA is subtle and not on your face, but the notion they are in love is there and leaves a lot to the imagination.

There are little things I didn't like as much but we're talking about a detail here, another there and the piling up does make me wrinkle my nose in some moments but overall this was fascinating and engaging as most books I've read by her and just the idea of spending some time reading her books is enough to make me feel it's a positive experience so...added to the fact I liked he plot, this is one of the books by her I liked the best. Not close to the ones I found perfect but right after those perfect ones in my list. Therefore, recommended for sure.

Grade: 8/10