Title:  Shady Deals  

Author:  Cindy McDonald

Published:  2013 by Acorn Book Services

Genre:  Romantic Suspense

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Kate West and Dr. Holden Reese have put their troubled past behind them and are ready to set a wedding date. There’s only one thing in Holden’s way: a powerful drug Lord at Keystone Downs Thoroughbred Race Track has Holden under his thumb, and he’s not letting go!

Kate’s family is determined to get to the bottom the of horse drugging ring, and when the West’s get too close to the truth the Drug Lord sends them a brutal message that can’t be misinterpreted.  Now Holden is on the run, and he’s dragging Kate with him.

Can he escape his indiscretions?

How long can he keep Kate in the dark?

And how damning will the truth be when it’s finally revealed?

(Blurb from Pump Up Your Book)

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Kate and Holden are not only engaged but she’s his assistant.  Kate’s noticed that Holden is acting really on edge lately; he’s either laid back or up tight, no in between.  Kate pins it on his personality.  But what’s really happening is Holden is stuck in the middle of a drug ring with no way out in sight.  While it’s not where he wants to be, when he tries to distance himself from the other criminals, they threaten Kate, and that just won’t do.

Let me be honest, I was going to quit reading this after two chapters.  I felt like there were so many characters in the beginning and I couldn’t keep them all straight so that made it boring to me.  But then something happened.  I got hooked.  And I finished the book at around 3am the next morning!  I’m so glad I didn’t give up (and it really was only the first two chapters before it picked up for me).  Since Shady Deals is part of a series maybe other readers will already know of the characters beforehand too.   So anyways…

This book is great!   I don’t want to say much more about the plot and give anything away, but there are so many twists and turns.  Not to mention the suspense that kept me up reading until dawn to see what happened!

I read a lot so I don’t always remember authors’ names.  But mentioned in Shady Deals was a familiar character’s name, Jack Haliday.  I was like, I know that name.  Turns out I’ve read, and gave 4 stars to another one of Cindy McDonald’s books, Into the Crossfire, a while back!

So if you’re looking for a book with some romance and suspense, definitely give Shady Deals a try.  Ms. McDonald will keep you on your toes.  Just don’t read it if you have plans early the next morning.

 

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

~Pam

*****I received this book free from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for an honest review.*****     

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About the Author:

For twenty-six years Cindy Mcdonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance: She was a professional dancer/choreographer for most of her adult life and never gave much thought to a writing career until 2005.Suddenly, she felt drawn to her computer to write about things she have experienced (greatly exaggerated upon of course) with her husband’s Thoroughbreds and the happenings at the racetrack.

Why didn’t Cindy write about my experiences with dance? You might ask. “Eh, believe it or not life at the racetrack is more…racy.” Cindy says. “The drama is outrageous—not that dancers don’t know how to create drama, believe me, they do but race trackers just seem to get more down and dirty with it which makes great story telling—great fiction.”

Cindy didn’t start out writing books, The Unbridled Series started out as a TV drama, and the Hollywood readers loved the show. When the series didn’t sell, Cindy recalls, “One of the readers said to me, ‘Cindy, don’t be stupid. Turn your scripts into a book series.’” And so she did!

In May of 2011, Cindy took the big leap and exchanged her dancin’ shoes for a lap top—she retired from dance. “It was a scary proposition,” Cindy confesses. “I was terrified, but I had the full support of my husband, Saint Bill. It has been a huge change for me. I went from dancing hard five hours a night to sitting in front of a computer. I still work-out and I take my dog, Harvey, for a daily run. I have to or I’d be as big as a house.”

Does Cindy McDonald miss dancing? “Sometimes I do,” she says. “I miss my students. I miss choreographing musicals, but I love my books and I love sharing them with readers.”

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***Images and wording for book blurb and about the author were provided by Pump Up Your Book***