*Blog Tour & Review* Murder Notes by Lisa Renee Jones

As an FBI profiler, it’s Lilah Love’s job to think like a killer. And she is very good at her job. When a series of murders surface—the victims all stripped naked and shot in the head—Lilah’s instincts tell her it’s the work of an assassin, not a serial killer. But when the case takes her back to her hometown in the Hamptons and a mysterious but unmistakable connection to her own life, all her assumptions are shaken to the core.

Thrust into a troubled past she’s tried to shut the door on, Lilah’s back in the town where her father is mayor, her brother is police chief, and she has an intimate history with the local crime lord’s son, Kane Mendez. The two share a devastating secret, and only Kane understands Lilah’s own darkest impulses. As more corpses surface, so does a series of anonymous notes to Lilah, threatening to expose her. Is the killer someone in her own circle? And is she the next target?

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I scan the ocean, expecting it to turn to blood, but it simply crashes to the shore.

I turn to the house and take a step, then stop abruptly, a shadow flickering by the house. A shiver runs down my spine. There it is again. Another shadow. Someone is there. It’s then that I flash back to being on this very sand, with Kane grabbing my arms and saying, “I’ll take care of it.” And I let him, and did so without asking questions, until it was too late to change the outcome. Because I was weak that night and he was strong. But I am not weak anymore.

I pull my weapon and start running for the house, wind in my hair and face, my heart thundering in my ears, and I don’t stop until I’m staring at the blood splattered all over the patio glass, some kind of note pinned in the center. Adrenaline surges through me, but I am in my Otherworld now. I retain my cool. I walk to the patio door, using the end of my shirt to open the door, and then I systematically search every inch of the house. When I know I’m alone, I walk to my bag, pull on gloves and then walk back outside, yanking the note off the door. Returning back inside, I lock the door and pull the blinds and then I open the note. At the top is the alphabet, pasted in paper letters, with an X across the letter A. The note reads:

I KNOW.

To celebrate the release of MURDER NOTES Lisa is giving away TWO Lilah Love Mugs PLUS a Kindle Fire Tablet!

ENTER TO WIN HERE ➜ https://www.lilahlove.com/giveaway.html

My Review

When I start into a book I typically don’t expect anything to surprise me anymore. I have read it all, within my cute little romance genre bubble I live in and typical limit myself too, and nothing really pulls me out of my comfort zone anymore. I read a book and love it, but could never really tell you what truly made it unique and set it apart from the other 900 books I’ve read in the past 6 years. Well let me tell you, when I first had Murder Notes land on my kindle, I was apprehensive about jumping right in, knowing it’s out of my genre, but once I did I was so enthralled with this story I just don’t even know how to review it. First off, it’s some of Lisa’s best work. It’s so out of her normal genre she even writes, that I was pleasantly surprised how great it truly was. When you get into the mystery/suspense book type, it really must be very well thought out and planned. You can’t just throw anything together and make it work. Especially with this book and the start of this series, you can just feel Lisa did her homework on this type of story and it shows so brilliantly in her words!

In the first book of the Lilah Love series, Murder Notes, we get the story from our main characters POV. She is sent back to her home town to track down a killer. Lilah is an FBI Profiler and has avoided coming home at all costs. Until her investigation leads her right back to the beaches she’s tried so hard to avoid. When back in town she is also faced with her ex, Kane Mendez. He’s a crime boss and the farthest thing from what she wants or needs in her life. The pair share a past that unfolds within this story and as things start to unravel and more bodies end up in front of Lilah, she begins to question his involvement and her own personal connection to this case.

While we see little romance in this book, it’s there in a very minuscule way. The past begins to expose itself to us as the reader and the secrets you learn about her and Kane’s past do hold something over her. She begins to question it all and wonder if she’s going to be the killers’ next victim. The whole book is very much thoughts in her head vs. a lot of dialog, which as a speed reader was an adjustment for me, but once I learned the pace of Lisa’s writing in this book I feel right into a reading rhythm that was easy to breeze through.  Bravo for this original and fun suspense that kept even the most dedicated of romance readers fully captivated!

In addition to the success of Lisa’s INSIDE OUT series, she has published many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists. Lisa is also the author of the bestselling DIRTY MONEY and WHITE LIES series. Presently, Lisa is working on her Murder Girl/Lilah Love series to be published by Montlake.

Prior to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.