First Chapter Review: A Shore of Secrets by Megan Johns

I had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Johns earlier this month. You can catch our interview here. She kindly forwarded the first chapter of her book, A Shore of Secrets, a contemporary romance set in Italy for my review.

BLURB:  Italia! Oh Italia! Thou who hast the fatal gift of beauty.’ Byron

And Venice is exquisite. Nor is the beauty confined to the place. Hotelier Giovanni Renaldi is tall, dark, and devilishly handsome. Yet holiday representative Abi seems immune to his charms. Crossed in love, she’s in no hurry to fall again. Plus his arrogance is so infuriating.

Surely the discomforting feelings he evokes can only be guilt at covering for his naive sister’s secret lover?

When passion finally wins through, the thrill of their lovemaking is soon wrecked. Giovanni, proud and fierce defender of his family since inheriting the role of patriarch, is enraged to learn Abi has colluded with his sister.

But Abi quickly discovers her secrecy is nothing compared to Giovanni’s. As the family’s closely guarded secrets begin to unfold, she is sucked against her will into their internal wrangling.

Is nothing what it seems in this clandestine community?

And can love triumph over the turmoil of scarred lives?

COVER: Simply beautiful. The beach with the clouds rolling in and the darkly handsome man contrasting against the paler and equally attractive woman definitely makes you want to peek inside.

FIRST CHAPTER: Awakened early one morning for an emergency at Hotel Umberto, Abi, a holiday representative, is quickly put off by Giovanni Renaldi's handling of the situation. Why is he even there when he's a rival of the hotel's owner? Her day quickly goes from bad to worse when she must file a report on the events at Umberto but she has no idea what really happened and Renaldi isn't sharing much. Then she is forced to cope with meeting later in the day with a client where she again runs into the infuriating Renaldi.

KEEP READING: Sure. I have to admit to being a tiny bit confused because there were several characters introduced in this first chapter, but as I read along things started to fall into place. Abi bristles right away when she runs into Renaldi outside the Hotel Umberto and can't seem to get any information from him. You know this is setting up to be a powerful romance when a smooth-talking, secretive handsome man and a lovely, feisty woman who is supposed to be immune to his charms get together. Sparks are destined to fly.

While I'm not sure where this is going, I know I want to take the journey.

File Size: 380 KB
Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing (May 22, 2013)
ISBN 978-1-77127-330-5

I received the first chapter of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.