SERENDIPITOUS TUESDAYS: EXCERPTING “BEFORE WE MET”

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Today’s featured book is an e-book I downloaded last year; one that has been patiently waiting on Pippa, my Kindle.  Before We Met, by Lucie Whitehouse, is the story of a whirlwind romance.  A picture perfect marriage.  Hannah Reilly has seized her chance at happiness.

Until the day her husband doesn’t come home …

 

 

 

Intro:  The rain was beating down, and out here, where the carriageway was exposed, the wind buffeted Hannah’s old VW as if it were trying to push it off the road.  Usually on a Heathrow run she watched the planes dip down into the airport one after another, barely a minute between them, but tonight the rhythm was broken and it was two minutes, now three, before a new set of lights struggled through the rolling cloud.  She tightened her grip again, checked the mirror and pulled out into the fast lane.

The Holiday Inn loomed up on the left, an ugly concrete tooth in silhouette against the sky, the light from its green neon sign leaching into the wet air.  She took the exit for Terminal Three, the buzz in her stomach intensifying.  Though they were married now, the trip to the airport was still exciting.  She didn’t need to come and meet him; in fact, it would probably be quicker if Mark caught a cab into town, especially on a night like this, but the drive, arrivals, the crush at the barrier—it all reminded them of the time before they got married, when JFK and Heathrow were the poles around which so many of their weekends revolved.

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Teaser:  As she came down Quarrendon Street, the last of her hope disappeared.  If Mark was ever home before her, she arrived to find lights blazing from every window but tonight the house was as dark as she’d left it. (p. 6).

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Blurb:  Hannah, independent, headstrong and determined not to follow in the footsteps of her bitterly divorced mother, has always avoided commitment. But one hot New York summer she meets Mark Reilly, a fellow Brit, and is swept up in a love affair that changes all her ideas about what marriage might mean.

Now, living in their elegant, expensive London townhouse and adored by her fantastically successful husband, she knows she was right to let down her guard.

But when Mark does not return from a business trip to the States and when the hours of waiting for him stretch into days, the foundations of Hannah’s certainty begins to crack. Why do Mark’s colleagues believe he has gone to Paris not America? Why is there no record of him at his hotel? And who is the mysterious woman who has been telephoning him over the last few weeks?

Hannah begins to dig into her husband’s life uncovering revelations that throw into doubt everything she has ever believed about him. As her investigation leads her away from their fairytale romance into a place of violence and fear she must decide whether the secrets Mark has been keeping are designed to protect him, or protect her …

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What do you think?  Would you keep reading?  As I read these excerpts, I had to wonder why I have waited so long to dig into this one.  The only answer I have is that I have too many books, too little time.

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