Storm Warning by Elizabeth Goddard is the first novel of the Hidden Bay series. Don’t start this book when you have other things that need doing. From start to finish, the story is on the move with action, intrigue and emotional intensity. Goddard manages to write a book with almost no down time for characters to meander around waiting for something to happen.

The two main characters, Remi Grant and Hawk Beckett, have secrets they have kept. It seems that most of the other characters in the book are hiding from or just hiding something. Some of these unknowns are revealed and many are kept hidden from readers. The next book in the series is bound to address some, but the author has a way of allowing her characters their privacy and not feeling as though every character has to share his or her private details.

Another appealing aspect of Elizabeth Goddard’s writing is how she can craft a story around an amazing setting without taking away from the events of the book. Goddard draws the reader to the setting and at the same time emphasizes the situation or events occurring with the characters. Readers who are looking for a book with lots of action and uncertainty will enjoy this and those who appreciate a little romance thrown in will like it too.

Review of an Advance Reader Copy

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None

Violence/Gore: Many scenes where gunfire is exchanged, some include blood; multiple scenes in which characters are threatened and cut with a knife; several scenes where characters strike one another and threaten to kill one another; a character recalls a woman killing her spouse in self-defense, no details; characters are involved in a deliberate car accident; several kidnappings in which the victims are tied up; a character is injected with some type of poison.

Sex/Nudity: Very vague reference to something that happened in someone’s past, it could be inferred that the situation involved a sexual attack, but it is not directly implied; non-married characters embrace and kiss.

Mature Subjects:

Post-traumatic stress disorder, death of family members, terrorism.

Drug/Alcohol Use:

Person is injected with something in a syringe, it could have been drugs.