Feature book: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Cynthia Terelst

Subgenre: contemporary romance
Release date: 30 Jun 2020
Publisher: self-published
Format: ebook and print
Length: 214 pages
RRP: $4.99 (ebook); $22.75 (print)

Who likes a treasure hunt? As in a real life, running-around-in-person treasure hunt?

Lawyer Tara Hill does. She and her brother Zac used to do them all the time when they were growing up. One of them even led her to finding a sweet new puppy—the best treasure hunt prize of her life.

She’s now been approached to do another treasure hunt. She’ll be given a random partner, and there is an eventual pot of six million dollars for the winners.

Six million dollars! Which means three million each. Wow. I just became a convert to treasure hunts.

Tara’s checked it out and the treasure hunt is totally legit, so she’s totally in. That money will go a long way to help the Foundation she’s established, aiding vulnerable young people in their fight against drugs.

Readers, you do sense that there’s something a bit off kilter in Tara’s life. She seems vulnerable, emotional, and utterly compelled to continue her care for these young people; utterly driven to raise the money for practical help and counselling. Gradually, you find out why.

To her surprise and dismay, she’s teamed up with another lawyer, Shepherd Bell III, the last person she expected to ever see again. They studied together in the US five years previously and fell madly in love. After the final exams Shepherd got high on drugs at a party, the very action that pushes Tara’s hot super-distress buttons. Distraught when she spotted him acting out, she about-faced and left the party, and Shepherd, and then the country to return to Australia, without a word of explanation.

Her actions shattered Shepherd, who now hopes to discover the reason she dumped him and ran. Maybe then he can get on with his life. Five years have passed, but it seems he still loves her.

There are some surprising and poignant twists and turns in this story as Tara and Shepherd dance around each other with their volatile, intense relationship. I also absolutely loved the actual treasure hunt, set in and around Sydney.

What a terrific second-chance-at-love story.

Reviewed by Malvina

A review copy of this book was provided by the author.