Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: Chasing Secrets
SERIES: Pelican Bay
AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 310 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2023
BLURB:
Lincoln
I was just there to do my job and then he arrived, and I knew in my gut everything was about to change. Everything…
For former soldier turned nurse practitioner Lincoln Arden, Pelican Bay was supposed to be just another dot on a map, and the crotchety old man he’d been hired to assist in his physical rehabilitation was supposed to be just another patient whose body was slowly giving in to the harsh reality of time.
It was just another job… one in a long list of many. One that lasted only long enough that Lincoln could do what he needed to do and then keep moving. Always moving.
But nothing about the live-in job was like all the others. Not the chaotic group of men who’d made themselves into a family, not the charming old farmhouse that sat in the middle of nowhere, and most certainly not the endless acres of trees, streams, and every other one of Mother Nature’s miracles that reminded him of the beauty of life after being witness to so much death.
He’d done it, though. He’d remained on the outskirts of that family despite the warm welcome they’d offered him from day one, and he hadn’t let his surroundings make him forget that it would be time to move on soon enough.
But then he arrived…
Theo
Returning to Pelican Bay and the past that came with it was the last thing I wanted to do, but “visiting” my former best friend would give me the time I needed to figure out where to disappear to next…
Even though Theo Lancaster had only lived a few towns over from Pelican Bay, returning to the hometown of his one-time best friend in northern Minnesota was like walking through a doorway to the past and the exact moment his life had changed forever.
Simply put, the small, picture-perfect town was the last place he wanted to be, but with no home, no friends or family to lean on, and no money, his choices had been pretty limited. Fortunately, the past that haunted his dreams night after night had prepared him for the moment by turning him into something he’d never thought he would be.
A liar.
A fake.
A fraud.
A man who knew what mask to wear and what words to say to keep the truth at bay.
Hiding his scars, both the ones covering his body and the ones ripping his soul to shreds with each day that passed, was easy. Telling everyone he was okay spilled from his lips as effortlessly as the fake smile that he’d been perfecting for years. Lying about what had happened to him after that fateful day—when the truth about who he really was had been discovered—had been so well rehearsed that sometimes he even managed to fool himself into believing it had all been a terrible dream.
It had been a good plan. Hide out for a few days, come up with a plan of what to do next, and disappear before anyone figured out the truth.
But nowhere in his plans had he even given thought to meeting a gorgeous-as-hell nurse who saw past his lies with ease. A man who knew Theo wasn’t okay and was intent on healing as many of Theo’s scars as he could, both inside and out. A man who wanted the same thing for Theo that he needed for himself.
To stop running.
REVIEW:
Book 5 in the series of Pelican Bay by Ms. Sloane Kennedy. It has been awhile since this series started but this book is worth the wait. It follows a group of men who live in Pelican Bay and those who happen to come into their lives along the way. This is the story of Lincoln Arden, a Nurse Practitioner who takes care of a crotchety old man, Walter, and Theo Lancaster who was the best friend of Ford Cornell before he decided to leave Pelican Bay for good, or so he thought.
Lincoln never thought of staying long in this town and with this newfound family that was everything he was looking for and just never knew it or keep denying himself he needed it. He thought that when his patient is well enough and his own family can take over his care, he would move on to his next patient. He just never counted on meeting Theo who also is just here for a few days to visit his once best friend Ford. He never counted on seeing through the façade that Theo has had practiced perfecting over the years.
Theo is out of a home, a job and had nowhere else to go so he decided to take up Ford on his invitation to come and visit. He planned to just be in Pelican Bay for a few days and then he would quietly leave. But meeting Lincoln and his all-seeing gaze made him want to leave sooner because he cannot risk Ford and Cam finding out who he really is. Theo has had it rough (an understatement) since Ford’s brother found them in the barn all those years ago. His hell started then and he is still there in his mind and heart. He cannot risk getting too attached to this loud and loving family, a family he never thought he wanted.
Both Lincoln and Theo have their respective secrets to hide, but both of them also (deep in their hearts) are looking for someone they can confide in and would understand them for who they are and what they have done before coming to Pelican Bay. They both needed someone who would accept and love them. They both needed someone who would heal them. But before they can get to that part, they both needed to reveal/share some of those secrets and see if the other person would still accept them. Would they risk it?
Ms. Sloane Kennedy, thank you for writing Theo’s story. Thank you for bringing Lincoln into Pelican Bay and be the person that Theo has been looking for all his life. Their story has made me cry over and over again but I think that is what makes Ms. Sloane Kennedy’s books amazing, they make you live those moments with the characters, feel their pain, their strength and that moment when they find what they have been looking for all their lives, it makes it all worthwhile.
RATING: 
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