Genre: Romantic Suspense
Description
Arianna Santorini has had a hard life. Abandoned by her husband, left alone to raise their child for six long years, she’s made the best of things.
Then, she meets Luke Blackwood. Initially, he seems perfect, strong, kind, understanding and loving, everything she could possibly want.
But, Luke has a secret, he’s rich, very rich, and Arianna has a deep-seated prejudice against wealthy men, believing it turns them into men like her husband, manipulative, arrogant, bullies.
When she finds out the truth about Luke, her first response is to send him away, harden her heart to what might have been.
Then the worst thing that can happen to a parent, happens to Arianna, and the one person who can help her, is the one she’s vowed never to see again.
Sometimes, you have to lose everything, to find what’s really important…
A fast-paced, punchy, rollercoaster of a read, Lost & Found is one story you won’t forget in a hurry
Extract
The house looked still; empty even, yet the watching man knew the occupants had not left. As the two men in black, with hooded, empty, eyes and firm, unsmiling, mouths, crossed the road to his vantage point, he gestured impatiently.
“Took your bloody time, didn’t you?” he grumbled. The men merely looked at him, something in their expressions forcing a shiver of fear down his spine.
“Are they in there?” one of them snapped.
“Yeah,” the private eye nodded. “The woman and the kid, they’re still in there. I haven’t seen the kid since they went in, but, I did see the woman look out the front window a few minutes ago…”
“The woman is unimportant,” interrupted the second man in black. “Only the child matters.”
“So, what you gonna do with them?” he asked uneasily, not at all sure he wanted to know.
“That is not your concern,” they studied him dispassionately, the chill down his spine turned to icy cold fear, at the underlying menace he saw in their eyes.
“Right,” he mumbled, suddenly wishing to be as far away from them as possible. “I’ll be off then,” he continued. “I’ll send the invoice to the usual place, shall I?”
“Yes,” they agreed, seemed to dismiss him, attention focused on the house and its vulnerable occupants. He had a sudden memory of the woman and the child, as they’d looked when he’d last seen them, going into the house, loaded down with shopping bags, laughing together, the woman’s hand resting gently on the top of the child’s shining, dark, head as she’d fumbled for keys and let them in.
Swallowing down the foolhardy, although brave, protest which welled up in his throat, instead, he turned and walked away, feeling small and cowardly for simply abandoning them to their fate. Ultimately knowing, the two in black wouldn’t hesitate to kill him, should he even think of lifting a finger to help the doomed woman and child.
They watched him go.
“Will he be trouble?” one asked.
The other shook his head. “No,” his lip curled in disdain. “He’s too worried about his own skin to cause any trouble.”
Karen’s Magic Review
I absolutely loved this story. It is book 1 of the Blackwood series and book 2 Fixture and Fittings is already out. They tell the story of the Blackwood family and each one is standalone, so you don’t need to read them in any order. Personally, I do like to start at the beginning.
It’s been a while since I read it and reading the extract above it is coming back to me. I love a story that has a bit of everything and this certainly does. Romance, intrigue and mystery to name but a few.
The author Julia Blake, has a wonderful way with words and her description made me feel like I was right there with the characters.
You can read my review here.
Karen J. Mossman 
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