Whispering Oaks by Stephanie Shea: Book Review

Whispering Oaks by Stephanie Shea is a new adult, romantic suspense novel.

Cassidy Linden’s life has been turned on it head when she gets home late one night to discover that her 17 year old sister Emily has gone missing.

Determined to not fall apart she goes back to her bartending job where she meets and falls into bed with the rich, beautiful and enigmatic Ashlyn Castille. What was meant as a one night stand quickly shifts when she discovers Ashlyn’s brother Chuck is her sister’s boyfriend, who is also missing.

With the police not making any progress and the fates of both their families are entwined, is Ashlyn using her wealth to protect her brother, or can Cassidy trust Ashlyn to help her find Emily?

Pros And My Favourite Parts

Stephanie Shea is a great writer and it’s easy to get sucked into the book and keep turning the page. This is a light suspense with a good dash of mystery and is a quick read, perfect if you are looking for something entertaining that’s not going to take too long to get through.

Cons And Heads Up

The mystery element was a little light for me, but I do tend to read more hard-core mysteries so that is more about my own expectation than the book itself.

The Conclusion

Whispering Oaks is a great book for readers who love romantic suspense or who enjoy more mainstream romances but like to dip their toes into not-too-dark thrillers every now and then.

Excerpt from Whispering Oaks by Stephanie Shea

She’d grown up in the suburbs of Buffalo Grove, in the same house at the center of the cul-de-sac off Whispering Oaks Drive. In the last week, she’d grown to resent the quiet even more.

The police had nothing. No suspects. No witnesses. They weren’t a single step closer to finding out what had happened to Emily. That was the thing with these places. Ask about the latest gossip and it would come in hoards. Ask about something important, and no one had seen a damn thing.

Cassidy pushed the duvet off her and swung her legs over the edge of her bed. Her eyes flicked to the adjoined bathroom before she quickly decided against going in. She’d already spent too much time getting lost in the rings around her eyes, their vacancy, while her mind went over and over the details of just how much she didn’t know about her own little sister. They barely even talked when she was away for school, which was pretty much all the time. Now Emily was gone, and Cassidy was useless.

Sliding her phone into the pocket of her sweatshirt, she stood and started toward the stairs. She was already expecting to find Mom in the kitchen, untouched cup of tea on the counter in front of her, book open to a page she’d most likely been staring at all night. Dad would be up by now too, no doubt getting dressed to go to the police department only to hear some version of the explanation both he and Cassidy had been given three days ago.

“Matt, we’re doing everything we can. Unfortunately, there were no signs of a struggle. No foreign DNA on her phone. The rose petals are an enigma, but we’re working on it. We’ll contact you as soon as we have something.”

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