A Stranger's Secret by Laurie Alice Eakes

From the publisher:

As a grieving widow, Morwenna only wants to make a life for herself and her young son at her murdered husband’s estate. Until an unconscious man washes up on her shore, entangling her in a web of mysteries that threatens everything she holds dear.

Still grieving the loss of her husband, Morwenna Penvenan fills her days preserving her son’s heritage: the dilapidated estate his father left them. But all attempts at restoration are thwarted when she is accused of deliberately causing ships to crash on her shore in order to steal their cargo. While seeking clues to the true culprits, she finds an unconscious man wearing a medallion with the Penvenan crest enameled upon it.

Upon learning of his father’s death, David pursues answers to the many questions left in his father’s wake: Why was his father in Cornwall when he said he would be in Scotland? Why did he die in possession of a medallion belonging to a prominent Cornwall family? Why did his father take money from the family’s ship-building business? And why did someone kill him? Only after waking up at the Penvenan estate under Morwenna’s care do the pieces start falling together.

As David recovers in Morwenna’s house, they grow to care about one another, while knowing each have reasons to distrust the other. The closer they work together, the more they learn how their lives—and mysteries—are entwined. As the past continues to intrude on their lives, they must learn to ask the Lord and others for help or risk losing each other and maybe even losing their lives.

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This is the second book in the Cliffs of Cornwall series.  I highly recommend reading the first book before this one.  While you can read this one alone, there will be certain characters and references that will be confusing if you have not read the previous book.

Laurie Alice Eakes creates a mystery romance.  There are strange things happening and the reader will be eager to know what is going to happen in the end.  The mystery is for both David and Morweena--and their lives are intertwined.  There is tension between David and Morweena, distrust and yet attraction.  I felt that this went back and forth too long in the book and it just seemed to tie up neatly at the end.  I felt it was drawn out.

In the first book and second of this series the grandparents are difficult characters.  On one hand you respect and admire them, but on the other hand they seem to have learned nothing from the first book and are still trying to force other people to do things their ways.  

The mystery and suspense will engage some readers and the romance others.  

I received this book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.