Review: Fault Lines by Rebecca Rogers Maher (novella)

Sarah Murphy plans other people's weddings. She's gorgeous and successful, but she also carries a dark secret.

At one of her events, she meets Joe Sullivan, a sexy photographer with a difficult past of his own. When he snaps a rare unguarded photograph of her and captures the real person hiding behind the facade, she feels exposed. To restore the upper hand, she tries to do what she always does: use sex to defuse the situation.

While Joe is eager to deepen his relationship with Sarah, he's aware of her emotional shield and the way she disconnects from her body. Seeing her at her most vulnerable doesn't scare him off, but he needs to know what she's hiding.

Sarah has a tough decision to make. Does she want to go on living a lonely, emotionally frozen life? Or can she finally risk revealing the truth and move forward with Joe?

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Source: Purchased

Review: I was so impressed with Rebecca Rogers Maher’s novella,The Bridge (one of my top 2013 reads), that I knew I was going to have to check out everything else she had written.

The summary & cover for Fault Lines is largely off target. While there is a romance, this is not a romance story. Joe and Sarah meet and hookup but he’s a catalyst for breaking open feelings that Sarah has long locked away, not the main focus.

Frankly, I was relieved. It’s clear early on what Sarah’s traumatic past is and I just hate when an author tries to *hot sex* a broken character out of sexual trauma. There is hot sex, and I was worried at first. But then Maher turns that trope on it’s head and instead uses the feelings it evokes in her to rip Sarah’s carefully constructed world wide open so the real healing can begin. For me, there was a perfect balance of romance and  healing.

This is a novella, but as with The Bridge, there is no detour or quick fix. Sarah has to make some heartbreaking decisions that leave her raw and vulnerable.

Joe is wonderful, patient and supportive but only one piece of the puzzle that includes an elderly woman, her best friend and a very complicated relationship with her mother and uncle. 

I’m not gonna lie – this was a tough one to read. I had a friend from high school who went through this situation and I can tell you that Maher nailed it. There was no sugarcoating, yet Sarah’s journey was quite brave and in the end, hopeful.

The truth is, as much as I complain about angst overload in books these days, I find that I don’t mind it when it’s handled well. Maher is becoming my go to author when I’m looking for sexy, honest, thought provoking stories.