Love in Suspense: 'Burying Water' by K.A. Tucker
From USA TODAY bestselling author K.A. Tucker comes Burying Water, the story of a girl who's adrift in the vastness of her empty thoughts. Her identity forgotten. Her memories buried in the deep recesses of her mind. Her body, broken and bruised and just barely alive. Left for dead, our Jane Doe personifies resilience as she wakes to a life bereft of anyone she knows, with permanent reminders of a brutal act she can't recall.
My memory — my life — isn't simply riddled with holes. It has been sucked into a black hole, leaving nothing but this battered husk behind, my mind spinning but unable to gain traction.
She decides to give herself the name of Water … a word that somehow resonates deep inside and is seemingly meaningful as evidenced by a tattoo that links her to a past she can't remember. Helped by her doctor's family, Water moves in with a crotchety neighbor of theirs who has experienced the same kind of violence. Her memories continue to seem out of reach, until she feels an unexpected pang of familiarity with her doctor's son, Jesse. But despite his intense gaze settling on her often, he is never around for her to chase that feeling down.
... the truth is like water: it doesn't matter how hard you try to bury it; it'll always find some way back to the surface. It's resilient.
Jesse can barely contain himself and the raging turmoil of emotions every time he sees Water. There are so many things that should stay buried. Mistakes. Fear. Memories best forgotten. And although Water seems to be making his small town of Sisters a home, he fears she will never be safe from a past that has gripped her mercilessly for so long. A past that dictates he must stay away for her own protection. But the closer they get, the less he can retain his control, and what he's tried so hard to bury threatens to burst through the surface.
Maybe the truth is that we were meant to find each other. A simple truth that would have kept finding its way to us, no matter which path I tried to turn down.
The novel alternates between various perspectives, past and present, Jesse and Water, as we piece together a history that inches closer to the savage truth of what happened when she was left to die in an abandoned lot. This is a stirring story of being trapped in an impossible situation, of falling in love and desperately wanting to break free. Of starting anew when one feels irreparably broken. Of choosing resilience over fear. Courage over desperation. K.A. Tucker pens a story quite different from her Ten Tiny Breaths series, but a story that encapsulates all the emotion, solid character development and addictive engagement we've come to expect.
I am lost and yet somehow found.
I am afraid and yet somehow comforted.
I am drifting and yet somehow... home.
You can find out more about K.A. Tucker and her books at www.katuckerbooks.com.
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Vilma Gonzalez is a blogger, reader, marketer, wife and mom. She has an insatiable appetite for happily ever afters and a deep love of the written word. You can find more about her and read full book reviews at Vilma's Book Blog. Please e-mail Vilma at loveinsuspense@gmail.com about content related to this column. Due to the volume of mail, e-mails may not be answered personally, but all will be read.