Don't Say a Word

by Barbara Freethy

Planning an elaborate San Francisco wedding, Julia DeMarco stumbles upon a photograph of a foreign orphange and a little girl who bears a striking resemblance to herself, and joins forces with sexy photographer Alex Manning to uncover the truth about her own identity, a quest that could change--or destroy--her life forever. Original.

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Thriller

396 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Barbara's love of writing developed out of a love of reading. Growing up in an all-boy neighborhood, she spent quite a bit of time reading through her mother's large library, many of which were romantic novels. After graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara, she went into Public Relations, but soon discovered that writing was her true passion.

Barbara was traditionally published for many years, then formed her own publishing company FOG CITY PUBLISHING in 2011 and has since sold over 10 million books! She has published 75 novels ranging from mystery thrillers to romantic suspense and contemporary romance.

Her book SUMMER SECRETS was a #1 New York Times bestseller! And twenty-five other novels have also appeared on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists. She is currently writing two ongoing series, a contemporary romance series set in Whisper Lake and a romantic suspense series: Off The Grid: FBI Series. She is also known for her bestselling Callaway Family Series, which offers up fourteen books and two novellas.

When Barbara isn't writing or publishing, which isn't very often these days, she is playing tennis, hanging out with friends and family in beautiful Lake Tahoe or reading books!

For a complete list of her books, visit her website!

Reviews

[JudiAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strolling through a Russian Art Museum, Julia is enchanted by a photograph of a small orphan girl who is holding onto to an iron fence and she has a necklace exactly like hers when she was a child. With a closer look she sees that this photograph has a resemblance to pictures of her when she was very young. She dismisses the thoughts that she might have been adopted. The picture stays on her mind and she knows she has to track down the photographer and then she meets Alex. The picture was taken by Alex’s father and he made Alex promise to never talk about it. Curiosity overwhelms Alex and Julia and as soon as they start their investigation they try to push off the feelings they have for each other. The deeper they dig the more truth comes to the surface and little do they know they are causing an American and Russian dangerous uproar that may involve their lives.

I wavered back and forth giving this 3 stars or 4 and settled on 3.5 rounded up to 4. I usually am not attracted to romance novels but I did like this one because there was an interesting mystery that went with it and I loved the complex Russian plot of the story. Some of the Alex and Julia attraction and trying to not admit it, was melodramatic and predictable but there were never any explicit sex scenes. This is not a YA book but I think teen girls might love it. Definitely a good beach read!

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you ever have a book that you cannot understand why you keep reading? This was that book for me.

I initially picked up this book because I needed something that didn't require much thought after a long weekend, during which I had been a bridesmaid in a wedding. The plot sounded great, a little romance, a little mystery, some suspense. Within the first few pages I was SHOCKED at the writing. The sentences were too simple and there were no segways between sections.

The characters were barely believable, I did not feel a connection to any of them.

But I plugged on because *damnit* I had posted that I was reading this on Goodreads. BLAST!

This short book took me three days to read. For most people that might be fast but for me that is excruciatingly slow. This book frustrated me so much that I :gasp: found myself turning on the TV rather than reading.

I found the entire plot to be predictable and strangely paced.

I was hoping that this would be similar to a book I still remember from when I read it way back in middle school about a girl who saw a picture of herself on the back of a milk carton. No such luck. I really cannot recommend this to anyone. There are better romantic, suspense authors out there. Guess I just need to stick to my guilty pleasure author, Nora Roberts.

[Foxfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first three quarters of the book. Cracking pace, great suspense, and a bit of romance that fitted nicely into the story without taking over from the suspense.

Then came the ending - the final denouement - and everything fell flat. Things didn't fully make sense, and a lot was left unexplained. I was very disappointed that the solution was not up the standard I had expected after the excellent build-up.

I would have liked to see the characters mature a bit more in the course of the story. The heroine and the hero are both very selfish people, but they constantly criticize others for only looking after their own interests. I would have liked the hero and heroine to wake up a little and look at their own behaviour - the hero with his mother in particular. It is hinted that he has always been cruel to her without proper justification, but he does nothing to recognize the error of his ways or make up for them.

The writing is simple, easy to read. The constant use of clichés might bother some readers. It gets a bit wearisome, how something flashes in people's eyes when they understand something, and their mouths flatten when they are annoyed, and a pulse jumps at their throat when they are angry. And their hearts begin to race and skip a beat a lot. I was fine with it, although the constant use of these expressions became distracting when I started to look out for them

This was my first book by this author. I will definitely look for more.

[Kathy Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Freethy sure knows how to write a mystery/thriller. I was engaged from the very first page and hardly set the book down until I had finished it. It was a good story, but the reason for only 4 stars is the somewhat graphic, gratuitous sex

Julia Demarco is planning her wedding when she comes upon a photograph taken 25 years previously of a three-year-old toddler in a Russian orphanage. The young girl in the photograph looks remarkably like Julia, especially since the child is wearing a swan necklace just like one in Julia's possession. Julia realizes she doesn't really know much about her early childhood, and thus our mystery begins.

Julia learns the picture was taken by renowned photographer Charles Manning. After searching for him to get some answers as to the little Russian girl's identity, Julia learns from Alex, Manning's son, that Charles is dead. However, together the two of them search for the answers to Julia 's questions amidst danger and threats. Her need to get answers jeopardizes her engagement and her relationship with her younger sister. Just how far is she willing to go to solve this mystery? In addition, there is her growing attraction to Alex.

The story has some unexpected twists and turns. An enjoyable read.

[Ewa ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read earlier Angel Bay series, so I knew how to write Barbara, so I bought this book without thinking. So I thought, because I expected a romance, not a romantic thriller. It was a very nice surprise. Such that I could not break away from the book. Every now and then something happened, there were new questions, riddles.
I really need to be more familiar with the standalone books of Barbara Freethy, because they are worth it.

[Bette Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-plotted and fast paced with twists & turns for a number of surprises.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. It was a fun and exciting read. Julia is engaged and her fiance wants to get going with the wedding plans. Julia's sisters suggests a museum for the wedding. While Julia and Michael are at the museum to meet with someone, she sees a picture of a young girl that closely resembles her. She looks up the photographer and discovers that he died years ago, but his son lives in the area. When Julia and Alex meet, the story takes off. Julia not only discovers she may not be who she really thinks she is, but she has family she did not know about. She breaks the engagement with Michael. Both Julia and Alex's house/apartment are broken in to, they are being followed, they travel and meet people to try to uncover the truth and there are many twists and turns along the way. Julia and Alex have multiple hurdles to get over as their romance ignites. I don't want to say too much for fear of giving spoilers - you'll have to read it yourself. If you are looking for some action with romance, this book is for you. I highly recommend it.

[jenjn79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm....this book is a somewhat good. It's worth reading if you can't seem to find anything else to read. I read it a month or two ago, so the details are a little fuzzy. There was something about it that I didn't like, but I can't remember. Overall, it had an interesting storyline. It's about a woman who sees an old photograph at an art exhibition of an orphaned Russian child, and the child had a strong resemblance to her when she was little. She tries to unravel the mystery by joining forces with the photographers son. So anyway, if you run out of interesting books to read, this might be good.

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 3 out of 5]

For overall plot I'd give this a 4 but the romance didn't do it for me. I'd give it more of a 2.5. I didn't feel the chemistry between the hero and heroine and I really didn't like the heroine and her selfishness. But the story itself kept me interested to the end.

[Kim Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ordered this book by accident on my kindle and decided to give it a chance. I wasn't sorry I did. There was much to like in this book. I would give it about a 3.5 stars, but decided to round up.

I liked the beginning part very much. While the characters were a little two-dimensional, it was still an improvement over the one-dimensional characters you see in most romance novels. At least these characters had some tastes and traits. I also liked the fact that the "dumped" character--a nice guy--had hope for romance in the future. I was intrigued about what was going on and read it very fast.

The problems for me came in the second half of the book. The dialogue became a bit "speechy," which is a big turn off for me. There were many instances of characters chiding each other for not following their dreams, living in the past or whatever and it got tedious. The bigger problem was the suspense plot, though. It was very farfetched and the characters seemed to under-react to some big revelations about missing or forgotten family members. I don't want to give away any spoilers so I won't get more specific than that.

Overall, this was a better-than-average suspense/romance novel and I'd recommend it to those who like that genre.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oy, where do I start? First, the grade here is for the content of the book. If I were grading the entire reading experience, I'm sure we'd probably get into negative stars. So, first the content. Skip the later stuff if you don't care about the rest of my bitching.

Okay, this story was just awful. Every trite cliche was contained in this one little story. What bothered me the most? The sister not wanting Julia to find out about her past made NO SENSE to me. The boyfriend made slightly more sense, but it was still stupid. The sister not wanting to get to know her new-found grandmother made NO SENSE at all. The 180 Julia went through once she decided to look into this crap was ridiculous. There wasn't enough made of her pre-search life to make that switch make sense at all. Just, ug. I did finish this, so it gets at least 2 stars.

Now on to the rest. First, the format. I read this as an ebook. The formatting on it was HORRIBLE. I think they scanned this in from a book copy. There were parts where the page numbers or the author's name were stuck into random sentences. A lot of the "I"s and "l"s showed up as "1"s. "Fiancé" always showed up as "Fianc?" And that was just the beginning. There was one part where Alex was talking to some guy. The next paragraph, he's talking to Julia, but she never actually entered the scene. I think a big part was cut out, probably accidentally.

And, the device. I read this on a Kindle. I got one for Christmas. I'm on my second one and it's January 20th. With the new one, the first night it randomly restarted 5x. This is in about an hour and a half. When it came back on, it wouldn't sync to the page it was on. The next day, it only restarted once, but it froze at least 3x. It still didn't sync to where I was at, but by this time, I was making a note every now and then to where I was at. Extremely annoying, but better than trying to find it without it. Once I got a "Can't Open Application" error message and it wouldn't do anything and I had to manually restart it. So, yeah. I'm not enjoying this.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an OK book. From the get go, it seemed like Liz was better suited to Michael than Julia. It was so obvious, it almost seemed from time to time throughout the book that the author would make that a secondary plot line, but it never quite reached there. There were a lot of twists and turns, but really, it was kind of a chore to finish this one.

[Rebecca Cecil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever read by this author. I loved this book. Filled with intrigue, mystery, family, love, and so surprise twist and turns.
The two main characters are determined to unravel secrets, betrayals and questions about their past.
It engages your mind while tugging on your heart.
Now I m looking forward to reading more of Barbara Free they'd novels. There is a excerpt if her next novel in the back of the book but oddly it does not reveal the name of the book. But it is about a couple who just got married they are at a hotel he goes to get ice and does not return.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit quick at the end. Probably 3.5 stars. The story is fairly riveting, but was definitely disappointed with the hero. Will read more from this author as I was gripped by what happened and had to read the entire book, not disappointed in the story. Just wanted a bit more from some characters.

[Viivika Tamm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kas Julia DeMarco, suure Itaalia perekonna teistest erinev liige, võib hoopis olla vene orb kuulsa fotograafi pildilt? Kui naine oma kihlapäeval fotol juhuslikult õõvastavalt endasarnast tüdrukut näeb, ei suuda ta sellest mõttest enam lahti lasta. Ta asub asja uurima, abiks fotograafi sarmikas poeg.

Lugu on põnev ning seksikas ja oleks kindlasti nauditav ka suurelt ekraanilt vaadatuna. Samas oli ka palju etteaimatavat ja meeste kohati šovinistlik käitumine tuletas valusalt meelde, et autori näol on tegu ikkagi 60-le läheneva daamiga.

Hinne: 3.5



Kui Julia ja Alex (ülalmainitud fotograafi sarmikas poeg) tõde taga ajades mööda riiki ringi lasevad, hakkavad kooruma nii naise kui mehe minevikust saladused, mille varjamiseks nende vanemad palju vaeva on näinud. Kumbagi ei säästeta šokeerivatest avastustest ja mõlemad peavad üle olema oma lähedaste vastuseisust. Loomulikult areneb neil teineteise vastu tugev külgetõmme. Julia peab lahendama oma vastumeelsed kihlaplaanid ning Alex mõtlema välja, kuidas suhe Juliaga tema elustiiliga sobib.

Eriti imelik on aga Julia õe lapsik ja isekas suhtumine Julia püüdlustesse tõde leida. Miks ta ei võiks oma õde kasvõi natukenegi toetada? Tema käitumine tundub ebaloomulikult enesekeskne ja ebaküps.

Julia kihlatu käitub aga nagu üks domineeriv matšomees kunagi - naine peab 100 % keskenduma pulmaplaanidele ja pärast abielu loobuma ka oma armastatud tööst. Pole ime, et naisel kahtlused on.

Ka Alex pole just kõige ideaalsem mees:

“Enough,” Alex said, breaking off the kiss. /.../ “This is…” He waved his hand in the air as if he couldn’t come up with the word. “A mistake,” he said finally. “I don’t poach on another man’s turf. What the hell am I doing? And what the hell were you doing - kissing me like that? How can you say you’re going to marry a man, then kiss someone else like your heart is up for grabs - or at least your body.”

She bristled at his accusatory tone. “You’re the one who pushed me into a kiss. This wasn’t my idea. You started it.”

”You weren’t fighting it. You were kissing me back.”

-Alex veenab vastupunniva Julia endaga suudlema ja süüdistab siis toda halvas käitumises.

Ehk siis…
Põnev ja seksikas. Võib lugeda küll.

Armastusromaanide blogi
lovekad.blogspot.com

[Anna Fishel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced easy read with fun twists and turns.

[Romanticamente Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucia63 x Romanticamente Fantasy Sito

http://www.romanticamentefantasy.it/r...

“L’auto di suo padre non era stata spinta fuori strada. Si era trattato di un incidente. Le strade erano scivolose. L’altra macchina andava troppo veloce e aveva urtato quella di suo padre. Lui aveva perso il controllo ed era precipitato giù dalla scogliera, nell’oceano Pacifico. Questa era la versione ufficiale, quella che lui stesso aveva ricordato a sua madre. Ma ripensò all’espressione del padre il giorno prima che morisse, alla paura nei suoi occhi quando gli aveva fatto promettere di non parlare mai a nessuno di quella fotografia. I due eventi erano collegati? Il corpo di suo padre non era mai stato ritrovato. Le correnti erano troppo forti. Era la verità… oppure una spiegazione di comodo per coprire qualcosa di più sinistro.”

Julia è una giovane donna con una splendida famiglia italiana. Ma l’ultimo periodo è stato davvero tremendo: la madre, molto amata, è morta dopo una lunga malattia e il padre si è lasciato andare al dolore cominciando a bere. Fortunatamente, però, lei e la sorella possono contare sugli zii e la nonna, e assieme al padre gestiscono un noto ristorante. Non le hanno mai lasciate sole, ma è sulle spalle di Micheal che Julia ha pianto tutte le sue lacrime. Quel suo meraviglioso fidanzato che l’ha confortata, e che ora pensa sia giunto finalmente il momento di mettere su famiglia e pensare al matrimonio. La location scelta per l’evento è Il palazzo della Legione d’Onore, un museo che ha delle bellissime sale per cerimonie. Questa strana scelta è stata suggerita da Liz, sorella minore di Julia, che ora vive con la ragazza. Mentre aspettano che la direttrice li possa ricevere per concordare la data, Julia viene attirata da una musica nella sala in cui sono esposte le fotografie di Charles Manning, un notissimo fotografo morto molti anni prima in un incidente d’auto. Qui, una foto in particolare attira la sua attenzione, intitolata “La guerra più fredda”; ritrae una bambina di non più di tre o quattro anni mentre è aggrappata al cancello di un orfanotrofio di Mosca. Qualcosa in quella foto la mette a disagio e più guarda quella bambina, più nota la somiglianza con se stessa, e per rendere ancora più strana la cosa, quella bambina indossa un ciondolo a forma di cigno, identico a quello che sua madre le ha regalato da piccola. Tornata a casa, Julia non riesce a dimenticare e, contro il parere di tutti, decide di indagare. Anche un’altra persona è sempre stata intrigata da quella foto, Alex Manning, il figlio del fotografo scomparso, che ricorda bene come il padre, di ritorno da Mosca, fosse apparso spaventato quando si era reso conto che, per errore, quella foto era stata pubblicata in un servizio insieme alle altre. Quell’immagine, infatti, non avrebbe dovuto essere vista da nessuno e, invece, aveva scatenato una grande mobilitazione tra il pubblico: tutti volevano adottare quella bambina, ma il governo russo aveva sempre smentito che fosse mai stata in quell’orfanotrofio. Ciò che nessuno ha mai saputo, è che quella foto non era stata scattata da Charles, ma da Alex, che a quel tempo aveva dieci anni e si trovava a Mosca con il padre, e che durante un pomeriggio di noia si era messo a scattare foto. Qualche giorno dopo la pubblicazione, un Charles molto spaventato aveva fatto giurare ad Alex di non parlare mai di quella foto e di non rivelare a nessuno che l’aveva scattata lui. Il giorno dopo avergli estorto quella promessa era morto in uno strano incidente senza che il suo corpo venisse mai ritrovato. Quando Julia si presenta al suo appartamento per avere notizie proprio di quella foto, Alex è sconvolto perché il suo occhio di fotografo gli dice di avere davanti agli occhi l’orfana che tutti hanno cercato invano. Ma com’ è possibile? La madre di Julia non è mai uscita dagli Stati Uniti, non ha mai viaggiato e prima di conoscere il suo secondo marito, lei e Julia erano sole al mondo. O almeno questo è ciò che sua madre le ha sempre raccontato, perché Julia prima dei 5 anni non ha ricordi. Insieme, i due giovani decidono di indagare, perché entrambi vogliono conoscere la verità. Ma ciò che ancora non sanno è che hanno scoperchiato un vaso di Pandora e, da adesso in poi, ciò che pensavano di sapere sulla loro vita, si rivelerà una grande menzogna.

Questo di Barbara Frethy, che io come autrice non conoscevo, si è rivelata una delle letture più appassionanti dell’ultimo periodo. È un romantic-suspense, anche se un po’ sbilanciato nelle sue due componenti. La storia d’amore c’è, però sinceramente occupa una parte molto scarsa della storia, mentre è davvero interessante la parte gialla: queste continue sorprese sul passato di Julia e di sua madre, ma anche di tanti altri personaggi che incontriamo. È un puzzle quello che i due giovani ricostruiscono, pezzo per pezzo, osteggiati da personaggi che sanno ma che hanno deciso, anni prima, che questa storia non doveva più tornare alla luce. Nonostante le minacce e la paura, però, Julia ora pretende la verità e, per questo, è disposta a perdere un fidanzato che, per quanto dolce e intelligente, non la capisce, e anche a mettersi in contrasto con Liz, sua sorella minore, che teme ciò che sta venendo alla luce sulla madre. Aiutata da Alex, scopriranno quanto le loro vite siano state strettamente legate da quella foto, e un enigma del passato sarà finalmente chiarito, così come Julia scoprirà che il suo amore per la musica è qualcosa che fa parte del suo DNA. Le rivelazioni saranno tantissime e verranno a galla le doppie vite di persone insospettabili che hanno rischiato tutto, fino a perdere la loro vita e le loro famiglie per aiutare e fare la cosa Giusta, mentre l’avidità di un’unica persona li ha tutti condannati. Splendidi personaggi, molto ben caratterizzati: Michael, il fidanzato, bello, buono e generoso. Ho provato molta tenerezza per lui e ho tifato per una sua storia con Liz che però non si è mai concretizzata, se non nelle basi. Complessa e piena di ombre, Sarah, la madre di Julia, una donna che per amore ha fatto qualcosa di bellissimo e di crudele nello stesso tempo, rendendo una bugia tutta la sua vita e sacrificando gli affetti più cari. Dolce e un po’ sperduta Liz, che non si capacita di come la sua vita stia cambiando e che rimane sconvolta dalla verità; preferirebbe non sapere, è attratta da Michael e terrorizzata all’idea di perdere la sorella dopo che le bugie di sua madre vengono alla luce. Tutti i personaggi, anche quelli di minor spessore, concorrono alla riuscita della storia in un libro bello e intricato. La storia d’amore ne esce un po’ penalizzata, ma risulta comunque molto piacevole. La parte suspense, al contrario curatissima, è quella che più ho apprezzato e che mi ha impedito di mettere giù il libro fino alla parola fine, e lo apprezzeranno anche gli amanti del giallo.

VOTO 4,5 stelline

[Nenette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much a Freethy novel...So far, I see this kind of plot and story as her signature style. It's a love story basically, with twists and complications involving some kind of crime or other. It's formulaic, and so it is effective in capturing a reader's attention. I for one, can predict a happy ending, but getting there by reading through all the pages is always the fun part.

The plot deals with a woman engaged to be married who suddenly found herself questioning her roots...One thing led to another and the discoveries made were very surprising, to say the least. Her story spans continents and cultures. She hadn't thought her quest will lead to the revelation of secrets and the unravelling of a crime that was started 25 years ago; that there was still some unfinished business that put her in harm's way. In the end, Of course, everything turned out well. Like other Freethy books, there was always the 'heart' in the story - love between two people and amongst families.

This may be a formulaic story, but I enjoyed it just the same.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia is a DJ, in her mid-20s and engaged to Michael, who is pushing her to set a wedding date. Her mother has recently passed away. Her father immediately sold the family house and moved into an apartment and is drinking too much. Liz, her younger sister, moved in with her when their father sold the house.

Then she sees a picture of herself as a child in a Russian orphanage. How is that possible since she was born and raised in San Francisco?

She contacts Alex, the son of the late photographer who took the picture. Together they start digging to see what is going on. Both Alex and Julia are in for some shocking surprises.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it. I liked the writing style and found the story interesting. There were some twists and turns. It's written in third person perspective, with a focus on Julia and Alex.

I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2016/02...

[Triinu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tutvustuse leiab blogist https://triinuraamatud.wordpress.com/...

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second book by this author, and while the story was great, better and deeper than "All She Ever Wanted", requiring more thought due to the mystery and historical aspect of the book, I didn't find it as difficult to put down. Some of the characters weren't developed as well as they could have been, and I found myself skimming just to get to the important aspects of the story. I think a lot of that had to do with the discrepencies in the beginning, a few typos (which can happen when a book becomes an ebook) but at one point a man was described to be wearing a tshirt and jeans, but then when offering his shirt to someone else to wear while painting, he suddenly starts "unbuttoning" it. Small things like that just bug me and really have no affect on the story, but at times are hard to get past. Still a great story, better storyline than just a "love story" and I love the historical mystery that was added to this one.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many moving parts. Love, mystery, finding yourself, revealing your past, lies, and finding all your truths..all in one book. You actually get to know the characters and feel what they feel. I definitely can identify with the main character Julia (Yulia) and maybe that's why I really loved this book. I really liked her character and understood those that were against her trying to find herself even though I felt some gave her too much of a hard time about finding her truth.

"Sometimes strangers end up lovers," Dasha said. "It happened to me when a stranger asked to share my umbrella in the rain." A soft look came into her eyes. "We were both supposed to be with other people. We'd made promises, but love doesn't always go as one plans, and sometimes promises have to be broken. We've been together forty-two years now, and we've been through many rough storms, but they're easier to bear when there's an umbrella to share and a stranger who has become a good friend."

[Michele Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a long time that I stayed up all night reading. There should be more stars than 5.

This book had it all mystery, romance, suspense - some predictable and some not. I couldn't put it down. The cover does nothing for the book and although better than the original the author should think about redoing it. Maybe putting the girl at the gates ;-)\

Throughout the whole book I was guessing what the outcome could be. I had several scenarios going through my mind and didn't know what direction it would be until almost the very end. Of course we knew how it would play out between Julia and Alex but the mystery surrounding the past of Julia, the little girl at the orphanage and Alex's dad wow'ed me to the end. Yes the end could have been stronger but the author did an amazing job keeping me engaged and intrigued. I can not wait to read more by this author.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good story about a woman who notices a photo in an art exhibit that looks like her as a child. The photo was taken at a Russian orphanage during the cold war. Other people thing the photo looks like her too, and some people are threatened by this. She's not adopted, she's never been to Russia but yet she has the same necklace as the girl in the photo and she has a partial set of Russian nesting dolls. So who is she? Does anyone know? Her mother has recently died and anything she knows went to the grave with her. The son of the photographer who took the photos in the exhibit becomes convinced she is the girl in the photo. Together they set out to find her truth and in doing so he finds things he never knew about his own life.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars. I'm not entirely sure how this book ended up on my Kindle. As soon as I started reading it I realized it was not just complete fluff but bad fluff, and maybe I was in the mood for bad fluff because I read the whole thing. I can't say I hated it, because I finished it, but it also is not a good book. There was a good concept there I think, it had the bones to potentially be a good story so I'll give a half star for that. But like a Lifetime movie the dialogue and the cheese just ruin it. The conversations were shallow as was the character building. The "bad guy" had a motive, I guess, but the end seemed like a mustache twirling "I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Freethy and her San Francisco-domiciled mysteries are starting to become a fun escape for me!! Of the 3 I have read, this is by far the best.

A terrific heroine, a handsome hero, lots of twists and turns, spys, double cross, true love, the bad guys get their comeuppance, the good guys prevail and lots of happily ever after. What's not to love??

If you are looking for a serious read, full of symbolism and classical archetypes for the bookclub, look elsewhere; however, if you want a read that forces you to reach for that mobile device to just find out what happens next, this is the book!

[Trude · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book!! My preferred reading is romantic suspense and I like a book a little heavier on the suspense side...which this was...but it still had some sweet romance. The chemistry between Alex and Julia was perfect. I loved how they supported each other. Alex was there for Julia every step of the way without suffocating her...he GOT her. Barbara Freethy tells a great story with plenty of family drama, danger, spys and then throws in some more twists that I didn't see coming.
I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys romantic suspense with a good story and strong well-developed characters.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book that I read by Barbara Freethy, but if they all are as good as this one, I will be reading her for a long time. I loved this book. I picked it up over a year and a half ago when it was only 99 cents and I don't know what took me so long. Julia DeMarco sees a famous photo of a 3 year old that looks just like her at that age, but the picture was taken in Russia, where she has never been. That starts the book which is full of surprising twists and turns. I loved this story as I said I look forward to reading many more by this author.

[Kristen James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars because the plot ticked by with new information and events from page 1 to the end. I love that and don't see it in many books. I'll read romances where both people spend a quite a bit of time over thinking something, making it a bigger problem than it is. I get frustrated and skim, thinking it'd be so easy to fix with a simple conversation. That's not a strong plot to me. Freethyy did an excellent job of creating an unique and twisted plot with many layers that kept kept changing and growing.

[Donna Weber ( Recuperating from Surgery) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ½ Stars This was my first book of Barbara Freethy and Don't Say A Word won’t be my last. It has a fast paced intriguing premise filled with many twists and turns that kept me wanting more. It may not be a book club discussion kind of book and has parts that are bit cliched and predictable but it was a fun fast read. I agree that there were story lines that could have been tied up at the end a little more. But after starting and putting down three books in a row (something I never do) it was an enjoyable exciting read. I look forward to checking out her other books.