Concrete Evidence

Written by Rachel Grant

Narrated by Nicol Zanzarella and Greg Tremblay

She wants revenge. He wants her.

Blackballed from underwater archaeology after accusations of artifact trafficking, Erica Kesling has a new job and a new life on the other side of the country and is working to clear her name. She's closing in on her goal when she's distracted by a sexy, charismatic intern who makes her want something other than revenge. 

But Lee Scott is no intern. He's looking for the lead conspirator in an international artifact smuggling scheme, and Erica is his prime suspect. He'll do whatever it takes to win her trust and get her to reveal her secrets, even seduce her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janus Publishing
• Release date: Aug 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781944571498

Rachel Grant

USA Today bestselling author Rachel Grant worked for over a decade as a professional archaeologist and mines her experiences for story lines and settings, which are as diverse as excavating a cemetery underneath an historic art museum in San Francisco, surveying an economically depressed coal-mining town in Kentucky, and mapping a seventeenth-century Spanish and Dutch fort on the island of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. In all her travels and adventures as an archaeologist, Rachel has found many sites and artifacts, but she’s only found one true treasure: her husband, David. Rachel Grant lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. For more information visit www.rachel-grant.net.

Reviews for Concrete Evidence

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Erica Kesling is having a bad year. First, she's betrayed by her mother who opened credit cards in her name, ran up a bunch of debts, and then died in a car accident. Second, she takes a job with treasure hunter Jake Novak whom she discovers is stealing and selling the artifacts she finds for him. She runs from him but he ruins her reputation as an underwater archaeologist on the whole West Coast.

Erica heads to Washington, D.C., and a job with Talon & Drake because she has a clue that someone from there is buying the stolen artifacts. Then she is saddled with a new intern. Lee Scott is undercover looking for the head conspirator in an international artifact smuggling operation. Erica is one of his prime suspects.

Lee has to find his crook as soon as possible as his stepfather Senator Joseph Talon is getting ready to make a run for President and doesn't need any scandal to derail his campaign.

Lee and Erica fall in love despite many obstacles including that both of them are lying to each other about the reasons they are at Talon & Grant. There was a lot of emotional angst as their relationship grew. Erica doesn't know if she can deal with one more betrayal while trying to fight her way clear of, and get revenge on, Jake Novak.

The story was packed with excitement and had a really twisty mystery plot. The narrator did a good job with the different characters and with keeping up the emotional intensity of the situations Erica found herself in.

[fidget78 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 Stars

Having read Grave Danger by Ms Grant, I was compelled to buy another novel by her. Fantastic romantic suspense author!!


What I liked: There is suspense throughout Concrete Evidence that never lets up. Just when you think everything has been revealed, something else pops up. I enjoy Ms Grant's writing style and the way she puts the story together. The problem is trying to find good stopping points in the story. A good suspense will get the reader all wound up with your mind going a mile a minute. Concrete Evidence did that to me and I had to stop well before bed time so I could get some sleep. The dynamics between Erica and Lee are great and there's a bit of humor thrown in too. I hope at some point Ms Grant will do a story about a couple of the secondary characters, but maybe not, as the tension just added to the overall story.


What I didn't like: After reading Grave Danger, I couldn't in all honesty give Concrete Evidence the highest rating but there really was nothing about the book that I didn't like.


Ms Grant is going on my "must read" list and I can't wait for a new book. I only have one more on my Kindle to read. Sad!!


The Kindle version is well worth the $3.99 price. I realize when Amazon Digital Services is the distributor, the price for the paperback is higher but I'm not the type to pay the $9.82 for a paper back unless I collect the author's works. The Kindle edition was fine for me. However, if you don't have an e-reader and enjoy romantic suspense, get the paperback.


Highly recommend!!

[deserie4comfort · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

ABOUT THE BOOK:

"Full of secrets, deadly intrigue and steamy romance. A MUST read." - Elisabeth Naughton, New York Times Bestselling Author

A year ago she lost everything. Now she wants revenge…

Accused of stealing artifacts from a five hundred year-old shipwreck, underwater archaeologist Erica Kesling is determined to clear her name. She’s concealed her past and taken a job certain to give her access to the buyer of the missing antiquities. She's finally closing in on her goal, when she's distracted by a sexy, charismatic intern who makes her want something other than revenge.

But Lee Scott is no intern. He's looking for the lead conspirator in an international artifact smuggling scheme, and Erica is his prime suspect. He’ll do whatever it takes to win her trust and get her to reveal her secrets, even seduce her.

As Erica and Lee struggle to conceal their real agendas, the one thing they can’t hide is the attraction that burns hot between them. When Erica’s quest puts her life in jeopardy, Lee must choose between old loyalties and a woman he never expected to fall for.

MY REVIEW:

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review in exchange for an ARC read.

Hot.
Riveting.
On the edge of your seat.
These are just a few of the words I’d use when describing Concrete Evidence. This book definitely was a sure win in my eyes, and one that I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for a gripping read. I loved the details Ms. Grant went into when describing the thick plot, and the slippery love story. The whole avenue of having one of the main characters—especially one who was supposed to be the heroine—be the suspect? Genius!

If you want a book that will keep you up, that refuses to let you put it down, and one that you’ll be thinking about for days, get this one. Four and a half stars!

[rachel.kall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. Romantic suspense is my favorite genre and this book is one of the reasons why. For those who like to categorize, I’d put this book more into the romantic thriller category than “traditional” romantic suspense. All I mean by that is that it’s heavy on the suspense—which is fine by me!

I thought Rachel wove together a masterful story that had all the elements I personally love in romantic suspense. The heroine is highly intelligent, the hero is a hot and protective and it has plenty of twists and turns that kept me wanting to keep reading. The plot was intelligent and highly complex. It never fell apart. Each detail tied up by the end and not everyone can do that as well as Rachel did.

I really enjoyed the unique setting—all of the archaeology elements were new to me without being boring, and I love political stories so I thought that storyline was quite interesting.

The love story was hot and developed at a good pace. It wasn’t forced, but once it was there, it was extremely spicy. I will definitely read Rachel Grant’s next book.