Waves of Fiction is excited to join xPresso Book Tours for The Devil's Playground Blog Tour by Eliza Freed. For our stop, we have the book details, a review, and a tour wide giveaway! Be sure to enter for a chance to win a copy of this highly rated novel.
The Devil’s Playground (The Faraway Series, #1) by Eliza Freed
Publication date: November 10th 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Former U.S. Attorney, Meredith Walsh, took some time off to raise her children. But the time took away everything she once trusted about herself. She’s lost within the mundane confines of her children’s schedules of lacrosse, soccer, Cub Scouts, and math facts. Desperate for a sliver of her former passion, and isolated in the small town her corporate husband relocated her to, she counsels herself on risking her family for the rush of a fling.
But Vincent Pratt, the local chief of police, weakens Meredith’s abhorrence of affairs and her dedication to her family. With him, she finds a new version of herself, one capable of contributing in her new world, and thriving in her lonely home. In spite of the fact, she’s not the kind of woman who has an affair.
My Thoughts
“You can’t be held captive, if you can’t be caught.”
Absolutely intoxicating!!
I haven’t read something so illicitly enticing in quite a
while! Thank you Eliza Freed for helping me rediscover that there are still
novels out there that can blow me away with their emotional energy and powerful
narrative.
Freed managed to land on my author-to-watch list within pages of me diving into her newest
novel The Devil’s Playground. This
story has the perfect blend of chemistry, angst, romance, and drama, which only
makes the characters explode off of the ePages and make you want to get to know
them to their core!
In The Devil’s
Playground, we meet Meredith Walsh who has sacrificed quite a bit to stay
at home to raise her two children. Before having Liv and James, she was a successful
U.S. Attorney that stopped at nothing to get what she wanted and the career she craved. Now, she feels like she’s lost a vital piece of herself as she
aimlessly travels from swim practices to PTA meetings to school functions that
never fail to make her the talk of the other moms. Coupled with her husband’s
demanding career, which he refuses to sacrifice for his family, Meredith feels
lonely, desperate, underwhelmed and shackled.
When she meets the town’s local chief of police Vincent Pratt
on a school trip, together they reluctantly explore an illicit relationship
that requires constant rules and never-ending secrets. They each know how much they are willing to forgo to be together, however one more than the other is ready to sacrifice
their marriage and family for what they believe is love…
Okay, I’m going to admit up front…. I was absolutely
captivated by this novel. Call it the chemistry or the illicit nature of the material;
I couldn’t put this eBook down! I truly think my eReader was on fire the entire
time I was slamming through the pages of The
Devil’s Playground.
Normally, I would have some sense of judgment toward a married man and woman
that begin an affair, but there was something about Meredith’s character that
had me sympathize with her situation.
There was no doubt I despised her husband, and I know having a crappy
husband is no excuse to cheat. However, I have to point out how callous, insensitive
and selfish he was toward his family that Meredith’s transgressions felt less
significant in comparison.
From the beginning, I knew Meredith was fighting a losing
battle against Officer Pratt. The attraction, chemistry and emotional
connection between these two characters somehow shifted my moral compass in
their corner. There were times I thought for sure they were going to be caught,
but in the back of my mind I never worried about the aftermath because Meredith
seemed like such a solid character that a hurricane couldn’t knock her down.
…I didn’t feel alive
in my house. I felt alive in the courtroom. I felt alive in the ocean. I felt
alive with Vince. I was selfish and
immature, and I hated myself.
She never fooled herself or anyone else about how she felt.
Meredith knew she was flawed and damaged to a certain degree. What I really
liked about her was that above all, she knew she couldn’t make choices that
would sacrifice her being without her kids despite how trapped she felt at
times. I appreciated her honesty,
vulnerability and self-deprecation that she showed throughout the story.
I was checking on you.
I’m always wherever you are.
There were moments that under normal circumstances I would
hear my mental brakes screeching in alarm, but there was something so alluring
about Vince that I couldn’t help but entertain his absolute adoration of
Meredith. Throughout the novel, he was always at the mercy of Meredith’s
choices and decisions, so I felt oddly desperate for him because of his
emotional investment in the relationship that at times felt unrequited.
Meredith always came across as the stronger character that Vince’s moments of vulnerability
pulled at my heartstrings… in an odd way.
Overall, The Devil’s
Playground is an emotionally gripping novel about a woman who feels trapped
and decides to venture into forbidden territory that can not only break her
heart, but her family as well. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second and
final installment of The Faraway Series!!
I truly expect an explosive conclusion…
Bring it on!
Author Information
Eliza Freed graduated from Rutgers University and returned to her hometown in rural South Jersey. Her mother encouraged her to take some time and find herself. After three months of searching, she began to bounce checks and her neighbors began to talk; her mother told her to find a job.
She settled into Corporate America, learning systems and practices and the bureaucracy that slows them. Eliza quickly discovered her creativity and gift for story telling as a corporate trainer and spent years perfecting her presentation skills and studying diversity. It’s during this time she became an avid observer of the characters we meet and the heartaches we endure. Her years of study have taught her laughter is the key to survival, even when it’s completely inappropriate.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her family and a misbehaving beagle named Odin. An avid swimmer, if Eliza is not with her family and friends, she’d rather be underwater. While she enjoys many genres, she has always been a sucker for a love story…the more screwed up the better.
Author links:
Be sure to enter this tour-wide giveaway (INT) for a chance to win:
2 Signed Copies of THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND
5 eBooks of THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND (nook or kindle)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
