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Identity
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Sharlah Webb thinks her luck is finally turning, until her boyfriend, Brian, is jailed on drug charges. Now a hurricane is bearing down, she’s broke, and Brian’s secrets have put them both in danger. Can she trust Brian? The police? Sharlah begins her own search for answers, launching a mystery that will take years to unravel. Identity: A novel of suspense, love and findin
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ebook, 224 pages
Published
March 11th 2013
by Smashwords Edition
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Sharlah Webb can’t believe her kind, caring and gentle boyfriend had been arrested on drugs charges. He’d never used drugs – she would know – he had always been anti-drugs. But now he was in the cells, awaiting trial with no chance of bail. And when Sharlah’s good friend Missy was murdered with Sharlah discovering her body; then Missy’s boyfriend Cliff’s body was found, Sharlah knew something terrible had happened.
When she visited Brian in jail and he urged her to get away safely in the face of ...more
When she visited Brian in jail and he urged her to get away safely in the face of ...more

Among the things that inspired Identity:
A love of mysteries that dates to reading Encyclopedia Brown and Trixie Belden as a kid
Experiencing Hurricane Alicia on a visit to Houston in 1983
Living in Florida right after I graduated from college
Attending class reunions and connecting with former classmates on Facebook, which made me realize how little our lives as adults can resemble our high school identities
A love of mysteries that dates to reading Encyclopedia Brown and Trixie Belden as a kid
Experiencing Hurricane Alicia on a visit to Houston in 1983
Living in Florida right after I graduated from college
Attending class reunions and connecting with former classmates on Facebook, which made me realize how little our lives as adults can resemble our high school identities

Ranks with the best of those can't-put-it-down thrillers. It's a propulsive yarn, compete with murders, drug deals, corrupt cops and an irresistible couple at its center. And all that while a hurricane crashes down on the Texas Gulf Coast. A must read.
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Suspense books so often depend on a main character that has special skills or military training to save the potential victims from "the bad guys". I loved that this book takes a couple of kids who have every reason to fail and yet through their courage and persistence you just hope they will pull through. The organization of the book with three characters telling the story over a 20 year timespan was a great device for keeping the reader engaged in solving the problems of a drug bust coupled wit
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Described on the cover as "a novel of suspense," this novel is just that and so much more: an insightful look at the inner workings of the two main characters, Sharlah and Brian, whom I felt I knew personally by the novel's end. The author's crisp yet flowing style creates a real page-turner, and having the individual characters tell the story in segments over a 20-year timespan is a great device for keeping the reader engaged.
I love books that I can't stop thinking about after I've read them, a ...more
I love books that I can't stop thinking about after I've read them, a ...more

This is one of those books that you can't put down once you started reading it.
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Brian, Sharlah's boyfriend, had been busted for drugs. Sharlah didn't believe it. He was one of the good guys. He had been acting strange but....
Three days later Sharlah was sitting in the back of a cop car again. She had gone to visit her friend, Missy, only to find her lying on the floor in the kitchen.
The detective asked if Brian's and Missy's death could be related.
At work at the diner, Sharlah searched the newspaper for anything more about Missy. The headlines were all about the low pressur ...more
Three days later Sharlah was sitting in the back of a cop car again. She had gone to visit her friend, Missy, only to find her lying on the floor in the kitchen.
The detective asked if Brian's and Missy's death could be related.
At work at the diner, Sharlah searched the newspaper for anything more about Missy. The headlines were all about the low pressur ...more

As others have said, once I started Identity, I couldn't put it down, and I still find myself thinking about Sharlah and Brian.
What I particularly liked was Sharlah's resiliency and resourcefulness in spite of sometimes overwhelming odds. The girl is a survivor of the best kind.
Pick this one up soon. You won't be sorry. I can't wait to see Ms. Seed's next novel! ...more
What I particularly liked was Sharlah's resiliency and resourcefulness in spite of sometimes overwhelming odds. The girl is a survivor of the best kind.
Pick this one up soon. You won't be sorry. I can't wait to see Ms. Seed's next novel! ...more

I definitely couldn't put this book down once I started! I really liked the author's ability to divulge important clues slowly while keeping the pace of the plot moving quickly. I loved Part One especially. I kind of wish the whole story could have continued along those lines, but then it would have been a different book.
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Great, suspenseful mystery read with well-drawn characters and great pacing. Moves quickly. I especially appreciated that along with the necessary unsavory figures were some characters you wouldn't mind meeting.
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I was drawn into the story from the first page. A quick read. I would've been interested in another section devoted to Kevin, but I appreciate the mystery left in him. Very enjoyable, like a "hamburger" type of a book.
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Full disclosure: I met Shawna Seed in the early 1980s when we were both students at the University of Kansas. I had two roommates back in those days -- one had gone to high school with her and the other became her boyfriend. Over the decades we've occasionally communicated electronically. We follow one another on twitter.
In any case, I resolved this year to read some works of fiction by people I know personally and this was certainly worth the effort. Shawna writes exceptionally well, her chara ...more
In any case, I resolved this year to read some works of fiction by people I know personally and this was certainly worth the effort. Shawna writes exceptionally well, her chara ...more

The story of a girl who gets caught up unknowingly in her boyfriend's drug running and his arrest.
It was an easy, page turning read that I enjoyed. The only disappointment was the quick passage of time suddenly and the cliffhanger ending! ...more
It was an easy, page turning read that I enjoyed. The only disappointment was the quick passage of time suddenly and the cliffhanger ending! ...more

The thing I like best about Shawna Seed’s debut novel, Identity, is its readability—its conversational, concise, and quick-moving prose. Seed’s mystery is a page-turner as much because of its style as because of its plot.
It’s impossible not to care about the fortunes of its two main characters, waitress Sharlah Webb and her hapless boyfriend, Brian Lowry. They’re a likeable pair, albeit both with a certain naïve innocence and unmet ambitions who so far have been unable to get a firm grip on life ...more
It’s impossible not to care about the fortunes of its two main characters, waitress Sharlah Webb and her hapless boyfriend, Brian Lowry. They’re a likeable pair, albeit both with a certain naïve innocence and unmet ambitions who so far have been unable to get a firm grip on life ...more

I enjoyed this book and thought the overall story was good, there were just a few editing type things that could have made the flow better. At one point the story switches from Sharlah's point of view to Brian's. At this point it is 4 years later but it takes a few pages to realize that it is 4 years later. Then it switches to another person's point of view and that is about 10 years later. Also the chapters were really really long.
Aside from those 2 things, I thought the book was written very w ...more
Aside from those 2 things, I thought the book was written very w ...more

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There is a drug bust, a couple of murders, a hurricane and messy family relationships and Sharlah and Brian are right in the middle of it all. They each have their own personal problems that would often be a recipe for individual failure; but, you are pulling for them and want them to overcome everything together.

I picked up this book after enjoying another book by shawna seed, I couldn't put that one down either. A well done suspenseful mystery that spans two decades. I especially liked that this novel took place partially in Houston which allowed me to visualize the book even more vividly than normal. I hope to read more by this author when she writes them in the future.
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Dec 28, 2019
Awesome Indies Book Awards
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Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include IDENTITY by SHAWNA SEED in the library of Awesome Indies'
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recipients at http://j.mp/AwesIndBk091
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Shawna Seed is a writer and editor whose career has taken her to both coasts and several spots in between, working for organizations that include The Dallas Morning News and ESPN.com.
Originally from Kansas, she's lived in seven states and every continental U.S. time zone. She and her husband now call Dallas home.
When she's not writing, her interests include cooking, travel and watching college b ...more
Originally from Kansas, she's lived in seven states and every continental U.S. time zone. She and her husband now call Dallas home.
When she's not writing, her interests include cooking, travel and watching college b ...more
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