| Copyright © 2008, Sarita
Leone Reviews For SNIFFING SAND: A CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND MYSTERY by Sarita Leone “Nina, Alex, and Maxx were all such good characters. I can’t choose one as being my favorite. Nina was calm and cool under pressure. Alex had a fun personality. Maxx knew how to get the job done but at the same time he could also be very romantic. Let me say I love Sarita Leone’s books. She would be what I would call a reader’s author. Mrs. Leone knows just how to write a good story and keep her fans coming back for more. You can tell Sarita loves what she does as it shows in her books and that’s what makes her special.” 5 Angels! Reviewed by: Cheryl “Nina had nothing left but her dream house. Before the paint dried, her husband walked out on her and into the arms of his lover. With the help of her friends, Nina begins putting her life back together. Just as things are looking up, the body of the ex’s girlfriend washes ashore on the beach in front of Nina’s dream home. The hunky sheriff is hot on the case. I liked this book. It is a light romance/suspense. Sarita Leona is a talented author. Her characters are interesting, and the plot is well developed. Fans of romance will enjoy Sniffing Sand.” 4 Stars! Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com “Sniffing Sand is a romantic suspense of the cozy mystery variety. It’s not a fast paced thriller but more like something Agatha Christie might have written and just as fascinating.” 4 Books! Reviewed By Orange Blossom, The Long And Short of It Reviews “I really enjoyed this whodunit
read. There were times in the latter part of the story where the confrontations
between Nina and her soon-to-be ex, Kevin (what a twerp), had me literally
on the edge of my seat. And while I thought I knew who the culprit would
be in the end, I didn't (my guess really was too obvious and I should
have picked up on that), which is always a big plus in any mystery or
suspense book I read. Watching Nina try to bring herself back from despair
over the breakup of her marriage with her best friend Alex ever at her
side, seemed very real and believable, as did the relationship that
develops between Nina and Maxx over the course of solving the mystery.
Those two truly belonged together and I guess that if I can't have Maxx,
then I'm happy to turn him over to someone that I approve of. Sample Chapter For SNIFFING
SAND: A CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND MYSTERY by Sarita Leone
The handmade Italian tile cooled Nina’s toes as she walked across the room. Late afternoon sunlight gently kissed the ceramic squares, giving them an almost luminescent glow. The enormous room would have felt cavernous had it not been for the warming qualities of the hand-hewn local pine on the cathedral ceiling, stone fireplace with its deep, wide hearth and filled bookshelves spanning an entire wall. Her fingers traced slow circles on the back of the soft, chocolate brown, leather sofa. It faced a pair of matching club chairs. Nestled below two hand-blown Murano chandeliers, delicate amethyst glass teardrops with characteristic bubbles and soft shading, the room was designer perfect. It looked like it had come directly off the pages of a decorating magazine. Lifting her gaze, Nina contemplated the imported light fixtures. They were works of art. She had fallen in love with them the instant she’d seen them. There had never been any doubt in her mind when the house was under construction that they would look ideal in this space. She had been right about them, and about every other detail of the house. Still, she couldn’t help but remember the uproar the chandeliers—and almost everything else—had caused. Nina could still hear the arguments as loudly as if they were taking place now, instead of months earlier. “Nina, we need to rethink your ideas.” Kevin’s bad temper made him look less like the husband she had married and more like a man she didn’t know. Unfortunately “Disgruntled Kevin,” as Nina had taken to silently calling him, surfaced more frequently as the house’s construction progressed. He scowled, the movement pulling his lips into a snarl. “You can’t keep insisting on all of these ridiculous upgrades. They’re unreasonable, can’t you see that? Why can’t we just build a basic house now? Then—maybe—we’ll add on later. These prices are killing me.” He ran his hand through his wind-rumpled sandy blonde hair. The habit usually made Nina smile but today there was little her husband could do to amuse her. His sudden reticence to move forward with the house plan had her stumped. Why was he dragging his feet now, after they had discussed this, their dream home, for years? How could he balk at the commitments they’d made to each other and their future? She couldn’t understand it. After searching for what felt like forever they had found the perfect building site. The island, only seven miles long and one and a half mile wide, was Nina’s favorite spot on earth. Building a home here was the fulfillment of one of her life’s ambitions. She had visions of raising children here, in the warm sunshine, surrounded by the ocean and the bay, on the soft sandy earth. It was all she wanted. All she’d ever wanted. Chincoteague. The name alone was enough to make Nina smile. The Gingo-Teague tribe, led in the 1600's by Chief Barabokees, had called this land their own, with the variation of their own tribal name. In English it meant “the beautiful land across the water.” “We’ve been over this before. Time and again, really. All the building plans—we’ve discussed them. None of this is new. In fact, it’s exactly what we’ve been talking about. So why are you getting upset now?” “I didn’t think it would cost so much! Really, who knew the prices of all this stuff? Like this one—the kitchen.” Kevin waved a yellow invoice in the air between them. She noticed the sun shot a sliver of gold light from his wedding band across the crumpled paper. It was a fleeting pleasure in the midst of the unpleasantness. “Do we need to have marble countertops in there? Imported from Italy? Couldn’t we have Formica, like the rest of the world? And the bathrooms, do we need to have custom mocha fixtures from some hoity-toity upscale line? The plumbing guy says that basic white, the ones they keep in stock at the building supply house, are cheaper. Much cheaper. Like a helluva lot cheaper. Really, Nina, my ass doesn’t know if it’s sitting on a cheap white toilet or an expensive mocha one, and I doubt yours does, either. Couldn’t we at least pull back on those things?” She wondered if he had lost his mind. There was no reason for his tantrum about prices. All of the upgrades were to be paid for from the trust fund her grandmother had left her decades ago. Nina had barely touched any of it. The money should have made the more extravagant additions easier for Kevin to stomach, yet he was resistant to the beautiful things she had chosen. It didn’t make sense. Whatever his reasons were, Nina wouldn’t give in to Kevin. She had seen the plumber, and his low-slung, posterior-revealing jeans. She wasn’t about to take decorating suggestions from that man. He wasn’t even smart enough to cover his own butt, let alone discuss where she should put hers. “Kevin, I’m sorry you’re upset, although I honestly can’t understand why you are. The money in Grandmother’s fund will more than pay for all of the extras. I don’t want to skimp, to build a ‘basic’ house. I don’t want to wait, for God only knows how long, to get the house the way we dreamed it should be. Look around us, this place is perfect! Let’s just build the house, the way we discussed, and then we can begin to think about a family. I don’t want to replace countertops, bathrooms, or anything else after the babies come. Let’s just do it now, all of it. Then we can move on.” Nina pushed herself between the papers Kevin held in front of him like a shield. His heart thudded against her chest as she placed her chin on his shoulder. He was stiff and unresponsive, but she kissed the angle of his jaw anyway. Once. Twice. With the third kiss, Nina felt his body relax. She took a step to the side, and turned their bodies so they faced the back of the building lot. The aquamarine water of Chincoteague Bay sparkled, changing with each shift of the current. It looked alive. Their land sloped gradually down to the sandy beach where water lapped at the shoreline. A sandpiper scurried across the shore, intent on finding its dinner. Nina saw a whelk at the high tide line. The salt air filled her lungs as she inhaled deeply, willing her own heart to stop galloping. Every scuffle with Kevin—and lately there were a lot of them—upset her. How could it not? Just when she thought her deepest desires were becoming a reality, she had to fight repeatedly with the man meant to share those dreams. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Nina whispered. At first she thought he might not answer, but after a long, silent minute Kevin nodded. “Yeah. Beautiful. And expensive.” The house fight was over—for now, at least—and that was all that mattered to Nina. If she had to, she’d keep the peace one tiny piece at a time. Nina turned from the living room and walked to the kitchen area. She swept a hand over the rich green marble countertop. It had been costly, but it was beautiful. So were the warm custom cherry cabinets and modern, stainless steel appliances. A wrought iron pot rack hung above an island, expensive Calphalon pots in a wealth of sizes dangling from hooks. Sighing, she faced the back, all-glass wall, and stared out at the water. It sparkled now in much the same way it had when she and Kevin had argued over the countertop. The water was a constant, one of the few things in Nina’s dream that hadn’t been swept away like the tide. She stood alone in the house. Kevin had left her before the last crate had been unpacked. When he’d announced, “It just happened. I don’t love you anymore.” Nina had realized why he had been so adamantly opposed to indulge her building wishes. Apparently Kevin had worried he would somehow bear the cost of the upgrades, despite Grandmother’s money. But he hadn’t paid for anything. In the end, Grandmother’s funds had covered the entire building project. The house was hers, all hers. It was pretty much all she had left. The perfect, empty house and the knowledge that even dreams could sometimes have less-than-happy endings. Nina looked up when the phone rang, thankful for the loud distraction. She crossed the cool floor and picked up the cordless. “Hello?” “Hey. It’s me.” Alexis Crane was Nina’s dearest friend. They had met as teenagers at Miss Margaret’s Preparatory School for Ladies, a place their mothers deemed a proper spot for young southern women to learn social graces. Fortunately the prep school had also had a strong academic curriculum in addition to its focus on etiquette and home keeping. After Miss Maggie’s they applied for admission to Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. Both received their acceptance letters on the same day and their four years at the exclusive women’s college had further cemented their friendship. Constant companions, they took the same literature and creative writing courses, attended St. Mary’s Church, pledged the same sorority. They had gone on countless double-dates with boys from the neighboring Mount Adams Military Academy. Together the two had giggled their way through adolescence, negotiated the rigors of college and dating life and had each become a success in their careers. They were as close as sisters. “Hey yourself.” Nina did her best to sound upbeat. “So, how’s everything?” “Fine. All fine here.” “Glad to hear that. I was hoping you would say that, actually. Up for some shopping? My American Express is just screaming for a workout!” Nina shifted, staring at the play of light on her toes. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a finger of brightness across the floor and up the right leg of her jeans. Her mind moved quickly, searching for a plausible excuse that would get her out of the proposed shopping trip. She’d already given just about every reasonable pretext for avoiding social situations she could think of. “Um, no, I don’t think I’m in the mood for shopping, Alex. Maybe another time.” Her gaze lifted. The water, with its unending movement lulled her and the anxiety Alex’s suggestion brought diminished. The waves were choppy today. Little whitecaps danced atop the surface in an ever-changing display. “Hello? Nina, are you listening?” Damn. Alex had been holding the conversation without her. The raised voice on the other end of the cordless was insistent. “Of course I’m listening. What did you say?” “I thought so. You were off in dreamland again, weren’t you? This has got to stop. It’s been two months already. You can’t just spend forever drifting in and out of awareness, Nina. The world is still going on around you. You need to become a part of it again.” “Two months is hardly forever.” “It’s long enough to begin to get back to living,” Alex countered. Nina heard the tap of fingernails over the phone. She could see Alex drumming her manicured nails on her desktop, and the mental picture brought a smile to her face. Alex could be so predictable sometimes. “Too soon. It’s just too damn soon. I can’t…” “You can’t what?” “I just can’t face anyone yet. Not now. They all know—” “They all know you didn’t do anything wrong. They all know Kevin is a jerk and his little friend is a tramp. That’s what they know, honey. That’s what everyone knows.” “I don’t think I can, Alex.” “You don’t have a choice. You have got to get back into the world. You’ll see that I’m right about this.” “Not today. I can’t.” “Yes, you can. I need your help, so you have to come with me. Charles and I are going to a publishing dinner and I need a new dress. One with sparkly things all over it. One that will make his eyes pop out, his heart melt and his leg naturally bend enough to get him down into the proposal position. You need to help me find this perfect dress.” Alex and Charles had been dating for three years. Alex wanted their relationship to move to the next level but Charles seemed content with the current situation. Nina wondered why her friend would want to even consider marriage, given what had happened between her and Kevin. Nina didn’t think she’d want to stroll down the matrimonial aisle again. Ever. “Where? When?” She knew when she was beaten. In one of her steamroller, mission-in-mind moods, Alex was formidable. Unalterable. No, better to simply agree to the shopping expedition. Find the “perfect dress” and get it over with. “The mainland, of course. I was thinking Virginia Beach, the boutiques near the strip. Not the touristy places, but maybe in one of the shops where we went Christmas shopping last year. Remember? What do you think? They might have something glittery and girly.” Remember? Of course she remembered. That day of Christmas shopping had included a detour to an exclusive jeweler, where Nina had picked up her gift to Kevin: an engraved, solid gold pocket watch that had cost much more than she could afford. She had paid for it with some of Grandmother’s money. She had wanted something special for him. A meaningful gift, a tribute to time. Now she knew the watch had been a waste of money and effort. “Smart. I’ll bet the boutiques have just what you’re looking for. When should I expect you?” “A half-hour. And put on something besides jeans. I’m taking you to The Mariner for lunch. It’s time you stopped hiding and had some fun. A bloody Mary—or two or three—will make you forget your troubles. Listen to me; I know what I’m talking about. Go change. I’ll be there in a flash. I’ll beep twice, Nina. Don’t make me come in after you!” Nina smiled at the old sorority house joke. “I won’t. Beep twice, I’ll be ready.” As she pressed the cut-off button, she shook her head. She didn’t think shopping was the answer to her any of her problems but an outing with Alex was sure to be a diversion. Dissecting the center of the downstairs space was a broad pine staircase, its treads suspended by inconspicuous beams that made it appear they were floating. Nina paused halfway up the stairs and looked at the suspension beams. Lately she had felt a lot like the staircase treads, as if her life—her very sanity—was being cradled by something unseen. Pulling her attention away from the support beams was an effort but necessary. Not only did she have only twenty-five minutes to make herself presentable, but dwelling overmuch on whatever internal framework was keeping her from crumbling was an unsettling proposition. Nina suspected her mental support system was far more tenuous than anything holding the house together, and the idea scared the crap out of her. |