This pains me because I love K.A. Tucker books. I don't like a book that switches between past and present. It's just too much work keeping up with everything. The story was good but moved a tad slow. ( )

This is narrated by Josh Goodman and Elizabeth Louise - once again, my complaint is that I've heard Elizabeth Louise many times and her distinctive voice takes me into the many other characters she has inhabited. She's very good, don't get me wrong - despite her sing song manner ... it suits the character here.

A woman who loses her memory after a terrible assault. In hospital she is called Jane Doe, but she rebels against that, and adopts the name Water.

The start of the book is a promising romance with Jesse (it's a good name on men) (part 1 of 10), but he disappears for a few parts believing that if he meets with her, it will give her identity away, and cause the killer to revisit....

I haven't made this complaint for awhile - this audiobook is 11 hours - way too long. As I listen to Water talk to me, I wish she didn't go into such detail. It's an impatience I regret, but unfortunately, this isn't the only book in the world; if it was, I would savour the indulgent scene setting.

I think this complaint comes about partly because we know where this novel is headed - the menace is in the air. So drawing it out is a little tortuous and detracts ... it could be more of a thriller if it bounded along a bit more. I wouldn't take much cutting - maybe 1.5 hours. ( )

4-1/2 stars

Well done new adult novel. Told in 2 POVs one in the present from the amnesiac heroine's POV and one in the past from the hero's POV. Both are first person present tense which I don't like but was well enough done here that it only threw me out of the story a few times.

This story was different for a NA story in that the hero really didn't have much baggage it was pretty much all the heroine. The characterization was the real strength of the story. I loved both of them although I liked the heroine in the present better. The hero was just an all around great guy while not being perfect.

The only thing which drops this a half star for me is that even though this was supposed to be suspense, I knew what was happening all along. Still the author did a fine job of telling switching between the two time lines at exactly the right spot when something in the present brought up something from the past.

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I picked this book out and put in on a Christmas list on Amazon last year and promptly forgot about it once I opened it. I’m glad it jumped off my bookshelf into my hands last week! K.A. Tucker is a prolific writer of New Adult books, and came onto the scene with the 2013 publication of Ten Tiny Breaths, which I have not read. The description of Burying Water reminded me of another New Adult novel I really enjoyed, The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, which was a 2015 Lariat winner (5 stars on Amazon, with over 1,150 reviews)!

In Burying Water, the plot of an amnesiac awakening in the hospital with no idea who she is, becomes enhanced by the alternating chapters which go back in time and quickly impart the identity of main character. You would think the revealing of this information would take away from the story, but it actually propels the narrative and entices the reader to keep turning pages to find out the whole story, which isn’t revealed until the very end.

Jesse is a twenty-something mechanic in Portland, Oregon who agrees to repair a classic car for a Russian businessman, whom he soon suspects is a mobster. He meets Alex, the wife of the Russian and her obvious abuse by her husband brings out Jesse’s protective instincts. In the future time-line, Alex awakens in a hospital with severe injuries and has no idea who she is. She eventually takes the name “Water” instead of the Jane Doe everyone calls her in the hospital, and goes to live with a cantankerous friend of her doctor in a small Oregon town. Over time, she notices an attractive neighbor working on his car who seems to be more than a little interested in her. As Jesse and Alex/Water’s stories alternate, the reader is drawn into not only their lives, but the lives of the surrounding characters. The author adeptly pulls all the plot threads together to a satisfying conclusion, making the amnesia theme fresh and unique. This book is the beginning of a series, with three additional titles exploring the lives of other characters introduced in Burying Water.



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I can't stop gushing about this story. It's so gripping and unique, that there is no way one couldn't be addicted to this story! I wanted to skip to the end, yet I didn't want it to end!

Right from the start you are pulled into this story. The story of a woman who cannot remember her life. A woman who was destined to die in the snowy woods. A woman who is desperate to make a connection that will bring her memory back. A woman drawn to this mysterious man, Jesse.

You are thrown back and forth from the events leading up to Water's horrific "accident" to her currently struggling to hang on and remember.

Jesse has wanted Water since the first time he laid eyes on her. He has always wanted nothing but to protect her. Now he needs to protect her from her memories. At the same time, he fights his feelings for her and keeps their past from her.

The relationship building in this book is freaking awesome! It's slow yet instant. All of the characters in the book are so well developed they seem to take over the story on their own. They are natural and real. I loved the way Water is able to connect with those around her despite not knowing who she really is.

With the secrets looming over Jesse and his family. The fear that Water will remember and push them away for deceiving her for so long hangs heavy in the air. At the same time, remembering everything could be all that Water needs to finally feel like she belongs.

I was up and down throughout the whole book. I went from watery eyes to a goofy grin and back the entire time.

Would I recommend this book? Of coarse. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads and even to some that don't. K.A. Tucker has never disappointed in her story telling. ( )