Review: Every Time I Think of You by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Series: Standalone

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Series: Standalone

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 9/16/14

Format: eARC

Pages: 370

Source: Author

Rating: 4.5 stars

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Thirty-year-old Daisy DiStefano has two people she holds dear: the grandmother who raised her, and her three-year-old son, Elliott. But when Daisy’s grandmother is killed in a seemingly random act of violence, Daisy must take steps to protect herself and her child.


Despite a thriving career in San Francisco, thirty-six-year-old Brooks McClain has returned home to spend what little time his mother has left before she succumbs to the deadly disease that is ravaging her. The seasoned investigative reporter has taken a position with the local newspaper and been on the job less than twenty-four hours when he’s summoned to cover the death of Pauline Thorpe.


Brooks is all business, but the more time he spends with Daisy DiStefano, the more invested he becomes; there’s something about a single mother, a defenseless child, and an unsolved crime that has stirred Brooks’s protective instincts like nothing ever has before.


And when the unthinkable happens, Brooks will do whatever it takes to clear the name of the woman he’s fallen for and the child he’ll protect at any cost.


Romantic and suspenseful, Every Time I Think of You shows how far two people will go to fight for the ones they love, and the life they’ve always imagined.

My Thoughts 

How many times have I professed my love for Tracey Garvis-Graves's work? Every time I read a new book of hers, I'm always thrilled with how much I enjoy it, though I am never surprised by that fact. Every Time I Think of You is the newest addition to the list. When I picked this one up, I was under the impression it was a romantic suspense, which is logical given that it involves a murder. I don't have the best luck with romantic suspense, usually due to the imbalance between the romance and suspense elements. But I implicitly trust Garvis-Graves, and like the way she put it to me, that Every Time I Think of You is a romance with elements of women's fiction, mystery, suspense and family drama. Now that is a formula I can work with.


So where to begin with the story... To be honest, I'm having such a hard time translating my thoughts into words! The beauty in a greaet book is in discovering it for yourself. And I relished discovering ETIToY. The story centers on the murder of Daisy DiStefano's grandmother, and sets off from that
tragic night. The murder is seemingly random, but Daisy has a feeling there's more danger ahead, possibly aimed for her. Journalist Brooks McClain comes into her life, initially looking for a story, but soon drawn to the beautiful single mother and her son Elliott. 

    She was the kind of woman you might overlook in a dark, crowded bar, but the first one you'd notice when the lights came up.
  In other words, she was exactly my type. 


Both Daisy and Brooks were well-crafted characters who brought life to the story. Daisy is the kind of heroine a lot of readers love: thoughtful, smart, determined and brave. I liked that too. So often in stories in which the heroine is in danger, we're given a woman who sits back while the man saves the day. Or we're given women who charge into danger without thought, only to get themselves into more trouble. Daisy is frightened for herself and her son, makes good choices to make them both safer, but is also proactive about protecting them.


Brooks McClain was a welcome change of pace for me. In this book world of loud, aggressive men, it was nice to have a men who is yes, still strong in mind and body, but also courteous, polished in appearance but not slick, and absolutely well-intentioned. Brooks not only wants to help solve the murder professionally, but also genuinely cares about Daisy's and Elliot's well-being.

    Maybe it was because he was always dressed in a suit and tie, but there was something very dashing and chivalrous about Brooks, which I found quite appealing. He seemed like the kind of man who would hold the door, an umbrella, a woman's hand. When I combined this with the fact that Brooks admitted to caring about my safety, I was pretty much a goner.

Brooks is also dealing with his own family tragedy, the once slow, now rapid decline of his mother, dying of ALS. I enjoyed the portions with Brooks's family, though it was obviously bittersweet.



Every Time I Think of You had excellent balance and pacing. The romance develops at a slow, but not sluggish pace, believable given the circumstances. The murder mystery unravels throughout, never leaving me certain whom the killer was, but confident that I was on the right track. We even get Daisy's ex-husband's point-of-view throughout the story. His was disturbing -he's a meth addict- and revelatory, but also sad. The suspense element does not kick into high gear until we're three-fourths of the way through the book, but when everything finally comes to a head, it was gripping and intense. And smart! I should definitely throw in that once again, Garvis-Graves has delivered such an intelligent story. No matter the media, movies, books, television, I usually sit and point out plot holes, especially in movies. I'm not a legal professional, nor a journalist, but it's obvious that Garvis-Graves did her homework on the laws that would be in effect in Every Time I Think of You. If you have a mind like mine, one that just won't shut up, having a book that holds your completely confidence is a treasure.



In Every Time I Think of You, Tracey Garvis-Graves has once again delivered a romantic, suspenseful and intelligent book. She's an author who's work I'm always thrilled to hold, love and highly recommend.

Favorite Quotes

  In the future, when I tell people my family history, this is the part where I'll break down and cry.

  Nothing in San Francisco makes me feel as good as the way I feel when I'm with you. And every time I think of you, which is roughly every ninety seconds, I remember that you're here and I'm not.

Tracey Garvis-Graves is the author of On the Island and Covet. She lives in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa with her husband, two children, and hyper dog Chloe. She blogs at www.traceygarvisgraves.com using colorful language and a snarky sense of humor to write about pop culture, silly television shows, and her suburban neighborhood. You can e-mail her at traceygarvisgraves@yahoo.com. She’d love to hear from you.