Review: Better Than Friends

Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She'd gotten really good at leaving over the years. 

Seventh in the Sunrise Cove series, each book is set in the small-town but can be easily read as standalones, Better Than Friends was a story about childhood friends who came close to being highschool sweethearts but an accident and emotional angst kept them apart for fourteen years. Olive came to live with her Gram in Sunrise Cove when she was fourteen, escaping not present parents who lived off-the-grid and were too much of free spirits for responsibility. She instantly bonded with Katie, a girl (a character who seems to present on the Autism spectrum) who was an outcast. Katie's twin brother Noah, popular good-looking guy who had an easier social time, became their protector, and Olive's crush. 

“Have you ever wondered what it'd be like between us now, as adults?” 

Olive's been away from Sunrise Cove for over a decade after leaving right after highschool graduation, but keeping in contact with Katie and sporadically visiting. She's started her own PR company in London but when Katie's husband Joe ends up in a coma after being injured on the job, she answers Katie's request for her to come back and help her get through it. Noah, who was also injured in the same accident as Joe, they both work for the Investigative Services Branch for the National Park Service, is off-duty while he heals and helping out at his sister's too. They've been careful to avoid each other over the years and readers feel the tension right away when they come face-to-face. 

He'd not trusted himself to push for a real conversation and reveal feelings he'd long ago buried. 

As we get to know the characters, it's both explicitly said, Olive somehow ended up running Noah over Senior year and damaging his leg enough that his baseball career was over before it even begun, and alluded to that there are other issues keeping these two apart. The story provides flashback scenes throughout the book that give us a look at these two in highschool and the events that have lead them to where they are today, which I thought helped give good context. As we get to know them, it's obvious that they both really like each other but Noah keeps saying he doesn't want to be tied down, which is given some foundation because of how he always he had to be perfect and take care of Katie because of pressure from his parents and how navigating society norms aren't as easy for Katie. Olive's stems from the background with her parents, not trusting love and hearing what Noah is saying and something that is alluded to happening between her and Noah five years ago. Once we got into the latter second half, I don't know, the two characters kept acting and saying things in ways that I started to get confused about what was really keeping them apart and it started to feel like the author, not the characters, was telling me they just couldn't be together, if that makes any sense. 

She didn't like regrets, but the truth was, she had plenty. 

The synopsis talked about some mystery, Olive hasn't been able to get in contact with her parents for a while, they missed their check-in call, and she starts to get really worried. It starts off a vague worry that finally comes into play but the utter and total non-climatic way it eventually got dealt with, well, it didn't need to be in the synopsis making me think there was some action mystery here. The storyline does work to deliver a storm and one bed scenario, so I guess. 

Secretly, she loved the fact that there was a side of him that was for her only, not shared with any of the outside world. 

This had a good set of characters that were nicely rounded out, three dimensional secondary characters but it kind of caused the romance to suffer a little, I think. The element keeping our two apart, felt pretty weak and it ended up making the ending feel dragged out for me. Still, Shalvis' writing is always smooth and if you're looking for a more sedate story that will occasionally ping with chemistry, take a visit to Sunrise Cove.

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Review: The Comeback Cowboy

The Comeback Cowboy by Maisey Yates
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

They'd come from places where people didn't care, not on the regular, and Camp Phoenix had shown them they were worth something. 

The Comeback Cowboy was an anthology with a cool concept of having four different authors continue the story of the same characters, giving each couple a starring role. I thought this would give four different perspectives and vibes to each couple but set in the same world, instead it delivered a whole lot of sameness. The men are all tall with “barely reaching” shoulder height women and except for one couple where it was reversed, the guys are the ones wanting to keep it to just open door bedroom scenes and fearing love. All of the men work/ed in law enforcement, along with one woman, but the stories were too short to really delve into that, they are all just “protective”. The setting is a camp that they all spent time at as teenagers, it's a juvenile retreat to try and help teens change their life path, and after the death of their mentor, Bill McClain, one of the former campers buys it and asks/guilt trips for volunteers to get it back running. Until the last story though, the camp setting wasn't really felt by me and I was kind of disappointed in that aspect. If you were looking for a certain kind of vibe, short, not deep, men scared of love, teenage crushes finally getting fulfilled, then each story had these notes. I was looking for different perspectives and instead got same one after the other. 

The One With the Hat by Jackie Ashenden 2 stars 

Flint Decker. Sheriff Flint Decker and his stupid hat. 

This story had the added responsibility of introducing all the characters, setting, and the whos and whys of everyone. When Bree was fourteen, Officer Flint Decker took her in for stealing food, she says arrested but he really took her to Sheriff Bill McClain, who sent her to Camp Phoenix. Flint was twenty at the time and while Bree had a crush on him, he obviously never felt anything. I started to get a little “ok, enough” over how many times it was brought up how she was fourteen and his “arresting” her, it started to feel a little nothankyou, I wanted a focus on here and now. He remembers her and when Bree moved back to town (Jasper Creek, this is #4 in the city named series) he gets up in his feels how she ignores him. All our characters, well, except for one, come from families of neglect or crooks, providing the issues our characters have to work to deal with or overcome. Bree has worked to become a real estate agent and distant herself from her no account brothers but still has some problem with authority and feeling ashamed of how Flint first met her. Flint is the new Sheriff and feels he has to always be setting an example, his self-righteousness ruffles Bree's feathers. 

“Am I getting to you, wildcat?” he murmured as she got in, his deep voice sending the most delicious chills right down her spine. 

With the crushes going on, there was also our four heroines bunking in a cabin together and starting off a bit cool and adversarial to each other. They start to bond as they come up with the plan for Bree to steal Flint's hat to teach him a lesson. It's a theme that runs through the whole book, each heroine trying to steal something from their hero. It was at turns cute and immature, most of the heroines had an immature feel to them while most of the heroes were production line tough, stoic. When Bree goes to steal Flint's hat the attraction flairs and it kicks off a bedroom relationship. We seem to miss all the good bonding as it's said weeks go by of them continuing their bedroom antics. It comes to ahead as Bree wants more and Flint has to get over his issues for the eventual happily ever after. 

The One With the Locket by Caitlin Crews 2.5 stars 

Lincoln Traeger was not easily riled. 

As Bree and Flint's relationship is getting settled, Violet and Lincoln move into frame. Lincoln is a calm, cool, U.S. Marshal and Violet an argumentative lawyer. As with the other couples, for forced proximity trope, they get paired up and are supposed to clean up the campgrounds chapel. Violet had a crush on Lincoln when they were at camp, she, 15 and he 19, and now grown up, she's still annoyed that she can't wind him around her little finger like she does all other men. It forces her to want to be seen for other than looks but also be scared to be liked or disliked for who she really is. Lincoln catches on to this about her and after he kisses her when she says she only thinks of him as a brother, he then ignores her. This prompts Violet to want to steal a locket of his to prove that she really does hate him to her bunkmates, who she's growing closer to. 

This man was trouble. There was no getting around it. 

As with the first, Violet gets caught stealing and it ends with Lincoln and her hitting the bedroom scenes. This did the same thing where all the time they spend together is basically skipped and I was left not seeing or feeling the emotional developments between these two. These two had logistics issues with some of Violet's emotional (Lincoln seemed to just accept the seriousness between them right away??), Violet lives across the country. This has Lincoln just boldly stating that Violet needs to quit her job and move to him. There's a tiny little background on Violet wanting a change in life but it was side-eyeing how comfortable Lincoln was with only saying she should move to him and not ever a consideration for the reverse. This one had a little more enjoyable heat to it for me but, again, lacked the emotional depth and Violet just expected to upheaval her life was meh. 

The One With the Bullhorn by Nicole Helm 2 stars 

Because Kinley was not a rash, belligerent person. She was shy. She liked to hide and be left to her own devices. 

But when she was mad...well. 

Jackson Hart better watch out. 

Jackson is the leader of the camp and putting his whole energy behind it because he's been forced to retire from the DEA, he has leg damage after being shot and trying to run into a burning building to save his partner. Kinley has always been a wallflower and after only feeling like she could belong at camp, she moved to Jasper Creek years ago but has felt stagnated. Jackson hires her on as the camp's cook but his militant attitude has her destructive tendencies flaring, she used to act out to try and get attention from her parents, and mixed with the crush she's had on him, it has her agreeing to steal his beloved bullhorn. Except he catches her and she blindly snatches up his cane he sometimes uses for his limp. Jackson decides to teach her a teasing lesson and, you guessed it, it leads to them starting up the bedroom antics. 

 No one had ever treated her like this. Like she might be precious, or someone to be careful with. She found herself wanting to cry and hold on to him forever. 

Kinley was a character that had probably the deepest hurt, she has a burn scar from an ex now in jail, and frequently talked about therapy but the shorter page count had her issues getting rushed through. She's also the one who was afraid and running away when Jackson told her he was all in. Jackson was a pretty stoic guy, some little flashes of lighter personality, I never felt like we got a look behind his brick wall, but he did feel the most mature of all the characters. I would have liked a better look at the guys' friendship in his story as he's the one who brought them all together, we really only get quick mentions of poker night and a few short conversations here and there in the short stories, the women's friendship gave more of a growth thread. Jackson's calm, steadiness eventually has Kinley feeling deserving of his love, but while the words were said on paper, I'm not sure I felt their romance. 

The One With the Trophy by Maisey Yates 3 stars 

He worried about her, and he shouldn't. He worried about her, and it made her feel special. He worried about her, and she wished he wouldn't. 

And she wished he would. 

Forever. 

This was my favorite of the anthology, Clementine, the daughter of Sheriff Bill, she spent her summers at the camp. As she wasn't forced or sent there because she wasn't a juvenile delinquent, she always felt like an outsider and then growing up without a mother, while her father loved her, he never seemed to know what to do with a little girl, she has also always felt like an outsider with women. Working now as a deputy with Flint and Duke, another of her father's proteges, she always tried to hide her feelings for Duke. Being ten years older than Clementine, Duke has always tried to watch out for her as his mentor's daughter but the last few months have had him seeing her in a different light. He's trying to say she's like a sister to him but when he overhears her tell the other women that she's going to lose her virginity tonight, his emotions are all over the place. 

He kept imagining it. Some guy kissing her. Putting his hands on her. 

Clementine was really talking about losing her thief virginity and stealing his MVP football trophy from highschool but when he catches her and alludes to attraction to her, Clementine decides to take her chance. This had more of that emotional feelings I was looking for and had some light laughter with heat. Duke was still missing some fully formed character feel but Clementine came out stronger with working out her issues and growing from someone who felt they had to hide their emotions and feeling like an outsider. I also thought their prior friendship helped me believe in their romance more. This did follow the same old, same old trend of the anthology of having the guy scared to trust in love and move it from casual with the woman declaring her love first and saying she wanted more. Duke does get over his parental hang-ups and they get a happily ever after. 

This also wraps-up the Camp Phoenix setting with the camp welcoming in a new generation of juveniles that need help. This didn't have much of a camp setting and while it seems at least two of the guys wear cowboy hats and own ranch/land, there really wasn't a western feel that the cover looked like to promise. But, again, if you're looking for the particular vibes I mentioned, those pretty much get repeated in all four stories.

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Review: The Wolf is Mine

The Wolf is Mine by Paige Tyler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

There was no way out. They were trapped. 

A paranormal series about werewolves that work for the Houston SWAT team, The Wolf is Mine gives us Officer Connor Malone and Kat Davenport's romance. I'm new to the series and while I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up here, I think I did miss some world-building regarding the supernatural aspects of being a werewolf. There's obviously a wide cast of characters, this is book thirteen in the series, but I never felt overwhelmed with some issues and moments looking at past couples. This starts off, I imagine, right where the last book ended, with a couple from the pack missing and Connor and a few other pack members going to look for them. Paranormal can be fun with it's wild aspects and we definitely get that here with Kat, literally, having been a cat adopted by Connor and the pack after coming up to them at a scene they were working nine months ago. Kat is a witch who has been binded as a familiar by a power hungry warlock, Marko, after he killed her whole coven and only changes back to a human for fourteen days out of the year. When her change is coming up, she doesn't want Connor to see and leaves for three days. 

Magic simply existed. It wasn’t good or evil. But the people who used magic could sure as hell be good or evil. 

Kat's story gets intertwined with Connor and the pack's as Marko is responsible for the missing pack couple and a string of teenager kidnappings they have also been working. When Kat turns back into a human, she decides it's time to tell Connor the truth and suddenly she's saving him and other pack members with magic, revealing that she was the cat all along and a witch. The falling in love here was very rushed, it could make sense from Kat's point-of-view, she had her human mind in her cat body, so every time Connor was sweet to her and her falling asleep on his chest every night, gave her time and substance to fall in love with him, I found the speed of Connor falling in love with her less so. For the nine months, Connor has only saw her as a cat (I tried not to keep thinking about him cleaning her litter box, lol), so in a few days, this story takes place over fourteen days, when he's claiming she's his soulmate, I can't say I felt it. There was talk of The One for werewolves, so maybe I'm missing some previous paranormal world-building here but just using The One felt like a cop-out for putting in the work to give us the emotional building blocks to their romance. 

Taking a few careful steps forward, Kat threw herself into his arms, dragged his head down, and captured his lips with hers. 

The battling between the werewolves and witches and warlocks filled this with a good amount of action scenes. The scenes at times had cool descriptions, werewolves claws coming out, the magic creating sims monsters (magical stones in the middle of debris built up monsters) that provided some details that created visually dazzling scenes in my mind. There was also a lot of, what I call, tv show Supernatural-ish scenes of Connor and the others just being hit in the chest with magical blows that sent them flying off their feet over and over again, making you wonder if Marko and his coven are so powerful, why don't they do more than just throw them around? 

She refused to let the man she loved get hurt. 

By half-way through, Kat and Connor both consider each other soulmates and it's really just about the skirmishes they have with Marko and his witches and warlocks working for him as they kidnap kids and putting together Marko's final plan. Connor's sister Jenna shows up and we get some backstory about how when he was younger his sisters went missing for a time and only Jenna was found, she couldn't remember what happened to her older sister Hannah but talked about monsters, causing no one to believer her and call her crazy. It's a storyline that I thought might be incorporated with Marko but it looks like it was all set-up to bring Jenna and, who I'm pretty sure is going to be her love interest, Connor's packmate Trevor together. The ending gives us a final action scene and then a wrap-up with more than one happily after. 

I missed some supernatural world-building, both of the werewolves and witches, it seemed like witches and magic were new to the werewolves by how they reacted when Kat revealed herself and when she used her magic but then later in the story a character called Davina who was a witch who worked with the SWAT team occasionally gets called in to help them, so they knew about witches already, I'm not sure that all made sense to me. I enjoyed the action scenes but there wasn't enough to the falling in love for me. Even though I was new to the world, I had fun jumping in here and I'm sure readers of the series will enjoy the reveal of the SWAT team's cat being a human Kat.

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Review: Body of Evidence

Body of Evidence by Irene Hannon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

After all, what were the odds that the deaths of two older residents of rural Missouri who didn't appear linked in any way and who had no fortune worth stealing could be anything but natural? 

Body of Evidence is book three in the Triple Threat series about the Reilly sisters. Youngest sister Grace is a forensic pathologist who travels six rural Missouri counties doing autopsies. When what looks like an attempted robbery may or may not have led to the death of an older woman, Grace conducts the autopsy and sees odd similarities to another older man's death. Coincidences that could easily be written off but when she finds what looks like sunflower seeds in both their stomachs, it bothers her enough to talk to the new Sheriff. Sheriff Nate has only been four months on the job but as former Special Forces, it doesn't take him much to get up to speed. He's willing to look a little further into these deaths, especially when it will give him more time around Grace. 

He could let her walk away---or lay it on the line and possibly set himself up for a fall. 

I hadn't read the previous books in the series but had no problem jumping in as this was fully Grace's story. Her sisters make appearances and bring in some of that sibling love and dynamics that I enjoy. With parents and a brother that had passed away, Nate only had a sister-in-law to show readers other sides of his personality and I missed him having a friend dynamic. He was in a dead end relationship of eight months when he meets Grace but after feeling the spark with Grace, he breaks up with her. This is Christian fiction, so the talk of morals and values comes on quick and their relationship is more about sensing each other is “The One”, they don't even get to go on a first date and readers won't see lingering touches until the epilogue. 

Maybe the murderer had, indeed, devised the perfect homicide. 

But she wasn't about to cede victory to BK until every stone had been overturned. 

The murder mystery was the main story here and we get povs from numerous people; players, the villain, and red-herrings. I liked how readers were let in on the why, insurance fraud scheme, and a who, an insurance salesman Dave is being blackmailed for cheating on his wife and forced to sell bogus claims to older citizens at the instance of a mysterious “BK”. The main villain pov of BK gives us their thoughts, feelings, and why they're doing this, bitter about how they're life turned out and enjoying how they're getting the best of people by being so smart but it's up to the reader to try and find out the identity of BK along with Grace and Nate. It was fun to have a little more information that Grace and Nate and travel along with them as they worked to figure things out but still keep some of the mystery for the reader to guess at as they don't know the identity of BK either. 

Because almost from the day they'd met, he'd known Grace Reilly was special---and that this moment would come. 

This was closer to a police procedural, mystery, than a romance for me but Grace and Nate do keep in touch throughout with conversations, they just happen to be mostly conversations about autopsies. I missed some of that relationship development as they immediately just felt like there was The One possibilities with the other. As I mentioned, this is Christian fiction so along with the more common no getting physical and no cursing, there was minimal mentions of going to church. I read very few Christian fiction, so the part where the reverend was automatically considered a trustworthy witness solely because he was a man of god made my eye twitch a bit, the underlining linking of stronger morals and values to religious people, and the tone that rural areas are automatically better than urban was a little off-putting to me. Obviously, elements that probably wouldn't bother regular Christian readers and I was a little shocked at the more to the side the talk of church and prayer was. If you're looking for a police procedural murder mystery (the instrument used for death was very interesting) with some feelings between the sheriff and forensic pathologist, this could be one to pick up.

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Quickie Review: Wild Card

Wild Card by Aleah Barley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

He might have been a priest—once upon a time—but he definitely wasn’t a saint. 

This had a whiff of the movie Bad Boys. She's an ex-stripper now showgirl who witnesses a dirty cop deal that goes bad and cop ends up dead. She steals the bag of ill gotten goods, she doesn't know what is in the bag just that it is valuable. 

I hear you, why would you take the bag??? This is why none of you will ever be rescued by a former priest turned detective! 

The guy is mostly why I'm writing up this quick review, he's a 37yr old virgin and since that is like a white whale to some of you romance readers, ALERT! 

Irish Catholic oldest brother was priest for most of his life but ended up beating a man to a veg state (he managed to grow up boxing somehow in all this) when he found out the man was abusing his son. So he decides to drop the robes and become a cop. 

There's danger with a, kind of, shored up action plot, a couple points that didn't make sense, and of course the sexual tension. She's funny and chaotic, there's sex scenes. 

Nothing to take seriously but yeah, a 37yr old male virgin. Have at it, friends!

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Review: Christmas on Mistletoe Lane

Christmas on Mistletoe Lane by Annie Rains
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

“So.” Mr. Garrison clapped his hands together. “Congratulations, you two. Looks like you'll be business partners.” 

Inheriting her grandmother's Bed and Breakfast in Sweetwater Springs, North Carolina is going to give Kaitlyn the opportunity she needs to get a fresh start. She's just been fired from her interior decorator job in New York because of a famous action movie star and she's ready for the change of pace. Unfortunately, she's just learned that she only inherited half. 

Mitch has just gotten out of the Marines and waiting to start a security job in Virginia when the lawyer for the recently passed neighbor woman he used to help with odd jobs, tells him he needs to talk to him. After a car accident he feels responsible for, paralyzed a local teen, he's respected the wishes of the family that he not be in town, why he left at eighteen, so when he learns that he's inherited half of the B&B, he wants to sell. 

Kaityln's meddling grandmother, though, made the stipulation that they must work together for two months or the inn goes to charity. Mitch has somehow let Katilyn talk him into staying for the two months and suddenly being a grumpy loner is losing its appeal. 

He was temporary, and she wasn't looking for a relationship. 

Christmas on Mistletoe Lane starts off the Sweetwater Springs series and readers get to know a whole cast of characters. I thought there was going to be some sweet tension between Kaitlyn and Mitch as they worked to repair the B&B but Kaitlyn redecorating and Mitch fixing, for the most part, happens off page and not much time is spent on it. I liked the set-up but Kaitlyn and Mitch's romance was more of the “I find you attractive.” “I find you attractive.” and then sleeping together but all those scenes were fade to black. So, instead of cute forced proximity tension, we get fade to black bedroom scenes and two ships passing in the night as Kaitlyn does some cooking, some genial dealing with people staying at the inn and Mitch worrying about his mother's health, wanting to get out of town before he runs into the guy that got paralyzed in the accident, and helping out at the police department. 

And she absolutely was not going to kiss him again tonight. 

Even though a lot of the story takes place at the B&B, I felt like the ambiance of this old Victorian home wasn't brought out enough. I mean, it was like 70% in when it was suddenly brought up that the house had a ballroom, how did I not know there was a ballroom! This could tie-in to me expecting a lighter, fun story of Kaitlyn and Mitch repairing the inn, instead of the more Kaitlyn dealing with some fear trauma over her sexual harassment and attempted assault by her former Hollywood actor client and what chased her out of NY and Mitch worried about his mother's health and still dealing with guilt over car accident. 

“Where are we going?” she asked---not that she cared. 

There was a sudden urgency in his movements as he pulled her towards the exit. “To settle this thing between us once and for all.” 

Since Mitch grew-up in the town, it's through him that we get introduced to a couple male characters that will certainly star in future books in the series, Kaitlyn's bestfriend Josie from New York will probably show up later, too. The secondary characters were good, they introduced us to the town without feeling like they were clogging up the story. There was a little holiday flavor with some Christmas tree hunting, festival, and mistletoe but I was disappointed with how Christmas Eve and Day didn't really feature as those days came at the end of the book. 

“I have traveled the world looking for a place where I could feel whole again. Never in a million years did I think that would be right back where I started.” 

Kaitlyn was focused on more in the first half and Mitch got more focus in the second, separately they were pretty well defined characters, it was together and their romance that I felt was lacking. This is probably another personal gripe but putting an adorable puppy on the cover and then not having the puppy come into the picture until the last fifteen pages was pretty disappointing. Mitch breaking things off in a little bit of a fit of temper and then waiting until the last ten pages to make right and, in my opinion, not delivering the apology he needed to, instead simply going with an “I love you.” only, gave kind of a dull ending that even the epilogue couldn't bring up. This first in the series just didn't have the magical, light, sweet, or emotional tone or vibe I personal like in holiday reads, but, I did think the series baiting characters have potential to draw readers back to Sweetwater Springs for future romances.

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Review: Stealing Mr. Right

Stealing Mr. Right by Tamara Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars

“Eating in the library?” He made a deep tsking sound. “Shame on you, Penelope Blue. You’re lucky I don’t turn you in to the authorities.”
I relaxed ever so slightly. He wasn’t arresting me. He was flirting with me. “You can’t prove a thing,” I said quickly. “I swallowed the evidence.”
His eyes deepened in color until they were almost black. “Now that’s something I like to hear."

The daughter of the Blue Fox could do nothing but grow up to be a jewel thief. Penelope hasn't seen her father in years or his supposed hundred million nest egg, with a cobbled together group of friends, she makes her living stealing jewels. What starts off as part of bet with her bestfriend Riker, she gets close to a FBI agent who seems to be watching them.

Written in first person and all from Penelope's point of view, I personally missed our FBI agent Grant's thoughts. I can see why the author chose this as it intensifies their cat and mouse game of how much does Grant know about Penelope and is he using her? The author gives a couple emotional hints here and there to give the reader a pretty good idea where Grant's head and heart is at but Penelope is always second guessing.

I flew through this as the writing and story was pretty addictive. However, the flashbacks were laid out in a way that gave the pace a bit of a stop and go feeling, ramping up the pace in the present tense only to halt it with going back in the past to see how Penelope and Grant got together. It felt like the author was purposefully doing this but it ended up making the pace feel very uneven to me.

The series looks to be focused on Penelope, so even though there is no cliffhanger here, her story will continue on. Her group of friends deserve their own series or books as the author did a great job giving us enough of them to support the story and Penelope's character without clogging and enticing us to know more.

This felt a little more madcap chik-lit than strictly romance and, like I said, not having Grant's pov killed a little of their relationship depth for me, but I couldn't tear myself away from reading the adventure.

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Review: The Hanged Man's Tale

The Hanged Man's Tale by Gerald Jay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Dangling from the steel beam, the dead body must have appeared as an eerie vision. Hanging upside down. The ankle swaying at the end of a rope. 

Second in the Inspector Mazarelle Mystery series, The Hanged Man's Tale, has our Commandant Paul Mazarelle getting a promotion to join the Brigade Criminelle, which are the top 100 detectives in France. Along with his Lt. Jeannot and detail man Maurice, they are assigned to a murder case that had the body displayed hanging upside down in a tunnel and a hanged man tarot card in his jacket pocket. The victim turns out to be a former a police officer currently working as a PI. When everyone around Mazarelle wants the easy win with pinning the case on a Mafia Romani man, Mazarelle doesn't like how everything is adding up and soon begins to unravel a tangled web of far-right white supremacists, dirty cops, and newspapers paying for inside information to cases. 

On the third floor the plaque on the wall announced La Brigade Criminelle with its thistle emblem and motto: “Qui s'y frotte s'y pique.” Meaning, as they say, “If you play with fire, you might get burned.” 

I didn't read the first in the series but as this is more of a police procedural, focus more on the following and working the clues of the case, I didn't have a problem jumping in here. I did think the beginning felt jumbled with sentences trying to pack in numerous characters, setting the scene, and police organization names and structures. Around 30% the story evens out as the introductions are out of the way and we follow Mazarelle around. I felt like I did get to know Mazarelle, his wife dying of cancer, the numerous mentions of how big he is, and his general outlook on life, but, even as the lead, he's didn't become a character I necessarily grew to care about, the police procedural and solving the mystery are the stars of the story, so I can't say I'd be enticed to follow the character on another murder mystery. 

Still, it was becoming clear---someone was messing with his investigation. 

Definitely. 

But who? And why? 

When the story starts, it's from the pov of a character named Max, who has been radicalized and is setting up to assassinate the president of France, he fails when Mazarelle catches him and then dies when he tries to escape during transport after his arrest. The story then moves a few weeks into the future and the new murder case of the hanged man starts and you have to keep Max in the back of your mind until much later when his thread comes back into play. The threads I mentioned of far-right, dirty cops, and murder are credibly put together by Mazarelle and I liked how some of the connections were written out but I did think that the murderer/s was a bit sensational, mostly because the tone of story and Mazarelle's character was more grainy, low-key. The murderer/s story does give it a pop of lurid thriller but not sure it completely sat right in the overall tone of story. The guilty and innocent aren't obvious right away and side-characters come and go to muck about but Mazarelle shifts through it all, while surviving his own attempted murder. If you like police procedurals set in France, then the solving of a hanged man murder and all the tangled threads it brings together would be a good way to spend the afternoon.

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Review: One Lucky Day: Head Over Heels / Lucky in Love

One Lucky Day: Head Over Heels / Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Books three and four in the Lucky Harbor series, One Lucky Day, features some of the best of Shalvis' writing. 

Head Over Heels stars one of my favorite couples, Chloe and Sawyer. The first three books in the series star three sisters that weren't raised together but come together after their mother dies and they inherit an Inn in the small town of Lucky Harbor. Chloe is the youngest sister and the “wild child” while Sawyer is the Sheriff and by-the-book. The first two books show the two developing some heated sexual tension as they circle each other and their own book delivers on all the promised heat. There's a suspense plot threaded in that has Sawyer contracted out to the DEA that gives a little danger but for the most part, this story is all about the tension and heat between Chloe and Sawyer. These two are steamy together and more alike than anyone realizes. I also like how we get emotional growth from Chloe and scenes with her sisters as their bond solidifies. Sawyer has his own friendships with the past heroes in the series and some of his own family drama with his father but I mostly enjoyed how Chloe settles him and draws out that teasing, flirting with naughtiness side of his. 

Lucky in Love brings in some side characters that we briefly meet in the previous three books, hometown sweetheart Mallory and the sexy mysterious new guy in town Ty. Mallory gets her own “sisters” with Amy and Grace (their the heroines in the next two books) and they decide that it's time for Mallory to date Mr. Wrong, a chance for her to try the wild side. Mr. Wrong turns out to be Ty, he's in town because his friend Matt (he's a Lucky Harbor Park Ranger and yes, he gets his own book) invited him to stay as Ty recovers from an injury. Ty is a former Navy SEAL, currently a government contractor and is used to being on his own. Mallory and Ty meet-cute while Ty is concussed and we get a sort of blind date and a “we'll only sleep together but not catch feelings”. This story has a little bit of a more weightier feel than usual light and sexy Shalvis but I liked the change of pace, especially in a longer series like Lucky Harbor. These two take a little while to work through their individual issues but deliver the sexiness while doing it.

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Review: Riskier Business

Riskier Business by Tessa Bailey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

His tortured gaze finally met hers. “Your father is back in town.” 

Well, I'm posting this a day late for the #TBRChallenge but I finally was able to sit down and finish a book, so glass half full. 

January's theme was Quickie, and novella came to mind right away for me. I typically struggle with novellas because the relationship development is tougher to match the depth I like. Sticking with last years rule of the books I choose for this challenge have to have been on my tbr for at least 5 years, I chose Riskier Business, which has been on my tbr since 2016. Because I've now turned into a messy reader, I haven't read the book that stars the couple this novella is about. However, I have read the first book in the series that book is in, totally counts! 

This novella is .5 in the Crossing the Line series and seems to be the way the author is bridging Crossing the Line from Line of Duty series, which this couple's original book is in. Troy is a detective and Ruby is a former pool hustler who has now gone legit with her own custom pool stick company. This is a Tessa Bailey so the banging is front and center and has some hot moments but since I missed the buy me dinner portion (their first book) I wasn't totally connected to their steamy feels in the bedroom.

The author does a good job giving us the gist of what happened in Ruby and Troy's book, wrong side of the law pool hustler entanglement with detective and a life threatening situation that led to love. Ruby and Troy are now living together, Ruby has an employee named Mya, Troy still has issues with how close she is to her bestfriend Bowen, and now her shady father has come back into the picture. Daddy-o wants Ruby to hustle one more pool game, against her previously unknown uncle. Ruby's mother abandoned her and took off with $100,000 of shady daddy's money. If Ruby wins the pool game, uncle gives up abandoning mommy's location. Ruby has always been curious about her mom and though it makes Troy mad, she agrees to the game. 

Does the premise around the pool game make much sense? No. Nononono. Lol. But it brings tension and angst to Ruby and Troy's relationship while also bringing some mystery to who Ruby's mom could be. If you read their original book, you'd get a lot more out of this, you'd already be invested in their emotions and probably enjoy the glimpses of past couples from the Line of Duty series. There are copious amounts of secondary characters that could entice you to pick up their books. 

This satisfied the Quickie prompt in being short and having a fair share of sexual quickies. It resolved some issues I imagine readers felt had been left open for this couple and it bridged to a new series that looks to start off with Ruby's bestfriend and newly discovered half-brother! Bowen. Bailey delivered with what she's known for, sexcapades with some entertaining story.

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Review: To All the Dogs I've Loved Before

To All the Dogs I've Loved Before by Lizzie Shane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

If a man was going to declare that he didn't want to marry you after the world's longest engagement, he ought to at least have the decency to leave town. 

From childhood friends, sweethearts, breaks for college, and family tragedies, Elinor and Levi have been through it all together. It's been three years since Levi suddenly broke the engagement off with Elinor but since he's the chief of police for their small town and her nine month old Australian Sheppard is a Houdini of escaping her home, she still sees him almost everyday. Elinor is still so angry with him but Levi wants them to be able to be friends again, it's a tension filled situation that the whole town can feel, especially the local newsletter that loves to gossip about their relationship. 

It would be so much easier if she could just hate him properly. 

To All the Dog I've Loved Before was another sweet, emotional pitfalls addition to the Pine Hollow series. Set in a small town in Vermont, the series follows a group of friends that have either grown-up together or been welcomed into the circle because of the dogs they have adopted. Elinor grew-up in the town with Levi, she was the smart overachiever that everyone just knew was going to do big things and he was the bad boy that was always in trouble. The story does a lot of character exploring, Elinor lost her mother young to Ovarian cancer, supported her sister when she had her own scare with cancer, and became the pseudo-mother to their youngest sister. Levi has dyslexia which caused him to act out in school to hide the fact that he couldn't read and deals with emotional abuse from his father at home telling him that he's worthless. There's some reminiscing about their past relationship when they were kids but the bulk of their past is mostly discussed in terms of how their emotional traumas cause them to act now; why Levi broke off the engagement and how Elinor has dealt with that emotional fallout. There is a lot of heavy stuff in this but the author keeps the tone from falling into the depressive, I'm not quite sure how she does it but I never felt dragged down. It's not chik-lit light but more serene and hopeful that these two can work through their emotions to find their way together again. 

He never showed weakness. He kept it together for the town. 

Around 40% the two have a blowup and the walking on eggshells between them cracks and we get more on Levi. He's still dealing with blaming himself about a drug overdose he thought he should have stopped and readers learn more about why he felt he needed to break it off with Elinor, he essentially didn't feel good enough for her and didn't want to hold her back. A chunk of the book is dedicated to Levi working through these feelings, he goes to therapy, and we get a deeper look at the strong, silent, “I'm not good enough” hero trope. Elinor has her own journey of coming out of the grief fog, not only did she lose her mother, help her sister through her cancer scare, but Elinor also lost her bestfriend to a car accident just after Levi broke off the engagement with her. Again, I know this all sounds depressing as heck but the caring that you can still feel between Elinor and Levi and even the secondary characters, bring the love and friendship to uplift the tone. 

Things had been so much clearer when she was trying to hate him. Now it felt like the only thing she knew was that she didn't. 

There were maybe a couple times where I felt like I started to grumble that Levi so obviously loved her and his breaking up with her but not letting her go, got repeated one or two too many times but at 60% we get Elinor confronting him and this having it out created a shift between the two that had them moving forward. Levi's knowing that Elinor loved him but thinking she was wrong too was heartfelt and had the foundation that I think this trope lacks a lot of the time, making it's heroes feel more cardboard cutout, Levi felt stoically sexy real. 

He'd listened to Jane Austen with her dog while driving around Pine Hollow. Her knees melted a little. 

As a reader of the series, I enjoyed revisiting the town and seeing our favorite couples, there is a wedding and more hints at possible future partners. Elinor's dog Dory was adorable and added to the story, especially with how she got Elinor and Levi together. This was a kisses only story, I find myself likening it a lot to a less sex and chik-lit vibe Jill Shalvis. From the beginning you'll feel Levi's trying to hide and restrain love for Elinor and her anger over how he could push her away and then fall into the emotional journey these two go on to get back to each other.

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Review: Falling in Love on Willow Creek

Falling in Love on Willow Creek by Debbie Mason
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

She'd been bailing her baby brother out of trouble for years. 

Third in the series, I had no problem jumping in with this small town romance even though I haven't read the others. We start off with a very pregnant Sadie Gray working in her grandmother's I Believe in Unicorns store and trying to suss out if her brother on the run from the law is squeezing her grandmother for money. Her brother got mixed up transporting drugs with the local gang and now is wanted by them and the police. She's got that to deal with while she's pregnant and deciding that it is finally time to kick her baby's father to the curb. 

The pov then jumps to FBI agent Chase Roberts, who happens to be watching the store and catches Sadie in an embarrassing moment but receives a phone call before they can meet. Their meet-cute then ends up with Sadie getting into a minor car accident and Chase, with his new undercover partner Nate Black, delivering Sadie's baby because she goes into labor on the side of the road. 

And for the first time in his career, he thought he might be in over his head. 

This started with a lot of different elements thrown at the reader, I had a hard time keeping up with everything. The undercover case Chase is working with Nate Black, who he isn't sure he can fully trust, as they try to find Sadie's brother and see if he really was a criminal informant for Nate's buddy that was killed and if the local sheriff's department is dirty and working to ship drugs with the gang is the main plot but there were so many intangibles added that it started to feel kitchen sink and not cobbled together quite right. Around the 20% mark, I started to feel like I was settling into the story more. Sadie's grandmother's second sight, Sadie's friend Abby and her YouTube channel ideas, and Sadie's baby preferring Chase all the time, were seemingly small additives but they were all thrown in, in such a way, that it disrupted the flow and took away from the romance. 

“Thank you.” he said, then held her gaze. “I meant what I said, Sadie. I care about Michaela, and I care about you.” 

The romance was fairly mild, with the baby almost always between them, Sadie and Chase felt like an already married couple and with more of a dulled spark. This was also a kisses only, the sex scene is completely off screen. Both characters were raised by their grandparents and I thought that was sweet commonality but because Sadie and Chase had to share the focus in so many directions, I felt we never got to see them sit and deepen together. I had that problem with a lot of the characters, they went beyond cardboard individually but their relationships with each other were lacking and I missed more emotion. About 40% Sadie learns that Chase is undercover and a little bit of fake relationship trope happens as he pretends to be her boyfriend so he can stay with her at her house. I thought we would get more spark but these two just settled into the comfortable couple even more, with Sadie getting naps in and Chase doing the laundry. 

If you've read the other books in the series, you'll enjoy the appearances of past and future couples as they have some important roles in this. I felt the execution wasn't quite right on this as the beginning had me feeling scattered and pulled in a lot of different ways, Chase and Nate never felt like they were searching intensely enough for Sadie's brother, and Sadie's baby got in the middle a lot. The story ends fairly abruptly but with the bonus story edition, you get a novella of Sadie and Chase's wedding, which helps give an epilogue feel. This would be a comfortable read for some, though, if you like a little detective work and wanting to visit the small town of Highland Falls again.

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Review: Jackson

Jackson by LaQuette
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

He renamed it Restoration Ranch because the land that was once his condemnation to a brutal life became his redemption. 

Aja Everett left her high powered lawyer job in New York to start Restoration Ranch, a project of her heart, on her family's land in Texas. It's supposed to be a place where people can get a second chance but as sabotage instances keep mounting, someone clearly doesn't want Aja to succeed. When Texas Ranger Jackson Dean gets called in to work a case as a favor to a judge friend of his boss, he thinks the judge's niece is playing the spoiled princess card. The danger turns out to be all to real though, along with the sparks between Aja and Jackson. 

Jackson closed his eyes again as he tried to control his breathing. He’d hoped for short and simple. But this woman standing in the middle of his office, looking the picture of a poised, dominant professional mixed with a touch of down-home goodness, was as complicated a start to this case as Jackson could imagine. 

Jackson is the first in the Restoration Ranch series and I loved the backstory the author created for the idea behind the Ranch. The backstory involves Aja's great-great-great-great-grandfather and his start as a free man, it grounded the setting for me and infused the purpose of what Aja is working to do, give parolees an opportunity for work and a second chance to succeed. We're plunged right away into the sabotage plot and I was a bit disoriented with what was happening as we don't get to see the scene that has caused Aja to be on edge, creating a feeling that I was missing some of the story. This doesn't last long however, and we soon learn that the town sheriff isn't taking Aja's concerns seriously, doesn't want convicts in his district, and in fact wanted to buy the ranch before Aja came from New York. These issues with the sheriff cause Aja's uncle to call in a favor and brings the Texas Rangers into the picture. 

Why did a Texas Ranger with dusty jeans and boots make her mouth water and her mind wander to places it had no business going? 

Jackson Dean (seriously, how sexy is that name?) doesn't take the case seriously until a bomb goes off in Aja's barn and she is injured. They decide to do an undercover case (only Aja knows they're TX Rangers) with Jackson and his two colleagues, Colton and Storm, with them pretending to be ranch hands while they work to uncover who wants Aja dead. After the bomb and Jackson is on the ranch, the focus shifts some from the mystery suspense and onto Aja and Jackson's attraction for one another. They have more than insta-lust but just by a smidgen, I would have liked to have more scope to their relationship. Obviously, a lot of the story takes place at the Ranch and I felt they weren't really growing beyond the just get to the bedroom depth. There were times that their sexiness did give me hints of Alisha Rai and Tessa Bailey. 

Who would’ve thought Jackson Dean, the big, burly Texas Ranger, needed someone to make him feel safe? 

I connected with Aja quicker as we get more of her character up front, how her relationship with her sister, family, and experiences have shaped her personality and drive to start Restoration Ranch. Jackson's story is doled out slower and if I had known about how his previous marriage and the issues that stemmed from it had went down and his mother's abandonment, I might have been more into or forgiving of his “I can't trust any women” very used hero trope. This might be another weird like of mine but I adored how Jackson said “Daddy” instead of father or dad, good father-son relationships are more in absence and this just added some love to theirs. In fact, I thought this author's strong point was in her familial relationships, added so much richness to her characters and story. 

“All right, Ranger. I’m game if you are. But are you sure you can handle me?” He pulled her into his arms, cupping her cheek, and leaning in close. “I can handle anything you’ve got.” 

The pace of this was a little different, the mystery/danger plot seems to be wrapped up around the 70% mark and then Aja and Jackson start dating; when I would expect their relationship to hitting their climax of coming together, instead it feels like they're starting the build. The mystery/danger has it's obviousness and some anti-climatic as the villain is mostly off-screen and then some forced surprise as it ends in a cliffhanger to connect and lead into the next of the series. Jackson's friends and colleagues, Colton and Storm along with the two friends and parolees, Brooklyn and Seneca, Aja is helping, are obvious series set-up characters. The pacing didn't always work for me but the idea behind Restoration Ranch and the relationships behind and being built from it pulled me in and I'm curious to see where Colton's protectiveness of Seneca leads.

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Review: The Broken

The Broken by Shelley Coriell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

She’d discovered each attack mirrored hers except for one thing: She survived. 

If you followed along with my updates, you'd know I was really enjoying this from the beginning. Kate who survived an attack by her brother goes on the run only to be found by Hayden, a FBI agent who is hunting the Broadcast Butcher serial killer. The first half has everyone thinking the Butcher is Kate's brother but there were secondary characters who had me side-eyeing them. The second half switched gears and has the Butcher's identity a secret again and the hunt continues. 

The first half is more focused on the mystery/suspense plot about the serial killer, we get povs from the killer that help bring a chill to the tone (in one scene, the killer uses their latest victims blood as lube to masturbate with). There's also povs from a police sergeant helping to search for the killer and a colleague rival of Kate's, along with Kate and Hayden's povs. I thought the secondary characters were great red-herrings in the beginning and helped ramp up the mystery and suspense but the second half and ending kept some going too long and then one in particular ended up feeling a tad ridiculous. 

She’d just shaken the unshakable Hayden Reed, and if she wasn’t so damned furious at him, she’d laugh. 

The romance does take more of a back seat, which I thought fit the overall structure of the story but the second half does have Hayden and Kate feeling more for each other, the bedroom scene was pretty much fade to black though. This was more of a book of friendships, Kate's friendship while being a caregiver to Smokey Joe and the Apostles, what the group of FBI agents Hayden works with are called for their talent with getting the job done in unusual ways. We get a couple glimpses of other Apostle agents and I definitely want to read their stories. This had a strong beginning but the end really overworked itself with dragging out redherrings and creating a very convoluted villain, it's probably not a good sign when your serial killer is finally identified and my first thought was "Who?" as it took me a couple seconds to remember who they were. I'm still going to search out other books in the series because the mystery was pretty intriguing there for a while. 

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Review: Mermaid Inn

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

 “The inn is yours… but you can’t sell it for a year.” 

The Matchmaker Bay series starts off with a second chance romance between visiting her great-aunt in the summer Evie and local boy Sawyer. They meet very young, grow up as friends, and when puberty hits, so does their love. Their last summer before high school graduation, Evie starts talking about skipping college to come waitress and stay in Moonflower Bay but Sawyer doesn't want her to give up her dreams for him. Sawyer decides to publicly make-out with a girl on a float during the big town parade, therefore making Evie want to leave and go chase her dreams. Ten years later, Evie's great-aunt has passed away and left her Mermaid Inn to Evie. Evie is finally forced to return to Moonflower Bay, where she gets stuck on the Inn roof and has to be rescued by the town's police chief, who just so happens to be Sawyer. 

 It was just that she had loved him so much. And now, she reminded herself, she was angry at him so much. 

The first 30% of Mermaid Inn felt like one big set-up for the series as a whole, instead of narrowing the focus to Evie and Sawyer. It seemed to want to veer into women's fiction but there are povs from Sawyer, so I would make up a new sub-genre and call it town's fiction (this does fit strongly in the romance genre). There's the meddling elders, the themed town festival, the slightly wack woman, Maya, who becomes friends with Evie and has a “hate” you relationship with one of Sawyer's two handsome friends, and our childhood sweethearts who the whole town knows should still be together. These are extremely well tread tropes and characters and for the first half I struggled a lot; the ground work for the whole series and read before characters didn't feel fresh or excite. There was also the intense anger from Evie towards Sawyer over, yes, a huge heartbreak of hers but it happened ten years ago and was one moment in an apparent ocean of love and good memories with Sawyer. I thought Evie and Sawyer came off a bit immature, they felt very early twenties more than late twenties at times with their thoughts. 

 “Kiss the girl.” 

It was around the 40% mark that Evie starts to thaw towards Sawyer and I thought the flow and story improved a lot from there, the story moves from setting up the series and focuses more on Sawyer and Evie. Sawyer's background had him growing up with an abusive father, his mother died in childbirth. At eighteen, he moves out with his seven year old sister, gets full legal custody, and with the help of the town he raises her. There were some good moments between him and his sister but I craved even more because of how deep the emotions between this relationship could have gotten. Evie comes from a loving home but we get very few glimpses with her and her parents and because the impetuous to get her back to Moonflower Bay is the death of her great-aunt, we don't get any great scenes between the two. There were at times I felt depth and meat to the characters was missing. 

 He kissed the girl. And the girl kissed him back. 

The beginning was too much series set-up that frankly made it boring, the middle had better interactions between Evie and Sawyer that started to draw me into their second chance romance, but the ending fell somewhat flat because so much of the emotions from characters felt surface. The story takes place over a year but there are time jumps and it didn't feel like I had necessarily struggled and triumphed with Evie and Sawyer in their romance because of lack of depth. I'm in my late thirties and there were at times I felt like some of the characters and the tone had a manic pixie, bubbly, and Instagram (I don't know how to really describe this but if you're on Instagram you'll know what I'm talking about) vibe that just didn't always connect with me, younger readers could easily feel different. With the town set-up out of the way, the next in the series should have the freedom to focus more on the main couple and luckily, Sawyer has two hunky friends that should fill the hero spot nicely.

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Review: Nowhere to Hide

Nowhere to Hide by Leslie A. Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nowhere to Hide continues the Winchester brothers' story, this time following Rowan as he rescues Evie and becomes attracted and entwined in murder mysteries. If you haven't read the first in the series, Rowan's twin brother Reece's book (I'll Be Watching You) introduced readers to the Winchester family, brothers that grew up in Hollywood. Rowan is out of the acting business and is a detective now. The author does a good job rehashing important points, the brother's sister's death that impacted them all and learning a secret about their Hollywood agent, Harry Baker, and his murder. You could easily start here as Evie is a new character to the series and while the story continues some plot threads from the first, it also takes on new ground.

What secret was Rowan hiding about Harry Baker that made him pretend he felt nothing for her when she knew damn well he did?

Evie was a great character, she's a true crime novelist that survived her own entanglement with a serial killer. Her roommate was killed by Evie's mechanic, Evie put together the puzzle pieces to discover he was a serial killer. She's now in Hollywood to research infamous murders for a new book she is writing. Through her research she also thinks she might have discovered a new serial killer, yeah, there is a lot of murder in this book. Along with Evie's baggage of having a serial killer in her life, the killer is trying to get a new trial so she might have to testify again, research for her infamous murders book, investigating a possible undiscovered serial killer, she also wants to do a chapter on Harry Baker. This brings in the conflict between her and Rowan, he wants nothing brought up about Baker because of how it could put the spotlight on his brothers again and bring possible ramifications.

And here he was, about to spend another glorious day with the woman he wanted an insane amount but had to pretend he did not.

From their first meeting when Rowan helps to save Evie from a possible mugging, physical attack, he and Evie had some heat. He's fully aware that it is not the time to come on strong to her but as circumstances get them to spend more time together, they both lean more towards each other. When he learns that Evie wants to write about Harry Baker, he gives her the deep freeze. These two move from hot to cold and the middle of the book is filled more with redherrings and murder mystery. The latter half then moves to the bedroom (there is some credible emotional work to move Rowan there) and then they jump to love pretty quickly. I ended up feeling like the romance was only around twenty percent of this book; Evie and Rowan do spend a good amount of time together, the focus just wasn't enough on the relationship side as the murders plot.

He covered her hand with his. Their fingers entwined. Finally, he said, “Okay, Evie. I'm in.”

While redherrings are great and keep the guessing and mystery alive, some of them in the story ended up feeling pointless and clogging. When reveals happened, it made me feel misled in some secondary characters that had me questioning the point of them because of how their conclusion was wrapped up or just left to fade away. There really was just too much on the murder plate and it hampered not only the romance between Rowan and Evie but also the continued plot thread involving the Winchester brother's sister's death and the murder of Harry Baker. There is still an intriguing readability to this author's writing and with some unanswered questions for the last Winchester brother Raine to discover, I'll be reading the next in the series.

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Review: Leave Me Breathless

Leave Me Breathless by Jodi Ellen Malpas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Former MI5, Ryan has been working for an exclusive protection agency for the last couple years and he is weary. Deciding that it is time to retire, he can't wait to get home and spend more time with his daughter but a new woman in town is disturbing his peace.
Hannah is constantly on the move and knowing she is only going to spend six months in this new town, she doesn't want attachments. When the town hottie almost runs her over though, all kinds of complications arise, the biggest starting with her heart.

Ryan's a good man. He deserves my all. But one thing I have to accept is that he can't have one piece of me. My secrets. No one can ever know that part of me. That alone could ruin everything.

Leave Me Breathless is a stand-alone but readers of The Protector will remember Ryan and enjoy the little appearances from that couple. Readers will also notice how similar this story line is to Protector; protective man falling in love with a woman who has secrets about an abusive man in her past. What hurt this story the most was the tried and true but nothing new formula. Told in alternating chapter first person povs, the beginning drew me in with Ryan quitting his job so he can spend more time at home relaxing and spending time with his daughter. While Hannah's past is not fully revealed until the second half, there are enough hints that the reader has a good idea what she is running from. The second half dragged as Hannah kept hiding her past from Ryan and their sexcapades took over for plot.

Hannah was a character that came close to a form of manic pixie girl, she is so adorably clumsy (to the point at times I worried she had vertigo), so sweet, and look how cute she is when she always has paint on her and doesn't care about make-up or appearance. It also made no sense that she would go to the trouble of setting up a paint store when she only planned on staying in town for six months.

Ryan was a hero that I probably would have liked more in my teens but older me was cringing at times at his controlling attitude; there were moments I felt his actions weren't that different or far off from the abusive husband Hannah was running from. His relationship with his ten year old daughter was nice, even though I thought his daughter's personality seemed a bit advanced for a ten year old.

Hannah and Ryan did have a nice feeling of fitting together, they did lack some foundation or solidness to their relationship that had me thinking their love was too quick to come to fruition. They did play off each other well, I just wish some of Ryan's “protectiveness” had been toned down.

There's a tiny bit of ex-wife drama but the characters' acted in a way that I appreciated, not overly dramatic about it and the resolution was pretty quick. The danger from Hannah's past was hinted at, slow to fully reveal, and then quickly (and a bit worrisome how Ryan immediately wanted to and dealt with it) wrapped up. If you like the classic story of woman in danger and protective man this would fit the bill, just don't expect any freshness to the tale.

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