RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

3* A decent follow-up to book 1 spoilt by too many sobbing leads, à la Tal Bauer; too many matings - 3 in this alone, plus one existing one that gets revealed - and a baddie taken care of far too easily.  I was mainly reading this for the siren follow-up that book 1 made clear would be the crux of this one. Sadly, that wasn't the case. This was matings galore, plus sobbing Dylan, sobbing Fray and sobbing Tobin. I mean, seriously, it's a miracle these guys weren't dehydrated from all the tears shed. Far too much sex in this, too, to mask the too little, too late, unexplained plot. Yes, the siren makes an appearance, but is there more than meets the eye and is she in collusion with a character that Sawyer was warned about in the notes from his predecessor? Not sure I care enough to read book 3, unless it comes up in my freebie KU period. Sawyer's boss has a low-key reveal in this, but no one asked questions, nothing got revealed and it could've been the end of the se...

2.5* Sadly, quite boring in parts; with a mismatched couple of leads who're not honest with each other; with a storyline that feels 'plonked in', i.e. doesn't feel organic. So, you'll get that I didn't love this book. James and Emily aren't likeable. He's lied to her by omission about their shared past, about not being sure he fancies or wants to be with her. She lies to him about her reasons for a road trip, and little things, but the bottom line is that they're not honest with each other. His mother and her parents are brought into the tale organically enough. No one else is. Not Midge nor Brandon, nor anyone else. Flashbacks to Brandon when he was going by a different name didn't feel believable. Nor did the other character and his M.O. The killer felt absolutely non-beliebable. I felt I'd wasted my time on this, unfortunately.  ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my reading pleasure.

3* Got a bit bogged down in the middle with 2 characters who really obfuscated things, but overall, pretty readable. This has been done before  - gaslighting, some naivety, some feeling sorry/guilty, etc. but there was no sense of true suspense or danger or creepiness. It had me skipping parts, especially when a pretty stupid character revealed their part in things,  because of immaturity and petulance and gaslighting.  The Fiat character had their part to play but it was with a bit too much gloss when their identity got revealed. The ending wasn't brilliant but it was a better life for Alice et al, as long as no one spills the beans or gets an attack of conscience. ARC courtesy of Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for my reading pleasure. 

4* Money corrupts, absolutely. But, also, love protects, though it creates secrets. I'm pretty sure this is my first LB novel in 50-odd years as a reader, and I wasn't disappointed. It's full of secrets. Secrets that 'protect', that threaten, that hurt, and one that for the present of the story, protects. But will the truth out and will that follow the pattern?  The characters are a mixed bunch. A cheating spouse that has a decent core. A vile woman that seems blinded by money and position, with her past actions having present-day repercussions. A fixer - a vile man without a moral compass. A good son and a troubled one that reminded me a bit of Hunter Biden. A wife strong in some ways, but not strong enough to stand up to her evil, conscience-free MIL. A grandson who knows what his grandmother is really like, but who adores, and is adored by his grandfather. And a cop who's getting a little too close to the truth for the comfort of some of the characters.  The ...

5* Didn't see this coming - hints and red herrings that good and that seamlessly embedded, that I had a mouth-drop moment when the penny dropped.  I thought this would be a typical 'wronged woman finds herself and finds the love of a good man' type of tale. Well, it was, but the love part came late and thankfully didn't have either the male lead thinking with his little head, or the female lead thinking with her hormones. Yes, there was an attraction but once burnt, twice shy - for both of them, believably, and their ages (mid-to-late 30s) - meant that they took things slow, without TSTL moments like having sex whilst the killer was on a spree.  The bounty hunting - fugitive retrieval - aspect was well done, believable and interesting. It made for a solid tale that brought the female lead into the male lead's vicinity, allowing them to cooperate, especially once the killer upped his speed. The identity of the killer was kept really well, but threw another red herrin...

3* Started off slow but OK - after the opening scene - but then required too much suspension of disbelief... Despite the punchy opening of the tale, this book quickly fell flat for me. The female lead seemed obsessed with others obsessing how she got to where she was at her age. Jesse seemed far older than his 38-40 years and yes, his job was interesting, but didn't really come into the tale much other than just before the end. And despite her intelligent, who goes out in icy weather, alone, wheb you're X months pregnant, risking a fall that was avoidable but that comes to pass? Really? Plot device, but it felt a bit TSTL. It turned into a Bollywood drama (I grew up on them - the wrong get their just desserts, and the wronged get some form of justice done) once the identity of a character was revealed, and complete with Bollywood suspension of disbelief, the tale went there, but the murkier side of things, the 'things we have to right' things didn't really get dealt...