Book Review Genre: Romantic Suspense
Disclaimer: Reading is all about exploring new worlds, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of my free-flowing thoughts about a book.
The Analysis:
The first book I’ve ever picked up just for the cover (okay, maybe second). This has been on my TBR for a while, and this was my attempt at chipping away at it. So, let’s book review the first book. But first, follow me on Goodreads.
Here’s The Blurb:
Kenneth Dylan comes home to an empty house. Madison, the sister he’s raised since their parents died, has run away. She’s on a French escapade with a man named Arkady. An escapade that is turning ugly. Her last message, a call for help.
A French policewoman.
Élodie Cossa is a police officer in Cannes. Limited to desk duty after rattling the wrong cages, she’s on probation. Yet, she doesn’t hesitate to put her job on the line to help Ken look for his sister.
An irresistible attraction and a joint investigation will uncover so much more than a human trafficking network.
Cover Critique:
So, this is not the original cover that caught my eye. It is more on-trend with the genre. However, the fire background is kinda out of place. When I first saw it I was wracking my brain to remember if there were any fire scenes. I don’t think there was, but still it’s good.
Now The Story:
Book Info:
Pages: 250
Author: Olivia Rigal and Tamara Balliana
Available: Google Play
The hero is very 90s to me somehow. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing if I were watching this as a movie. As a novel, this guy just comes across as really old like I’m stuck in my father’s head or something. When he doesn’t know anything about Instagram or Story archives, my first thought is ewww. And I don’t even know social media like that. Just, How are you going to make this guy sexy? So, I took a point off because it never quite connected for me off the screen.
The story is about the hero’s sister, who is kidnapped into sex trafficking. The heroine is the French officer battling dirty cops of her own rank, who is willing to put her job on the line to save this girl. She’s impressive as an officer and a person. And in the age of BLM, she’s just the kind of officer that you want to be reading about.
Anyone could fall in love with her. But the heros friend dropping the L-word in relation to his friend falling for her after knowing the woman for only a few hours is crazy. Yes, he was teasing, but still. They just didn’t know each other well at that point. I could even say that it was a bit misogynistic. Only because he assumed the only reason a woman would go above and beyond in their job as if they wanted to sleep with the guy. Give me a break. But I’ll do this book a solid and give the man the benefit of the doubt.
The action scenes were great, but not all of them played out intelligently. For instance, she has a chance to shoot the bad guy but doesn’t out of fear of these half-baked scenarios. She should’ve just taken the shot and missed or the author should’ve added 2 more guards on the pier to explain the missed chance. Letting that hostage go without trying makes one lose faith in the cops. You can’t help but scream, Do Something.
The follow-up of forgiveness and understanding is trite and predictable. It would’ve been the one moment, I would have appreciated the brother lashing out. Even if the anger was short-lived. As opposed to him breathing fire to push his way into interrogations that might have gone off just as well without him.
One sex scene and it’s a closed-door scene. How I have come to prefer them. It’s a personal preference, but this bonding scene takes place before we get a scene with the sister they rescued and since the whole thing was about her (the romance is secondary) I wanted a scene with them first. But it didn’t work out that way, just being nitpicky.
What’s not nitpicky is the creepy vibes I get when he pulls this almost grown woman (his sister) onto his lap to console her. While also having thoughts about punishing her by spanking. It was a bit ironic since she was crying about not being treated as an adult and the first thing he does is act like she’s seven. It’s creepy because he does the same thing with his girl, like boundaries dude, no.
There is no epilogue or sneak peek into the next book the way I’m normally used to it. Basically, the last chapter of this story is the first chapter in the second book. Thus it’s a new pov. One much more interesting I might add. Also, the victim in part 2 will be familiar as she’s the one they couldn’t save in book 1. As a reader, not a fan of this technique and prefer a bit more separation even though this is an overarching storyline from books 1 to 2.
While I’m more than intrigued by this new guy, I did get reasonably irate over the depiction of disability. Like it’s macho nonsense. He threatens the mobster by saying he’s going to lose cool points when he shows up to the mobster meetings in a wheelchair. Now, this may be silly, but I thought of Anthony Zacharia (the last name might be misspelled) from General Hospital. He was a mobster in a wheelchair and that man was no less dangerous and crazy lol. But this too was a small thing and nothing that should really ruffle any panties or boxers while reading, just a thought.
Overall, this book has sold me. I haven’t been interested in a book in what seems like forever. I was genuinely excited to get to my book the next day. I’m intrigued by the mystery and the high stakes. I love the heroine’s all-around badassery. The hero is meh, but on screen, he’d probably shine. Expect a solid storyline and writing. It’s a relatively quick read that I felt like I was flying through. I certainly recommend it.
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Book Review At A Glance:
Recommendation: 4 out of 5
Book Cover Appeal (for new cover):
🍓🍓🍓
Story & Narration:
🍓🍓🍓🍓
Romance:
🍓🍓🍓
Character/(s) Personality:
🍓🍓🍓🍓
