Series: Rogue River #2
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.
Blurb from goodreads:
In Solitude, Oregon, everyone has secrets…and some will kill to keep them.
When she believes a teen is falsely accused of drug dealing, social worker Carly Taylor takes on a high-risk case and her estranged husband—the detective in charge of the investigation—to prove the boy innocent. A deadly new designer drug has taken hold of her small rural hometown of Solitude, Oregon, and Carly is determined to find the real dealer and clear the teen’s name. But the deeper she digs into the case, the more danger she unearths, until someone decides it’s time for Carly to move on…permanently.
Investigator Seth Harding knows he can’t stop his wife when she has a child to protect. But he risks any chance of reconciliation with Carly if he can’t learn to accept her dangerous job. When a drug dealer decides Carly is getting too close, will Seth lose her altogether?
A pulse-pounding Rogue River novella, Gone to Her Grave is the second exciting addition to the new romantic suspense series from Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.
Gah, why do I read serials? Really, that's what this 'series' is. The second book, "Gone to Her Grave" picks up a few months after the first book with the focus this time on Stevie's sister Carly. Carly and her husband are separated; they have different priorities, demanding careers, and don't communicate well. He wants her to be a stay at home wife and mother and she wants to continue with her work as a social worker. He thinks it's too dangerous and she's not careful enough; she wants him to respect her and to work less often and make their family a priority.
They butt heads on some cases involving teens and a drug that's being manufactured and sold locally. I can't see how Leigh and Elliot will resolve the overarching story lines in just 2 more short stories. This installment didn't really move things along and even the romance ended on a sort-of Happy For Now. It's all ambiguous. I do dope that the drug story line won't be too tidily resolved. Drug dealing and usage are more common in small towns and rural areas of the US than some readers can admit and I want to see those themes honestly handled. "Gone to Her Grave" was fast-paced with drug overdoses, a dangerous father and husband, and Carly and Seth's broken marriage. Unfortunately that fast pace meant that some depth and characterization was sacrificed.
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Series: Rogue River #3
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.
Blurb from goodreads:
There are no secrets in a small town—until someone has one worth dying for.
Local cop Stevie Taylor and police chief Zane Duncan have startling new proof that a deadly street drug is expanding its poisonous grip on their small town: a skull found on the banks of the Rogue River has two bullet holes in the back. Still caught up in the excitement of their new relationship, Stevie and Zane are determined to track down the drug’s source before more lives in Solitude, Oregon, are lost.
Then one death strikes especially close to home, leading to heartache and confusion for Stevie. As the drug distributors strike hard and the body count in Solitude grows higher, she and Zane must hunt down the deadly killer—but are they the predators, or the prey?
Filled with unexpected twists, Her Grave Secrets is the third exciting Rogue River novella in the romantic suspense series from Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh.
Bea's Thoughts:
Forward movement! This installment moved things along and picked up the pace. Several dead bodies are found and Stevie and the police chief, who's also her lover, are busy trying to solve them with help from Seth, whom we saw in the last story. We find out more about the drug C-22, colloquially known as bacon (did the authors HAVE to call it that? I like real bacon but now I'll be thinking of this drug.) The story moves along with more information coming in about some of the people behind the drug and the deaths, including the death of Stevie's father, the former chief of police. His death may not have been a heart attack after all.
The pace is brisk, the characters are given more depth and we get more insight into several of them. I liked how all of the characters in this series have flaws, no one is perfect. Well, Patsy Taylor, Stevie and Carly's mother, comes close. But otherwise everyone feels real and fully developed. A few of the events that occurred I had predicted back in the first book but the clues were there, Leigh and Elliot didn't hide anything. I got caught up in the story and a hundred pages passed in no time. I'm still not sure how Leigh and Elliot will wrap up this story with one installment to go and I'm still hesitant about what directions they'll take but I'm eager to see how they do it and how they play it out. I'm enjoying this series and I'll be sorry to see it end. One good thing about this series: I've found that I like Elliot's style and I want to read more by her.
This sounds interesting. I normally avoid serials because the short length does tend to cause a lack of character or sometimes even plot development! This sounds like it might be worth breaking my usual rule!
ReplyDeleteI think it would, and it's only 4 installments, which are all available now.
DeleteIf you check it out, let me know what you think.
ReplyDelete