Bea Reviews Walking On Her Grave by Melinda Leigh

Publisher: Montlake Romance
Series: Rogue River Novella #4
Source: owned by the reviewer
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Challenges: Finishing the Series | Goodreads
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* |
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Blurb from goodreads:

The electrifying conclusion of the romantic suspense novella series from Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.
The sleepy town of Solitude, Oregon, has turned into ground zero for a turf war between the manufacturers and distributors of a lethal new drug. When a teenage witness disappears, social worker Carly Taylor must find him before he’s silenced permanently.
Rogue County investigator Seth Harding wants to keep Carly, his estranged wife, out of harm’s way, but she refuses to let his concern keep her from doing her job. When one of her young charges vanishes, Carly gets pulled even deeper into the deadly case, and Seth knows he must help her…even if it leads them right into the criminals’ crosshairs.
Explosive and exciting to the last page, Walking on Her Grave is the fourth and final thrilling addition to the new romantic suspense series from Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.

Bea's Thoughts:

I've been enjoying this serial from the first episode and was sad to see it end. Then I was happy to hear that the authors will be returning to this world with a new set of novellas. I like the sisters who are the focus of this series and would really love to see more. As much as I enjoyed the Rogue River books, each novella was both a separate story and part of a larger story arc and the length of the stories meant that some world building and character development were sacrificed. Despite that, it was a wonderful world that had a sense of humor about small town life but also kept it real. Each novella would have rules about small town life and oh boy are they true! :D

"He also said Mike recycled a couple of wine bottles, when everyone knows he's a beer drinker."
Small Town Rule #8: Your recycling says a lot about your personal habits, so it's important to be discreet.

The series had one overarching mystery with smaller related subplots and two main romances. The resolution to the mystery left me a little let down. While I was kept busy guessing who was responsible, the "villain" and motivation were too easy, too pat. I also had issues with Carly; she was unreasonable and in denial about her contribution to her marriage's problems. UGH! Grow up woman. She does, somewhat, but for me, she just wasn't as likable as her sister Stevie nor did I buy into the second chance romance between Carly and her husband Seth. Partly that was due to not liking Carly very much and partly due to the lack of depth.  

Overall, I did enjoy both this installment and the series. While flawed, the setting was strong and realistic and the characters and the mystery were interesting. I liked that there were, for the most part, no easy answers. The story had a HFN which worked quite well. I'm looking forward to the next series.