Bea Reviews Say No More by Liliana Hart & A Giveaway!

Series: Gravediggers #3
Publisher: Pocket Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 25th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Return to New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Liliana Hart’s romantic suspense series, the Gravediggers, with this thrilling game of cat and mouse between a member of the Gravediggers and the brilliant woman hot on his heels.

Sometimes the dead do rise…

Dante Malcolm is a man of refined tastes. He was once a part of Britain’s Elite Intelligence Force, but there was a reason he’d never been able to capture Simon Locke, the notorious thief who always seemed to be one step ahead. That’s because Dante and Simon were one and the same, until Dante’s double life eventually caught up with him and now he belongs to the Gravediggers.

Eva Rothschild is a Detective Inspector with Interpol and is the one responsible for catching MI-6’s most notorious agent in his final heist—except the heist killed him. But something has never felt right about his death, and it’s haunted her for months. It was too easy, and Dante Malcolm was too smart to go down that way.

Dante might belong to the Gravediggers in body, but his heart and soul will always belong to the next job. The rest of the team doesn’t know about his alter ego because he made sure the information went missing from his file. So when the job he’s always waited for seems like a possibility, he sneaks out of the country like a thief in the night, only to run into the only woman who’s ever been able to match him in wit—and passion—for the job. Except they’re standing on opposite sides of the law—and only one of them can walk away with the prize.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and was looking forward to this one. Dante was a bit mysterious in those books and I was curious about him. We definitely learn more about him in this book but the overall story was dissatisfying though I enjoyed parts of it.

Dante has been leading a double life, working with the Gravediggers while moonlighting unbeknownst to his teammates as a international art thief. That's nothing new for him as he was leading a double life even before joining the Gravediggers. When he has to chance to combine both jobs into one mission, but a solo one without the other Gravediggers, he jumps at it. But events, surprise surprise, don't go as planned. 

Liv is an Interpol agent, one who's accomplished a lot despite her young age and despite the damage Dante did to her career before dying and being reborn as a Gravedigger. Her twin sister disappeared years ago and Liv has been looking for her ever since. She's stubborn, sassy, rigid, and more than capable of taking care of herself.

There were several story lines going on here - Liv's search for her sister, the search for missing military information, art theft, sexual slavery, human trafficking, and romance. It was a crowded story and some plots were given short shrift, such as Liv's sister. And the work the Gravediggers are supposed to be doing has basically been forgotten in this book and the previous book in favor of the romances. In fact, their boss even comments on it:

"...since the lot of you have turned into a bunch of lovesick puppies. I'm not sure when my organization turned into the Love Connection."

And then she threatens them, reminding them of the terrorist organization they are supposed to be tracking but that's been ignored in the last few books. On Goodreads, it looks as if this is the last book and I really hope not as there are unfinished story threads, such as the terrorists, and Axel's love story, and the ending of this book, while not a cliffhanger, is a bit ambiguous.

I had mixed feelings about Dante and Liv's romance. It was a second chance romance, and those can be iffy. I mean, they broke up for a reason so why would round 2 be any better? But in this instance, I bought their reconciliation given the circumstance of their breakup. Except, they didn't so much reconcile as pick up where they left off. Dante was cocky, smooth-talking, reckless, and emotionally irresponsible and selfish. Liv gave mixed signals, saying how mad she as at him and then jumping him or falling for his seductions. FFS, they get captured and thrown into a prison and they promptly have sex. In a cell. Where anyone could look in or walk in. Where there could be cameras. Dante says "Let's have sex" and Liv falls all over herself to accommodate him. But supposedly she's mad at him. So she has six with him in a dungeon. Oooookay.

Even so, I wanted them to get together and make things work. Not that that would have been easy given her work and his work. I wanted them to have HEAs. But neither of them grew up or matured or changed. Dante gives lip service to maturing and realizing how selfish he's been but it's not real. Liv was selfish too, although she couldn't or wouldn't see it. Neither one was able or willing to bend or compromise and Liv utterly ignored Dante's circumstances and made demands that she knew he couldn't accede to without risking his life. Not that she cared as long as she got what she wanted. Both of them were selfish, it was frustrating.

Huh, the more I think about the book and the more I keep writing about it, the more I see the flaws in it.  I gave it a 3.5 star on Goodreads when I finished reading it but I think I'll need to change that. The romance didn't work, both the hero and heroine were stubborn and selfish, there were too many loose threads. If there is another book, I hope Hart will address them and not keep them dangling.

My review of book 1, The Darkest Corner
My review of book 2, Gone to Dust

The publisher is giving away 1 print copy each of the first 2 books in the series, The, Darkest Corner and Gone to Dust. The books will be delivered via UPS. The giveaway ends Friday, August 11th at 11:59PM ET. No purchase necessary. US only. Must be 18 years old or older to enter. Please read the Giveaway and Privacy policies. VOID where prohibited.

To enter, leave a comment below with a way to reach you, such as your email or Twitter handle. The winning comment will be chosen via random.org.

Interview September 25:

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network – Gravediggers Series interview with Liliana Hart!

About the author:

Liliana Hart is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than forty titles, including the Addison Holmes Whiskey and J.J. Graves Mystery series. Since self-publishing in June 2011, Liliana has sold more than four million ebooks. She’s hit the #1 spot on lists all over the world, and all three of her series have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Liliana is a sought-after speaker who’s given keynote speeches and self-publishing workshops to standing-room-only crowds from CA to NYC to London. Visit LilianaHart.com, facebook.com/lilianahartauthor, twitter.com/Liliana_Hart.