Calle J. BrookesReseñas

Light romantic suspense. More contemporary than suspenseful. Bad guy was fairly obvious. Not a huge amount of depth to the story. I liked Phoebe and her family and Joel and his brothers seemed interesting. Likely won't continue with the series - I prefer my romantic suspense a lot darker.

I thought I'd love this more. I generally enjoy the PAVAD series and I love Carrie's story. I thought Brynna's story would be not the same but similar. But I found the story kind of dragged - there was a lot of discussion and waiting and not really anything actually happening.

Eh. I didn't love this one. I felt like I was missing a bunch of backstory. It felt very disjointed and seemed to be riddled with continuity errors.

It probably doesn't help I've never really liked either Josh or Kelly and this book did nothing to change my mind on them.

The plot was paper thin in this one. There wasn't much mystery or investigating or anything really. Just romance. Wishy washy romance. I didn't really see a connection between either of them. It's all based in past actions which I can barely remember.

I wish this series was a bit more standalone actually. There's just so many characters and they're all so interrelated that it's doing my head in. But it is what it is.

Regardless, these books are generally a fun read with a bit of crime and mystery and romance and while this one was a bit of a dud, the series overall is a win. 2 stars.

The first case is set after the novella Stalking and features CCU Team 3 which is led by Sebastian and currently has Al, Paige, Jaz and Hernandez on it. The team are requested by the Garrity post of the Texas State Police. The man in charge is Chief Elliot Marshall who is the main character in Her Best Friend's Keeper, the first Finley Creek novel.

This was a quick read. It's not the best procedural I've ever read but it delivered what it promised and it gave a bit of a look into Team 3 and more specifically, Paige and Al's partnership. There was a bit too much reminiscing on who's who - I would've liked to see more investigation but there was a bit of a twist and I liked the ending. 3 stars.

It started out decently enough - not fantastic but alright - lots of backstory about Ana and Fin and how they met and the past they share, not a lot of focus on their investigation but enough to keep me interested. And then... The plot fell apart from chapter 23. They have sex and then it all goes to hell. There's a random villain's point of view which seems to go nowhere for a while, time skips and a bunch of unrelated, barely mentioned cases. It just became a mess. And then the reason for the time skips - she's pregnant! The romance was flat. I didn't particularly like either character and I didn't really feel that Ana even liked Fin - even at the end. For all she had a lot of reactions to him I don't know that any of them were actually positive. She just seemed scared of him. I didn't really believe there was attraction or love or anything like that. The procedural aspect didn't keep my attention either. Then it just ended. I didn't feel it really resolved their relationship at all. And I didn't really feel like the case was wrapped up properly either. Felt like it needed another chapter to smooth out the loose ends and transition to the ending. 2 stars.

Deputy Director of the FBI, Ed Dennis wants to create an elite division of the FBI in St Louis. PAVAD - Prevention and Analysis of Violent Acts Division. Specialising in diverse and out of the ordinary threats, PAVAD is set to hire both agents and support staff in order to respond quickly, accurately and efficiently.

Ed and his personal assistant, Jasmine Len are busy trying to raise funds, review agents and pull together all the pieces of the PAVAD project when an attempt is made on Ed's life in order to stop the division. Jasmine pulls in one of the few agents they can trust - Agent Dakon Royal - to help her investigate.

I really love the PAVAD series but this wasn't a hit for me. Mainly because besides mentioning PAVAD as being the division they're planning, there wasn't any of the stuff I like - such as the cast of characters, the crimes. At the end, although we know who was targeting them, we still don't actually know why which is just annoying. Jasmine and Dakon were alright characters and the action was fast, but it was too short to really flesh it out and as I said, it annoyed me we never know why he did what he did. 2 stars.

Emma, Dan's second oldest daughter, finds she has a stalker when she returns to her car and finds it's been broken into. She doesn't want to freak her dad out so she calls her long time crush and best friend, J.T. - a computer tech agent with PAVAD. This is a pretty short novella so there's not a lot of plot or character development. It's best to read after reading at least the third book, Reuniting (which is part of the Second Chances bundle) which details how the Reynolds family is reunited and gives this novella depth. I liked Emma when she was first introduced (she reunites the family by kidnapping the youngest daughter Gracie from school after her older sister, Kelly, calls to tell her that her father is in St Louis.) and I liked reading about her happy ending. I don't really have any strong feelings about J.T. but he was alright too. Overall a sweet little interlude. 3.5 stars.

I've loved Paige and Mick since the beginning, I couldn't wait to get their story and it didn't disappoint.

The plot was fast paced and action packed with shootings and kidnappings and Paige's past coming back to bite. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Paige and Carrie - although I would've liked to see more of the homeless shelter they support. And we get more info about Mick and why he's so focused on rules and regulations and making sure no one crosses any lines. The romance between Paige and Mick was perfect. I liked the build up to them getting together - although I would've liked for this book to have more time with them actually together - things all sort of get resolved closer to the end than the middle. But on the other hand, that made it work. There were still instalove elements but their relationship developed more naturally.

There were a few loose ends with the mystery but only one that I really wanted to know - was Ceci - Agent Camden Lane's sister? Did he get a chance to meet her? Why did she run? But apart from that it was an engrossing criminal investigation.

I will say I'm starting to get bamboozled over the million and one characters and their relationship to one another. They're all becoming crazy related. But it's fun and I enjoy reading about the PAVAD unit and how they all interact.

Overall 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

I found this one hard to get into. It sort of jumped right into things and since I don't really remember much about either Lucas or Payton from the other books, it fell kind of flat. This one is set concurrently with book six, Running and fills in what some of the other agents were doing at the same time Alessandra was off finding evidence, before branching forwards.

I didn't really understand Lucas. He was all about caring for his sister but then doesn't bother to keep in touch? It was just weird. Why not just keep watch over her then? Instead he completely abandoned her.

Plus I didn't like his initial thoughts about Payton. He apparently picked her because she wasn't super attractive. I mean, I kind of want my book boyfriend to have a bit more depth and to think the world of their one true love and whatnot.

Then about halfway through the plot just fell apart on me. I did like the inclusion of Mick Brockman being asked to help but then it never really went anywhere. I thought I'd get some scenes with him and Paige and conversation or protection or something but it never eventuated.

The romance between Luc and Payton was kind of meh. I just didn't like either of them, I didn't understand either of them and they kind of just jumped from not liking each other to getting married. There was no relationship development. And there were some time skips which just didn't work for me.

Not my favourite PAVAD book, but I'm looking forward to the next one with Paige and Mick. 2 stars.

Alessandra hasn't been my favourite character in the previous books but I found I liked her a lot more than I realised in this one. And Sebastian's brother! Seth was awesome - my biggest complaint was their freaking names. Did they all have to start with a 's'? It sounds minor but something about the names just shorted my brain every time I read it. Sin was better but still annoying.

Seth kidnapping Carrie and Al was hysterical. I kept wanting a confrontation - I mean there was one, but I would've liked the girls to call him out rather than him to call them out. I mean how do you accidentally kidnap your brother's wife? Lol.

The plot was alright. The mystery was fast paced and action packed. I felt a bit lost at points - I'm not sure if the background info just wasn't provided or if I just didn't process it properly but it felt a bit untethered. I enjoyed the romance between Seth and Al though. The banter between them was snarky and had me chuckling. I didn't like the waffling towards the end about should I, shouldn't I and debating whether or not to stick around. But it wasn't a huge part of the book. I did want to see more scenes where they shared more conversation and feelings but overall it was a fun read.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. It's honestly probably not quite good enough for 4 stars but I really enjoyed it regardless of any problems it had, so 4 it is.

I liked Jules in the previous books, but I didn't really want to read her book. It's dumb but I don't really like reading about heroines/heroes who have lost their wives/husbands/love of their life, etc. I prefer my fiction to have one true love of some sort instead. Not really all that realistic but that's how I roll.

That said, this wasn't a bad read. I was a bit fuzzy on previous details but I enjoyed how Jules and Malachi worked towards uncovering the villain and the romance was sweet if not fraught with loss and sadness. The sex scenes and assault were a bit more explicit than the previous books but not overly graphic or violent compared to some others.

Although we see a bit of the rest of the PAVAD I didn't feel we got the team support that was present in some of the other books. Malachi and Jules were sort of separate from the rest. Al's point of view helped a bit but it wasn't often or enough to include the PAVAD team.

Still the plot was interesting and I do love the PAVAD team. Plus Jules was a total badass with her makeshift shiv that Malachi taught her to make (which is made by smashing the porcelain toilet lid and wrapping it with mint toothpaste and toilet paper to get it to stick) and slashing his femoral artery. 3 stars.

PAVAD has just gotten a bunch of new transfers from the Indianapolis FBI office tech lab. The new team is headed up by Mariana Glendower and her second in command, Allison Brewster. The new team is primarily female and very close knit, having bonded over being through traumatic experiences and/or bad relationships with men. I liked both of these novellas much more than I thought I would. Second chance romance stories whether with the same person or not aren't really my thing. But both books were action packed, drama filled and rather funny. They also run somewhat parallel to each other, both stories occurring during the same case. Overall 3 stars.

REUNITING: I've never really warmed to Dan in the earlier books. I'm not quite sure why since he's a nice character, just never grabbed me that much. I didn't mind Allison but I didn't really like her either. I didn't see it coming about Dan's daughters. Lol randomly running into one of them in the office of his building after spending years searching. I enjoyed watching Dan and Allison joining their households together. The mystery of who was targeting the lab techs was interesting as well. I was a little bit confused as to the drama surrounding Josh Compton - he was upset because Carrie and Georgia were targeted? Was that referring to the first book with Stephenson? I mean yeah he got separated from Carrie but about Georgia as well? Seemed a bit odd to be as upset about as it as he was. Mainly because he didn't seem to actually know Stephenson. So why the guilt? Anyway. 3 stars for this one.

RECKONING: I really enjoyed the chance to learn more about Ed Dennis. Especially since we got to know a little bit of his story from the first book with Georgia and his relationship with Mattie. I liked his mentoring of Ted and Nate. Mariana was a bit of an odd duck. She was both shy and confident which I found strange. But seven kids? Seriously? I get that two lots are twins but freaking hell. That's a damn lot of kids. The romance between Ed and Mariana was alright, I didn't really have any strong feelings towards it. The wrap up to the mystery was good and I liked the action packed ending. 3 stars.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series and I loved the second one. I found Carrie fascinating in the first book and I couldn't wait to read more of her story. I was really interested to see how the author portrayed Aspergers. I think this addressed some really good points about people with disorders - they’re people too. I also liked the point about asking what a person needs rather than just assuming.

Carrie was fantastic. I loved her bravery and courage and smarts. I loved that she didn't let anything stop her from doing her job. She worked really hard to overcome her fears and it was inspiring. I loved the relationship between Carrie and Paige - they really care about one another and are determined to support one another the best they can - even if they don't necessarily agree or understand each other's choices. The insight into homeless kids and what they struggle through was sad, no child should have to go through it. No person should.

I liked Sebastian and it was interesting to see the relationship develop between Carrie and Sebastian - I liked that Carrie still had thoughts and opinions on everything - even if they were slightly different to what most people would think. The romance between them was sweet and I liked that Sebastian was willing to adapt rather than have Carrie change. I would've liked to see them sit down and really discuss everything though.

The mystery itself was good. I was hooked waiting to see what happened with the runaway girl and finding out why she ran away and then with the mystery of Carrie's past. I still have some unanswered questions what the hell is on the floppy disc for starters? but I'm sure they'll be wrapped up in subsequent books.

Great police procedural with lots of investigating, a likable bunch of characters and a touch of romance. 4 stars.

This is like the book version of a Criminal Minds episode - with maybe a little bit more romance than the show would give. It’s well written and gritty and intriguing. Apparently the author was inspired by the show (Criminal Minds) to create her own FBI team and it certainly delivers. All the best parts of the show feature, particularly the team dynamics and the fascinating cases.

I really liked Georgia and Hell. Georgia was smart and competent and dedicated to making things right in the world. Hell was kind of an ass, but he made up for it where it counted. Like with Carrie. (I adored Carrie. I can't wait to read her story.) The romance was pretty tame compared to most romantic suspense (sex scenes are fade to black) but I liked that the focus was on the crime, the romance was secondary. I liked seeing their friendship and partnership as they worked the case and how that then translated to them dating.

A strong romantic suspense novel with likeable characters and interesting plot. 4 stars.

Another good story in the series, loved the characters

I enjoyed it.

Test Review

DNF.
I just couldn't get in to it.

I have only read Desert Yule by Anna Lowe.

"There's more than meets the eye under the light of a winter moon..." - Desert Yule

~ 5 Desert Yule Stars ~

Even if you haven't had the pleasure of reading this series yet, this short sweet Christmas tale will warm your heart and wet your appetite. We get to meet new and old characters, as well as we get to see where they are in their lives, and how far some of them have come just to find peace and happiness.

Don't miss out on this wonderful, sentimental, and sexy Christmas story. Each short story brings you closer to the characters or opens you up to fall in love with them for the first time.

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Desert Yule free of charge from the author Anna Lowe with the sole purpose of an honest review. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.