Readable!

This book was readable-ly average. It was a one night read for me. The characters were decently developed, but the interactions were on the cliche side. The plot had enough little twists to keep the reader from being bored. For a weekend read you won't be overly disappointed, but don't expect this to be an edge of your seat page-turner.

I would have really liked the hero and heroine to have developed a really good, strong friendship. Lust and sex are not the definition and construction of truly strong bonds and they are cheap and cliche plot mechanics that can decrease the value of the story. ( )

I won this from Librarything. So thank you Owl Press.

Evie is a small town reporter who is desperately looking for a way out of reporting fluff stories. She had been a crime reporter at a bigger paper in a bigger city but was fired for indiscretions while looking for information.

She gets the opportunity to be the crime reporter once again and succeeds. She soon finds a cold case that deserves another look. She suspects an important affluent family is possibly involved. As she starts to investigate, it takes her into dangerous territories and begins to do stupid things to get her information.

I found Evie and most of the characters interesting and the red herrings abounded. However, there were gaping holes in the investigation that made the entire plot unrealistic. Both Evie, her newspaper and the police did things that were blatantly illegal and any bottom of the class lawyer would be successful in throwing evidence out. Because of all these illegal activities the author had to find a boring predictable ending

Crime reporter Evie Hartley was at the height of her career, but a series of ethical missteps cost her everything. Now, she’s working for a newspaper’s culture section in Bristol, Virginia, trying to prove to everyone, especially herself, that she’s able to do her job by the book. When there’s an opening for the crime beat, Evie jumps at the chance. And while she manages to impress her boss, she makes an enemy of detective Marcus Pennington she played to get the inside scoop.
She writes a blog and decides to go on a story about Danielle who disappeared ten years ago.
First: fun? Yes absolutely, I liked Evie although she is a bit gullible and naive for a journalist, and I liked Marcus. They had chemistry.
Second: why oh why does she believe a guy who has almost certain something to do with the disappearance of Danielle? Why does she go out with the guy who is an obvious liar and a louse? Some stupid choices she makes for a smart journalist.
Overall: a nice detective / romance and absolutely worth reading.

Disclaimer: I got this book in the Librarything Early Reviewers. ( )

Reads like a movie in my brain... This is one of those easy-to-read novels that you can totally picture in your mind like a movie. Don't get me wrong - you'll have quite a few twists and turns to keep you guessing as to who the culprit is! The protagonist, Evie, really reacts without thinking things through which provides for some anxiety if you're like me, or extra laughs at her situations. Hats off to her for chasing the truth of the story no matter where it leads her. In attempting to climb the rungs of the newspaper ladder a second time, she's willing to do nearly anything. When crime is slow in her small town, she begins researching a 10 year old case and blows it wide open. Although theres is a bit of romance, I wouldn't term it a romance genre - definitely a mystery with some spice thrown in. Overall, I really enjoyed the novel and would enjoy more by this author in the future.

OK ish - crime romance isn't really my thing, and I'm always dubious about stories where the police freely hand out information. But otherwise it's an interesting enough crime story, feels liek ti ought to be the start of a series, but I don't' think other books have been written yet.

Elvie is a reporter - she's been somewhat unethical in the Big City and moved to small town where they still have a local paper. The first chapter is almost a short story in it's own right. She's in the Arts section but would much rather get back into the more high profile Crime section, that she used to write in the CIty. Of course there's less crime (and less interesting crime) in a small town. And fewer policemen to provide sources. However she gets her break and uses some of her old tricks to charm enough words to make a decent article. But then she has to follow up, whilst hopefully managing (spoiler obviously she doesn't) to keep professional and personal life separate. The rest of the book is essentially a more extended repeat throwing in a rich family hotshot for good measure too - this time it's a cold case looking for new evidence on a girl who went missing 10 years ago.

There's plenty of red-herrings thrown in. reasonably done under the pretext of considering all lines of inquiry, although they're mostly superficial. The line between policework and journalism becoems quite blurred, and many of the police responses don't seem very realistic. Very US centric (lax drink drive laws etc) and too much 'romance' for me, but probably enjoyable for the right market. ( )