Thursday, December 29, 2016

On Her Father's Grave by Kendra Elliot


Title: On Her Father's Grave
Author: Kendra Elliot
Series: #1 in the Rogue River series
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Montlake Romance (October 7, 2014)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕☕☕

Synopsis: In a small town like Solitude, Oregon, keeping a secret can be murder.

Stevie Taylor had left her sleepy Oregon hometown for a more exciting life. But after her police chief father passes away, the LAPD cop returns to Solitude and signs on as a patrol officer, hoping to heal from her loss…and from the horrific things she’s seen in the city.

In Solitude, everyone knows everyone else’s business—and, to Stevie’s dismay, local gossip soon ties her to the new police chief and a man from her past. Tragedy then shakes up the small town when a teenager dies after taking a strange new drug. Now, the seasoned LA cop must hunt down the dealer while investigating the most important case of her life, one that could divide her tranquil town.

The first of four thrilling Rogue River novellas, On Her Father’s Grave launches a new romantic suspense series from Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh.

My Thoughts: A Strong start to a good Rom/Susp series.

The Good: While this is technically a novella it felt a bit like a serial as the underlying premise of the series is left dangling. Presumably, to finish out in the coming books. I list this as a good thing because with page length being limited, some novellas try to insert so much information that it ends up hurting either the plot or the character development. Sometimes both. Neither suffer here. We get a good sense of the main characters and a nice balance of info on the secondary characters as well. The plot, also, was satisfyingly tied up. At least part of the plot was. There are a few mysterious aspects introduced but the main one (what killed the teen) was put to bed even though there are still some questions on who is pulling those strings. The romance aspect was minimal yet nicely done. At this point there is only budding romance which was smartly done considering the length of the piece.

The Bad: At this point I might speculate that switching authors may be a bit of a hinderance in the continuity of the story and writing style. Elliot wrote the first and third of the series and Melinda Leigh wrote the second and fourth. I could also speculate that Leigh's input on the series may introduce yet another H and h, another romance, and another main plot without putting Stevie's father's story to bed, all would be bad in my eyes as Elliot did an outstanding job of setting this up already. I'd hate for all my unanswered questions to get left unanswered. But speculations aside there really wasn't many things that I would consider to be bad about this story. Unless one would find the name Stevie for a heroine to be annoying then one might have something to complain about. Other than that, I got nothing bad to say.

In a Nutshell: Overall I'd say this was a darn good novella. I'm very much looking forward to reading more in this series and would recommend this one for someone who wants a short read between other longer books. Be warned though, you may find you need to continue to book 2 right away.
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#COYER Black Out: Winter Storm! Challenge



This time COYER is going to be a 12 week Blackout, where you have to dedicate yourself to reading the books YOU ALREADY  have acquired for less than $1.00.
That’s right,  you have between now and the start of COYER, December 17th, to acquire the books you’ll be reading during COYER. And they must be books you got for less than $1.00. The only exception is audio books, which you must have purchased for less than $5. They must either be eBooks or audio books.
We understand that we’re all constantly acquiring new books,  though.  So we’ve provided you a little relief (believe it or not this was all Michelle!), in the form of a generator.  Every book powers the generator up a little more.  After reading 10 books over 100 pages your generator is fully powered.  Books under 100 pages only provide half the energy… So it would take 20 books under 100 pages to power your generator.
Once your generator is powered up,  you may read ANY one book you want.  Doesn’t matter how much it cost, where you got it,  what format it is.  But your generator only has enough power for ONE book,  so use it immediately and wisely.  You can’t save it to use later,  it’s now or never!
COYER Blackout will run from December 17, 2016 – March 3, 2017. We will leave the linky open 1 extra day for you to get reviews in,  but those reviews need to be posted by the end of the day March 3rd. We will announce winners of (3) $10 gift cards to Amazon or Barnes and Noble on March 4th.

FAQ:

  • Can I read ARCS / Review / Netgalley / Edelweiss books? Yes! 
  • What if I request before COYER begins but publisher doesn’t approve until after COYER starts? They count as acquired before COYER, since you did your part before. 
  • Is there a page requirement? No. As long as you review it, it counts.  But just make sure you’re using your generator correctly for those under 100 page books.  
  • Can I read library books? Kindle lending library? Borrow books? Sorry,  no.  Not this time.  Check back in the summer ðŸ™‚ 
  • What about Kindle unlimited books? Do they count?  If the book would cost someone without Kindle unlimited more than $1.00, then no.  If it would be less than $1.00 then yes. 

To find out more go to the #COYER sign up post HERE 

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