dapperreads's Reviews (1.29k)

While this story was certainly short and gave an interesting story, the further in I got, the more I realized that the main character was just ruining the story for me. He wasn’t remotely likable and apparently I need my characters to be at least semi-likable. Learn something new every day!

With that being said, this is a spicy little novella that picks up on Luke and Maria where Upstate Blues left off. I was certainly expecting more grown up actions from Luke in this book, but even 10 years out he’s still acting like a high school kid and that just made me crazy the entire time. The eye rolls were real, but somehow I still wanted to know what happened next - the train wreck was real. 

It’s got itself a HEA, which is always nice as well and it’s worth the read if you can get past the actions of an immature MMC.

James Patterson is not exactly my cup of tea and this book was no exception. I’m always nervous to pick up a book with his name on it but since this was a book club pick I jumped in with both feet (once it finally came in from the library). I’ll start negative and work my way up. 

I didn’t care for the narrator. I found the voice didn’t exactly fit the story for me, but that happens and I can deal with it. Another thing that is a “me” issue entirely is one of the characters names is Jessica and I hate it when the characters have my name because then I hear my name constantly in the book and ugh. That’s a me issue though so take it or leave it. 

The story itself wasn’t awful. It was overly wordy and took away from the thrill/suspense factor that was building. I’m very much a “don’t use 3 words when 1 will get the point across” type of person and this book prefers to use all of the words and in my opinion to the detriment of the story. Now, I’d say most people won’t find this predictable in the slightest but I knew where this was going. The way the characters were acting it was clear something shady was going on and what that something shady was was pretty clear to me. I do read a lot though and it takes a lot to surprise me. This didn’t do it, but I think it’ll shock plenty of people and make it worth the ride. 

I can’t give this more than 3⭐️ and I’m not sure where it falls really. So that’s what I’m going with.

This starts a multi-author series featuring firemen and I am here for it. While the beginning follows some tropes I’m not here for (lack of communication here we come), it more than redeems itself as the story continues. With that said here are my main points:

There’s plenty of no communication- it’s not even a miscommunication since they’re just not communicating with each other or those around them and that creates most of problems in the early chapters. Once the communication barriers come down, things move fast. 

Once things get going there are plenty of side story lines that keep this interesting. There’s some mystery, fame, the firefighter life along with small town life and each of these bits bring their own drama and really add to the story. 

I’m intrigued to see where this series goes, especially with all the different authors. 

This really just wasn’t for me. That’s all there is to it. I’m sure the target audience would love it. 

Riley Sager is one of my favorite authors and it’s rare that he gives me a dud. This isn’t a favorite of mine but it isn’t the worst I’ve read either. It’s solid, but idk I expected more than I got - some of that was falling victim to early reviews because I certainly didn’t get what they did out of it but that’s okay. 

The premise of a crumbling house on a cliff is everything honestly. It’s just how everything unfolded wasn’t my favorite. It had its moments but overall just not my favorite book. 

This book was interesting with being both part memoir and part self-help. I found it to be decently educational, especially when it comes to the culture of the author. I learned plenty from this. I also learned about the struggles of the author and her family and this is where I found myself struggling through it. While there were many chapters that I flew through, there were also plenty of them that I struggled to read because they just didn’t hold my attention. Each chapter is followed by additional explanations into the cultural ideas introduced in those chapters and these were the parts I found absolutely unputdownable. I find healing practices to be fascinating and this book did not disappoint for that. 

While I normally don’t rate memoirs, I’m going to rate this one since it’s also part self help. I went 4 stars because it feels right for the feelings this book left me with. While it wasn’t my favorite, it was still good.