4.5 stars
I really enjoy this world and these characters. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to continue with this story because the first does have a sense of resolution you don’t normally see in first books in a series, but the continuation made sense and was interesting.

2.5 stars I can't believe this is written by the same author as Sorcery of Thorns. This was so incredibly dull.

I have to say, I think that fae books just aren't my thing. I've tried so many of them, and they almost never hook me. With this one, I went in prepared for a book relying more on romance than plot, because that is what I'd heard in virtually every review I'd seen/read about the book. I think that may be why I was so disappointed in this. Not that there isn't a huge emphasis put on the romance, because there was. But I didn't buy into the relationship. I didn't feel like I knew Rook at all, and their initial meeting and time spent together happens more off-page than on. By the time the main action of the story begins, she is already saying that she's in love with him, and it turns out that he is in love with her as well. It just didn't feel earned to me.

I have enjoyed books where the characters fall in love quickly, but there has to be chemistry between them and I just didn't feel it here. Perhaps that's because I couldn't get past the fact that he is hundreds if not thousands of years old and she is only 17. Talk about an age gap. It just never felt like they were on the same level.

This book isn't that long, but the pacing is incredibly slow. Now, that would've been fine if we were devoting time to the development of dynamic characters or a fun, passionate romance, but I was so bored. They pretty much just spent the entire book on the run from one thing or another and I just couldn't muster up the energy. I was listening to this on audiobook and almost fell asleep. Yikes.

I will look into whatever this author comes out with next, because I did really enjoy Sorcery of Thorns, but it's not an autobuy.

Disturbing, even knowing the beats of the story from the movie.

I don’t have much to add other than this: I would warn potential readers that there is a LOT of derogatory language and slurs used very casually by the characters. If that is something that you find difficult to read, just be cautious.

There is also, of course, a lot of violence and gore...but this is a horror book and I think it’s to be expected.

2.5 stars

Seriously...2020 can suck it.

As if Covid-19 wasn't enough of a reason, now I'm hate-reading books from authors I've LOVED in the past. What in the heck is happening?

I've read the majority of Nora Roberts novels, and usually enjoy them. Even going back and reading some of her series from the late 90's-early 2000's, they are fun and sexy, even if there are moments that some may construe as being problematic.

But first with The Witness, and then with Under Currents, which I DNF'd, I was really disappointed with this book.

First and foremost, I didn't like either of the protagonists. Ash was a sexist jerk, and Lila was a doormat masquerading as a strong, independent woman. There are so many moments I can point to where Ash does or says something controlling and even if Lila calls him out on it, it's just sort of pushed to the side. One example (page 217) comes before they've even been intimate with one another (not that it's ever okay to invade someone's personal space, regardless of the level of your personal interactions). She's changing her clothes (I believe it's when he's about to paint her) and he just waltzes in. He knows she's changing, but doesn't give it a second thought. She tells him, "You should knock." He responds with, "Why?" And then the scene continues as if he didn't just completely invade her privacy. At another point (page 337) things are starting to look more dangerous for them and he senses that she might want to take a step back from their personal relationship. He tells her, "If you want to backtrack you can tell me to sleep in the other bedroom. I won't, I'll seduce you, but you can tell me." Ew. That is a common thread in their interactions. She's not comfortable with something he says or does, he tells her that it doesn't matter because he's going to get his own way in the end so she just needs to deal with it. It's just WAY too pushy and I didn't like it at all.
To be fair, Lila is as dumb as Ash is pushy. Maybe dumb isn't the right word, but she lacks the common sense of a head of broccoli. I would imagine any protective and loving partner would feel the urge to keep their loved one safe. But his controlling nature extends to every aspect of their relationship.

I far preferred the side characters and their relationship. I wanted that story, but we barely got anything about their romance, which was far more interesting to me.

Also, there is NO REASON FOR THIS BOOK TO BE AS LONG AS IT IS. It's over 500 pages, and there just isn't 500 pages of compelling story here. I felt the same way about The Witness. Both books needed some editing, and I'm not sure why they didn't get it.

I could keep going, but mostly I'm just bummed that I didn't love this.

This was a nice little book with a nice romance. It was...nice.
Honestly, I probably won’t remember a thing about this book in a month, except the fact that the main character does hand-lettering, but it kept me engaged for the first 80% or so. I lost interest near the end though, and I have a feeling this just isn’t going to stick with me like my favorite romances do. So, nothing WRONG with this, it just didn’t give me those feet-kicking moments I’ve had with other books.

When I read The Collector by Nora Roberts directly proceeding this book, I critiqued it as having a sexist Hero...well, the 'Hero' from this book makes Ash from that book look like positively enlightened by comparison.
Dev is gross. Sorry, not sorry.

Look, I understand that with romantic suspense, there is a certain level of alpha-male macho BS inherently there and I can forgive some of that. But there were just so many times I cringed during this book from him being a possessive, controlling, pushy, domineering, macho jerk.

I have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past, but they were mostly her historical novels which were written several years ago. I'm thinking that if I went back and read them again I would probably see some of those same characteristics in those love interests, so perhaps it's just something that bothers me more now than it did in my early twenties when I read them.

I also didn't have much love for Lark, our heroine. She has pretty much no personality, and aside from the fact that she has red streaks in her hair and designs handbags, I really don't know that much about her.

But did I mention that she designs handbags? Because she totally does. Don't worry if you forget though, because it's mentioned in virtually every chapter, every time she is leaving one place for another. Perhaps in print it wouldn't have struck me as being as awkward as it felt via audiobook, but the number of times we're told that she 'grabs her Lark bag' or 'she almost forgot her Lark bag' just felt forced, as if the author really wants us to remember that SHE IS A DESIGNER.

There were many other side characters who all blended together for me. Mostly other men who were also varying levels of macho douchebag. And heaven forbid if any of them made eye contact with Lark, because Dev was Not. Having. It. Isn't that romantic? *puke*

As far as the plot goes, I actually thought the first third to half of the book was interesting. Dev is a private detective and Lark is looking for a child that her recently-deceased sister gave up for adoption a few years prior. What starts out as just being a simple inquiry turns mysterious when they can't find records of the adoption and the couple who handled the adoption have disappeared. I was all set for the book to be focused on their search for her niece and this couple who were obviously breaking the law.

But then they find her about halfway through the book, very easily. Dev doesn't even do much to facilitate the finding, aside from calling a bunch of other people to do the dirty work. So we don't actually see him solving anything. He's just told after the fact about the info other people dug up.

Once they find the niece, the story takes a turn that I ended up absolutely hating. It felt like it was done to create tension and drama and for me it felt very unbelieveable and out of left field.

Last, and also least, is the romance. Yikes. This is pretty much instalust, which is fine in some cases, but for me they never get to a point where they earn their romance. At first he doesn't want to mix business with pleasure, but of course they do eventually. But there is never a real foundation for them falling in love. When they think about each other, it is ALWAYS sexual. And quite often inappropriate. They'll be in the middle of tracking down her niece, who has been kidnapped by a drug kingpin, and she'll start obsessing about having sex with him and getting aroused...and then go back in the next paragraph to worrying about her niece. It feels very awkward and sorry, not sexy. Oh, and if I took a shot every time Dev talked about Lark compared to other women and how she's so original and unique (i.e. 'not like other girls') I'd be in the ER with alcohol poisoning. And the thing is, it's never something about her mind or interests. It's almost always about her physical appearance or ability.

So yeah. I didn't think this worked on any level really. It's supposed to be a romantic suspense, but it was neither suspenseful nor romantic. I have one more of her books on my shelves that I've had for years that I'll pick up and try, but as it's another romantic suspense I'm not holding out much hope.

So, this book was cute, if not a little forgettable. I realize that I wrote the same thing about the other book I've read by her, Love Lettering, but it's just as true with this book as it was with that one. Not that it was bad. I had a decent time reading it, and I actually thought the the couple was cute, but it wasn't one that I will revisit in the future.

Also, the hook of this book (and it's companion books) is that these three friends bought a lotto ticket and won, which I thought was going to be really interesting. I had hoped it would delve a little deeper into how something like that changes your life in bad ways as well as good. However, for a good chunk of the book, it isn't even mentioned. The author tries to bring it into the story when the inevitable conflict between the protagonists happens before the ultimate HEA, but it felt a little flimsy.

This book did that thing that a lot of romances do where one character lives in a different city than the love interest, and as such there is this imposed expiration date to any potential hook-up/relationship. As the reader, we know that they are probably going to overcome it somehow, but as a tried and true story beat, there has to be some sort of conflict that breaks the characters up about 3/4 of the way through the book. Another common conflict is the misunderstanding that could be solved if the characters would just use their words trope. Lucky (unlucky?) us, this book has not one, but BOTH of these devices, and it didn't need to be there.

Again, I did enjoy the time the protagonists spent together getting to know each other. I liked their banter and the premise of him helping her fix up her new-to-her home. That was all cute. I could've honestly done without the entire plot of him trying to recruit her to work for his company and move to Texas. They could've just left it saying that he was taking care of his father but had a life back in Texas that he'd eventually have to get back to. The recruitment arc bored me.

I'm not sure if I'll continue with the companion novels about her friends. There really wasn't much about either of them that I found compelling, but we'll see.

3.75 stars
Full review to come, but my initial feelings are mostly positive. I feel like if I’d read this at a different point in time I might have given it a higher rating, but I just can’t focus on reading right now.